Category Archives: Branding: places
3-day immediate-benefits place brand consultation offer
Long-term engagements can have advantages for both consultants and clients. But they take time, they cost a lot, and even more problematically, they tend to create grandiose expectations about the results those “big branding programmes” can achieve.
Besides, the truth is: there are times when you just want mentoring — a dash of practical advice and [...]
Everything I know about place branding
Benefits and hazards of place branding
Are you legible?
Just as a writer bears ultimate responsibility for being understood, “If you’re a place, it’s up to you to present yourself legibly,” to make sure people can get your story.
This is some of the advice I give in a casual but insightful essay that Thinkingplace have published in their quarterly. I use examples from my [...]
Ogilvy on tourism advertising
My copy of Ogilvy on Advertising sits on a shelf miles from here. I wanted to re-read the section on advertising tourism for Jamaica, as that might be the closest this genius of promotion came to weighing in on nation branding. I found, however, a student’s book report which summarizes Ogilvy’s tips on tourism advertising: [...]
One great lesson from brand valuation
Something I’ve just run across has stopped me in my tracks and compelled me to write a quick post about it. If you work with marketing or branding in any way, this idea — it’s kind of a thought experiment, or in NLP terms a “re-frame” — may interest you, also.
Humour and insightfulness from Sweden
1) This mockumentary satire ad for the ski resort of Åre should make you laugh. A representative of Visit Sweden showed it as part of her presentation to the Swedish Lapland Tourismforum, at which I spoke also. I’d seen it before, but it reminded me that humour — unforced, of course, as a natural expression [...]
Brand America back on top; China gaining
Brand America back on top; China gaining
Evoke. Evoke. Evoke.
Evoke. Evoke. Evoke.
The paradox of expectations
Sometimes a more ‘objectively’ attractive place can provide an inferior experience. This is often down to expectations, and whether they are met or exceeded.
Jeremy Hildreth




Readers respond