Something fell onto my desk today that reminded me again of one of the clichés of place branding that just never goes away: the self-described LAND OF CONTRASTS.

I guess it sounds like it would be an appealing marketing claim.

But it’s not. Period.

In fact, I’ll buy dinner for anybody who convinces me that he or she spent actual money (denominated in any currency) on a flight to a LAND OF CONTRASTS qua LAND OF CONTRASTS.

At the same time, I found a link to a talk I gave in Budapest in 2006 at a conference on national identity. The organisers posted the whole PowerPoint, including amusing — and instructive? let us hope so… — slides about marketing claims for places: “An introduction to robust national branding (including a case study about Poland)”.

My stump speech has progressed since then, but the fundamentals are well-described:

“The task,” I say, “is to work out what is special and interesting about Hungary and then convey that — visually, verbally, experientally — so that people understand Hungary and are attracted to it”.

That’s as good a definition of the process of place branding as any.

There I go again about logos....