Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency Rebrand.
Welcome to the Adventure Province
The Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency was in much need of a revamp. South Africa’s tourism industry is well established, contributing around 9% to the country’s overall GDP. The country is strong on adventure, sport, nature and wildlife, and is a pioneer and global leader in responsible tourism.
Worldwide, the sector’s growth is so strong that the anticipated number of jobs generated by it could be over 380 million by the year 2027. With 9 provinces each competing for their portion of the action, internal competition is steep. Some provinces, such as Mpumalanga and the Western Cape, have one site strong enough to draw people in, such as the Kruger National Park and Table Mountain.
The Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency approached Boomtown to reposition their brand in a way that would maximise both local and international tourist engagement. The brand needed to capture the spirit of the place and highlight activities specific to the province, while cementing a memorable and strategic positioning within a highly competitive market.
The challenge was, firstly, to create one entity by incorporating the Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency and, secondly, to define a single differentiated draw card from an area with an ever-increasing variety of tourism activities.
After an in-depth exploration of the province’s brand icons and inventory, and insight generation, we knew that the positioning had to be both specific and broad. Not exactly a straightforward track. The Eastern Cape is, by comparison, a relatively uncommercial and undeveloped province, full of ‘off the beaten track’ adventures.
Off the back of this, and the fact that people travel to escape the mundanity of everyday life, the strategic positioning of Adventure Province was born. The campaign line, “Sometimes you have to lose yourself to find yourself,” inspired exploration and tapped into the human need of escapism.
Based on this positioning a new corporate identity was developed to express the intrepid nature of the brand, with inspiration drawn from the likes of contour lines, mud splashes and tyre tracks. The graphic language was also applied to a range of retail merchandise to create a new revenue stream and tap into the existing curio-buying habits of visitors.
Boomtown worked with the tourism board to ensure brand alignment with key stakeholders and handled all of the advertising across media platforms, including a strategic direct mail campaign in partnership with local airline reward alliance, SAA Voyager.
This type of tourism brand positioning was the first of its kind in the country. Aside from winning a REBRAND 100® Global Award for successful repositioning, the unique visible identity made the brand and the areas it represented more attractive and accessible to the public, significantly boosting occupancy and visitor numbers. The innovative positioning continues to encourage travellers to seek new adventures while exploring an exceptional slice of South Africa.
INFO
Client:
Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism
Date:
15/10/2016
Category:
Brand Design