Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
strategies for India and New Zealand have been so successful, since both offer the tourist some
meaningful, powerful and even spiritual connection with the destination.
As we outlined above, a destination brand can be derived from:
1 its existing assets such as its value offering or organic reputation;
2 its created assets, such as sports and cultural events, landmark buildings and facilities or
government policies; or
3
its association with abstract concepts.
Countries often showcase their history, their culture and their beautiful scenery in their marketing
but most destinations can lay claim to some if not all of those attributes. It is critical to build a
brand on assets or associations which uniquely connect a destination to the audience now or
have the potential to do so in the future. It must also be a proposition which competitors may
be able to emulate but which they cannot usurp. For example, other world cities can claim to be
spiritual, but only Rome (or more strictly, the Vatican) is The Eternal City - it has that epithet,
it had it fi rst and no other place can now claim it. Likewise, Virginia in the USA has had
phenomenal success with its long-running Virginia is for Lovers campaign, fi rst launched in
1969 and recently described by Advertising Age as 'one of the most iconic ad campaigns in the
past 50 years' (Pakesh 2012). Yet, despite this success, no destination can surpass Paris' organic
associations with romance. Whatever proposition is used it must also be sustainable and have the
potential to evolve in a long-term branding campaign, so it is essential to get it right. However,
the point of differentiation must also refl ect a promise which can be delivered and which matches
expectations. An effective destination brand is therefore unique and resilient but its originality
needs to be sustainable, credible and relevant. One destination which has transcended the
substitutable nature of the tourism product and promised this kind of unique and deliverable
experience is India. There are many countries with breath-taking scenery and fascinating
heritage, yet such is the emotional power of the sub-continent with its poignant history, diverse
cultures and varied landscapes that its brand promise to the visitor - that a trip to India can
actually change you on a spiritual level - has proved enduring and hugely successful. Indeed,
India has been voted one of the top four most memorable destination brands in a survey of
DMO professionals (WTO and ETC 2009).
Recognizing that branding is a two-way process done with and not to the consumer, some
time ago we suggested (Morgan and Pritchard 2002) that instead of thinking in terms of a
traditional or modifi ed Tourist Area Life Cycle model (Butler 1980; Agarwal 2002), tracking
visitor volume over time, DMO managers should be thinking of an S-shaped destination
brand fashion curve. This instead charts the destination brand's emotional relationship with its
visitors, through fashionable, famous, familiar and fatigued phases - each requiring a different
communications and marketing strategy. At fi rst the market is small and a place is chic because
it is exclusive. Here the destination brand is at the beginning of its fashionable phase and its
visitors are early adopters who, although few in numbers, are infl uential opinion-formers and
trendsetters. If the destination becomes famous and less exclusive, its cutting-edge appeal will
wane; these tourists will therefore not want to be seen somewhere which they consider rather
passé. In the famous phase, a destination brand's consumers are loyal and affl uent but at any time,
the destination's brand values may lose their currency - hence the continued need to remain
relevant and appealing. If the place fails to appear contemporary, it will drift into the familiar
zone where everyone knows about it, but no one considers it signifi cant: it has become
the antithesis of cool. Becoming familiar can ultimately lead a destination to fatigue - a place
which fi nds it diffi cult to attract lucrative market segments (there are many examples of such
