About the tourism brand

Today’s world of strong competition and easy access to all sorts of goods and services makes important such factors as being visible, distinguishable on the market and gaining consumers’ trust. A brand is a measure to achieve this goal. But what exactly is a brand?

Product’s brand is usually defined as a combination of some or all of the following elements: name, term, symbol, text, pattern, their colour composition, a melody, which are used to become distinguishable from competition’s products. The idea of brand is often mistook for the definition for product, while there is a difference between the two. The product is every tangible or intangible effect of a production process sold to the client, satisfying certain needs and providing certain benefits, while brand is created at the moment of introducing a product to the market, and then exists as an association of certain traits and values.

A brand allows to gain advantage over one’s competitors, being distinguishable on the market and results in the product being chosen by the client. The brand performs three base functions:

• identity function that allows to distinguish the product from similar competitive products; in events where there is a group of similar products, brand becomes their main characteristic,
• guarantee function, constituting a guarantee that the producer obliges himself to keep the product on a certain level of quality
• promotional function, according to which a brand is a tool of promotion that should encourage potential buyers to purchase a product.

A brand product provide certain benefits, usually connected with being identified with high quality. Research on customer behaviour indicate that brand is a factor deciding about purchase of a product in 43% of cases. Tourism produces a number of products, thus in this sector the concept of brand also exists. We can distinguish two types of brands:

• product brand, concerning particular services provided in tourism
• territory brand functions in connection to a certain region, usually an administrative unit (as it is often shaped by local authorities).

When realising on the importance of holding an own brand, it is worthwhile to remember the principles of creating a brand and aspects that determine its success. It is vital for the brand to be distinguishable from others, be attractive and positively associated. As a brand is a combination of name, symbol, text and graphic, it should be short, easy to say and remember. Due to utmost importance of visual information, well prepared graphical elements are also crucial.

Abovementioned factors are not the only ones that decided on the success of brand introduction campaign. Many products that aspire to be brand do not hold any other quality apart from name and logo. Their identification among potential customers is minimal, and the logo does not represent any important values that clients could identify with. For that reason, sole promotion of a tourism brand does not yield significant results. There has to be a connection between the ‘marketing reality’ and real world. Brand recognition is achieved not only through marketing, but also using experience and knowledge of tourists that have visited the region. Brand effectiveness is decided by the level of recognition, promotion and acceptance of the brand by the customers and their loyalty level.

Polish regions began to notice benefits of being recognised. A strong regional brand merges the region’s potential and presents it on the market raising interest of customers (tourists, investors, potential citizens). Benefactors are the region as a whole, its inhabitants, tourism entrepreneurs and local manufacturers.

Territorial brand is a common denominator for many regional products and services. The image of the brand is dependent on its offer. Regional products recognised on national or international market, exhibited with a strong logo, recognised and identified with the region are an efficient promotion tools for the whole area (Seweryn 2009). It also works the other way around – a strong brand of the region supports promotion of products coming from this region (zdun).

The base for establishing a strong territorial brand is defining the region’s identity. It is composed of natural and cultural values, as well as various characteristics its inhabitants identify with, and people arriving regard as unique. Actions leading to an establishment of a regional brand should be aimed at accumulating the dispersed potential of the region in order to extract an entirety of the region’s offer and values provided with it. Basic rule in establishing a brand is uniqueness. According to it, the client should be subconsciously persuaded that there is no other product like yours. When establishing a regional brand it is important to base on already existing regional identity, natural, historical or cultural heritage of the region, as it is a guarantee of uniqueness, and uniqueness makes being recognised on the global market a lot easier.

The process of establishing a new brand can be divided into the following stages:

• defining the purpose of the brand
• identifying target group
• formulating the desired brand identity
• establishing a brand promise (what benefits for target customers will be highlighted)
• determine the brands position towards the competition, that is what makes the brand to be a better choice than competitors’ brands
• choosing brand components: name, slogan, logo, colours.

A strong brand does not only guarantee raising interest and attracting tourists or investors, but also constitute a significant support in development of innovation processes and raising competitiveness of local enterprises.

Brand building is not finished the moment it is introduced into the market. Tourism brand management, like in case of any other brand, is a long-term process, that has to be governed with utmost care. Actual brand management begins from establishing and introducing strategy and coherent, integrated vision. It is important to apply comprehensive marketing practices to manage a region, as well as precise identification of the target of promotional activities. A consistent, consequent operation in a longer period of time and cooperation of entities and partners involved in the process of building the brand and the regional offer is necessary to achieve success in this field.

author: Aleksandra Siemaszko-Skiendziul

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