bangladesh brand positioning

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Bangladesh Brand Positioning For

Tourism Marketing

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There are too many places to go out there

here are tens of thousands of destinations (from cities to museums to

attractions to resorts), all fighting to get the consumer’s attention. What

separates the wheat from the chaff in this crowded category is a strong

and clearly articulated brand position.

Now, we all know that the words “brand” and “branding” have been completely

overused in these times of measurement and metrics. So before your eyes glaze

over during yet another mindless effusion, let us cut straight to why those two

words are still important to travel marketers:

"Without a position, it is almost impossible to achieve

a meaningful and sustainable point of differentiation."

It’s easy to overlook the power of positioning when there are competitive

pressures, market forces or deadlines to deal with:

• brochures must be distributed on time, or else

• direct mail campaigns must drop when scheduled

• banner ads, web content, and deal driven links need to get out there

Any diversion from the plan could impact revenue. Unfortunately, when these

tactical efforts don’t follow a carefully crafted position, the destination can end

up either looking schizophrenic to the customer, or worse: indistinguishable

from competitors. Cover up the logos and it could be marketing from any place.

A unique, ownable position gives a destination gravitas

It has pull. It makes people want to get up off the couch, pack their bags, and

go. With their friends, family, even solo. Whether it’s across town, the country,

or the ocean, a destination has to make people lust after it. This requires an

T



inspirational promise that holds true to the experience (and value) it can

reliably deliver.

Creating this higher level of differentiation means taking the time to learn the

truth behind what makes it unique, and what it has to offer that is relevant

and compelling to the travelers wanted as repeat, high value customers. All

great positions are rooted in a nugget of truth, or a kernel of insight that helps

you stake out an ownable space in the mind of the consumer that is unique,

and that no other brand can co-opt, or invade.

Once that truth has been uncovered and clearly articulated, every decision that

has to be made gets a lot easier moving forward.

Tourism Without Branding

In a competitive landscape, lack of differentiation equals commodity.

There isn’t a commodity out there that gets to charge a premium--not one red

cent more--unless there are no competitors. Commodities are complete

substitutes. No one cares if you swap out one for another, because they’re all

the same. There is little differentiation. A beach here is basically the same as a

beach there. A lift and lodging deal here is the same as a deal over there.

Let’s say you’re in the lobby of a hotel, or at a rest stop,

or even surfing the web.

You happen upon a brochure (or website) for a ski resort. You flip through it.

How much of it was truly unique? How much differentiation was created in

your mind as you viewed it? Aside from a few facts about physical attributes,

what popped off the page as truly unique? I’d bet you saw one or two money

shots showing off the snow, a few more generic skiing and riding action shots,

some lifestyle photographs and maybe a cute kid with a helmet and goggles,

right?



Let’s use another example.

You pick up a travel magazine at your local newsstand, and page through it

casually as you wait for a phone call, or sip coffee. It’s an issue about beach

getaways. How many different ads will feature a photo of a woman, on a lounge

chair, with a palm tree? It might surprise a lot of destination marketers to learn

that a common response to ads like these is “Great. A Beach. So what?”

To make matters worse, online travel agencies, aggregators, and directory

websites seem to have trained the consuming public to look for low price as the

only driver of choice. The websites that people like to go to see how much it

would cost to fly to Denver, or Miami aren’t in the business of helping create

differentiation, or build a strong brand, or introduce a destination to a new

audience. For them, it’s all about transaction volume.

The result? Lots of great deals for the consumer, but travel brands become

uninteresting in a hurry if they’re not the cheapest deal.

Features and attributes are not meaningful points of differentiation

For those on the inside of the business, it’s especially important to see things

from the consumers perspective. Many marketers take stock of the features or

attributes they have to sell or promote, and attempt to create a brand position

around them. The problem is that many of those attributes (a ski lift, a beach,

a restaurant, activities for kids) aren’t all that unique. Lots of places have

beaches, don’t they?

This is why creating differentiation within a particular sub-category is so vital

to a strong competitive position, and can really drive preference, market share,

and bottom line growth.

Key Steps To Defining A Unique Position For Your Destination



Our experience shows us that there are four steps integral to uncovering truths

and determining which contribute to a believable, differentiating, relevant,

memorable and deliverable promise of value for any destination:

• Peeling back the onion

• Analyzing the competitive idea space

• Identifying the true relationship drivers

• Getting intimate with the consumer

Peeling back the onion

Take a good hard look at your place in the world, from an outsider’s

perspective. Where did it originate? What does it offer of value? How has it been

represented in the past? What is its current positioning in the mind of the

consumer, and what is its current market position? How about the people

behind it? What are they thinking and saying? How do they act? What do they

really believe? What do they really think of the travelers that find their way

here? Tell the truth and nothing but the truth.

Analyzing the competitive idea space

Take a look at all of your competitors. Reverse-engineer their advertising and

marketing communications to see where they are focusing, how they are

positioning their destinations. What are they saying? How is it different, and

how is it the same? Is it the truth? After you’ve completed this, you should

have a good idea where there is saturation and where there is opportunity in

the world of ideas.

Identifying the true relationship drivers

Identify all of the attributes in the category and do a gap analysis to determine

which of these are the relationship drivers for the category, and for your

destination. Are the drivers tangible or intangible? Which attributes do you

need to do well just to be considered? Which offer the highest return on



investment and which aren’t worth spending time or money on? Don’t be afraid

to invest in consumer research (qualitative or quantitative) at this stage. Good

fieldwork and analysis will deliver decision support tools for a decade or more.

Getting intimate with the consumer

Among travellers who seek out destinations in your competitive space, what are

their current perceptions of the category as a whole, your brand and those you

compete with? What keeps them up at night? What interests them, makes

them happy, and can improve their quality of life. Focusing on the relationship-

building drivers, ladder up the list of attributes to get to the place that

resonates with consumers emotionally. What are they willing to believe about

your place that is somehow different and more desirable than the competition?

The bottom line

It may not be so plainly evident, but uncovering the truth is the key to finding

a position that will be meaningful, different, and ownable over the long term.

In A Position To Achieve A Greater ROI

The Foundation for Successful Marketing

Sometimes it’s hard for travel marketers to think of the value of a position in

concrete ways. Similarly, it’s VERY hard for the C-Suite to justify staff

resources and out of pocket expenses for positioning work if they can’t find

immediate ways to demonstrate some semblance of an ROI. But if you look at a

position as the foundation, just about every marketing initiative gets a bump in

ROI.

You are measuring ROI, aren’t you?

When you dig down deep and get to the truth about your position, you’re really

getting in touch with the soul of your business. If you’ve spent the time to learn

about the soul of your company, and use it to position your brand, then lots of

other things fall into place. Just think of front line staff. With an ethos to

follow, they can really live the position, and create great consumer experiences.



That may sound like an ethereal idea, but it’s very real, and it’s measurable.

Brands that understand this consistently score better than the competitive set

for customer satisfaction, advocacy (or willingness to recommend), and loyalty.

Net promoter scores invariably rise. The correlation between these marketing

metrics and good old dollars is strong. But, with no soul, it’s very hard to

create a battle cry that the internal team can live by, and consumers will

respond to.

There are other good examples of how a strong position can make other marketing initiatives easier, and return more value.

Consider internet marketing

This is a real-world, stone-cold example that EVERYONE has probably dealt

with by now. If you haven’t, we expect that you will very shortly. In a down

market, with media budgets on the chopping block, this is the one sector in the

advertising industry that will see 15% growth in 2009. Without a solid brand

position, the absolute basic web marketing 101 tasks like SEO and SEM are

painful, and likely, aimless. Sure, it’s trackable, but without a position,

creating effective paid and organic keyword campaigns that translate into

conversions is difficult. With a unique position, creating long term strategies

that improve organic rankings, deliver more relevant visitors, and convert at

higher rates, is within reach.

And remember the message

Perhaps the most compelling example of how much simpler marketing can

become if a valid, meaningful position is established is in good old advertising

and marketing communications. Consistently good creative is the love child of

great positioning and creative talent. Agencies whose clients have established

their competitive line in the sand, grounded in truthful insight, can deliver

great work over and over. It also makes it easy to stay on track over time. How

many times have we seen marketing campaigns lose the mojo after a few great

executions, and then completely unravel after a few quarters?



