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0:00
Hi, my name is John Till.
I'm the Founding Director
of the UK's leading place
branding specialist,
'Thinking Place.'
0:10
We've been around
for nine and a half years
and place branding
is all that we do.
We work with places
of developments of all sizes
with all sorts of issues.
What we try hard to do
is see how they are special.
What they're all about,
what they're for,
and to create a shared sense
of ambition that is their story.
Then, we help them
come together as a place,
the public sector
and the private sector,
to tell that story,
to sell that story.
0:47
What is the difference
between branding
and marketing for a destination?
From my perspective,
creating a brand
is about identifying
the strongest
and most compelling assets
for the place
that make it distinct,
that make it competitive
and they are
the story of that place.
Then,
from a marketing perspective,
it's important
that they are clearly
and consistently communicated
to the different
target audiences
through whatever channels
you decide to use.
1:25
Let's consider the main trend
in the marketing of a place,
something that we see
happening today.
And that is places taking
a much more holistic view
of that place as opposed
to just a tourism view
or just an investor view.
Places are looking at creating
the entire place as the hero.
Why are they doing that?
Well, they're doing that
for different reasons.
The first of which is that often
all of the elements of the place
really come together
in terms of decisions
that people are making.
So tourism messages
about attractions,
about things to do,
are actually just as important
for investor decisions
as they represent things like
quality of life, livability.
So at the end of the day,
having too narrow a distinction
about tourism marketing
is actually missing a trick
in terms of promoting a place.
The second one is austerity.
There is far less money
around now to just look at
different sectors
within the place,
and places are looking
for approaches
that allow you to take
that wider view.
A place brand driven by
a place story lets you do that
because it creates
an overall message,
an overall story for the place,
that you can then flex
and target to your
key audiences.
