 The Terrebonne Brand Initiative is the Parish’s effort to create a truly unique and distinctive brand that will resonate with our visitors, our stakeholders, and our community residents. It is expected to take about six to seven months to develop the brand strategy, with the project beginning in September, 2011.
GDS is an international place branding and tourism marketing firm, headquartered in Seattle, Washington. They will lead the Terrebonne Parish Branding Team - a collaboration of the most accomplished destination branding and tourism development firms anywhere. Included on the Team is Bill Baker of Total Destination Marketing. Step 1. Assessment & Audit What is the brand's place in the world? Completed
You may provide comments and opinions directly to the GDS Project Team at
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Stakeholder Interviews Completed Resident Focus Groups Completed Resident Online Polls External Influencer Interviews City reconnaissance Completed Reviews of Previous Surveys Completed Informal Discussions Mystery Shopping Completed
Project Events Sept. 18-23: Onsite reconnaissance, interviews, focus groups, client meetings October 24-26: Onsite client meetings, competitor reconnaissance Project events will be added as they are scheduled. Terrebonne Parish Branding Initiative – Frequently Asked Questions
Terrebonne Parish has commenced an important project to develop a brand management strategy. A Brand Advisory Committee is being formed to help navigate this process. This fact sheet outlines the planning process that we will follow, its benefits, and how you can be involved.
Q. What is the Terrebonne Parish Branding Initiative?
A. The Terrebonne Parish Branding Initiative is the Parish’s effort to create a truly unique and distinctive brand that will resonate with our visitors, our stakeholders, and our community residents.
Q. How long will the Terrebonne Parish Branding Initiative take?
A. It is expected to take about six to seven months to develop the brand strategy, with the project beginning in September, 2011.
Q. What is a brand for Terrebonne Parish?
A. A brand is "a distinctive promise for customers from a product, service or place. Everything that a marketing organization does in collaboration with its partners and community should be oriented around delivering and constantly enhancing this promise." Terrebonne Parish is embarking on an exciting journey to determine what our promise to you, our community, along with our visitors and our businesses will be.
Q. Isn’t branding for cars and coffee?
A. Cities and regions are increasingly adopting the branding practices that were once the domain of consumer products. Developing and following a brand management strategy is critically important for all forward-looking places to rise above and distinguish themselves from the other 22,000 incorporated cities and 3,400 counties in America. Terrebonne Parish tourism identity directly impacts not only tourism, but how the region is perceived as a place to live, study, invest, and do business. Hence, it is important for us to ensure that our strengths are properly connected to the needs of customers and that we acquire a sustainable competitive advantage by developing a powerful, positive and distinctive reputation.
In this age of hyper-competition destinations can no longer sit back with a neutral or unknown image if they want to build long-term wealth and well-being for their stakeholders. We have decided to pro-actively manage our reputation and image as a visitor destination. This requires a strategic response to four critical questions:
1. What do we want to be known for? 2. How can we stand out from competitors? 3. What thoughts and feelings do we want to come to mind when people see our name? 4. How can we gain maximum impact from our combined marketing and tourism investments? Q. What will the Branding Initiative produce?
A. There will be several key branding tools created through the initiative:
· An identification and profile of Terrebonne Parish’ most important markets and their perceptions of Terrebonne Parish.
· A brand positioning for Terrebonne Parish – our brand promise. Descriptions of the brand and key messages.
· An understanding of our competitors
· Strategies for how to integrate the brand messages into our products, services and marketing.
· A visual identity (brandmark or logo) and a verbal identity (tag line) Graham Group activity
· Templates for applying the logo to various media Graham Group activity
· A 12-month implementation plan.
Q. What is our brand?
A. We can’t say that we are branded just because we have our logo on everything that we produce. Rather, our brand is comprised of the thoughts, feelings, and expectations that target audiences hold of the benefits and experiences that distinguish Terrebonne Parish from other options. Our challenge is to develop the framework that will enable us to generate the positive associations that will shape Terrebonne Parish’ reputation.