Positioning can help avoid this, and help ensure that good decisions are made

over time.

Travel Brand Positioning - Twelve Questions To Ask

As you examine where your brand is now, and where you want to be in the

future, consider the position you’re in.

Ask yourself these twelve questions:

1. Do we follow what our competitors are doing and saying?

2. Do we talk with our customers to find out what they think?

3. Do we talk with non-customers to find out why they aren't customers?

4. Does the look, flavor or tone of our marketing campaigns change

frequently?

5. Do we have a “mood board” and brand statement for our company?

6. Has everyone that comes into contact with our customers seen it?

7. Do we have a litmus test to determine if each element of our

communications program is “on position?

8. Do we have a brand standards or graphics standards manual?

9. Are they followed religiously?

10. Do we have a designated brand steward to pay close attention to

creative, and other applications of the brand?

11. Do we track ROI for marketing initiatives?

12. How are our conversion rates?

It's a crowded world we live in, and despite recessions, layoffs, and tumbling

revenue projections, people will still make time for getting away. A strong

position will help you create emotional, evocative connections with the

consumer. Those connections are built on insights grounded in the truth, and

will help you find meaningful differentiation in your category.

The process is simple, and makes everything else more effective down the road.



More and more countries have decided, rightly, to pay attention to their national identity.

You may call it your brand or the identity of your people or your national reputation.

Each of these names denotes something a little different. But the issue is the same: the idea of your country evokes a reaction in the mind of every foreigner (citizen, corporation and Government).

And indeed, no less importantly, at home. National pride is as live an issue as external reputation.

You recognise that if you do nothing, the image of your country will continue being made, and changed, daily by many factors over which you have little or no control.

But you can coordinate a number of the messages being put out by your Government: your promotion of exports, inward investment and tourism, for example. Indeed, your advertising and promotion budget is the most obvious and direct tool under your control.

We do not advocate an advertising message as the only route to a positive country image where previously a negative one existed. That would be propaganda and not advertising and would not work. On the contrary, we believe that effective campaigns are always rooted in reality. We believe that we can work with you to find which positive aspects of your country we can use to build a credible international positioning. And image. Branding, in other words!



We will also advise you how to use tourist visits and appropriate products for those tourists, to accelerate better appreciations of the real strengths of your country.

Country rebranding: why choose Bangladesh Foundation for Tourism Development?

To re-brand, or to brand, or to intensify the branding of a country requires a particular mix of skills if it is to be done effectively. Firstly, your agency has to understand that a purely cosmetic operation will not work. Bangladesh Foundation for Tourism Development knows how to work with you so that you can – objectively - find the elements in your country on which effective and relevant branding can be built. Real elements: real strengths, real things, real people, real holiday products.

We can work on real policy initiatives that give concrete meaning to your ideals.

How does all that feed back into branding? Well, we will have a clear idea of how you want the public to react to your country. We focus on the actions that build tourism, of course, AND lead to increasing absorption into their attitudes of what you are trying to say to them. We can do this, because we understand Brands.

All branding work today in this field requires:

• Experience of how consumers react to communications • Experience of how brands are built and how brands are refreshed • An understanding of when market research is essential and what kind of

market research gives useable information • A knowledge of how tourism can be used to accelerate the process of re-

appreciating the country • A knowledge of the new groups of tourists and their habits. • understanding of how online media , used to communicate tourism

messages can be also used as the prime public vehicle for a re-assessment of your country



• Experience of how politicians’ minds work and how political journalists react

Tourism - the acceptable public face of your national brand

We have already implied that you may well retain different campaigns for your country. These might include, for example, exports, inward investment, trade fairs, etc. All of these can produce variations on a single theme but they must all be contributing strategically to the establishment of a clear identity for your nation that advances the interests of your people in every dimension.

This is a difficult task. But it has to be done. You cannot afford to attract tourists to a country of quaint medieval charms if your prime economic goal is to attract dynamic, high technology industries.

It is your tourism promotion - in whatever form (advertising, PR, websites, etc) - that will have the biggest impact on attitudes to your nation. It is the easiest option open to you to counter prejudice and to build warm and positive feelings to your nation.

We are talking politics - and public opinion

Your diplomats are doubtless highly skilled. Your own relationships with Ministers of other countries may be excellent. But their ability to treat with you as you would wish is affected by the attitudes of their own electorates. It is conditioned by the headlines in their domestic press.

You can only alter public opinion, in the countries whose goodwill you need, if you talk to them. And as we have said, your tourist promotion is the best and perhaps the only effective medium under your control.

We have said elsewhere that merely to create slick advertising campaigns with a punchy slogan is not enough. The best kind of Press Relations will be



required, and you will have to make sure that the messages about your country are underpinned by the reality of policy initiatives and facts on the ground.

But the sad truth is that many countries do the right things at home, butstill fail to get the credit abroad. Bangladesh Foundation for Tourism Development believes that success requires

• astute and appropriate communication with relevant journalists, politicians and civil servants. THF will work with you to set up such a programme and to develop initiatives that will interest these three groups and get coverage in the countries of your choice.

• The second aspect is to create public goodwill towards your country and your people. THF will advise you how to do this, incorporating your tourist promotion to be your public face abroad. We will discuss with you what you need to do domestically first and then how to structure a tourism strategy that takes the above objective into account.

• We will advise you on the role to be played by different media in changing public attitudes - and, crucially, in actually bringing more tourists, the kind that you actively want, to your country. (THF believes that an active policy in which you choose the type of tourists and the type of tourism appropriate to your national resources, is preferable by far to passive tourism whereby you adapt to the opportunism e.g. low cost airlines, self-interested tour operators, and the accidents of the web to bring to you. The active policy we recommend elsewhere on our website not only creates popular goodwill to tourism in your country and spreads the economic benefits of tourism widely through the population but is sustainable in the long run).

All of this is entirely consistent with the use of every element of your tourism budget to actively promote a favorable and informed view of your country.

Destination Branding:



Bangladesh Foundation for Tourism Development specializes in tourism, and the promotion of destinations. Because of the strong strategic input, what we do has come to be known as Destination Branding.

A destination can be anything from a nation to a region, a resort to a city, an attraction to an event - or even the tour operators that help them to sell.

Branding, in turn, defines a unique set of beliefs about a destination and the sort of holidays or breaks it offers - beliefs that are equally emotional and rational, make it stand out from the competition and make it feel just right for each of its many target audiences. Many factors will go into the creation of these beliefs.

Getting it right requires clear strategic thinking - weighing up what you can offer against what your competitors are doing, what your potential visitors are looking for, and most importantly how to adapt to change.

By the word branding we do not mean your “look” – your logo, colours, design, etc. – but something far deeper. Your “look” is the quick reminder of what your destination stands for in people’s minds. The two must coincide and evolve together, but they are not the same.

Dynamic Branding But at Bangladesh Foundation for Tourism Development we go a step further. We make sure your destination - i.e. your "brand" - keeps up with today's attitudes and behaviors. We call this Dynamic Branding.

Dynamic Branding ® – Kill the brand life-cycle!

Owners of consumer brands have traditionally had a choice in changing times. They could review the effectiveness of their brand every few years and then, if necessary, relaunch it or replace it with a new one – allowing the outdated brand to slowly die (completing its 'life-cycle'). Simply put, this is how brands have survived through time.

Countries and destinations didn’t have that luxury. The internet has now changed that.

In world tourism, new media, cheap transport, increased choice, increased prosperity, evolving expectations, interests and concerns add up to a revolution. As a result, attitudes to countries, and tourists’ expectations of



destinations, change on a continuous basis now. Fickle tourists adopt new fashions or note new destinations, and perceptions of you change every day.

Nations concerned about their reputation find that popular and media opinion is increasingly volatile and quickly influenced. Views and perceptions, justified or ignorant, are disseminated with equal speed by blog, SMS or email.

But that speed of change need not be a threat.

Get on top of it, surf the wave with panache and it will give you new opportunities every day – and the means to exploit them.

