Destinations often love a new brand but aren’t sure how to roll it out across their online and physical presence. The Blue Mountains had a widely consulted, broadly supported place brand, Run Deep, but beyond tourism marketing it had seen little use.
As one of the actions in the Blue Mountains Destination Management Plan, episteme led a team for TRC Tourism to work with Blue Mountains City Council on a roadmap for implementation and activation. We heard that users wanted the brand to be easier to apply, with clearer ownership and the resources to roll it out.
The roadmap sets out three threads of work over three stages:
Governance: a brand custodian, champions across council and community, and trained curators and communicators.
Resources: a refined brand expression, templates, toolkits, a visual library and a place brand website.
Delivery: workshops, a brand awareness campaign and partnerships that build a living brand culture.
The aim is a place brand the whole community can own, not just a tourism logo.