Jeremy Hildreth Getting Reputation of Places Right

transcript

“Doing” place branding right:

axioms | questions | techniques

Jeremy Hildreth

Creative director, WhereBrands (UK)

Kyiv, Ukraine, 8 December 2010

From Confessions of a Dangerous Mind:

“When you‟re young, your potential is infinite. You

might do anything. Nearly. You might be

Einstein...you might be DiMaggio.

“Then you get to an age when what you might be

gives way to what you have been.

“You weren‟t Einstein. You weren‟t anything.

“That’s a bad moment.”

With a place this moment never comes.

You are always young.

You always have potential.

So okay…

Right now, you are not Sweden.

You are not California.

You are you.

Make the most of that.

The meta-process:

1. Figure what your story is.

2. Determine what your story should be.

3. Tell the revised story directly.

4. Get the revised story told indirectly.

5. Make the story stronger and more true.

Five axioms of place branding:

1. Brand image and brand identity are not the

same thing.

2. There‟s only so much “best practice” one place

can learn from another.

3. By and large, you must earn your reputation.

4. Perceptions are stickier than you think.

5. If you can‟t be perfect, you can at least be

interesting.

1st axiom of place branding:

Brand image and brand identity are not the

same thing.

“Brand”

Brand image/reputation

Brand identity

Let’s be clear:

Logos, flags, colours, songs, websites and so on:

…brand identity

What people have in their heads about you:

…brand image/reputation

Place branding question:

Do you realize that “working

on your brand [identity]” may

not help your brand

image/reputation?

2nd axiom of place branding:

There‟s only so much “best practice” one

place can learn from another.

“When it

comes to

images, most

countries aren‟t

France. Most

countries are

Paraguay.”

Wally Olins

Most mess up very basic things:

It definitely should have said:

Vilnius, Lithuania | European Capital of Culture ‘09

Are you selectively imitating

only relevant success models,

and mostly doing you own

thing anyway?

3rd axiom of place branding

By and large, you must earn your

reputation (and it must fit you).

Is the reputation you want

obtainable, & worth having?

In the meantime, are your interim claims

credible and/or sensible?

4th axiom of place branding:

Perceptions are stickier than you think.

Q: What one factor has the

biggest affect on future

perceptions of a place?

A: Current perceptions!

Time, worldview...

…and emotions

You cannot be reasoned out of a

position you weren‟t reasoned into.

“Writing is

easy – until

you think

about the

reader.”

“I leave out

the bits that

people tend

to skip.”

Elmore Leonard, novelist

Are you respecting your

audience? Does your story

genuinely justify their

attention?

5th axiom of place branding:

If you can‟t be perfect, at least you can be

interesting.

Interesting =

Relevant +

or stylish

or emotionally engaging

Often, most interesting of all…

Stories.

Are you creating and selling

stories?

Five axioms (recap):

1. Brand image and brand identity are not the

same thing.

2. There‟s only so much “best practice” one place

can learn from another.

3. By and large, you must earn your reputation.

4. Perceptions are stickier than you think.

5. If you can‟t be perfect, you can at least be

interesting.

Bonus section!

Two important techniques.

Top technique 1:

Be substantive.

Symbolic actions (Anholt)

“A particular species of substance that happens to

have an intrinsic communicative power:

– They might be innovations, structures, legislation, reforms,

investments, institutions or policies

– which are especially suggestive, remarkable, memorable,

picturesque, newsworthy, topical, poetic, touching, surprising

or dramatic.

Most importantly, they are emblematic of the strategy: they

are at the same time a component of the [place‟s] story and

the means of telling it.”

Top technique 2:

Label your exports.

(Label stuff that‟s Ukrainian as Ukrainian,

and do it in an interesting way.)

Label wines (and other Chilean exports) in a way

that characterises* and conveys „Chilean-ness‟ and

teaches people something about the country.

* or even mythologizes

Use creative, clever labeling:

• Made by Chileans, the British of South America.

• Made in Chile, the most stable, safe, prosperous

and democratic nation in South America.

• Chile: Latin America‟s success story.

• Product of Chile, home of 55 active volcanoes.

• Made in Chile, called “the thin country” by the

Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet Pablo

Neruda.

MADE IN UKRAINE

Tell a little story.

Plant an idea in the mind.

WhereBrands.comhttp://blog/WhereBrands.com

@WhereBrands on Twitter

jeremy@wherebrands.com

Jeremy Hildreth Getting Reputation of Places Right

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