So to keep moving forward you may well be obliged to continuously adaptnot just your product but also your image and positioning. And if you do not, you will surely lose out - to other destinations more alert to new opportunities and new emotional buttons waiting to be pressed.

That’s why we call what we do Dynamic Branding®.

Dynamic Branding® in action means, first of all, continuous revolution. It’s a readiness to keep up to date by steady adjustments to positioning and brand image.

Stay ahead of change. That’s Dynamic Branding®.

Dynamic Branding® in action means, first of all, continuous revolution.It’s a readiness to keep up to date by steady adjustments to positioning and brand image.

(Not that Leon Trotsky, who came up with the idea of continuous revolution, was in reality over-concerned about adapting his brand; indeed that was perhaps one of his problems, poor man.)

Second, it means actively anticipating change, not reacting to it passively. Easier to get it right using hindsight, of course, but by then a competitor might already be occupying the position that might have been yours – and reaping the attention that goes with it.

Our mission is to ensure that your destination’s salient attributes are up to date and relevant. Continuously.



That’s why we have developed the concept of dynamic branding®.

We are talking of a unique way of approaching the tourism revolution.

This goes beyond responding to change. It goes beyond understanding the emotional aspects of your destination brand, crucial though it is to understand what they are and how they need to evolve. It’s about concrete matters too.

This way we can keep you abreast of trends and changing opportunities and threats as they happen. By understanding how brands work we can help you to anticipate and innovate so as to be ahead of the game, not behind it.

Remember: a potent brand never just relies on a USP (Unique Selling Point) or just one proposition. It has, or perhaps it is, a distinctive character. Like all characters it exists in the round, and is composed of many attributes. Thanks to the Internet and electronic media, one can continuously tweak product and message in a way that was impossible in the past.

Thus what began as the problem ends up as the solution.

Sustainable tourism… Responsible tourism… Ethical tourism… Community-based tourism…

These are concepts that overlap and inter-connect. They are all increasingly vital to you, whether to target travellers or to satisfy media concern.

However, they can mean different things to different people.

Here’s what we think. You’ll shortly be able to post your own views here – we’d be delighted to host a debate.

Ethical tourism and fair trade: it does matter

More and more tourists and journalists want to know whether travellers’ money goes to ethical ends. That means to reduce poverty, not exploit it. To



sustain and restore natural resources, wildlife, historic monuments, and not damage or exhaust them. It means that tourist revenues should empower local people to retain their way of life or embrace change - or whatever mixture of preservation and development suits them.

Actively managed, tourism can spread prosperity widely among the people, redress some of the adverse impact of tourism ‘ghettos’ and help cushion the effect of local price rises. Community-based tourism is only one way of doing this.

Enlightened self-interest - and profit can go together

Profit and exploitation or ethics and responsible tourism? That’s a false dilemma. The Hat Factory does not believe that self-interest and ethics are automatically opposed. The choice is between short-term and long-term vision. Sustainable tourism by definition means protecting the assets that you will depend on for your long-term interests and profits. Those are the landscapes, wildlife, buildings, culture and traditions – and the goodwill of local people.

We can help you develop profitable products that are sustainable, long-term, in every sense. Our experience in other sectors allows us to talk to you about how tourism can be used to spread prosperity into many sectors of your economy, if you wish.

We believe that tourism can and should sustain employment and the wider economy - farming, crafts, exports, shops, inward investment, and lots more. Tourism can assist self-sufficiency, the development of small-scale enterprise and a culture of enterprise. The Hat factory would love to explore your ideas on this subject with you.

There is not even necessarily a choice between mass tourism and eco-tourism, because often both can co-exist. Indeed they can complement each other. For example, a good solution for the forest might be to reserve and preserve its fragile sites for a handful of carefully targeted and appropriate visitors while a



different marketing approach draws the crowds away to more robust areas. Some beach resorts are equally vulnerable, and marketing can protect them; others can be designed to accept mass tourism but in an entirely sustainable way.

Your image as a destination and a country

As interest rightly grows in these matters, your image as a destination and a country is at risk, unless your website shows that you are addressing these issues convincingly and effectively. As we say elsewhere (Destination Branding) image and reality are connected. The Hat Factory will communicate your concern for responsibility in tourism, but only if based on reality. Hence our enthusiasm for working alongside your team as they adapt and create your products, as well as publicising them and developing your reputation.

The Hat Factory and eco-tourism

The Hat Factory is interested in this subject and aware of what the concerned tourist expects. We can assist you in:

• Redefining target markets • Choosing the products that will attract the concerned tourists you want –

in other words, working with you to review your natural assets in the light of this demanding market

• Working with you to design or refine these products. Examples could be special guided trails, cultural appreciation holidays, and community-based tourism. They can take many forms, sometimes will be even unique, but the effect should be the preservation of your assets and higher living standards. Enhanced, educated contact with tourists has beneficial cross-cultural and political effects, too.

• Drawing public attention to what you are doing – includingjournalists and politicians

• Linking to the relevant, specialist tour operators • Search: Obtaining a high profile in search engines for your efforts and

your products, so as to attract the independent traveller


http://www.destinationbranding.co.uk/destination_branding.html


• Audits: analysing what you promote to tourists, and how - whether from the point of view of the foreign tourist or journalist or the political lobby. Our recommendations would cover your products and how you are communicating them to the ethically-concerned tourist.

#2 -TOURISM BRANDING: USING YOUR VOICE

Without a doubt it has happened to us all at some point in time. There you are quietly sitting in your hotel room or lounge at home, your mind busy with something other than watching the television, and without your really even noticing, the room is suddenly filled with the a series of distinctive chords of music. Before you know it you find yourself quietly humming to yourself: “Malaysia, Truly Asia”, maybe even picturing in your mind’s eye images of still, sparkling turquoise waters being broken by a diving silhouette, baby turtles wiggling back into the sea, wooden toys magically dancing in the light of golden candles, and bronzed smiling travellers sharing a moment of play with local elders. Technically speaking you have not even seen the television screen. All you have heard are the first bars of music. And you are transposed to another place, a place which reminds you of how badly you need a holiday and offers a very enticing suggestion of a destination.

That is the power of DESTINATION BRANDING.

DESTINATION BRANDING has become one of the most exciting, entertaining and expressly competitive aspects of today’s Tourism industry. Across the world and across the airwaves, television and computer screens are busy carrying music-wrapped images of sand, sea and sunshine, snow-white ski slopes and statuesque monuments, sprawling green landscapes, stunning sunsets, perfect starlit nights and warm smiling faces, all tempting hopeful travellers with the promise of a perfect, personal escape.

Each of these different destination promises comes neatly, sensually packaged in the destination BRAND. Or at least they try to.

For any destination, central to tourism sector growth and development is the establishment of a creative, compelling, competitive identity which accurately reflects the experience promise, and delivery capability, of the destination..



Governments around the globe are confidently and proudly investing billions of national revenues each year into establishing destination BRAND exposure and appeal. With such widespread competition, destination BRAND advertising on local, regional and international networks has in many ways evolved tourism communication to destination pageantry.

Still, for all of the excitement and expectation generated by destination BRANDS, it is vital to not lose focus on the fundamental role and purpose of the BRAND.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE SYMBOL

A destination BRAND, while appearing as a singular logo creatively stating the name of the destination, is in fact an important symbol for the destination. One seemingly simple design is, in fact, a vital reflection and source of identification of a destination’s character and strategy. The fonts selected, colours used, textures employed, creative devices introduced to support the destination name, even musical arrangement, they all work together to reflect specific key elements of the spirit and character of the destination.

A clear set of practical, meaningful Tourism objectives and aspirations lie behind a BRAND’s unique features.

Through its presence the BRAND showcases the destination to the world, making the desired connection with target audiences.

Ultimately the destination BRAND seeks to speak to two priority Audiences:

1.

The TRAVELLER

2.

The PEOPLE OF THE DESTINATION



Firstly, the Traveller.

For Tourists the Destination BRAND acts as a source of identification of not only the destination name, it is a reflection of the destination’s character and PROMISE of the traveler experience – the beauty and intrigue of places to be seen, the cultural pageantry of people to be met, the range of local activity to become a

part of, the spirit of the destination to be felt. The destination BRAND acts as both

an invitation to the destination, and an encapsulation of the unique experiences

which the tourism can come ‘touch’ for themselves.

