From what I can tell, these are actually from 2005, but talk about a place embracing its true nature, shortcomings and all, and then selling the hell out of it as a differentiator:
- Found via Brand Arcade
Archive for the ‘Economic Development’ Category
Tourism ads from Wales turn shortcomings into selling features
Monday, June 21st, 2010How to fight for your marketing budget – New on3 white paper!
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010A new on3 White Paper was released to EDAC members today. You can grab a copy here.
Hands off my marketing budget! – How to fight for your economic development marketing program
Marketing can be tough to conceptualize, difficult to measure, and is usually the first on the chopping block when it’s time to reduce spending. This white paper will examine each of these challenges and provide concrete responses and strategies for addressing them.
Click here to download the free white paper.
Past white papers in this series for Economic Development Professionals can be found here.
Are we wrong about industry clusters?
Tuesday, June 8th, 2010New research presents a challenge to the widely-held belief that businesses benefit from locating where there is a cluster of like-minded companies. The study of the semi-conductor and pharmaceutical industry clusters found no financial advantage for companies located within clusters:
“…the author looked at the financial advantages, and costs, that clusters provided for firms throughout the life cycle of two innovative industries — semiconductors and pharmaceuticals. He examined 31 years of data on 194 publicly traded companies, which enabled him to see how clustered and nonclustered firms performed at various points in an industry’s life cycle. Surprisingly, the author found no clear evidence that clusters enhance a firm’s financial performance.”
Sounds like more research is needed, and the study does not rule out the non-financial benefits that may be realized with clustering strategies, but it does have implications an idea that has been widely accepted as an economic development truth.
Read more here via Place Marketing Group.
Tough economic times? Don’t skimp on your marketing budgets.
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010Marketing is perceived as a “nice to have”, especially in leaner economic times. When faced with tough decisions about where to cut, marketing is usually first in line before programs that are seen as more critical to economic development health. But this view may be shortsighted.
Research shows that companies that consistently advertise even during more conservative economic times perform better in the long run. A McGraw-Hill Research study looking at 600 companies from 1980 to 1985 found that those businesses which chose to maintain or raise their level of advertising expenditures during the 1981 and 1982 recession had significantly higher sales after the economy recovered. Specifically, companies that advertised aggressively during the recession had sales 256% higher than those that did not continue to advertise.
Further, this is a unique opportunity that is not available in a healthier economy: As reflected in a Kellogg School of Management study, increasing advertising spending during economic expansion often yields no improvement in market share, because 80% of your competitors are also increasing their spending. Conversely, the Association of National Advertisers found that at least half of businesses reduce their adverting spend during an economic downturn.
When it comes to the Canadian economic development profession, a recent survey found a widening gap between EDOs that chose to increase or decrease marketing spending during the economically tumultuous conditions of 2009. According to the study, 62% of those that increased their marketing spending in 2009 planned to continue increased spending in 2010. In contrast, only 25% of those that cut back in 2009 planned to increase 2010 spending. Almost 30% of 2009 decreasers planned to further decrease budgets in 2010.
According to the Place Marketing Group:
“While some EDOs see little choice but to slash marketing spending, it is a step that risks a loss of future growth opportunities. Experts agree that those who maintain spending often emerge the strongest when things pick up. Cuts in marketing will show the most and help the least.”
The reality is that even under the bleakest economic conditions, clients and customers don’t stop making decisions. Given their own budget challenges, these decisions are likely being made with greater discernment and consideration. For economic developers, this means that dropping out of the race of promoting your municipality to save money in the short term puts you at a disadvantage compared to peers who choose to maintain marketing and communication efforts.
So what about your community? Are you spending for long-term success or cutting for short-term savings?
Cities get in the game with mobile apps
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010Municipalities have finally begun to embrace mobile apps as another important marketing tool. The offerings vary from safe to zany, but the presence of these apps signals an inevitable shift in how communities need to think about promoting themselves. Here’s a look at a few of the mobile offerings recently released:
1. Hasting County
Hastings County recently released the first Canadian iPhone app for economic development. Dubbed “iHastings”, the app allows users to view news, events, videos and link up with Hastings County in various social forums like Twitter.
iHastings
2. Calgary
The City of Calgary has also come out with a “Build a Pass” app that allows citizens to create custom recreation passes for individuals and families. It would be nice if there was a way to actually purchase the pass as part of the app, but perhaps that feature is coming with future versions.
City of Calgary Build-a-Pass
Calgary also has a great walking tour app of downtown public art, complete with maps and audio descriptions you can play while you stand and admire at your own pace. Walking tour apps are a dime a dozen, but this is one of the first I’ve seen developed proactively by a municipality rather than a travel or GPS company.
City of Calgary Downtown Public Art Walking Tour
3. Chicago
Chicago has partnered with foursquare in one of the most innovative social web offerings we’ve seen come out of a city. It has both tourism and economic development applications to it, not to mention the value that comes from leveraging such a popular social platform.
As time goes on, expect to see mobile apps for cities become as commonplace as annual reports and brochures. GPS-enabled smartphones make this a perfect medium for showing off what a city has to offer.
Our predictions
So what does on3 predict for municipal mobile apps? We’re glad you asked. Here are some of the things we’d love to see cities develop:
- Site selection tools – including searchable real estate directories
- GPS-based business directories
- Tax and incentive calculators
- More foursquare integration
- More open municipal data – see this post for a great backgrounder on this trend
Have any other ideas? Leave them in the comments!
10 Place Branding Logos: Hits and Misses
Friday, April 16th, 2010Over the years, we have reviewed many approaches to branding places – from tourism to economic development logos, from small cities to entire nations. Some got it right, and some got it horribly, horribly wrong. We’ve captured our most popular reviews in this post for your enjoyment and inspiration. Read on to see what we thought about these place branding winners and losers:
THE WINNERS
First up: Kirkland, WA.
