Destination Marketing, Image Building & Country Branding | South Africa’s “It’s Possible” Campaign

By Dian Hasan | December 13, 2009

The World Trade Organization ranks Tourism as the largest service sector industry. Often misquoted as the largest industry, which it’s not, as that spot belongs to Trade in fossil fuels (read: oil & gas)! It is however, without a doubt, probably an industry with the broadest multiplier effect. Tourism is a peculiar industry indeed. Desired by many countries, done right only by a some. One of the few industries where both developed and developing countries can compete on equal footing. And while on the surface it seems that every country can pursue it with relative ease – selling the beauty of one’s land & culture is – after all – the driving force. And how it’s done correctly involves a complex web of aligning strategies of a host of other industries.

However, tourism CANNOT be developed in a silo, its development lies on the backbone of relies on infrastructure development: from physical, legal, HRD, logistics, down to an in-depth analysis of each country’s own cultural identity. This constitutes the DNA make-up of a Country’s BRAND. And Tourism is merely an extension of how external visitors experience it.

An interesting angle to see how countries are faring is through their Destination Marketing campaigns, inseparable from Country Branding really! As each country’s main competitive edge lies in its uniqueness, and no two countries are alike. Hence, every country’s tourism campaign should be distinctively different. But is it really? Sometimes it’s easier said than done.

It’s what separates destinations as disparate as Australia, Belgium and China, as well as differentiate countries that are close neighbors and promote almost identical offerings, such as Mexico’s Yucatán & Chiapas Provinces, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, who all share a common Mayan heritage. It’s what separates the different countries in The Caribbean that have similar offerings of Sun, Sand and Sunsets, so Jamaica would have a separate identity from say Anguilla, Aruba, St. Barth, St. Martin, Dominican Republic, and Turks & Caicos.

In the end, a successful tourism campaign should effectively promote 3 main areas that are inseparable and inter-related:

1. Tourism, 2. Trade, and 3. Investment.

Let’s look at a few good examples of Destination Marketing, and their compelling messages. Here’s the tourism campaign of SOUTH AFRICA.

The tagline: “South Africa: It’s Possible!”, perfectly captures the country’s history and country Brand DNA. Albeit marked with history that was rife with struggle and terribly adverse circumstances, now reversed and used to portray the powerful key word of “POSSIBILITY”.  Pay attention to the voice over: “Two million hectares of wilderness, zero fences…. Seven spectacular sunsets….”.  Clearly attempts to strike a chord with the audience’s (read: prospective traveler) emotion, set against vistas of stunning landscape.

Great lines! Notice the voice over with great lines like: “Who would’ve thought from this one country I would take away a thousand memories…”