Secondly and as importantly, the People of the Destination.

For these people the destination BRAND represents a symbol of the destination’s

DNA. The Destination BRAND acts as a unifying force, aligning all of the people of

the destination behind all that it has to celebrate in its:

o Culture

o Spirit



o Personality

o Future aspirations The destination BRAND must therefore work to unite and inspire the people of the destination to proudly serve in their own way as hosts of visitors to their destination,

be they formally a part of the tourism industry or simply because they call the destination ‘home’.

Ultimately the BRAND acts as the VOICE of the nation -a vital source of

destination identity and messaging for the destination.

With the global Tourism industry becoming more and more competitive, crowded

and creative, destination BRANDS must achieve clear, confident, meaningful

differentiation.

This requires thoughtful, responsible commitment to destination BRAND

development.

As a framework for BRAND development (and examination), it is important to stay

focused on the fact that a truly powerful destination BRAND focuses on the

fundamentals of its VOICE:



•

V – Vision : a powerful destination BRAND reflects the spirit and aspirations of the people of the destination. It expresses the energy and personality of the destination, proactively shaping its social, cultural, natural and economic destiny. Destinations defining themselves purely by growth should naturally project an energy which confidently expresses the destination’s goals and sense of belief in their dreams becoming a proud reality. Destinations rich in history, culture and tradition can effectively showcase and celebrate these features as pillars of the BRAND’s positioning and personality which inspire the future of the destination. Ultimately the destination BRAND should project a clarity of self-understanding of where the destination has come from and where it is going, acting as a source of traveler excitement and motivation to visit.

•

O-Originality: The destination BRAND must clearly, confidently and competitively tell a unique, authentic, compelling story about the destination. Creativity is critical. But beware creativity for creativity sake. The creative expression of the BRAND acts as a mirror of the creative spirit of the destination itself.

Importantly, having established the BRAND’s positioning, core messages and look & feel, it is critical to ensure consistency of messaging. A BRAND is s symbol of identification, understanding and trust. While creative expression of the BRAND may and should change over time, it is important to ensure that BRAND governance is applied towards the Destination Brand’s DNA – ie. its iconography, look and feel, strategic pillars, pay-off. Constant change of, or to, the BRAND’s DNA can result in target audience confusion, distrust of the promise being put forward in communication, and abandonment of interest in the destination.

•



I – Icons: each and every destination has leveraging and creating highly memorable, ownable and inspiring symbols uniquely associated with the destination. These may be, inter alia,:

o Natural environments

o Structures

o People

o Wildlife

o Sport

o Elements of Arts and culture

Destinations icons reflect the energy, possibility and pride of the nation. Anchoring the destination BRAND in icons enables the destination to ‘own’ truly unique elements of interest and attraction. Focus, however, should be few



icons. Destination branding is not a form of cataloguing the full range of experiences open to the traveler.

Ultimately the BRAND should seek to extend an invitation to not just see what travellers are wishing to experience for themselves, but also to discover beyond their expectations of experiences.

• C – Competitiveness: Importantly, a destination BRAND must be able to creatively, powerfully, positively and quickly grab and hold the attention and interest of travelers. Competitiveness of BRAND identity is critical to overall destination competitiveness on the global tourism map.

To truly stand out and achieve recognition, differentiation and interest, creative thought is required not just in the expression of the BRAND’s identity and core messaging, but also in the media mix which is used to achieve desired BRAND exposure. Strategic thought is required to ensure that the right messages are being sent out to the right people in the right mediums at the right time…and importantly, with the desired ROI.

Destination advertising clutter is a reality of the tourism sector, globally, with little chance that it will subside. Creativity in media execution is as important as creativity in BRAND expression to ensure that the destination BRAND’s voice is heard as powerfully, meaningfully and purely as possible.

• E – Experiential: Travel today is no longer simply about seeing and doing, it has become about feeling. Destinations which simply showcase static features of destination – places, sights, structures – risk failing to reach out and make an emotional connection with the traveler.

A destination BRAND which authentically and meaningfully showcases the rich opportunities for engagement of travelers with the destination – its people, its culture, its places, its nature -seeds the development of a relationship between the destination and the traveler. By bringing the destination BRAND to life through emphasis of a select scope of desirable experiences reflecting the pillars of the BRAND strategy, the destination unlocks a rich, powerful opportunity for pre-, during and post-traveler connection. In addition to enhancing the traveler experience to the destination, the destination secures a strong competitive edge vis a vis other destinations,



The power of a destination BRAND is clearly within its VOICE.

Destination BRANDS communicating with a clear, confident, consistent VOICE open themselves up to a world of possibility in growth, development, appreciation, competitive edge and, importantly, pride.

Self-identification in culture and heritage can be a great theme to pride ourselves on as Bangladeshis. For eras, we have been honoured for inheriting more than two thousand-year old civilization. The glorious background we belong to can easily put the whole nation into an image. The tourism is also not a new phenomenon in Bangladesh. So great were the attractions of Bangladesh that to quote a French traveller François Bernier 'it has a hundred gates open for entrance but not one for departure.' The mystic melody of our natural beauties lies in this single expression.

Since tourism captures the entire image of culture, heritage, history and natural beauty, it can rise up through a country's identification process. Branding is a consequence of this process. Conversely, destination branding is a very basic part of the whole marketing strategy of tourism business.

Branding a destination is an element of promoting tourism image which can be defined as just a set of associations that are linked to a particular country. Branding through tourism signifies the values of a country. It tells about the quality of the services and beauties that are offered by the country to its consumers. It tells how a country differs from other countries as its competitors. Hence building a good country brand image means achieving success in the tourism business.

A "brand image" is important for every tourist destination. If developed with awareness the brand serves to distinguish a destination from competing destinations. However some destinations do not have a brand strategy, and are supported by inconsistent advertising campaigns, creating a confused image to prospective customers. Image must be controlled by a clear projection of brand identity. Bangladesh needs this clear projection of self-identification right away.



When consumers decide on a destination for a holiday or a business conference, several "brands" compete for their attention. A strong brand is differentiated from others, has several strong advantages when compared to others, and has an attractive appeal to consumers. In tourism, while factors such as cost of travel, convenience, and quality of facilities are important, the strongest motivator is "image". Image puts a destination on the consumer's "shopping list" and creates an emotional appeal, which enhances that destination's chances of being chosen over others.

Recently a survey commissioned by the Malaysian Tourism Promotion Board reports: Singapore is seen, by a broad selection of travellers and tourist agents from the US, Japan, India, Germany, Australia, UK and Sweden as "clean, modern and safe". China's dominant image and attraction is "culture". Malaysia is seen as "multicultural with many beaches". Thailand has a brand image of "exotic, fun, and friendly people".

So, what's about Bangladesh? It will be really possible to heighten our image through collective contributions from our own national duties and responsibilities. Of course, image projection needs a continuous process. It will not take birth overnight; rather a vigilant gradual grooming of Bangladesh will be correlating to create a brand destination. Formal advertising and promotion of a country as a tourist destination in other nations may also have a great effect. If that image is unfocused or not clear, the destination will have difficulty competing with images created by competing countries. Advertising, PR and promotion must complement informal information obtained through word of mouth and personal recommendations, by either building upon the latter or correcting negative perceptions that may be incorrect.

Developing a strong image for Bangladesh as destination requires a carefully planned brand strategy based on:



· A well defined and unique brand personality

· Selection of the correct positioning strategies

· 'Themed' product development

· Consistent and appropriate advertising and promotion

· Careful brand guardianship

All the above must be built on a thorough understanding of consumer needs. Above all, the success of brand image development will depend on how the perceptions of consumers can be encouraged to believe that one destination is different and better than its competitors. This encourages consumer acquisition and retention, including extending the length of stay.

Normally all the branding campaigns will be decided by the advertising and management departments with a bit of top level management involvement. We should use the budget that has to be allocated to the branding campaigns in a very intelligent manner.

It will not be wise to start with a huge budget campaigns unless the country image is already a big brand. We have to spend amount sparingly in all the available advertising mediums and analyze the results from all the different mediums carefully. We need a deep marketing mix analysis. This will show us what advertising mediums are giving us a better brand image. Then we have to try to spend more amount on those mediums and try to analyze the possible steps we can take to better the brand visibility from the weaker mediums.



