{"id":16597,"date":"2011-02-03T09:39:54","date_gmt":"2011-02-03T07:39:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=16597"},"modified":"2011-02-03T09:41:52","modified_gmt":"2011-02-03T07:41:52","slug":"cape-town-to-become-a-brand-with-its-own-identity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/cape-town-to-become-a-brand-with-its-own-identity\/","title":{"rendered":"Cape Town to become a brand, with its own identity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Good tourism news is that finally some constructive marketing work will begin to happen for\u00a0Cape Town, in that it is to have a brand developed for it.\u00a0 Currently Cape Town shares the brand name ‘Cape Town & Western Cape’, which was developed by Cape Town Routes Unlimited about five years ago, and which the tourism industry has rejected from day one as being ‘schizophrenic’.<\/p>\n

The tourism marketing bodies in Cape Town have stood still for more than a year, having been focused purely on the World Cup, rather than to continue marketing Cape Town.\u00a0 Even after the event, no visible marketing was seen from both Cape Town Tourism and Cape Town Routes Unlimited, both organisations appearing to believe that their job was done for the next few years ahead.\u00a0\u00a0 They too, like tourism players, are surprised that the tourism onslaught has not happened post the World Cup, given all the hype!\u00a0\u00a0 The strained relationship between the two tourism bodies, and the Western Cape Tourism Minister Alan Winde’s threat to amalgamate them, has not helped build relationships between the two bodies.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Creating a separate stand-alone brand for Cape Town is a huge victory, and in my opinion it signals an ‘UDI’\u00a0by Cape Town Tourism, declaring to the Minister that the body is determined to go it alone.\u00a0The announcement of the branding for the city was contained in a long, not always articulate, article written by Cape Town Tourism CEO, Mariette du Toit-Helmbold, in the Cape Argus<\/strong> earlier\u00a0this week.\u00a0The article contains the following marketing plans for Cape Town:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 \u00a0“A long-term vision for the decade ahead”, but Mrs Helmbold does not tell us what this vision is<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0 Trends have to be evaluated, and Mrs Helmbold mentions\u00a0the example of extreme\u00a0weather conditions, and says Cape Town should capitalise on these opportunities in other parts of the world, with last minute packages.\u00a0 However, when the UK tourists were snowed in over Christmas, nothing was done locally nor internationally, as both the CEO’s of Cape Town Tourism and Cape Town Routes Unlimited were on holiday, unheard of for the hospitality industry, when the summer season is at its busiest!<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 \u00a0“… Cape Town\u00a0to lead the way to a new future-fit environment through fundamental change”, a rather meaningless sentence, written in the context of our city embracing “leadership and innovation”, and not hunkering after the way things used to be, is what she is trying to say.\u00a0 She calls for investing in and testing new ideas.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0\u00a0 A “365-day marketing strategy” is mentioned, but no detail is provided.\u00a0 If this implies a campaign to address seasonality, than it is sorely needed, and should be the priority focus.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0\u00a0 In marketing the city, the focus should not only be on Cape Town’s natural beauty, writes Mrs Helmbold.\u00a0\u00a0 A series of workshops is to be held to focus on the importance of tourism product development: “We must diversify and invest in new experiences and products”.<\/p>\n

6.\u00a0\u00a0 Cape Town should be repositioned “as more than just a summer leisure city”.\u00a0 However, all marketing ever for Cape Town has been\u00a0focused on\u00a0the city’s\u00a0attractiveness to the leisure tourist.\u00a0\u00a0 What is needed, Mrs Helmbold writes, is a focus on\u00a0Cape Town as an attractive business centre, and the encouragement of new tourism entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

7.\u00a0\u00a0 The tourist target market must be broadened away from the “white, affluent, well-travelled English speaker”, writes Mrs Helmbold.\u00a0\u00a0 Once again, she seems to be out of touch as to the profile of the tourists visiting our city.<\/p>\n

I remain surprised about Mrs Helmbold’s lack of understanding of our tourism season.\u00a0 In the article she writes “While Cape Town’s traditional international season is only starting…”, clearly not\u00a0aware that the tourism season began in October, and runs through until Easter.<\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio:\u00a0 www.whalecottage.com<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 Twitter: @WhaleCottage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Good tourism news is that finally some constructive marketing work will begin to happen for\u00a0Cape Town, in that it is to have a brand developed for it.\u00a0 Currently Cape Town shares the brand name ‘Cape Town & Western Cape’, which was developed by Cape Town Routes Unlimited about five years ago, and which the tourism […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[3,124,22,21],"tags":[8619,9783,6860,9779,32366,108,85,32378,7851,9775,9778,340,347,5929,9773,2394,5,9780,9772,9777,9782,9781,9774,32373,531],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t