Destination branding is about communities because the reputation of a destination is built by the people who feel connected to it and this starts with understanding the shared sense of identity, belonging, and purpose. It is about destination stakeholders doing imaginative things because reputations are built by creating relevant buzz, which is done by reinforcing and showcasing identity in original, creative, innovative, captivating, and inspiring initiatives that show the world what the destination is about to build a distinctive, relevant, authentic, consistent and memorable reputation needed for successful tourism development, investment promotion, talent attraction, and export marketing.
Participants in this Masterclass will learn about countries, cities/counties or regions to be admired, they need a sense of belonging and purpose in order to do amazing imaginative things befitting their character while captivating others to look at the nation, city/county, or the region as a "Brand" is an idea that is gaining momentum internationally.
Objectives
At the end of this masterclass, participants will be able to:
- Appreciate the importance and potential of branding, substance, symbolic actions, and communication (incl. public diplomacy).
- Distinguish place branding, place image, and place reputation in a globalizing world where the physical is increasingly interlinked with the virtual;
- Create a strong brand through a co-creation process with consumers and members of a wide network associated with the destination brand.
- Develop a destination brand identity for a place, city/county, or region.
- Assess selected destinations and propose a destination brand positioning;
- Evaluate destination brand equity measurement and tracking.