Destination branding process is a continuous work. It should go on until the country image takes a lasting shape in the industry. Otherwise there is a great chance of another country taking over the market share. If we follow these basic steps, it is definite that the brand image of Bangladesh will be quite healthy and in turn it would bring in the required Gross Democratic Product (GDP) growth.

Bangladeshi tourism has so much potential – if the right actions are taken: Views On Tourism

The presence of tourism in any destination always brings with it environmental and socio-cultural as well as economic impacts. This is why tourism internationally is often praised as an effective development tool, especially in rural areas and the developing world. A sustainable tourism development would no doubt have a major positive impact in Bangladesh.

Since the 1990s tourism has been a small but rapidly growing sector of the national economy. Nevertheless, Bangladesh is still one of the countries in the South Asian region with the least arrivals and the lowest revenue earned from the tourism industry. Sustainable tourism initiatives exist and demand is increasing, but sustainable tourism management is not widespread in the sector.

In 2008 World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), an international business leader forum, predicted that the Bangladeshi contribution from national Travel & Tourism to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will stay at 4% from 2009 to 2019. I 2009 these 4 percentage is expected to account for 244,8 billion Taka, which by 2019 will increase to 711,3 billion Taka. The Real GDP growth for the Bangladeshi Travel & Tourism Economy is hereby expected to be 3.5% in 2009 and increase to average 6.0% per annum over the next 10 years.

The low national travel and tourism investment is one obvious development obstacles. According the same WTTC report the Bangladeshi travel and tourism capital investment out of total investment 2009-2019 will drop from 4,1% to 3,9%. In 2009 this same period average South Asian investment is 7,7%, with no ten year forecast data available. Average figures for world travel and tourism investment capital out of total investment is 9,4% in 2009 and 9,3% in 2019.



Despite poor forecasts and multiple sector obstacles, several international players have highlighted Bangladesh as a desired tourism destination during the last couple of years. In terms of positive national tourism branding this kind of publicity is not even possible to buy for money.

1: Lonely Planet, which is in the world’s absolute leader in publishing travel guides and guidebooks, recommended Bangladesh in 2008 as one of the top ten interesting travel destination in 2009.

‘Let’s get this straight from the start. Bangladesh is not the country of disappointment as portrayed in ‘Brick Lane’ or by the international media, nor is it merely the poorly endowed cousin of India. Instead Bangladesh is a revelation that actually leaves India looking a little worse for a wear. Any visitor who ventures here will return home with stories so improbable that claiming you have a pet unicorn is likely to be met with fewer disbelieving shakes of the head.’

Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2009, p 6.

2: The publication of two Bangladeshi travel guides from successful international publishers.

The first Bradt travel guide on Bangladesh was published October 2009. This UK publisher is known as a pioneer in tackling ‘unusual’ destinations, for championing the causes of sustainable travel and for the high quality of writing. The back cover text states:

“Bangladesh has a reputation for being poor and beset by flooding, but this ‘republic of rivers’ rewards those willing to look beyond the headlines. […] Leave luxuries behind and embark on the richest of travel experiences among some of the sub-continent’s friendliest people”.

Lonely Planet published their 5th edition of their Bangladeshi travel guide in 2008, with the following introduction

“For all of its forests, temples, mosques, islands and beaches, the highlight of Bangladesh is Bangladesh” (p. 3).

3: The online worldwide New7Wonders of Nature campaign started in 2007 with more than 440 candidate locations from 220 countries. Represented Bangladeshi locations were Sundarbans, a mangrove forest already nominated



a UNESCO heritage site, and Cox’s Bazar beach. By global voting and expert selection the candidates have been narrowed down two times in July 2009 to 77 and 28 candidates. Sundarbans is still in the competition and voting will continue throughout 2010 and into 2011 to narrow down the candidates to 7. The winner of New7Wonders of Nature will be found during 2011.

Let there be no doubt, national as well as international; the Bangladesh tourism sector has indeed potential and a sustainable tourism development in Bangladesh is possible if will, knowledge, action and investment are joined. These are profound convictions of Majbritt Thomsen, a Danish expatriate with a MA in tourism, two years of living and traveling in Bangladesh, a study done on the potential of the Bangladeshi tourism sector for the Royal Danish Embassy, Dhaka, and contact with a variety of people related to the national tourism sector. This experience has showed her over and over again that there are many professional, motivated and visionary people, who can play an important role in a sustainable tourism development in Bangladesh.

The biggest barrier to a positive development of the Bangladeshi tourism sector, according to Majbritt Thomsen, is the lack of a consistent tourism vision based on cooperation, knowledge and sustainability. Late 2008 she launched the voluntary Views On Tourism Project, with an objective to facilitate Bangladeshi access to tourism knowledge and networking. A online knowledge base now consist of national, regional and international tourism knowledge, through more than 200 articles, 70 resource links and an overview of the national tourism players. A LinkedIn network group furthermore unites professional people, who are interested or related to the Bangladeshi tourism sector.

The long-term vision for the Views On Tourism Project is to create an active and innovating sustainable tourism movement. Activities, cooperation and services should aim at building tourism sector capacity as well as providing benefits not only for people who travel, but also for people in the communities they visit, and for their respective natural, social and cultural environments.

Destinations in Bangladesh

The Chittagong Hill Tracts have steep jungle hills, Buddhist tribal peoples and relatively low-density population. The tracts are about 60 km (37mi) east of



Chittagong, and are an idyllic place to tour. The region comprises a mass of hills, ravines and cliffs covered with dense jungle, bamboo, creepers and shrubs, and has four main valleys formed by the Karnapuli, Feni, Shangu and Matamuhur rivers, making it one of the most scenic tourist destinations in Bangladesh.

Cox’s Bazar is the top tourist sites of Bangladesh. It is the most attractive travel sites of Bangldesh and one of the best in all over the world. Cox’s Bazar Sea Beach of Bay of Bengal is the longest unbroken natural sea beach in the world. Cox Bazar is the best tourism place of Bangladesh for its plenty of tourist facilities. There are many hotels and lodge of different level waiting for the tourists. Our websites work as a tourist books for the enthusiastic tourists. As a top travel sites of Bangladesh, you can find a lot of things to do in Cox’s Bazar. Sand at the beach, shore and ocean of Cox’s Bazar blowing around you. When you to Cox Bazar, surrounding atmosphere of Cox Bazar compel you to feel that “ I am the king of Steeplechase”. All the elements of Cox Bazar seem sing the “Song of Ecstasy”. Cox’s Bazar is such kind of magical place. A trip to Cox’s Bazar will be your best kind of day. Cox’s Bazar Beach is sunny, warm and quiet. It is a calm and wonderful place to think vacation. Beach at sunset is a wonderful place to see off. You can move around the longest sea beach in the world frequently. You can walk through the world longest beach of Cox’s Bazar, take a sunbathe, get pleasure from the eye-catching scenery of sun set in Cox Bazar Sea Beach, enjoy surfing, boating, and hearing “Roar-Shwish…Shwish…” sound of the sea wave.

Rangamati is a lush and verdant rural area belonging to the Chakma tribe open to visitors, as is Kaptai Lake. The lake, ringed by thick tropical and semi-evergreen forests with the thatched fishing villages located on the lakeshore are what make a visit special, on tours to Bangladesh.

Puthia has the largest number of historically important Hindu structures in Bangladesh. The most amazing of the village's monuments that you can tour is the Govinda Temple, erected between 1823 and 1895 by one of the maharanis of the Puthia estate. It's a large square structure crowned by a set of miniature ornamental towers. It's covered by incredibly intricate designs in terracotta depicting scenes from Hindu epics, giving the appearance of been draped by a huge red oriental carpet. The ornate Shiva Temple is an imposing and excellent example of the five-spire Hindu style of temple architecture common in



northern India. The ornate temple has three tapering tiers topped by four spires. It is decorated with stone carvings and sculptural works. The village's 16-century Jagannath Temple another beautiful monument to tour. It is one of the finest examples of a hut-shaped temple: measuring only 5m (16ft) on each side; it features a single tapering tower that rises to a height of 10m (33ft). Its western facade is adorned with terracotta panels of geometric designs. It is one of the most fascinating tourist destinations in Bangladesh.

