A new language for ZAMBIA
To be successful, ZAMBIA has to be perceived different
To come on stage, ZAMBIA has to assert her personality
To be able to achieve these basic goals, andré
1. advocates an IMAGING LANGUAGE:
< to identify & choose specific unique Zambian experiences for the tourist,
< to build coherence from these differences
2. proposes a METHODOLOGY
< to listen to words & silences of the key players about basic local experiences
< to attribute marketing values based on touristic emotions
3. recommends BRAND VALUES
< to make clients want Zambia as african experience among all the others
< to prepare a creative brief for an advertising agency strategy to generate desire
The new tourism is all about identity marketing and is founded on a strong brand to appeal to customers wants for meaning in their vacation experiences.
It is personalised relationship marketing in a world that is more and more impersonal, faced by a multiplication of me-too offers.
It is affinity marketing aimed at segmenting the market by common values, poles of interest and types of travel of your clients.
Today, destinations must change focus and speak their local language to incite the global world to discover unique experiences to the rhythm of tribal drums.
Think Global
Here are some of the realities at the heart of the volcano erupting under traditional tourism:
Crises make clients more versatile.
The emergence of new markets generate competition but also local opportiunities.
The Web 2.0 revolution with its blogs and forums is giving real power to the tourist.
The mobile phone has become an essential support for the mobile population, which is at the heart of tourism.
Hyper-competition has been created by the growth of supply, both in terms of new destinations and structured products and services.
Perceived quality or customer opinion is what counts
Communication budgets are exploding to profile destinations against each other; the question is are these traditional advertising campaigns effective more or less than the web information?
International travellers follow tribal codes and want to share with their peers locally in an authentic way and at home in a superficial show off way
To control the explosive consequences of these new realities and turn them into an advantage, ZAMBIA must change focus and speak a new marketing language. supported by rules of grammar and articulated by rules of expression.
Sense local
Three rules of GRAMMAR help to construct the identity of a destination:
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respect for the roots of identity
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pleasure of sharing the difference
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brand & experiences create want to
Yesterday’s tour operators composed a catalogue of postcards with labels stuck on destinations, usually giving a very limited view of the experience: simplistic identification is no longer sufficient. Today you have to imagine
1st rule of grammar: give meaning to the roots
ZAMBIA has to construct an identity that goes well beyond a simple package of authenticity, by tapping into the DNA – a collection of cultural traits and specific codes that cement a personality her personality.
This identity research is the foundation of the house, because of the need to differentiate from competitive destinations. It enables communication to feature non-material factors which talk to the heart and are much more difficult for competitors to copy. It also provides a response to the fantastic quest for sense that drives visitors.
2nd rule of grammar: give meaning to pleasure
Pleasure must be placed at the heart of the experiences, because it responds to the needs for sharing and the human-touch is the best competitive weapon of a destination! This means that support should be given to the most enthusiastic players who continually try to improve.
In terms of target groups, the pleasure will be more intense for those customers who feel in tune with the identity of the destination, which leads the strategy to seasonal visits via promotion periods during the year.
3rd rule of grammar: give meaning to the experiences
Web search engines are based on semantic analysis of key words to build segmentation. These key words are the vocabulary of ZAMBIA imaging language. They reveal the desires of the tourist and enable to track his tribal entry points.
The country global proposition must address these tribal thematic points. This will change the economic results since an approach based on a motivational universe expands the offer and increases the chance of higher average expenditure.
These three rules of grammar will establish the identity of ZAMBIA and position her with personalised values.
The next step is to create the desire to visit and here, we have three rules of expression in andre’s language.
Market tribal
The tourist has strong desires and his quest for emotional experiences: he looks for adventures and likes surprises; an efficient communication varies according to personalised promotion and presents tempting experiences where desire dominates price.
This challenge is declined in the ‘affinitive’ sense by three rules of expression:
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the brand personifies Zambia
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the web is the tribal medium
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the emotion goes along with sharing
1st rule of expression: the brand personifies Zambia
The brand is the central expression that adds soul and builds personality .
ZAMBIA brand differs from Zambia country, because it affirms a code, a list of communicating trends – open and adaptable helping to establish a style including key words, colours, sounds, visuals and people.
2nd rule of expression: the web is the tribal medium
Tourism promotion has traditionally been organised around lodging and activities. An approach with affinity theming will firstly tend to diversify by segmenting the target groups into sharing tribes, thus developing many more motivational concepts.
The tourist has a growing need to give meaning to his wants and brand comes first in his research. Here ZAMBIA is weak and should dare strong identity and style to stand out from the crowd. Meeting this challenge successfully means adopting a new posture where the brand becomes the central expression of the destination project.
3rd rule of expression: emotion goes along with sharing
Tribal sharing adds value to experiences, taking them out of the ordinary run of the mill. Africa is full of safari experiences, but this does not mean that a safari in Zambia has to be like others and compare only on pricing.
This evolution towards tribal network marketing refers to the old say: the proof is in the pudding, but first do you want to eat the pudding? The brand role is to make you hungry, the experiences role is to make you eat more than one piece and in different circumstances
andre makes you change Focus
My language will help ZAMBIA to reinvent her BRANDING & MARKETING CHOICES. Politicians, hoteliers, lodgers, managers of tourism equipment, leisure and event organisers, craftsmen and local inhabitants must not simply do better than before – they must do it differently not to please me but because the world of tourism has changed in the last ten years:
GLOBAL
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LOCAL
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TRIBAL |
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WHY andré for ZAMBIA?
My USP is A unique capacity to create THE link with the clientele through emotions: authenticity, simplicity, heritage, pleasure, environment and meaning…
HOW come?
Zambian chiefs have demonstrated the value of silence as information
Brands have enhanced the importance of visionary concepts to communicate
André VRYDAGH
André Vrydagh is founder of Vrydagh Consulting Group, a consultancy specialised in brand concept.
An expert in branding and international marketing, André has been managing Brussels City Marketing for 12 years. In this role, he is active in the European network of the Tourism Offices (European Cities Marketing).
He is the creator of a language which, in the destination, helps public authorities align their projects with the brand and, in the market, helps develop affinity marketing that builds destination appeal.
He speaks regularly at conferences on the challenges facing tourist cities and lectures at Brussels Free University.
André Vrydagh – 118 Rue Defacqz – B 1060 Brussels – ph +32 477 790 398 andre@andrebranding.eu – Google : Vrydagh André - www.andrebranding.eu
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