The McCluskey Blog

Tourism Trademark

We recently held a general meeting of members of our global agency network, Tourism Trademark, in Paris. Everything is steaming along and we are extending the network's reach and impact all the time. One initiative, an exclusive deal with NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands, will see members of Tourism Trademark offer international work experience placements to students, thus completing and complementing the training of tomorrow's tourism professionals.

We are also continually extending the network's reach - we now have affiliate agencies in countries as far and wide as Argentina, Mexico, China, USA, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal. Visit www.tourismtrademark.com for more detail.

If you speak Spanish, you might be interested to read the blog written by the head of our Spanish agency, Chris Pomeroy. Chris writes 'La Maleta Medio Vacia', which translates as 'The Half-Empty Suitcase'. It's an informative, and often lyrical, look at the travel industry. 

Still or sparkling?

These lovely Korean ladies are celebrating the launch of Korea's new tourism branding - 'Korea Sparkling'. This makes an excellent addition to my earlier list of destination slogans.

According to a Korean news website, the ladies are: "beating water-sparkling drums in front of the Korea Tourism Organization office in Jung-gu, Seoul, expressing the liveliness and freshness of Korean tourism. The logo of “Korea, Sparkling” shows two windows overlapping each other, symbolizing both the traditional and modern sides of Korea. The English word “sparkling” means something fresh, lively and glittering."

Nation-branding guru Simon Anholt is the man behind the project using surveys of tourism experts and 8,000 people in 17 countries to come up with the final logo.

Offensive Advertising

Would this advert offend you? It offended a magazine in Seattle, so much so that it declined to run it. Tourism Victoria submitted the original ad, but it was declined with the suggestion they add the word 'culinary' to it. But does anyone else think that having a 'culinary' orgasm would be a bit more risque than having just a normal orgasm? Depends what sort of food's involved, I suppose...

Gridskipper comments: "Seattle's still full of orgasm searching souls. Pity, that."

Defining a Destination #2

As promised, here is the second part of 'Defining a Destination' - some crackers below:

A HEARTY WELCOME

Nicaragua - A Country with Heart

Taiwan - Touch your Heart

Malta - Heart of the Mediterranean

Dive into the Heart of exotic Micronesia

NATURAL ASSETS

Switzerland - Get Natural

Uruguay Natural

Chile - Natural Inspiration

Costa Rica - No Artificial Ingredients

Belize - Mother nature's best secret

British Virgin Islands - Nature's Little Secrets

And the wonderful:

The Falkland Islands - A Natural Kingdom, Approved by Nature and Enjoyed by Man

High competition in certain areas can lead to destinations jostling for position, as seen below in the Caribbean and Africa:

CARIBBEAN

US Virgin Islands - America's Caribbean

St Maarten - a Little European, a Lot of Caribbean

St Vincent & the Grenadines - Jewels of the Caribbean

Trinidad & Tobago - the True Caribbean

Montserrat - a Caribbean Treasure: Spectacular by Nature

AFRICA

Zambia - The Real Africa

Tanzania - Authentic Africa

Malawi - The Warm Heart of Africa

Rwanda - Discover a New African Dawn

Gambia - Your Haven in Africa

MUST TRY HARDER

Sweden - Welcome

Welcome to China

Turkey Welcomes You

Monaco - An Exceptional Destination

QUIRKY DEFINITIONS

Slovakia - Little Big Country

Antigua & Barbuda - The Beach is Just the Beginning

Tonga - Home of the Friendly Islanders

Colour me Martinique

The Difference is Macau

WONDERFULLY CRAZY

Latvia - The Land that Sings

Guyana - Land of Many Waters

Cyprus - The Golden Apple

Bhutan - Land of the Thunder Dragon

Defining a Destination

How do you define an entire country in just a few words? It must be one of the most difficult and imprecise sciences in the travel industry. I don't know which was the first destination to 'brand itself' in this way, but there are plenty of examples today, and most of them follow certain patterns.

Let's take a look:

SHORT & SHARP

Austria - You've Arrived!

Denmark - Enjoy!

Brazil - Sensational!

Wow Philippines

St. Lucia - Simply Beautiful

Holland - Surprisingly Close

I Feel Slovenia - this one is a very clever play on words

Ireland - Let's Play

Turks & Caicos - Get Lost

SELF-LOVE

Incredible India

Magical Kenya

Wonderful Greece

Amazing Thailand

Egypt - Nothing Compares

Montenegro - Breathtaking Beauty

CLAIMING AUTHENTICITY

100% Pure New Zealand

Uniquely Singapore

Malaysia - truly Asia

Croatia - the Mediterranean as it once was

Curacao - real. different.