Saint Martin Island is a small coral island about 10 km (6mi) southwest of the southern tip of the mainland with beaches fringed with coconut palms and bountiful marine life. There is nothing more strenuous to do here than soak up the rays, but it is a clean and peaceful place. It is possible to walk around the island in a day because it measures only 8 sq km (3 sq mi), shrinking to about 5 sq km (2 sq mi) during high tide. Most of island's 5,500 inhabitants live primarily from fishing, and between October and April fisher people from neighboring areas bring their catch to the island's temporary wholesale market, a picturesque sight, which you can see on tours to Bangladesh.

The northern most district of the country, offers a number of attractions to the visitors. The Ramsagar (great sea) lake with rest houses is a good picnic spot that you can tour. The spot has facilities for fishing and rowing in a serene and quiet green countryside atmosphere. Kantanagar temple, the most ornate among the late medieval temples of Bangladesh is situated near Dinajpur town. Maharaja Pran Nath built it in 1752 A.D. The Maharja's palace with relics of the past centuries and local museum are worth a visit on tours to Bangladesh.

A pleasant and picturesque drive of 64 km. from Chittagong brings you to a huge expanse of emerald and blue water ringed with tropical forest. It is the famous man-made Kaptai Lake (680 sq. km) formed by damming the Karnaphuli river.Only 3 km. from Kaptai along Chittagong Road, lies the ancient Chit Morong Buddhist temple having beautiful Buddhist Statues. Other places of interest that you can tour in the Hill Tract districts include Chandraghona, Khagrachari and Bandarban all in picturesque surroundings.



Kuakata, locally known as Sagar Kannya (Daughter of the Sea) is a rare scenic beauty spot on the southernmost tip of Bangladesh. It is 70 km from Patuakhali district headquarters and 320 km from Dhaka. Kuakata offers excellent combination of the picturesque natural beauty, sandy beach, blue sky, huge expanse of water of the Bay and evergreen forest. Gateway to the Sundarbans abode of the Royal Bengal Tigers Khulna is an industrial town and Divisional Headquarter.Some of the biggest Jute mills in the country are located here. Khulna is connected with Dhaka by road and boat and by air via Jessore. Accommodation and eating facilities are available for tourists on tours to Bangladesh.

Enjoy the unspoiled nature with all its charm and majesty at Mongla. Spending some time inside the forest can be a rare treat for the lovers of nature on their tour of Mongla.

Rajshahi has seen the most glorious period of Bengal's Paul dynasty. Connected with Dhaka by road, rail, river and air, Rajshahi is located on the bank of the Padma River and is an exciting place to tour. It is famous for pure silk, mango and lichi. Attractive silk products are cheaper. A visit to Varendra Research Museum at the heart of the city for rich archaeological finds would be most rewarding. There are also a number of ancient mosques, shrines and temples in and around Rajshahi, which make it a favorite among tourist destinations in Bangladesh.

About 40 km. from Rajshahi by roads is Natore, an old seat of Maharajas with a beautiful palace now serving as the Uttara Ganabhaban (President's Official residence of the northern region). It was residence of the Dighapatiya Raj. It is situated amid well-kept grounds, surrounded by a fine moat. The buildings are modern. They include a well-equipped guesthouse, an imposing gateway and a fine garden decorated with statues of white marble.



Greater Mymensingh lies from the foot of the Garo Hills in the north down to the plains of Dhaka in the south. Along the northern frontier of the district there are many aboriginal tribes such as Garos, Hajongs and Kochis who are ethnically quite distinct from the people around them. Mymensingh has earned a notable position in Bengali literature as the birth place of rich folklores and folk songs.Visit the national park and game sanctuary at Madhupur about 160 km. from Dhaka. There are a number of reserve forests in the area with rest houses and picnic spots. World famous painter Zainul Abedin's Art Gallery at Mymensingh carries the boyhood memories of national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.

Nestled in the picturesque Surma Valley amidst scenic tea plantations and lush green tropical forests, greater Sylhet is a prime attraction for all tourists visiting Bangladesh. Laying between the Khasia and the Jaintia hills on the north, and the Tripura hills on the south, Sylhet breaks the monotony of the flatness of this land by a multitude of terraced tea gardens, rolling countryside and the exotic flora and fauna. Here the thick tropical forests abound with many species of wildlife, spread their aroma around the typical hearth and homes of the Mainpuri Tribal maidens famous for their dance. A beautiful, winding pair of rivers Surma and the Kushiara fed by innumerable hill streams from the north and the south forms the Sylhet valley. The valley has good number of haors that are big natural depressions. During winter these haors are vast stretches of green land, but in the rainy season they turn into turbulent seas. These haors provide a sanctuary to the millions of migratory birds who fly from Siberia across the Himalayas to avoid the severe cold there.

About 80 km. from Sylhet town connected by road and rail, Srimangal, is known as the tea capital of Bangladesh. For miles and miles around, the visitor can see, the tea gardens spread like a green carpet over the plain land or on the sloping hills. A tour of the tea plantation in Sylhet is a memorable experience on tours to Bangladesh.

Why National Image Matters –

When we started writing about an idea we called ‘nation brand’ nearly fifteen years ago, I made a simple observation: that the reputations of countries are



very much like the brand images of companies and products. We suggested that a country’s image is just as important to its progress and prosperity as a company’s brand is to its success in the marketplace, because it exerts so much influence over the behaviours and attitudes of that country’s ‘target audiences’: foreign investors, tourists, consumers, students, entrepreneurs, trading partners, the media, other governments, donors, multilateral agencies, or any number of other constituencies.

Today, every country, city and region on earth must compete with every other for its share of the world’s commercial, political, social and cultural transactions in what is virtually a single market. As in any busy marketplace, brand image becomes critical: almost nobody has the time, the patience or the expertise to understand the real differences between the offerings of one country and another, and so people fall back on their fundamental beliefs and prejudices about those countries to help them make their decisions. Just as in the commercial marketplace that ‘brand image’ provides a short cut to an informed buying decision.

Countries with a reputation for being poor, uncultured, backward, dangerous or corrupt will find that everything they or their citizens try to achieve outside their own neighborhood is harder, while countries that are lucky or virtuous enough to have acquired a positive reputation find everything easier. Their brand goes before them like a calling card that opens doors, creates trust and respect, and raises the expectation of quality, competence and integrity. In this way, the reputation of a country has a direct and measurable impact on just about every aspect of its engagement with other countries, and plays a critical role in its economic, social, political and cultural progress.

For the travel and tourism industry, national image is fundamentally important. The tourist board needs to ‘sell the country’ to a vast international audience of ordinary consumers as well as a highly informed professional cadre of tour operators and other influencers, and the background reputation of the country ultimately determines whether that ‘selling’ process is easy or difficult, expensive or cheap, simple or complex – and whether it gets gradually easier



and more efficient over time, or whether it remains forever a struggle. A country’s reputation determines whether its messages are welcomed, and whether they are believed.

This is the reason why the concept of destination branding has become so important. The idea of ‘brand equity’ sums up the idea that if a place, product or service acquires a positive, powerful and solid reputation, this becomes an asset of enormous value – probably more valuable, in fact, than all its tangible assets, because it represents the ability of the place or organisation to continue to trade at a healthy margin for as long as its brand image stays intact. Brand equity also represents the ‘permission’ given by a loyal consumer base for the company or country to continue producing and developing its product range, innovating, communicating and selling to them.

Put simply, a destination with a powerful and positive image needs to do less work and spend less money on promoting itself to the marketplace, because the marketplace already believes what it is telling them. It merely has to help buyers find and purchase the product.

But destinations with powerful brands have a different task, one that destinations with weak brands do not have. Just like any respected corporation, a highly regarded place has a big responsibility to ensure that the reality always lives up to its reputation. Indeed, in order to protect itself against competitors, such a place must exceed expectations through constant innovation. This task can of course be just as costly and just as challenging as building a reputation in the first place, but having a good reputation does at least provide a steady flow of revenue to fund this work on the ‘product’ itself; so at one level, brand equity is as much about cash flow as anything else.

