Why does South West England need a brand?
It's a good question. Research showed
that people had no real feeling what South West England was all
about. They mistakenly believed that it wasn't a good place to do
business and that tourism here was not sophisticated. They were
even confused about where the region was and how big it is.
Attempts to market the region were inconsistent in what they
addressed and how they looked, and there were no economies of scale
between regional partners. This indicated the need for a brand
identity for the region as a whole. A regional brand also fitted in
with our objective of improving and promoting the South West's
image overall.
How was the brand created?
Having established that we needed a
brand identity, the next challenge was to encapsulate the diversity
of South West England in words or images. We worked with Wolff
Olins - one of the top branding agencies in the country - to
achieve this. They conducted extensive research and held focus
groups to test their creative concepts. It was a lengthy and
involved process. Ultimately, "It's in our nature" was chosen as
the core thought for the brand. This emerged as the most compelling
message for every audience. Its intentional double-meaning conveys
both the special attitude and creative spirit that people here have
and the region's inspiring natural environment.
Taking this theme as a reference point, the branding campaign has
evolved. The current advertising uses close-up images of people's
faces to convey positive emotions and quotes from business people
and visitors. Click
here to read more about the ads and how the campaign crosses
over from a business audience to a tourist audience.
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