Place Branding: A Two Day Master Workshop

Derrick DayeJune 14, 20105 min

The Blake Project delivers brand education workshops around the world. We also work with municipalities in helping them release the full potential of their brands. With these experiences we are pleased to offer an in depth two day workshop on Place Branding with an optional third day consulting intensive.

This workshop is delivered at your organization or venue of choice.

Key stakeholders in the branding decision making process – mayor’s offices, visitors & convention bureaus, economic development councils, business improvement districts, business leaders and others will find this engaging and instrumental in their brand building process.

Day 1

  1. I.         Branding introduction
    1. What is branding?
    2. Why is it important?
    3. How does it apply to places?
  2. II.         The five drivers of customer brand insistence
    1. Awareness
    2. Relevant differentiation
    3. Value
    4. Accessibility
    5. Emotional connection
    6. How these drivers relate to place brands — examples
  • III.         Fun exercise – top of mind associations for various places
  • IV.         Branding nations
    1. Benefits of strong nation brands – more tourists, more foreign investment, helps exports, supports diplomatic and policy issues and more…
    2. Nation branding indices
      1. i.     Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index (SM)
      2. ii.     East West Nation Brand Perceptions Index
      3. iii.     Other leading place rating indices and sources
    3. Nation brand association exercise (by team)
      1. i.     Pairing nation brands with their top associations
    4. Nation branding audiences – residents, businesses, foreign investment, tourism, meeting and event planners and more…
    5. What is most important to each of these audiences?
      1. i.     An ideation session for each audience
    6. Sources of nation branding perceptions – tourist destinations, international events, exports, famous people, foreign policy (including diplomatic, military, immigration and trade policy), participation in multinational discussions and agreements, foreign aid, alliances, and more…
    7. Sources of nation brand differentiation – natural features, well known events or festivals, unusual or distinctive histories, desirable weather, distinctive outdoor recreational features and more…
      1. i.     Evaluation criteria for brand differentiators
    8. Controllables and uncontrollables
    9. Using brand ambassadors
    10. Places featured in movies
      1. i.     What movies have helped increase awareness and interest in specific places?
    11. Case studies
      1. i.     Case study – USA perceptions during the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations
      2. ii.     Case study – changing UK’s branding perceptions
      3. iii.     Case study – branding Spain
      4. iv.     Case study – branding India
    12. Analyzing the success of the Singapore brand (team exercise)
    13. In-depth Malaysia case study (by team – presentations after each step)
      1. i.     Identifying and prioritizing Malaysia’s most important audiences
      2. ii.     Identifying Malaysia’s top-of-mind associations
        1. Within Malaysia
        2. Within Southeast Asia (outside of Malaysia)
        3. In the Middle East
        4. In Europe
        5. In North America
        6. iii.     Assessing Malaysia’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
        7. iv.     Identifying the most relevant and compelling drivers of brand differentiation
        8. v.     Building on Malaysia’s strengths – developing strategies and tactics
    14. Fun exercise – country of origin – matching products to countries
    15. Wrap up, questions

Day 2

  1. I.         Branding Municipalities
    1. Key stakeholders in the branding decision making process – mayor’s office, visitors & convention bureaus, economic development councils, business improvement districts, business leaders and more…
      1. i.     Mechanisms for gaining stakeholder consensus
    2. Target audiences – residents, tourists, meeting and event planners, businesses and more…
      1. i.     Tourist taxonomy – identifying the different types of tourists
    3. Most important attributes and benefits sought by residents – good job opportunities, low crime, good medical care, affordable housing and more…
    4. Most important attributes and benefits sought by tourists – culture & history, landscape, climate, special events, personal safety and more…
    5. Amenities sought by tourists – restaurants, shopping, way finding, public restrooms, and more…
    6. Most important attributes and benefits sought by meeting and event planners — air transportation (access, costs, distance to site), hotel rooms and ground transportation access, space requirements (meeting rooms, banquet halls, exhibit space, etc.) and more…
    7. Most important benefits and attributes sought by businesses – prevailing wages, labor force quality, housing and quality of life, market rigidities, proximity to suppliers or final market and more…
    8. The importance of aesthetics and how to improve them
      1. i.     Specific recommendations
      2. ii.     Numerous examples
    9. Identifying a place’s primary competitors by target audience
    10. The importance of identifying municipality strengths
      1. i.     Brainstorming strengths by category (11 categories)
    11. Impact of regional perceptions on municipality brands
      1. i.     Sun Belt
      2. ii.     Rust Belt
      3. iii.     Eastern Europe
    12. Which to focus on first – economic environment, jobs, residential development, cultural and recreational amenities, or something else?
    13. Approaches to place development
      1. i.     Community development
      2. ii.     Urban design
      3. iii.     Urban planning
      4. iv.     Economic development
      5. v.     And more…
    14. Fun exercise – identifying places that are associated with specific international events or festivals
      1. i.     Cannes, France
      2. ii.     Sundance, ID
      3. iii.     Charleston, SC
      4. iv.     Indianapolis, IN
      5. v.     Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
      6. vi.     New Orleans, LA
      7. vii.     Pamplona, Spain
      8. viii.     Mecca, Saudi Arabia
      9. ix.     And more…
    15. Municipality branding examples:
      1. i.     North American/USA cities – examples of focus
        1. Las Vegas, NV
        2. Orlando, FL
        3. Branson, MO
        4. Woodstock, NY
        5. Lake Placid, NY
        6. Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON (Canada)
        7. Nantucket, MA
        8. Charlotte, NC
        9. Indianapolis, IN
        10. ii.     Barcelona, Spain
        11. iii.     Dubai, UAE
        12. iv.     Architecture defining a place
          1. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
          2. Sydney, Australia
          3. Dubai, UAE
          4. Columbus, IN, USA
    16. Using icons to position a place
      1. i.     Brainstorm examples
    17. Using values, attitudes and personality attributes to position a place
      1. i.     Place as a self-expression vehicle
      2. ii.     Brainstorm examples
    18. Repositioning a poorly positioned place
      1. i.     Process/approach
      2. ii.     Key considerations
      3. iii.     Examples/discussion
    19. In-depth brand positioning research example/case study – Rochester, NY
      1. i.     Identifying benefit/attribute importance
      2. ii.     Measuring brand delivery against benefits/attributes
      3. iii.     Mapping brand positioning opportunities
      4. iv.     Evaluating brand positioning options
        1. Evaluation criteria – compelling, unique, believable
        2. v.     Developing the most compelling brand position
        3. vi.     Translating the brand position to a tagline
    20. Creating visual identities for municipality brands
      1. i.     Numerous examples
    21. Fun exercise – matching taglines to municipalities
    22. Case study: promoting Downtown Tampa (FL) as a desirable place to live
    23. Case study: positioning Bangkok, Thailand as a global fashion capital
    24. Wrap up, questions

Day 3 (optional)

Day 3 participants will have the opportunity to present their individual place branding problems, issues and dilemmas. We will facilitate a group discussion on possible solutions. We will also offer advice on how to solve the problems, issues and dilemmas.

Please contact us for more.

Branding Strategy Insider is a service of The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in Brand Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Growth and Brand Education

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