The idea of destination branding is important because it takes into account these important questions relating to the deliberate capture and accumulation of reputational value. Ordinary tourism promotion, when it is carried out with no particular long-term national strategy in mind apart from



growth, is an endless cycle which may or may not lead to real progress in the longer term.

Unlike brand management, it is mainly about selling. It can certainly be effective at doing this, but unless the selling is directed and driven by an underlying brand strategy, there is little chance that the country as a whole will acquire any substantial brand equity, and so the promotional task never gets any easier or cheaper, and there is little chance that a price premium will ever be justified in the eyes of the consumer. The basic principle of destination branding is that every act of promotion, exchange or representation needs to be seen not as an end in itself but as an opportunity to build the country’s image and reputation.

Today, nobody really doubts that understanding, measuring, and even managing the ‘nation brand’ is one of the primary tasks of responsible governments and businesses, or that this brand equity is the fundamental currency of all tourism promotion. But the all-important question of what – if anything – can actually be done to enhance or maintain a positive reputation, is barely understood at all.

Where national image comes from All countries, at some level, get the reputation they deserve, and the only absolutely sure way to achieve a good ‘nation brand’ is to become a fair, prosperous, well-run and successful country. The problem, however, is that national reputation exerts enormous inertia, and generations can pass before improvements in the reality of the country eventually result in an improved image. It is because this process can take so long if left to ‘natural’ forces that nation branding, believed to be a technique with the power to shorten this problematic lag, creates so much interest. We would be the first to admit that ‘nation branding’ is an unfortunate expression, since it seems to imply that branding the nation is both a desirable and a possible thing for countries or their governments to do. We



would argue that branding – the act of reducing something chaotic, complex and contradictory to something simple, memorable and potent – is exactly the wrong thing for most countries to attempt. Branding is more like a problem than a solution, and it is in fact exactly what public opinion does to countries. What countries and their governments need to do is fight against this tendency of public opinion to brand the nation, not to assist in the process. The ‘stickiness’ of national image is mainly due to the fact that most people do not think very much or know very much about other countries: those simple, widely-accepted narratives about other countries are so deeply rooted in the culture of the populations which subscribe to them that they become virtually impossible to shift. To imagine that such fundamental beliefs can be affected by so weak an instrument as marketing communications is an extravagant delusion. The role of communications Marketing communications can be an excellent tool for selling vacations and other products and services, but not for manipulating fundamental cultural precepts like national image. The nation’s image was not built through communications, and it cannot be changed through communications. Managing the nation’s image is not an advertising, design or public relations exercise, although of course these techniques are essential for promoting the things that the country makes and does: its tourism and heritage attractions, its companies and their products and services, its music and art and other cultural products, its sport, its people, its investment and employment opportunities. The quality of the marketing done by all of these stakeholders, and the consistency between the different messages they send out about the place, are important factors in the way the place builds up its reputation – and of course good advertising often plays a major part in creating the positive tourism brands that many countries enjoy today. But a good destination brand is not at all the same thing as a positive, famous, well-rounded national reputation, one that stimulates attention, respect, good relations and good business in every aspect of the country’s



International engagements. The fact of the matter is that no single national stakeholder – the tourist board, the investment promotion agency, the corporate sector, civil society, exporters, central government and so forth – is in control of all the factors that affect its business, so it is essential that they work together. This is especially true of smaller countries, which, thanks to the rapid advance of globalization, find themselves competing every day against countries with far greater resources. For a small country to stand any chance of making its voice heard in this huge global marketplace, it is absolutely essential that it fires on all cylinders, and that everything the country does, says and makes, somehow reinforces the same basic story, the same values, the same personality, the same tone of voice. It is only once a country really learns how to be itself that it can start to exert some influence over its international reputation, and to start to benefit properly from that asset. About Competitive Identity Once it is accepted that communication alone cannot alter a negative or outdated national image, the critical question becomes whether it is indeed possible to close up that gap by other means (assuming, of course, that the country in question does actually deserve a better reputation than it has). Hence the concept of Competitive Identity, a phrase I have coined in preference to the misleading term ‘nation branding’ to describe what is essentially a plan for mobilizing the strategies, activities, investments, innovations and communications of as many national sectors as possible, both public and private, into a concerted drive to prove to the world that the nation deserves a different, broader and more positive image. The theory of Competitive Identity takes its cue from the way in which country images are naturally formed. By accident more often than by design, most countries engage with the outside world, and so create their images, through six basic areas of activity: 1. Their tourism promotion, as well as people’s first-hand experience of visiting the country as tourists or business travellers. 2. Their exported products and services, which act as powerful ambassadors for each country and region when their place of origin is explicit.



3. The policy decisions of the country’s government, whether it is foreign policy which directly affects the ‘audience’, or domestic policy reported in the international media. 4. To business audiences, the way the country solicits inward investment, and recruitment of foreign entrepreneurs, workers, researchers and students. 5. Through cultural exchange, cultural exports and import. 6. The people of the country themselves: politicians, media and sports stars as well as the population in general; how they behave when abroad and how they treat visitors to their country. The basic theory of Competitive Identity states that improved coordination between the points of the hexagon, the joint development of a national strategy, more sharing of resources and expertise, the encouragement of innovation and the establishment of common standards and quality measures can achieve a great deal. Even a modest amount of such ‘joining up’ tends to result in a more effective management of national reputation than most countries currently achieve, or ever have done. Why tourism matters The main business of a tourist board is selling vacations, however, and vacations are products. Compared to the mysteries of national image, destination marketing is a relatively straightforward business: as long as the tourist board has enough marketing expertise, resources and patience, it can be fairly sure of increasing tourism arrivals. Tourism has a secondary impact, however, which is less well recognised, and which makes it one of the few means by which the overall ‘brand image’ of a country can in fact be enhanced. A pleasant holiday experience self-evidently has the power to change the ‘brand image’ of that country, quickly and possibly forever, in the mind of the holidaymaker. People often abandon their preconceptions about countries once they visit them: for those individuals at least, the country stops being a brand and becomes a real country. Indeed there is some evidence from the Nation Brand Index to show that preference for a country and its people, politics, culture and products tends to increase as a result of any personal experience of that country, even when the holiday experience is not positive.



This factor is significant, because people talk to other people about their holidays. If enough people visit the country, especially if they are an influential Demographic, then over time this can create a measurable improvement in the country’s overall international image. And of course it is a virtuous circle: the better the image, the more people will want to visit the country. So it follows that destination marketing, in addition to its primary purpose of encouraging visits, can play an important secondary role in helping visitors to form a compelling personal narrative about the country, which enhances their power as ‘viral agents’ or informal advocates for the country’s brand once they return home. The way in which the destination is marketed, the ‘brand story’ that it tells, is passed on by satisfied visitors to other prospects, and eventually becomes a powerful agent for widespread social marketing effects. It is worth remembering when one is creating marketing messages that one is not simply engaging in a temporary monologue with a primary audience: one is also building a story which, if it is good enough, can take on a life of its own and circulate around the marketplace for a long time, building the brand and making further sales. The challenges of destination branding For this and for many other reasons, the integration of tourism and tourism promotion into the overall nation brand strategy is to be encouraged: but this integration brings real challenges. The main challenge is about balanced representation of the country. Tourism is frequently the ‘loudest voice’ in communicating the country; the tourism sector often has the biggest marketing budgets and the most experienced marketers of any sector. This can, over many years, have the effect of drowning out the economic, political, industrial and even cultural voices, and creates a skewed, ‘soft’, leisure-oriented nation brand which conflicts with the country’s reputation as an exporter of quality products, a serious political player, a technological power, or a suitable destination for investment. One way of avoiding this trap is for tourist boards to ensure that they always take care to properly represent the reality of the country’s population in their marketing. Empty landscapes, in any case, tend to be less effective images for



