For anyone in or interested in the tourism industry to explore issues associated with branding a country, region, destination, attraction, hotel, tour etc
A look at the top international hotel brands of 2026
It will come as no surprise to anyone thatin the world of hospitality, chain dominate as they have done for quite some time. And here I take a look at the world´s top brands and sub-brands, ranked in order of size and influence - and while most are familiar, there are a couple which might not be (thanks, China!). read post
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Paul, many thanks for keeping the creative conversation rolling. I aim to deal with your insightful questions below which as you will soon see, takes us to a new, rarely-explored destination - where the cultural source codes that drive our behaviour patterns live in the dark recesses of our sub-conscious minds – our tour guides being cultural anthropologists and regression analysts, who take people back to their earliest imprints – the most impressionable times of their lives - usually when they're 7-8 years old.
Q: “ ...if 'Home of the American Dream' and / or 'Decade of Hope' are the big brand idea, I would say that there is hardly any re-positioning in that.”
A: Spot on! Which is why it is vital for destination brands to be perceived as a brand leader in their market category. The market will quickly forgive and forget any mis-steps as the brand recovers and continues its leadership role to a fabulous future. Recall how Brand France, the world's No.1 destination, recovered from a series of international boycotts when it triggered a nuclear test in the Pacific despite worldwide condemnation. I very much hope that an Obama-led Brand America will do the same. Time will only tell.
Q: “Were tourists ever attracted by the American Dream?”
A: No, if you use the traditional focus group methodology, because people oftentimes can only respond based on information in their conscious mind. But we are now beginning to improve our understanding that people's behaviours are driven by their sub-conscious minds – the repository of their earliest imprints – and sadly they cannot easily articulate why they do or not do things – until and unless they are regressed to their early childhood.
Brand Australia's recent tourism campaigns in the US and elsewhere – 'In a different light' & 'Where the bloody hell are you?' - are good examples of campaigns that tested well in focus groups but failed in the marketplace. You see, the cultural source code for Australia in America is CROCODILE DUNDEE: tough, rough & macho.
So, let's now speculate how 'American Dream' generates tourism among two of the world's most frequent traveller nations: The Germans and the English.
First, most of America's man-made destination sub-brands – Disneyland, Las Vegas, New York – were all influenced by 'American Dream'.
Next, the culture source code for America in Germany is JOHN WAYNE: the benevolent cowboy who rode into town and tamed the wild west frontier so Americans could build their dream. Also the American GI's (cowboys) rode into town (on their tanks) and saved the ordinary Germans during their darkest hour in their history.
However, for the English, the cultural source code for America is ABUNDANTLY BIG: super-sized meals, long & wide freeways, tall skyscrapers.
There is a further complication and that is the code for the Germans in Germany is ORDER or The Rules while for the English in England it's CLASS or Higher Social Status. 'American Dream', the code for Americans in America, must align itself to 'John Wayne/Order' and 'Abundantly Big/Class' if Brand America is to continue to attract two of the world's most frequent traveller nations.
Paul, we live in interesting times, with globalism triggering tribalism, and multi-culturalism spreading like wildfire throughout the world - online and offline. It's the journey not the destination which might prove to be the most valuable aspect for us brand developers.
Regarding Brand America, for sure I agree that Brand America may get the re-positioning it badly needs after the damge done in the last decade. But, if "Home of the American Dream" and / or "Decade of Hope" are the big brand idea, I would say that there is hardly any re-positioning in that. Sure, Obama´s policy changes may help re-establish the American dream for many, but are they going to attract more tourists? And, were tourists ever attracted by the American Dream?
I am not really following the logic, but am keeping an open mind and hope you will share your views. And yes, we will keep the discussion rolling!
Arguably, Brand America: Home of the American Dream, is one of the best examples, where anybody, including immigrants, have the 'freedom' to pursue their dream. From tourism (eg. Destination Disneyland & Las Vegas) to economic development (eg. Destination Wall St & Silicon Valley).
Over the last decade, however, Brand America has 'exported' its brand of 'freedom' using military might on a false premise. But in this new Obama-led decade of 'Hope', Brand America has a new chance to re-position itself at home and abroad as once again the Home of the American Dream. Time will only tell.
I shall soon be blogging about how Singapore could find its 'uniquely' big brand idea within its cultural collisions and contradictions - the mother-lode of many big brand ideas, in order to accelerate its international visitors from 8 million to over 10 million. And hopefully this would inspire other Asian country brands such as India to find its own big brand idea so it can attract more than its non-so-incredible 5 million international visitors - despite being the world's largest democracy.
Paul, it would be great if you could inspire the South American countries starting with Brazil. Perhaps land-locked Boliva, one of the poorest South American countries, could be a source of inspiration?
Let's keep the creative conversation going!
'Brand' the Marketect says: "Ditch the superlatives and re-position on a future-focused big brand idea"
I agree with Paul Barnett that more channels are used, faster a new tagline or logo proliferates. Also, if the shift is very dramatic. The United States required only one year and one President to dramatically shift its image abroad. That still doesn't mean that the country has strong brand for tourism. The USA is rated very low for culture, for example, in spite the great cultural importance that it has for the world. Or in nature, or beaches, etc.
A brand to become successful destination brand (or the way in this group is called "Tourism Brand") it needs:
1. Branding all assets for tourism, not only one aspects
2. Proliferating the brand in all possible channels. See brand Hong Kong - it is from commercials to shopping bags, and from youtube to national carriers, boats, city transportation, "Made in...." labels, etc.
3. Converting all stakeholders, including the local population into brand ambassadors, not only leaving the efforts to the marketers and advertisers. For the USA to become this year brand Nr. one there were millions (from the plazas in Berlin and New York to every single home) of people investing their hope in President Obama and becoming its evangelists around the world.
In answer to the question, how long does re-branding take and does it recquire a lot of commercials - for sure it is not a quick. How long depends on how well the concept was conceived, how inclusive and well supported it is by stakeholders, whether the reality matches the message being presented and of course communication to establish awareness. The communication should be a broad mix to include some commercials, but these days I think the emphasis should be much more focused on new media and PR as a means to communicating stories, something hard to do in a commercial. As the market has fragmented so much, and people look for different sources of value when travelling commercials are a less effective solution when trying to communicate different messages to different tourist niches. It is far better to narrowcast in a trageted way, than broadcast in a generic way in this situation, especially in terms of value for money. The real importance is in carefully identifying the match between the value that can be offered, which segments to appeal to, and the best way to talk to each group. I also suggest that branding should be ongoing and evolutionary, not re-branding everytime the story gets tired or looses appeal.
Another very good example of Korea. As they have re- branded them self third time in 2007 " Sparkling Korea" and still on the top list of international tourist destination.
I would like to understand how much time a brand takes to go for re- branding phase or it is just a perception of the NTO's or Marketing company where lots of commercials involve.???
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