Scott Bedbury, former VP of Marketing for Nike and Starbucks Coffee, in his book “A New Brand World” describes your (tourism) brand as:

“A brand is the sum of the good, the bad, the ugly, and the off-strategy. It is defined by your best product as well as your worst product. It is defined by award-winning advertising as well as by the god-awful ads that somehow slipped through the cracks, got approved, and, not surprisingly, sank into oblivion. It is defined by the accomplishments of your best employee – the shining star in the company who can do no wrong – as well as by the mishaps of the worst hire that you ever made. It is also defined by your receptionist and the music your customers are subjected to when placed on hold. For every grand and finely worded public statement by the CEO, the brand is also defined by derisory consumer comments overhead in the hallway or in a chat room on the Internet. Brands are sponges for content, for images, for fleeting feelings. They become the psychological concepts held in minds of the public, where they may stay forever. As such, you can’t entirely control a brand. At best, you can only guide and influence it.”

While Bedbury wrote this book some time ago - we can't think of a better way to describe a brand experience. Your brand is defined as every interaction with your company - inside and out.

Tourism operators around the world are becoming more aware of the influence a brand has and are finding new ways to further differentiate themselves from their competition. 

While branding is often viewed as design: logo, colour, website look and feel, it's much more than an exercise of good design. These items are important, but branding is really about building and maintaining positive and strong perceptions in the minds of your team, your partners and your customers. 

We've been working with tourism companies that are embracing brand as the totality of everything they do, from the colour of their coaches to creating new passenger experiences focused on entertainment and engagement - on and off the bus (and boat). 

What is your brand strategy, and how does this fit into your vision of who you are and what you do?