Strategic Brand Consultancy
This is the first instalment of a series of “systematic problems of placebranding projects” illustrating the roadblock faced by the brand Guadalajara. These essays are intended to help practitioners -both city officials and consultants- to launch more successful and resistant brands. (Read the subsequent ones here, here and here.) Here we go again. Another city branding project is dealing with a …
Continue reading "What went wrong with brand Guadalajara? Part 1/4"
It has become a familiar narrative: A city, region or a country launches its new visual identity, only to learn that its habitants hate the logo's guts. From Toronto to South Australia, and from Caribbeans to Latin America nobody seems to be happy with the brand that is supposed to represent them. Sadly, that has grown to be a …
Continue reading "Keys to successful place branding – Part 1"
We are continuing our conversation with Jose Filipe Torres, one of the vanguards of country branding. We talked about success, failure, limits and dreams. This is the second installment of a three-article interview series with Jose Filipe Torres. Click here to read the first part of the interview. Why do country-branding projects fail? I would say 90% of …
Continue reading "Does every country need a global brand? (continued)"
I was interviewed by Samantha J. Manniex, a passionate blogger and a place branding practitioner from the UK. It was a fun and insightful conversation. I am posting three questions and answers about my methodology. If you want to read the full interview, please click here. When you work on a branding campaign, especially destination branding, what are …
Continue reading "3 Questions 3 Answers about Place Branding"
About six months ago, Canada launched a tourism campaign called “Know Canada,” targeting Americans. We discussed why the strategy of the campaign was wrong. Here is the key argument: The campaign is based on facts, whereas “purchase decisions” are based on emotions. We also debated that the campaign was addressing to the wrong part of our …