Q. What are the benefits of a brand management strategy?
A. Successful destination brands are those that add perceived value, clearly differentiate themselves, deliver on a valued promise, provide a marketing umbrella for partners and simplify choices for customers. The Terrebonne Parish brand management strategy will provide this clarity, and focus the combined efforts of our partners into a unified and orchestrated power to:
• Consistently highlight our most potent messages and benefits
• Make Terrebonne Parish easier to choose above competitors
• Amplify our greatest competitive advantage
• Create a marketing ‘umbrella’ to gain synergy from everyone’s efforts
• Hit the hot buttons of customers and potential alliance partners
• Deliver outstanding brand experiences
Q. What is a Destination Promise™?
A. An important milestone in the process will be the development of our Destination Promise™. Our Destination Promise™ will be our beacon and guide all that we do as a visitor destination. It spells out our competitive edge, and the benefits and expectations that make Terrebonne Parish special to key audiences. This is important because by projecting our Parish in a consistent and enticing way over time, we create expectations – a promise – that helps to build awareness, desire and reputation.
Our brand management strategy will influence all aspects of our marketing. Partners, community groups, government and others will be encouraged to adopt elements of the strategy which will strengthen our combined marketing and communications efforts. The objective is to convey similar messages to key audiences no matter who is communicating.
Q. Who will lead the process?
A. The Parish’s advertising agency Graham Group is leading the Process. The key contact person for the project is Anne Tabler Klenke. Anne can be contacted at
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. A Brand Advisory Committee will be appointed to act as a sounding board for ideas, review documents, and make recommendations on project content. The Parish has hired professional brand strategists to assist in the development of the brand strategy. Once the strategy is completed, the Graham Group will create a visual identity (logo) and verbal identity (tagline) for the brand. The Parish will be responsible for leading and managing its implementation by engaging partners across the community.
Q. Who are the consultants for this initiative?
A. After an extensive solicitation and review process, the Parish of Terrebonne Parish selected Great Destination Strategies, LLC, (GDS) as the planning and creative professionals to assist in the development of the Parish Brand. GDS is an international place branding and tourism marketing firm, headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Also on the team is Bill Baker, author of the book “Destination Branding for Small Cities”, The GDS website is www.greatds.com.
Q. What is the planning process?
A. The ideal brand will not emerge in an afternoon. We anticipate that the process will take approximately six months. The GDS Team uses a highly effective planning process, the 7A Destination Branding System, which calls for a research and consultative approach. The process encourages community and partner participation, and includes extensive research outside of the region to gain the perspectives and attitudes of our external customers. GDS will then develop the strategies and brand toolkit to express our competitive identity in ways that will unify stakeholders and resonate with our key audiences.
Q. Will the community be involved in the branding process?
A. Yes, an important part of the initiative is listening to our community residents. The GDS Team will be conducting personal interviews, and will hold several stakeholder focus groups to gain an understanding of the community, and solicit personal ideas about the brand direction. The Team will also hold a brand education workshop in the community in order to explain the process in some detail and show examples of good destination brands. There will also be a project website that Terrebonne Parish residents can access and online polls in which Terrebonne Parish residents can offer their thoughts and opinions.
Q. How will the brand be used?
A. In order to be successful, the Terrebonne Parish brand will have to be embraced, adopted and integrated by a large segment of the Parish’s businesses and services, as well as the Parish government. The brand will need to be visible to the vacationing visitor as well as to investors, and new residents. While its great to show the logo, the brand promise must not be an empty one. Everyone should help in making sure Terrebonne Parish delivers on its brand promise. When the strategy is completed the consulting Team will conduct a brand coaching workshop for Parish staff, suppliers and key partners. The Team will also hold a brand launch and implementation workshop with the Brand Advisory Committee since this Committee will be the main “champions” of the brand.
Q. How do I contact the GDS Team
A. You may contact the GDS consulting team at
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