Place making and branding is a continuum that goes right through destination research, strategic positioning, opportunity modelling, design thinking, experience and service design, storytelling and a go to market blueprint that influences and informs audience adoption, campaign development and social & content marketing.
Place making, given the sheer variables at work, the multiple stakeholders and audiences it involves is often like building lego blocks, where each theme builds over the other. The journey from being a destination unknown as yet to being a bucket list destination is quite a bit like venture design. From 0 to 1 and beyond.
The following is an extract of a place brand development and place making adventure at Theog.
Positioning exercises are always about evaluating strategic alternatives and trade offs. The right methods, skills and an ability to read and understand markets and consumers helps in preparing the secret sauce. Getting the story right!
Standing tall in Theog, at the edge of a ridge, paying homage to exemplary local craftsmanship and swooping in stunning 180° views of the Churdhar (the highest peak of the outer Himalayas) is a brand new address. Taj Theog, stands almost coniferous surrounded by the mesmerising skylines of the Himalayan range.
Brand new destinations and addresses often start out as unknown commodities. Right positioning and building strong legs to support the proposition is key to building discoverability and repeat engagement with travellers.
Strategic positioning, experience design, content & conversations and brand development
Taj Theog's positioning was pegged to the most familiar benchmark that has been so for years - Shimla. But circa 2019, demanded a new promise. A breath of fresh air (an oxygen capital), a new luxury home in the hills, beyond Shimla. In line with its "far from the madding crowd" perch and the warm ever-reassuring service of the Taj, that makes you feel right at home. Beyond Shimla became a metaphor for the new hill-station benchmark while building familiarity of Theog as a location through Shimla, a known brand.
Having deep experience with destinations within and outside India, and having led integrated brand development with place marketing, content & experience design, and industry leading innovations, helps us understand this space well.
Our adventure spanned the continuum of planning and blueprint, positioning, experience design , storyboarding, content development, social media marketing, identity design, creative and campaign direction and a go to market plan. 0 to 1 and more. Akin to venture design.
Every place making, place branding exercise gets inspired with the place DNA
CONTENT & culture
Social conversations and content marketing need to blend a deep understanding of a destination's DNA, its culture and differentiators and conversation worthy content. Building a brand socially is not about drowning audiences with posts, but rather being relevant and engaging.
Remember, Rome was and still cannot be built in a day.
Places are made by people
We just had to capture what we called "straight from the heart" service, that warms you up in the cool climes of Theog. Think warm chocolate on a bed of vanilla ice-cream.
An interdisciplinary approach helps
Destinations, places, cultures and communities have layers, nuances and best viewed through different lenses. And often a multi-disciplinary team brings in the right perspectives. Strategic positioning is best understood by destination marketers and place branding experts. A design cell and studio amplifies and shapes content to tell the right stories. An integrated social and influencer marketing team helps socialize content and brand communities, while a technology team works on the best delivery platforms to ensure that the content doesn’t stay inert. The entire value chain finally needs to be led and managed by experienced curators for ensuring a singular and cohesive positioning. For the address is one.
Being on brand and staying in character are the two critical pegs for place brands.
Often the best of destinations and addresses falter at the last mile. A launch is and should be a multi-dimensional exercise that cuts across websites, PR and communication outreach, readiness of channels and distribution partners, content pool for social marketing, brand campaigns across source markets and media, media plans, co marketing with partners and of course the big day event.
Passion is always infectious
This project had its passion merchants, right from the IHCL team, the owners who have breathed life into a lesser known territory, architects and the hotel team that was ever so warm even in the coldest season. Their passion was infectious.
Some of our other adventures
Switching on a luxe rainforest with 26 innovations
Coffee Country and plantation themes were taken. Our plan was to build a brand new compelling Rainforest story with its retinue of secrets right in the middle of the plantation county of Coorg. The vision was to make guests check into, not a resort, but into a luxe rainforest. Reposition Coorg. With 26 brand new experiences, infusion of culture and keepers of the forest.
Repositioning and rebranding is not old wine in a new bottle
Repositioning and rebranding stretches beyond the single word status they possess, are more nuanced than they seem. Often people mistake rebranding, repositioning as just a new campaign that changes the subject’s status quo till then. In fact, repositioning goes much deeper, much truer. A brand is first what a brand does, not just what it says. The product, service and experience design, the brand drivers and culture, all must undergo a process of methodical and careful mutation (careful, so that you don’t break what you are intending to mutate). And then comes communication. Simply put, the heavy-duty work with its grime, nuts & bolts starts miles before the agency is briefed, coached and worked with to produce the slick campaign pieces. This foundational work before communication happens quietly behind the scenes and off the stage.
What place making means to us
We believe in deep sea diving as far as understanding culture, destinations, markets and consumers. It helps clearly define, what makes or breaks a destination brand, be it a country, a city, a place, a circuit or just an address.
Years of hands on experience in creating and managing destination brands, working closely with high LOI travellers, shaping customer journeys, developing products, experiences and shaping markets, help us join the dots between insights and opportunities.
We would love to hear from you should you have an address to bring to life or a venture to take from 0 to 1 and beyond.
NYUCT Design Labs is a Venture Design house. As a venture design firm we work with you to start up, scale up, innovate or simply solve a problem. Our lab explores what your customers, employees, and partners want in order to create transformative strategies and experiences.
With more than 188 years of collective wisdom, design thinking and technology, our endeavour is to help brands and businesses start up, scale up or innovate. Engaging right from strategic consulting to last mile execution. Our adventures and ventures have cut across industries - healthcare, technology, law, venture capital, real estate, tourism and hospitality, not for profit and government.