Fiji - the truly relaxing tropical getaway

Zanzibar - The Ultimate Indian Ocean Experience

Seychelles - another world

PHILOSOPHY / SELF IMPROVEMENT

Estonia - Positively Transforming

Dominica - Defy the Everyday

Norway - Widen your Horizons

Tasmania - Island of Inspiration

Israel wonders

Romania - come as a tourist, leave as a friend

Canada - Keep Exploring

Nepal - Unleash Yourself!

JUST PLAIN INSTRUCTIVE

Discover Mauritius

Enjoy England

Barbados - discover, dream, enjoy

AMOROUS INTENTIONS

Jamaica - One Love

Bermuda - Feel the Love

Hong Kong - live it, love it

SPEED DATING-STYLE CLAIMS

Hungary - Talent for Entertaining

Mexico - Beyond your Expectations

Grenada - Spice up your Life

Part two tomorrow....

England Rocks!

The above title is inherently true, of course, however 'England Rocks!' is also the name of a brilliant new marketing campaign from Enjoy England. The campaign links almost 200 locations associated with England's rich rock and pop history.

It's already been quite widely reported (Nigel Richardson writes a great piece in the Telegraph, for instance) so I won't blather on too much about it. I will list a few personal favourites though:

Anfield Football Stadium: Pink Floyd’s album Meddle sampled the massed ranks of the Kop from Anfield on the song ‘Fearless’ after the Floyd attended a match between Liverpool and Bristol Rovers and were impressed with the vocals.

Abbey Road Studios: London’s most famous rock 'n' roll landmark. In August 1969 The Beatles stepped outside the Abbey Road studios in St John's Wood for a 10-minute photoshoot and created one of music’s most iconic images which Beatles fans have tried to recreate ever since by walking across the famous zebra crossing.

Scarborough: Provided inspiration for Scarborough Fair by Simon and Garfunkel, which was based on an old English folk ballad.

Grimsby: provided inspiration for Elton John’s song, Grimsby - "Oh oh Grimsby/a thousand delights/Couldn't match the sweet sights/Of my Grimsby/Oh England you're fair/But there’s none to compare with my Grimsby".

New Orleans Ad Campaign

This is a brave and amusing campaign from the New Orleans CVB - "an aggressive, strategic marketing, public relations and direct sales campaign, designed to celebrate its authentic culture, lure domestic and international visitors back, preserve the city’s leading industry (hospitality) and overcome misperceptions about New Orleans among consumers". I hope it works for them.

Sweden creates virtual embassy

I first wrote about Second Life & the travel industry in an earlier post - Second Life, the online 'world', already has at least one virtual hotel, a travel guide and some virtual tourists.

Now Sweden has announced it is 'building' a Second Life embassy - the first country to do so.

The embassy will be built and run by the Swedish Institute, which is run by the Swedish Foreign Ministry - which is in turn in charge of promoting tourism to the country.

The Swedish Institute says the embassy will not issue passports and visas, but it will inform users how to get them in the real world. The embassy will be "primarily an information portal for Sweden".

In the longer term the Swedish Institute envisages buying an island in the virtual world to create a home for Swedish companies.

Learn the [body] language

I saw a story late last year noting that a dozen or so Japanese tourists a year have to be repatriated from the French capital, after falling prey to what's become known as "Paris syndrome" -  nothing to do with Ms Hilton, but what some polite Japanese tourists suffer when they discover that Parisians can come across as a bit rude. See this website explaining in a bit more detail.

Well now the Regional Tourist Committee for Paris Ile-de-France has launched a campaign - www.cestsoparis.com - in an attempt to combat the city's reputation for unfriendliness. You can be just as rude as the Parisians, without even learning the language, says the guide.

You have to admire their readiness to practise un-French self-mockery, with le bof, or the authentic Gallic shrug, and le Camembert, politely translated as "shut-up". Users can contribute their own versions of the gestures on this section of the site.

The campaign has had good coverage, in The Times, and on blogs like Gadling and Gridskipper, which was moved to launch its own campaign, called 'Gesticulate like a New Yorker'.

This one would work in London, too.

 

Your next holiday? Iraq

Ever have the feeling that your holidays are just too safe?

Iran has said it will offer cash incentives to travel agencies to encourage Western tourists to visit the country. "Iran's tourism department will pay $20 per person to those who attract European or American tourists to the country," Mohammed Sharif Malakzadeh, deputy head of the department, said. Visitors from other countries would earn travel agents $10 a tourist.

Iran not risky enough for you? Try Iraq's Kurdistan region. A California marketing company recently created a new television ad campaign for the region in Northern Iraq, proclaiming that Westerners are welcomed, walk around the area freely and that there is an active nightlife. Apparently, Kurdistan isn't the Iraq we know from the daily news. It isn't the Iraq with roadside bombings and beheadings. The ads show smiling, friendly Kurds, rock climbing, river rafting and Roman ruins. The drawback - you have to fly through Baghdad airport.

Makes Kazakhstan look like a walk in the park.