Using Place Brand Strategy to Create Liveable and Loveable Places

Transcription

1 Using Place Brand Strategy to Create Liveable and Loveable Places Presenta(on Notes ICTC & Mainstreet Conference 2015 Malcolm Allan 23 July 2015

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3 Introduction and Structure of Presentation These notes cover the points made by Malcolm Allan in his keynote presentation to the conference on 23 July While they are not a verbatim record they cover the points he made in expanding on the content of the slides which are shown below. For those of you unfamiliar with or new to the subject of place and destination branding I m going to summarise the development of the field from its genesis in tourism marketing and the attraction of inward investment through to its current practice. I ll share with you my take on the development of the field and how I practice. It s a relatively young field I started practising in it in 2001 after working as a town planner, urban designer and economic development specialist for 25 years. And then I will share with you my thinking on how place brand strategy can contribute to the creation of liveable and loveable places. My Take on Place Branding For me place branding is about a USER focussed way of thinking about place. PLACEMATTERS 3

4 By user I mean a combination of people who live in places, work in places, learn in places, run businesses and organisations there and people who visit for business or pleasure. By education and training I was a spatial planner, dealing with land use allocation, planning applications and the design of urban spaces and development sites, often looking at place from the point of view of a developer client or the policy of a local authority attempting to control or channel development. After 25 years in the field I had begun to change my orientation on place towards its development based on how people and business used place and space land, buildings, public and private space and began to factor the understanding that this brings into my thinking about how to plan and manage space. In parallel I was becoming very sceptical about the way in which developers marketed their properties and places marketed themselves as attractions, principally for tourism and inward investment. There often was a level of inaccuracy, exaggeration and sometimes dishonesty in place promotion. And, in parallel, I had begun to think about what really constituted the brand of places. I don t mean the design of new logos or marketing tag lines. By brand I mean the offer of the place to those who use it and the experience they will have while there, plus how well the place works. The Evolution of Place and Destination Branding Place and destination brand strategy, as I practise in the field, has its roots in: Tourism marketing alerting people to great contries to visit and great experiences to be had there. Destination marketing alerting people to specific resorts and attractions. PLACEMATTERS 4

5 The rise of country branding, initially led by tourism branding but expanding into inward investment attraction, attraction of learners, promotion of product and service skills. The development of city and city region branding as cities began to realise they needed to retain and attract talent and investment and that they were in competition not just regionally or nationally but internationally as well. Site development brand strategy the realisition by the more aware and intelligent of property developers that they needed to think strategically about the purpose of the places thay were creating, who they were for, what people would do there, how they would live their lives, plan accordingly and market that offer and experience rather than just the amount of space to let and the annual rent. The rise of multi- city branding in and between regions, a good example being the current brand sttrategy being developed by a number of cities on the Atlantic coasts of Spain, France, the UK and ireland, where their port offers, sea- based recreation and maritime heritage are unifying and linking concepts; cities learning from each other as they develop their brand strategies. Here are some examples of country, place, destination and event promotion from the golden age of graphic art posters in the tourism field. PLACEMATTERS 5

6 And here are some examples of more recent place and destination promotion marketing and messaging showing examples of multi- faceted country branding, dual national and local tourism promotion, marketing new kinds of branded tourism offer for experience seeking drive travellers and the people of the city as the decisive brand offer element. And some places have chosen letters of the alphabet to represent their place, good examples being Manchester in the UK and Melbourne in Australia. What they are conveying is not at all clear. PLACEMATTERS 6

7 And within cities developers have begun to move away from seeing branding in pure graphic/marketing collateral terms to understanding that a brand strategy is so much more than that, being about the offer and experience they are creating. The development at Nine Elms in central London incorporating the reuse of the iconic Battersea Power station is a good example where the development and the marketing of the site offer is based on a comprehensive place book, a form of brand book, that carefully researched the potential of the site, the role it should play in the wider urban area (how it should contribute to the surrounding area), to determine its offer and experience. And, only after this had been clarified was work undertaken to design a logo for the development. This example raises the question of So, what s the point of a logo in place and development branding? My answer is summarised in the slide below. For me a logo plays three roles for a thought through brand strategy: It locates the place for people spatially and geographically when they see it they know where they are. It represents the kind of place that is being created. PLACEMATTERS 7

8 It is a shorthand for the offer and experience of the place. But, it will only work as a design, as a graphic, if the developer or the local authority explains what it is intended to convey. That s why it should only be created when the brand strategy is clear and agreed. So, the main thrust of this presentation is not about logos and taglines. It is about how you develop brand strategy for places and destinations and my take on how to accomplish effective place branding. The key elements are understanding the current offer, planning the offer you want to promote and telling a compelling story about it based on people s experiences. PLACEMATTERS 8

9 My Take on Developing Effective Place Brand Strategy This slide summarises my approach to place branding. As I said before it s a user focussed way of thinking about the planning, development management and marketing of the offer and experience of places. In my view it s very important to understand the current offer of places when you begin to construct a brand to represent it and to consider which elements of that offer and experience you want to include in the brand offer. A And who you are aiming that band offer at. Places that have thrown all that they offer into a brand typically end up completely confusing their target audiences who are left wondering what actually really distinguishes the place and what it is good at. Places need to understand that they cannot sell all that they offer to everyone everywhere all of the time. They have to prioritise and make strategic choices. PLACEMATTERS 9

10 Typically place brand strategies start with local stakeholders coming together in partnership to agree a joint vision for the future development of their place, one that provides clarity on the offer to be provided, that plans the development and delivery of that offer and communicates it to the chosen target market audiences that the place wants to attract or retain. So let s look in more detail at what s involved in preparing a place brand strategy. It s about: Being clear on the purpose of the place and the functions it performs for people and business. Being clear on your attributes the things the place is good at or will become good at, which give it a distinctive identity. Its about being clear on your offer to people and business, the experiences they will have in your place, in essence your place brand promise. And, its about carefully planning the development of the offer you want to be known for and its delivery to the people who will live, work, study or visit there, in a sustainable and viable way. PLACEMATTERS 10

