From the editor
The Place Marketing Professional is the e-newsletter for the place marketing industry.
Edited by Tim Bagshaw of The Place Marketing Company, the newsletter provides news updates on significant stories current in the world of place marketing and promotion. The newsletter is about solutions to problems and the key issues facing the place marketing professional today.
Place marketing at its best, understands that it is a combination of audiences that develop an overall perception of a place and its attributes. These audiences influence each other and individuals can be part of more than one audience type.
The really clever place marketing agencies subtly intermingle and cross reference messages between different target groups and, for example, ensure that although the particular audience might primarily be a tourism or visitor audience there are, just below the main visitor attraction messages, other messages that remind and confirm that the place in question is also good for perhaps more permanent individual and corporate investment.
In this issue of The Place Marketing Professional we focus on the importance of tourism marketing to overall place marketing success. We also consider the established importance of linking place promotion and perhaps place definition to the presence and local strengths of the academic sector.
Tourism and its contribution to overall investment success
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Academic institutions and the positioning of place |
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Attracting visitors to a location is in many ways the first step in persuading individuals, or individuals within companies, that the location might be a good place for more sustained investment.
Tourism marketing is very often at the forefront of establishing an external perception of a particular place.
This is why it is so vital at the outset to develop a fully thought through, integrated place marketing strategy that is not only about increasing the number of visitors, but also about establishing an identity that will resonate with investors of all types and influence all kinds of investment decisions –no matter where the key messages are first encountered.
Find out more at www.placemarketing.net |
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Many investment promotion agencies and national, regional or city development agencies in recent years have realised the value of working with and advocating their local academic institutions as part of the development of and promotional pitch for their location or place.
The capabilities of the local academic institutions, their specialisations and the surrounding industry that they support and work alongside help to define a sense of place and 'what we are good at' for all of the people who live there, and therefore for prospective investors as well.
As part of the overall approach to place marketing this is an important part of the place definition toolbox.
Find out more at www.placemarketing.net |
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News round up |
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South Africa and The Philippines target investors with London taxis
Several high profile national campaigns utilising London taxis to promote benefits and opportunities in specific locations are being launched this Autumn.
 South Africa's International Marketing Council (IMC) is extending its already successful taxi branding initiative that supported the initial stages of the 'South Africa Alive with Possibilities' campaign, by developing more colourful taxis and new messages such as 'South Africa: gateway to 800 million opportunities'. The campaign is part of a global outreach campaign, primarily aimed at the corporate investor and to raise awareness of South Africa as a place to do business with.
Meanwhile the Philippine Department of Tourism and the Philippine Embassy in London have launched a similar campaign – but primarily aimed at the tourism/visitor market – with taxi livery designs featuring picture montages of Filipino visitor attractions. The initiative is part of the WOW Philippines tourism campaign.
UNCTAD World Investment Report 2005
The United Nations World Investment Report shows an overall modest recovery in FDI in 2004 after three years of decline, with world inflows of FDI up by 2% to $648bn.
Inflows to developing countries rose sharply, by 40% to $233bn with continued strong performances by Asia and Oceania and significant rises in Latin America and South East Europe. FDI inflows to developed countries however dropped overall by 14% - but with notable exceptions to this general trend in the United States and the United Kingdom.
The US retained its number one position for the attraction of FDI, followed by the UK and China. The report anticipates further FDI growth in 2005.
Manchester Regeneration
Manchester's transition from 'a blighted wasteland to a sparkling metropolis' is highlighted in the latest edition of the magazine Management Today. The magazine says the city's regeneration has been fuelled by a canny mix of public money and private enterprise. More than 5,000 apartments were built in the city in 2004 - and more than 70,000 square feet of new office space. Another 5,500 apartments will be ready this year.
The 2002 Commonwealth Games is cited as an important element in the renaissance. The Bank of New York has just signed up to move into Piccadilly Gardens, and the BBC has signalled its intention to move 1,800 jobs to the city from London, doubling its presence in Manchester. |
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Investment Targeting with Impact:
Invest Northamptonshire and Waste Management
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Invest Northamptonshire is the Investment Promotion Agency for Northamptonshire, part of the East Midlands region of the
UK. The agency follows a targeted approach to attracting new investment and is currently developing a series of sector focused propositions.
As a pilot project to test the proposition marketing approach the agency focused on the rapidly emerging waste management industry, in particular new technologies and processes being developed by established and new companies to handle and use positively the increasing levels of municipal and commercial waste. Alongside a range of locational benefits, Northamptonshire is also the leading UK knowledge centre for the waste management industry through the presence of the University of Northampton - a recognised centre of excellence supported by SITA Environmental Trust ( www.sitatrust.org.uk ) - which enhances its specialisation in waste management and the provision of a strong support facility for the industry.
The Place Marketing Company worked with the Invest Northamptonshire team to research the local benefits and potential market for this investment in the waste management industry. The company built an initial proposition for the team and tested that proposition with a sample group of national and international companies. The initial objective was to achieve between 5 and 10 presentation opportunities for the team. To date the project has achieved in excess of 20 confirmed leads and projects, and has enhanced linkages with specialists and intermediaries across the industry.
Find out more at www.placemarketing.net |
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We hope you have enjoyed reading this edition of The Place Marketing Professional. We very much welcome any comments, and please forward to others who you think might like to see it.
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