I’d like to take this as an opportunity to venture into the realm of marketers. They perform an important function for destinations: branding. According to Kolb (2006), ‘branding is the process of creating a slogan from a message and then designing a symbol or logo that together with the slogan will communicate to potential visitors the image of the city along with the features, benefits and values it has to offer.’ (p. 219)
Logos act as a visual stamp for a destination. As is the case with other industries, countries go to great lengths to protect their ‘ingenious’ creations. Tourism Australia (2007), for example, requires third party operators who utilize ‘Brand Australia’ to sign a Trademark Licensing Agreement in order to access use of its logo. Similarly, the Jamaica Tourist Board (2004) has a detailed ‘Brand Manual’ covering the ‘dos and don’ts’ of using the island’s logo in promotional material. The Jamaica brand logo, which has been in use for more than 50 years, as well as the country’s various taglines, are all registered trademarks.
Logos act as a visual stamp for a destination. As is the case with other industries, countries go to great lengths to protect their ‘ingenious’ creations. Tourism Australia (2007), for example, requires third party operators who utilize ‘Brand Australia’ to sign a Trademark Licensing Agreement in order to access use of its logo. Similarly, the Jamaica Tourist Board (2004) has a detailed ‘Brand Manual’ covering the ‘dos and don’ts’ of using the island’s logo in promotional material. The Jamaica brand logo, which has been in use for more than 50 years, as well as the country’s various taglines, are all registered trademarks.
Marketers are also busy coming up with nifty little ‘straplines’, a cute disguise for telling our long winded PR messages to go take a hike. Ultimately, the tourist isn’t going to remember your PR ramblings, instead they only hold on to that snappy message.
Within the overpopulated world of consumer brands, marketers and advertisers have truly come up with some memorable slogans: Nike’s 'Just Do It', Visa’s 'Its Everywhere You Want to Be' and my personal favourites: Christianity’s 'What Would Jesus Do?' and Wonderbra’s 'Hello Boys', not necessarily in that particular order.
It’s important to highlight the ‘brands’ marketers create, as ultimately we get stuck with promoting slogans like 'Sicily. Everything Else is in the Shade' ??? Ahm.. hmm.. ok.
The reality is, it’s not easy to come up with a single line that summarizes why a tourist should visit a country, but some have managed to do a great job with it. From the simplicity of 'Live it. Visit Scotland', to the underlying joy in 'Smile, you’re in Spain', and then there are those that are so good, they never change: think 'I love New York', which has been around since the late 1970s.
Then, of course, there are the marketers who got paid to do absolutely nothing, case in point Jamaica. I’m surmising this is how the brainstorming session went: ‘That Bob Marley song, the world unity, togetherness and stuff.... 'One Love', let’s just use that!’ Bob’s rolling in his grave right now, but his family is loving the royalties!
And finally, the ones who paid attention in nursery school and proved their remarkable, mind-boggling ability to.... rhyme! For example, Trinidad’s Tourism Development Company's (2008) recently launched 'Stay to Get Away' campaign aimed at promoting the island's domestic tourism.
A slogan is a vital communication vehicle used to distance a destination from its rivals. In a few short words, a country, city or region can quickly and in a memorable manner convey who it is and what is has to offer.
Next post: picking a target audience to exploit.. I mean, to enjoy your culture :-)
References
Kolb, B., (2006). Tourism Marketing for Cities and Towns: Using Branding and Events to Attract Tourists. Burlington: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Jamaica Tourist Board, (2004). Jamaica Brand Manual. [online] Available from: <http://www.jtbonline.org/tourism_jamaica/Documents/brand%20guidelines.pdf> [Accessed 3 January 2009]
Tourism Australia, (2007). Brand Australia Application- Using the Logo. [online] Available from: <http://www.tourism.australia.com/Marketing.asp?sub=0413&al=2119>[Accessed 3 January 2009]
Tourism Development Company Limited, (2008). TDC Encourages Locals to Explore Vacation Options at Home. [online] Available from:<http://www.tdc.co.tt/media/?id=pr36> [Accessed 3 January 2009]
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