Recently published in it’s third edition and available here we wrote the chapter ‘The digital challenge’.  The book asks whether tourism places get the reputations they deserve and discusses brand concepts, challenges and topical cases. It tackles how place perceptions are formed, how cities, regions and countries can enhance their reputations as creative, competitive destinations and the link between competitive identity and strategic tourism development. It goes on to discuss how successful destination management organisations increasingly engage in conversations rather than campaigns and handle controversial questions of authenticity, brand narratives, leadership and authorship, story-telling, aesthetics, ethics and evaluation.

Authored by place brand consultants, destination marketers and academics including Simon Anholt, Philip Kotler, Wally Olins and other leading authorities our chapter ‘The digital challenge’ discusses how digital channels have grown up and how it represents a fundamental and revolutionary change.  Customers are getting increasingly turned off by one way dialogue. Customers are now truly empowered and they are taking control of their relationship with brands – they are shaping those brands.  We discuss tools, technologies and channels – what’s available and how are they currently being used in the area of travel and tourism.  We outline the four key challenges facing destination branding within the context of digital – content, socialisation, integration and measurement. Finally we discuss what this means for destination, travel and tourism brands.

Why not go buy the book … it’s already picking up some good reviews …

Tags: branding, destinations, tourism marketing

Leave a comment

I’ve never seen Cardiff like this! The view from the office. It’s been an interesting and exciting week. We love a challenge – even if it is just getting home from work!

Anyway we’re almost there and it’s time to take a break because all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. For that reason we are taking a proper break over Christmas. We’ll be finishing lunchtime on Christmas Eve and we’ll be getting into the swing of things again on Tuesday 4th January.

That just leaves me to wish everyone we work with and everybody else a Happy Christmas. It’s been a great year! We’ve loved it and we are looking forward to the next one. See you on the other side.

Tags: nice stuff

Leave a comment

If this is shameless self promotion please forgive me.  We have been two plus a tight network of partners since we started this adventure back in 2004. Since that time it has served our clients and us well. But in the near future we are hoping to become four plus a tight network of partners. The four of us have been working on some new products that we can get the business behind. It’s enlightening, exciting and it has given us an opportunity to stop and think a little more around what we are about and the way we approach things.

We talked about personality. The stuff that defines you. The stuff someone might use to describe you and your character. Here are ten things we have on that list so far.

Serial helpers.
Obsessive list writers.
Pretty bloody positive almost all of the time.
Full of beans and always moving forwards.
We love starts, ends, outcomes and learning.
We really enjoy developing teams of  people.
It matters to us that people are happy and fulfilled at work.
We really care what people think about us.
Unless things are changing and we are driving forward we get restless.
But perhaps most of all. We love what we do. We feel lucky.

For those of you who know us we really hope you agree. We are proud of what people say about working with us. Our testimonials are one of our greatest achievements.

“The great thing with Jon and Beth is that what you see is what you get. Which is pretty rare these days. They really are an endless source of energy, enthusiasm, and know-how. And with the number of calls I put into them, I’d certainly have caught them on an off day by now! They always remain true to a campaign idea from start to finish, no matter how long the process, they’re open to discussion and debate at any stage, and with the complete absence of any ‘them’ and ‘us’ mentality, their approach is truly a collaborative one. Quite frankly, it’s refreshing to find two people who intuitively ‘get’ marketing and all its inner workings, and who you really look forward to picking up the phone to”

Caroline Macpherson | Partners Andrews Aldridge

I  hope we can remain true to our values and what people are saying about us once we are four. I know we can and I know the guys that are joining us will help make our personality even stronger and more colourful. I’m looking forward to it.

Tags: Our News, random thoughts

Leave a comment

ENTER is the International eTourism Conference, promoted by the International Federation of IT in Travel and Tourism. This year it is being held in Lugano, Switzerland in February with keynote speakers from, amongst others, Google, Expedia and Switzerland Tourism.

We have been invited to speak as part of  a session looking at Online Branding for Destinations chaired by Robert Govers, author of Place Branding. The session also includes speakers from tripadvisor, Tourism Montreal and Tourism Queensland.

Our section will cover building stakeholder communities online and will discuss some of the things covered in our recently written book chapter ‘The Digital Challenge’ to be published later this year  in the 3rd edition of Destination Branding – creating the unique destination proposition. Including;

1. Digital channels have grown up – it represents a fundamental and revolutionary change.
2. Customers are getting increasingly turned off by one way dialogue. Customers are truly empowered and taking control of their relationship with brands – they are shaping brands.
3. Tools, technologies and channels – what’s available and how they are currently being used in the area of travel and tourism.
4. The four key challenges facing destination branding within the context of digital – Content, Socialisation, Integration and Measurement.
5. What does this mean for destination, travel and tourism brands?
6. What does this mean for the Destination Marketing Organisation (DMO) website?

You can find out more from the ENTER 2010 conference website.

We can’t wait. Maybe see you there?!

Tags: conference, digital marketing, tourism marketing

Leave a comment

We like this howies mantra …



So whatever it maybe, from running the London Marathon to dangling from a cleverly sewn together shower curtain, we reckon taking a break is as important as getting things done. Funnily enough that’s when great ideas come too.

For that reason we are having a proper break over Christmas – we’ll be finishing up lunchtime Christmas Eve and we won’t be back in the office until Monday 4th January.

Happy Christmas!

Tags: nice stuff

One comment

So we’ve been trying to get around to developing our new site for almost 2 years. When you are a small business and your clients are keeping you busy stuff like that never seems to get to the top of the list. Even when digital is your business.

This is our new site. One of those clients that kept us busy during the last 2 years was howies. A really interesting business … I could write a whole lot more about howies and one day I will. Based in Wales, howies is an active clothing company that firmly believes in making higher quality and lower impact products – and finding new and better ways to do business. I always liked this t-shirt.

It describes a way of working which suits digital marketing and the environment we are all working in. I’ll write more on that one day too but in the meantime welcome to our new site. We hope you like it. It will develop over time but hopefully it gives you a clear idea about what we do and most importantly the way we go about doing it and our approach to things. Let us know what you think and how we can make it better – leave a comment or contact us. It is, after all, never going to be finished.

Tags: new, website

One comment