Here’s an example of a community that really gets destination branding. Kirkland, WA is a town on the shores of Lake Washington that has embraced and nurtured a strong artistic community. This is evidenced by its many galleries, events and a thriving public arts program. It has also embraced its proximity to the water, designing the town around walking trails that facilitate shopping and dining by the lake. So when it came time to launch its new look, Kirkland identified and married these two elements of their community in a well-executed identity… Read the whole review.
Our next example of place branding done right: Copenhagen.
A very nice new visual identity out of Copenhagen that was posted over at Brand New. It’s logo design done right under the constraint of having to serve many masters: attract tourism, attract business, create civic pride, promote sporting events… a challenge certainly not unfamiliar to economic development professionals… Read the whole review.
One of my personal favorites: The U.S. Virgin Islands
The figure is a “Mocko Jumbie” – a traditional stiltwalker that represents the culture of the USVI. The three stars represent each Island. It is striking as a shape when it is in one colour and the individual applications for each island balance a unified look and feel with some individuality. It feels tropical, culture-rich and laid-back. Very well done. Read the whole review.
Belfast:
Belfast has unveiled a new logo and set of taglines to brand itself as a safe, welcoming and enterprising place to be. Although the heart has been done before (think I love New York), it also works as the letter “B”, and a variety of taglines and colours gives different groups flexibility when using the new brand, similar to the approach taken by the City of Summerside, PEI. You can read more about it over at Brand New.
And finally, Alberta:
Alberta has unveiled a strong new identity to the world. The branding initiative will cost $25 million over three years, and it is a bold undertaking indeed… Read the whole review.
THE LOSERS
Philadelphia failed to ring our bell:
Creating an identity for an entire city or region is a tough undertaking. You are trying to please many different stakeholders. You’re trying to communicate many different messages, but with limited real estate to do so. And you are creating something that is sure to be scrutinized very closely by many, because they have a stake in their city’s brand, and often some concern about how much public money is being spent on marketing activities. With all these challenges, it is very tempting to do something safe and easy, which is exactly the trap that Philadelphia fell into. In fact, this new logo serves up a lot of place branding “don’ts” in a single creative execution… Read the whole review.
Brisbane has a good concept, but poor execution:
I don’t love this tagline, but I do think it was smart to put “Australia” right in the tag, as it shows an awareness of the need to market globally and not everyone knows which Brisbane is being referred to here without it. Read the whole review.
Alberta gets caught in a major blunder:
Although it made our winners list, Alberta deserves a mention here as well for getting caught in an embarrassing situation involving one of its promotional videos. From our blog post:
After coming our swinging with a $25 million campaign slated to roll out over the next three years, Alberta finds itself dealing with some unfortunate negative publicity. Today’s Globe and Mail ran a story about Alberta being caught red-handed using stock photography in a promotional video. Read the full review here.
YOU BE THE JUDGE
Melbourne, Australia:
Melbourne gets mixed reviews, with a thumbs-up on the colourful approach and a thumbs-down on the PR surrounding the launch and the single-colour verison of the logo. Read the whole review.
Raleigh seems confused…
What do you think? Does the logo trip over its own attempt to be all things to all people? Read the review here.
Egypt gets it right… and wrong:
Beautiful logo, but tough to read. Points for the tagline though: In Egypt’s case, this generic tagline is actually quite meaningful. See the review here.
So there you have it: Our place branding hits and misses. We’d love to hear yours. Post your thoughts in the comments.
How cities can use Foursquare
Sunday, April 4th, 2010Foursquare is a location-based application that lets you “check in” at various locations to earn points and special deals. For users, it is largely a social app that lets them broadcast their whereabouts and connect with friends on “nights out”. For cities and businesses, foursquare represents an opportunity to capitalize on the application’s popularity to bring in customers and promote tourism.
The City of Chicago is the first community to formally take advantage of this new social medium, one that is still under the radar for most despite its explosive growth over the past few months. Chicago’s decision to make such a significant investment so early is a strategic one, as it takes time to establish a presence on Foursquare, largely because content is user-driven. As other cities come onboard, Chicago will already be well established as a destination for Foursquare users.
Chicago is using Foursquare to promote tourism and offer specials at local businesses, and has created 60 check-in locations and 200 “tips” that provide background about landmarks or alert users to live music or restaurant specials.
Visitors to the Windy City can earn Chicago-themed badges, like the on-location “Bueller Badge” for visiting sites from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, or the “High Fidelity Badge” for cruising the record shops featured in the film. There are also badges for visiting the city’s many blues clubs and for sampling its iconic hot dog stands.
The result is another tool for promoting tourism and stimulating local business in Chicago. As the prevalence of smartphones and the popularity of Foursquare increase, expect to see more cities and regions taking advantage of the GPS-based game to promote their community. You can view Chicago’s Foursquare presence here.
- via National Geographic
Email marketing you can measure
Friday, March 26th, 2010We are thrilled to introduce 3mail – a new service from on3 for Canadian Economic Development Professionals. It’s been months in the works, and we’ll be highlighting some of 3mail’s features, resources and case studies on this blog over the next few weeks. We hope you’ll give it a try and tell us what you think.
With 3mail, you’ll know exactly how your campaigns are performing. See who opened, clicked and forwarded your email. 3mail lets you:
1. Create and send your own beautiful email campaigns
2. Manage and grow your recipient lists
3. Review powerful reports and campaign statistics
Check it out here and start sending amazing email campaigns today. Thanks for your continued support. We hope you love this new service as much as we do!
- The on3 Team