Comments

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  Paul Barnett January 26, 2010 at 11:19pm

  David, I think you miss read what I wrote. I was making the point that I, and my brother as Brits, not Latin Americans, both automatically spelt it Andalucia. I asked several other Brits since as out of interest, ok not scientific, but not one so far has spelt it with an S. And, I am damn sure they don´t change the spelling when they look it up on google. So it is a marketing issue.
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  David Paul Appell January 26, 2010 at 9:28pm

  We don't give a flying hoo-ha how Latin America spells Anda, the discussion is how we spell it in English...and most media outlets still go, correctly, for "Andalusia." Marketing be darned! Nobody has still given me a valid reason why we should change our terminology anyway.
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  Alan 'Brand' Williamson January 26, 2010 at 9:24pm

  The Brand of Oz
  
  Australia's Big Day: After its national celebrations, could Brand Australia find its future-focused big idea to reverse its decline in visitor numbers from its key markets?
  
  Discuss and debate please...
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  Rossitza Ohridska-Olson January 23, 2010 at 8:21pm

  Thanks a lot to everybody to update me with the fact that Andalucia has a new national campaign. I hope it is a success, since the advertising is very nice. I don't agree with the generic "Andalucia loves you", and the logo approach. I also don't know if there is a research made about how the Spaniards for the rest of the country think about Andalucia - a place for tourism? A place for business? Etc. Because, 12 years ago when I left Spain, the Andalucians were considered by rest of the Spaniards lazy, gypsies, not speaking correct (understand "Castellian") Spanish, left behind in economy and progress. Only the culture (monuments and sites such as the Alhambra and Cordoba, Flamenco dances and songs) had a positive image - the rest was very negative among all other provinces. If this had changed, I will be very happy. I love Andalucia, its passionate and exaggerated way of communication, its deep roots in the past, and the friendly people, who really love you, no matter where you come from.
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  Rossitza Ohridska-Olson January 23, 2010 at 8:08pm

  Regarding Andalucia: it is very important to spell it with C, because in Castillian Spanish there is a difference in the pronunciation. For the Latin American countries there is not difference, that is why it's often misspelled.
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  David Paul Appell January 23, 2010 at 6:47pm

  With all this fuss about Haiti, and cruise ships visiting, and so forth, the question of what such a devastated country -- yet one still with something of a tourism industry, and actually several fascinating attractions -- means as a brand might be an interesting subject of discussion. There's talk about using this disaster as a way of wiping the slate clean (to the extent that's possible) and trying a new and more intensive approach to rebuilding the country. Is there any hope at all of salvaging the tourism brand, and if so how long might something like that take?
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  Paul Barnett January 21, 2010 at 12:55am

  For the record I just asked my brother to spell the name, without explaining why. Straight our he spelt it with a "c", not an "s". If he wa doing a google search my guess is he would do the same.
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  Paul Barnett January 21, 2010 at 12:52am

  Andalucia or Andalusia. My only comment on this is that I am English, but without thinking spelt it Andalucia, so ummmm? The whole subject is quite interesting really, of course I am in Brasil, not Brazil. Personally I like to knwo the real name, something more authentic about it. And, English carnival is carnaval. From a practical communication perspectives the differences a pain, I guess how you decide t play it depends who you are talking to?
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  Alan 'Brand' Williamson January 20, 2010 at 9:24pm

  David
  I think there's another aspect in play here, and that is the length of the brand name. English language versions generally tend to be shorter and therefore easier to say.
  
  So
  Turin (2-syllables) vs Torino (3-syllables)
  Rome (1-syllable) vs Roma (2-syllables)
  Milan (2-syllables) vs Milano (3-syllables)
  Italy (3-syllables) vs Italia (4-syllables)
  
  Hey, what's with the Italian brand names? Maybe I'm letting my bias towards my favourite European country show. Ciao.
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  David Paul Appell January 20, 2010 at 9:00pm

  Thanks Alan, I don't think I'd heard that one before. Do you think that applies to Turin vs. Torino, as well? It's just that I can't think of any good reason why we suddenly have to change how we refer to certain destinations that have perfectly good traditional names in English (and the adjectival form, "Andalucian," seems particularly clumsy). For political changes, yes, of course -- Belize instead of British Honduras, for example, or Zimbabwe from Rhodesia. But even then...the case isn't entirely closed on Burma vs. Myanmar!