There is no silver bullet in place branding; it takes sustainable commitment, over multiple years to begin to shift the needle. Here's how you can advocate for your work to convince budget holders of the importance of investing in a strong place brand and marketing strategy.

What can you do to cut through the noise and show your private sector partners the value in your work? Place leaders share what they’ve found to be effective tools in engaging their private sector in their place brand and marketing vision.

As we gear up for the inaugural City Nation Place Australasia conference in Sydney this February 12-13^th, we sat down with Eamon Waterford, CEO of the Committee for Sydney, to understand how they’re stepping up and reimagining the future of Australia’s iconic city.

Fiji’s stunning landscape has never been in question – but you need more than beautiful beaches to stand out from the crowd in an era of overwhelming competition for attention. Recognising that tourists were looking for more authentic travel experiences and that the Fijian need for storytelling was deeply rooted in their culture, Tourism Fiji set out to overhaul their strategy – and in the process, were named winners at the City Nation Place Awards for their efforts.

Brand Tasmania’s mission is to inspire and encourage Tasmanians in their quiet pursuit of the extraordinary – a mission that the team have seen huge success with. Jess Radford, Director of Place Branding at Brand Tasmania and one of our 2023 CNP Awards jurors, outlined what it is that contributed to the success of their place brand strategy.

When we ask our audience which place brand they admire most, New Zealand is regularly right up there at the top of the list. But what makes their nation branding so successful? David Downs, CEO of New Zealand Story – and one of our CNP Awards judges – shares the inside scoop on how they collaborate with key stakeholders to deliver such a strong and effective place branding strategy.

The South Australian Tourism Commission [SATC] wanted to raise questions in the minds of their target groups and to reveal the various hidden gems throughout South Australia - to South Australians and all Australians alike – in order to challenge their perceptions about the State. 

Cities have complex pasts that have left complex legacies – much more so than employers who have only existed for a fraction of most cities and nations. How can you ensure that you don’t resort to copy-paste cliches and tokenistic efforts, and that you’re developing a place narrative that acknowledges the past while still looking to the future?

How did Brand Tasmania create a unifying cultural expression to rally the local residents and stakeholders behind their place brand vision? Read this case study from our 2021 winners of the Place Brand of the Year Award here to discover how they wowed our judges.

After over 400 interviews, the team at Brand Tasmania distilled the Tasmanian spirit into six words: the quiet pursuit of the extraordinary. But how do you express that identity through design?

Closing the narrative gap between your identity and your perceived identity is a challenge for many places. Nick Hill, Chief Executive, Auckland Tourism, Events & Economic Development, shared with us how they're working to change perceptions with a new brand playbook - and how they're putting sustainable destination management at the core of their strategy.