11 Using Brand Strategy to Create Liveable and Loveable Places When I first really began to develop my thinking on how to create place brand strategies about 15 years ago, there was very little by way of recognised custom and effective practice in the public domain. There were methodologies for developing tourism strategies and the beginnings of academic study of nation branding. But there was precious little published by way of how the principles of commercial branding might be adapted to and applied to the branding of places, by which I mean the development of strategy not logos. So, I began to experiment with and develop a methodology that was transparent (to clients) and transferrable (to clients to use) and what I now call the Place Brand Compass was created. PLACEMATTERS 11

12 I used to be a mountain climber and I d never venture out onto a mountain without a compass and a map to guide me on my path to the summit. And one day the analogy with places attempting to chart their way to a desire future place from their current reality struck me powerfully. So I began to create a compass to guide places to where they wanted to be and what they wanted to become, what they wanted to offer. What you see on the slide, and the ones which follow, is a summary of the current version of this tool which is still very much a work in progress. I will summarise each element of the compass in turn as it addresses how places can create liveable and loveable places. PLACEMATTERS 12

13 A key characteristic of the Compass and indeed my approach is that places need to proof their offer. By this I mean that they should only include in their proposition offers and experiences that do exist, that they can point to, that people can access. And before promoting the agreed brand strategy to target market audiences places should test it on a sample of those audiences to ensure a close fit between the offer and what the audiences are looking for. PLACEMATTERS 13

14 And, following brand testing, places should refine and finalise their offer taking into account feedback from the audiences. This can mean improvements to current offers and additional offers that audiences would like to see. PLACEMATTERS 14

15 This is the final element of the Compass. Experience has taught me that place brand strategies need active and energetic management if they are to be successful and remain relevant. Experience has also demonstrated to me that the best way of managing them is through an active partnership of local stakeholders working together with common purpose. Learning Lessons from My Experience Harnessing social media is an effective way of consulting with and engaging local communities from whom stakeholders can be drawn. PLACEMATTERS 15

16 Brand proposition testing is vital not only to get a good fit between your offer and the target market audiences but also because the feedback received can act as a useful sense check on the realism of the brand strategy. All too often places fail to take into account the perceptions of outsiders in creating their brand offers which can lead to blind spots and unrealistic expectations. Places need to avoid hyperbole, exaggeration and questionable claims for their offer. In comparison they need to gain a reputation for being completely honest about their offers and be seen to have complete integrity. PLACEMATTERS 16

17 And, having spent time and money on developing your brand strategy places then need to ensure that all those responsible for internal and external communications and messaging on the proposition communicate in a coordinated way. In Cork the stakeholders created a Brand Book which brought together all of the important messages they wanted to communicate to their various audiences. This should never be left to chance. Some Conclusions from My Experience Why Place Brand? For me there are a number of strong reasons. It clarifies your place as a consumer proposition defining your points of attraction and difference It stimulates more conversations & generates more deals It helps to a attract & retain people who use the place to live, work, learn, run a business It attracts and leverages investment in the development of the offer It drives commercial success It increases community satisfaction Benefits of Place Brand Strategy I can identify a number of important benefits for the place: The local community feels actively involved in its development The place becomes much clearer on its offer, experience and its market PLACEMATTERS 17

18 The place improves the way in which its is conceived, planned, created, managed or operated It is better positioned in relation to its target markets in terms of investors, facility operators and consumers It provides the place with sustainable competitive advantage Positively changes perceptions and expectations Be Aware this is Political This approach to the development of places, one that demands a high degree of consultation with and engagement of local communities and stakeholders can seem threatening to elected councillors and public body officials. It often means that they need to change their practices, requiring them to share power and grant greater involvement to people and organisations: It often challenges the status quo It can unsettle vested interests and established power- bases It challenges accepted beliefs and behaviours It can stimulate empire protectionsism It can create conflict However, and more positively, it can: Galvanise local people to take action and become involved in theimprovement and development of the place they live in and love Bring communities together to create a shared vision and common purpose Achieve positive change for the better Watchwords for Effective Place Brand Strategy Partnership drawing on all of the resources and talents of the community Consultation enabling people to have a say and make a contribution Involvement encouraging people to take part in the creation, funding, management and delivery of the strategy not just leaving it to the local authority Strategy this is about the big picture, about the long term, about mechanisms for change and for improvement its not a short- term fix Planning its not just about the big picture strategy, its also about planning the detailed changes, additions and improvements to the offer of the place that the stakeholders want to create Delievry its about moving from startegy through planning to delivery; strategy and planning without effective delivery rarely changes anything Management ind delivery cannot succeed without competent and accountable management of the action Communication on a continuous, deep and effective manner is vital to ensure that people remain informed and involved PLACEMATTERS 18

19 Evaluation is required to ensure that the place and its stakeholders understand whether or not the action being taken is having the desired impact and producing the benefits being sought Key Behaviours and Characteristics From my experience I have identified a number of behaviours that can have very positive effects and impact and characteristics of effective place brand partnerships. Key Behaviours Collaborative working Open to new ideas Communicative with others Active listener Creative in seeking opportunities Inquiring to learn more Questioning to better understand Inspiring to motivate Key Partnership Characteristics Partnership as a preferred form of operating Collaboration with others Consultation with others Engagement of others Involvement of others Transparency in dealings and activity Realism of proposals and ambition Informing others on a regular basis PLACEMATTERS 19

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