tourism promotion since the cultural aspects of tourism are so important to travelers; and stereotyped representations of smiling natives in national dress are seldom very convincing. Tourism promotion that gives some sense of the real abilities and real activities of the population is likely to be more engaging, more convincing, more agreeable to the population itself (which is, after all, the ‘product’ which is being ‘sold’ and therefore has a large stake in the process), and is less likely to set up images of the country which will clash with its economic, political or industrial reality. The second challenge is objectivity. Of all the qualities needed by those who are responsible for nurturing a country’s image, objectivity is one of the most valuable, and one of the hardest to achieve. After all, Marketing Directors who are responsible for marketing a product are generally salaried employees, are seldom the inventor or manufacturer of the product, and so do not find it too difficult to take a cool, objective view of the brand they are building: indeed, good ones are valued precisely because of their ability to see the brand in the same way as the consumer. But when the product doesn’t come out of a factory, but is the homeland of the people trying to market it – where they and their parents were born, raised, schooled and trained – objectivity becomes an extremely elusive quality. A lack of objectivity can be fatal to the image strategy of a country, no matter how good the intentions at the start. Typically, I find communications departments in ministries producing lists of their country’s achievements and natural advantages: the nation’s most distinguished sons and daughters, the role it has played in world events, its own major historical moments, gems of architecture and natural beauty, regional cuisine, language and folklore, all served up with pages of indigestible demographics and statistics about GDP and income per capita. From the point of view of a busy consumer halfway across the world, of course, the historical achievements and natural advantages of most countries are of little interest, and seldom add up to anything that could be described as a coherent or powerful brand. Indeed, since Competitive Identity is most urgently needed by the smaller, poorer and newer countries, it is all the more likely that such facts will seem pretty unimpressive to the detached observer. On more than one occasion, I have been faced with the tricky task of gently explaining to a very proud and very patriotic minister that the world will not be enthralled by the fact that the world’s first metal suspension bridge was invented by a man



whose grandfather came from his country, or that over sixty different species of wild grass grow along his eastern coastline. There is a real risk for smaller countries with limited achievements simply confirming the world’s belief that they are a smaller country with limited achievements, by telling people about the handful of world-class or nearly world-class assets they have, and of which they are greatly and perhaps justifiably proud. But the fact is that the potential tour operator or tourist is already comparing them with countries that are in a completely different league, and their expensive marketing will simply serve to emphasize the differences, to their own disadvantage. Rather than attempt to measure themselves up against much bigger, richer or more successful countries, it is far better for countries to identify where their real genius lies, their unique abilities or potential that really do put them in a class of their own. This potential may well be the result of their small size, small population or small economy, not something that they manage to achieve despite it. All countries, if they look hard enough, will find something that is uniquely theirs, and inherently competitive. The ability to see one’s own country, its people, its achievements and its landscape through the eyes of an indifferent consumer on the other side of the world, through the complex lenses and filters of an entirely different culture, is an indispensable skill for all those involved in promoting the nation. Proper consumer research and communications testing is one facet of this, but unless the research findings are fully ‘internalized’ by marketers and become part of their own perspective, they are unlikely to create real objectivity. Dealing with negative reputation A problem often faced by countries in our security-obsessed age is knowing how to deal with a negative national reputation. The problem is that stories about war, terrorism, poverty, disease, corruption, crime and violence – whether entirely justified or not – tend to spread very rapidly, to be instantly believed, and to last for a very long time, playing havoc with a country’s tourism promotion efforts. If we want people to change from the story they currently believe about a country, we have to give credit to their attachment to that story. As I have often said, they are very warmly attached to it: it is simple, credible, and functional,



and it has helped them reduce the complexity of a global world, possibly for decades. They believe it because it works, and because it is interesting. Unfortunately, negative or shocking stories are very often more interesting than good or positive or pleasant stories. But there is simply no point in expecting people to trade down voluntarily from this ‘bad’ narrative to a ‘good’ one that’s less interesting. The significant factor to bear in mind when attempting to correct a negative reputation, therefore, is not whether the story we are telling suits our purposes better, or even whether it is more true than what people already believe: all that matters is whether it is more interesting and more relevant than what they already believe. Unless it is, they simply will not transfer their interest, and will continue to believe what they have always believed. Tourist boards can not and should not ignore negative national reputation. It is essential that any areas of negative reputation are fully researched and fully understood before they are allowed to influence a country’s marketing plans: this may sound like an obvious point, but it is surprising how many countries and their tourist boards will react to what they believe is a negative perception without first establishing the nature, the extent and the causes of that reputation in a rigorous and robust way. Proper benchmarking, accountability, transparency and clear goals for marketing are equally essential: all the parties involved need to agree on what constitutes a successful outcome for any marketing or ‘branding’ plan, and to agree on how this outcome will be measured. This is only proper, given that it is usually taxpayer or donor funds that are spent on such initiatives. Dealing with negative reputation is a matter of treading a careful line between tacitly acknowledging the problems (which if overdone can raise the profile of those problems to people who weren’t worried about them, or even introduce them to people who didn’t know about them), and appearing to ignore or even lie about them. Obviously, marketing communications is not the right medium for addressing issues such as security, foreign policy or human rights, and neither is the tourist board the right body to comment on such things. This is simply another example of how important it is for all sectors to work together when national image is at stake: policy makers need to address the problems directly (tackling the negative) while tourism shows that the country is still in business



and still a viable destination (emphasizing the positive). Support from the culture and business sectors can be very helpful in establishing the positive side to the national ‘story’. Business travel The question of non-leisure visits, or what is sometimes called the meetings industry, is worth singling out for particular emphasis in this context. As leisure and even cultural tourism tend to be seasonal in nature, and as the natural or climatic attractions of many countries do not enable them to compete at a truly global level, it is essential that the business side of tourism is developed to the highest possible standard. Business visitors, as is well known, tend to bring many more ‘knock-on benefits’ than leisure visitors: not only do they spend more money than tourists on subsistence and accommodation and transport, but they also bring influence and connections, which can lead directly or indirectly to academic, financial, commercial, sporting, cultural and political investment for the city. However, the meetings industry is quite different in nature to leisure tourism, and one should not make the mistake of conflating the two: apart from anything else, the fact that one involves consumer marketing while the other is strictly B2B means that they should be handled in quite different ways, by different people, and with separate budgets.

The environment A final, crucial point concerns the environment, a subject which increasingly dominates the agenda of the tourism industry. An interesting finding which has come out of the Nation Brands Index is how consumer tastes and values appear to change somewhat faster than national image and reputation. As I have often said, country images really do not change very much; people need these comforting stereotypes that enable them to put countries in convenient pigeon-holes, and only abandon them if they really have no other choice.



People’s views of global issues, on the other hand, change much more rapidly. National images move slowly because most people spend so little time thinking about other countries: if a person in Canada or South Africa or India spends a few moments each year thinking about Italy or Chile or Japan, it is not surprising if their perception of those countries remains largely unchanged for years on end. But on the other hand, people in Canada and South Africa and India may spend several minutes every day thinking about big issues like climate change, poverty, war and diseases, religion, the cost of living, oil prices and whatever else is in the media, so public opinion on these topics changes relatively fast and relatively frequently. So it follows that a country’s image is more likely to be affected by a change in the relevance of its image for its target audience – in other words, to go out of fashion – than by an inherent loss of attraction in that image. Judging by the profiles of the countries that most people now admire, three areas of reputation have become critical in recent years: 1. A country’s perceived environmental credentials. This is rapidly becoming a mandatory requirement for a country’s acceptance into the community of nations, and a critical factor in the decision-making process of tourists, consumers and others. 2. A country’s perceived competence and productivity in technology, which is a proxy for modernity: people, on the whole, admire modern countries. 3. A country’s attractiveness as a place of learning and economic and cultural self-improvement: a destination for personal advancement. It is clear that the first of these areas is of particular concern to the tourist industry. Basic levels of environmental awareness and protection are increasingly seen by consumers as the ‘cost of entry’ into the marketplace, and there is no longer anything very special about countries that offer ‘green’ vacations and talk loudly about their commitment to protecting their natural environment. As time passes, it becomes increasingly necessary for countries to show real innovation, real action, real leadership and above all demonstrable results in this area. ‘Green wash’ just will not wash, and as in every aspect of the fascinating field of national image and reputation, actions will always speak louder than words.



In fact, if destination marketers only remember one piece of advice, it had better be this. Do not think about what to say next; think about what to do.


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