Greg Bishop is an Associate Consultant of GDP Global and a freelance marketing consultant, based in London. He has seven years’ marketing experience with a focus on branding and new...
The effectiveness of a place brand or a company’s brand can make the difference between success and failure. It’s not by chance that Orange is perceived as a friendlier brand compared to its commercial competitor Vodafone, or that Nike is seen as more of a fashion brand compared to Reebok’s athletic image.
Yet, there is often confusion as to what a brand is, how it works and how places can best use it to increase economic value. The easiest way to understand brands is to think of them as personalities. For example, if Virgin Mobile was a person, it would probably behave in a cheeky, rebellious but likeable fashion whereas IKEA would be an honest, down to earth individual, the sort of person you could rely on.
Weak brands often omit mixed messages which confuse and alienate their customers.
In marketing terms a brand’s personality consists of a combination of core values such as honesty, innovation and reliability. And that is what you should be asking of your place brand.
Do you have a brand “personality” that means something relevant, important, maybe unique, to potential investors, and to the local economic stakeholders? Does it establish your location distinctly from other competing locations?
Read my next blog for examples of good place branding, and then follow my brand audit to assess the identity and strength of your own brand.
