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The Story So Far

Elsewhere on this site, we’ve explained why Shetland became interested in developing a stronger brand. We’ve outlined the challenges that that presents. We’ve explained that, for places and so for Shetland, ‘brand’ really means ‘reputation’.

Here, we concentrate on the work that’s been undertaken over recent years.  We:

  • Summarise the work done by Corporate Edge
  • Illustrate the work that Corporate Edge did, including their proposals for the visual elements of the brand, and
  • Summarise the Council’s marketing strategy and explain what’s been done or is planned

The Report By Corporate Edge: A Summary

Corporate Edge set out the factors that shape the Shetland brand. These were:

  • A focus on exports and tourism, remembering that promoting exports can help strengthen tourism and vice versa
  • Concentration on a particular section of the market, described as ‘successful idealists’, people who value (and can afford) things and places that are distinctive and authentic
  • Positioning Shetland as a small, clever, country, very much of the 21st century
  • Building on the generally high quality of what Shetland offers and presenting the islands as a special and specialised place, whether as a place to visit or as a source of premium products, and
  • Inspiring, rather than dragooning, Shetland producers to produce goods and services of consistently high quality

Corporate Edge sought to capture the ‘spirit’ of the Shetland brand, which they felt must reflect the character of both the place and the people.  They reckoned that there were three elements to the spirit of Shetland, soul, origins and fineness.  Soul reflects the character of the place and its culture; in Shetland’s case, this includes the landscape, the people, and the vitality that’s evident in, say, music.  Origins is simply to do with the fact that Shetland’s characteristic products originate here (rather than being assembled from materials from elsewhere); the knitwear is designed here and the music reflects long tradition.  Fineness has a double meaning; it’s partly about values that Shetland people share, like trust and honesty, and it’s partly about the quality of something like a one-ply lace shawl.

The vision in the Corporate Edge report is of a place that’s self-reliant and successful and that offers an experience (in products or services) that is rich, rare and of high quality.

Corporate Edge set out ways in which the brand might be developed and managed.  They acknowledged that, in their research, they had met some scepticism about whether or not Shetland could deliver on a promise of consistent quality, but they also felt that there was strong support for raising standards.  Importantly, they also pointed out that:

In the end, a brand like Shetland’s will be as much deduced as declared – if not more so.  That is, customers will learn more from what they experience than what is officially expressed.  This is desirable because what people deduce for themselves is far stronger than what is messaged ‘at’ them and this is particularly true of the target market of successful idealists.  It is even more desirable if Shetland wants to pull off the ambition to achieve disproportionate impact, which can be summarised as thinking cleverly rather than spending money.

In other words, actions will ultimately speak louder than words or indeed logos.

The Visual Branding Of Shetland

Jargon alert! By ‘visual branding ‘ we just mean the design and use of the logo and the colour palette that Corporate Edge prepared.  As we explain elsewhere, state aids restrictions mean that this material can only be used in connection with tourism.

Corporate Edge didn’t only design a logo; they also came up with a range of colours to be used, identified what they felt was an appropriate typeface (Cosmos) and presented examples of the brand style in action.  Finally, they prepared a short video, intended to be used to stimulate interest in the Shetland brand and unite people around it.

Largely for legal reasons, all the components of the brand style have only ever been deployed together in tourism promotion.  The places to see them in action today are the Shetland tourism brochure and the website, visit.shetland.org.  In fact, it was never intended that the entire brand toolkit should be applied to specific products, not least because the individuality of products and producers is important to our target consumer.

Here are some extracts from the brand style guide that Corporate Edge produced:

[INSERT VISUALS]

The Council’s Marketing Strategy

Over recent years, the Council’s Marketing Service has been pursuing a marketing strategy that’s available, in full, as a .pdf download [167Kb]. Here, we give a flavour of the strategy and set out some of the practical steps that have been taken. The strategy takes careful account of the Corporate Edge findings.  The focus has been firstly on strengthening local confidence and secondly on building a wider reputation. What might Shetland’s market position look like by 2015? Ideally, something like this: 

Shetland will have a well-deserved and steadily-growing reputation for products that are special and of high quality. Whatever we produce, our customers will know that it is made, caught, grown or performed with care and integrity. Our services, too, will be of a standard that satisfies discriminating people. Our determination to respect people, the environment, culture and heritage will be recognised; it will help set us apart from our competitors. The people who are most likely to be interested in what Shetland has to offer will be those who value that approach.

Our customers and potential customers will know about the islands’ products and services because they will be widely reviewed or publicised and will be readily available from their favourite outlets.

Shetland businesses will be well informed about the needs, aspirations and concerns of those customers and will have a good understanding of market trends and of the scope for innovation. In other words, they will know their customers and be confident in approaching them. There may well be close bonds, established for example by personal contact or through the internet, between producers and customers. That understanding of Shetland’s market will be widely shared in the community and especially by young people.

Because of their high quality and their distinctiveness, discriminating customers will be willing to pay more for our products and services but will regard them as good value for money. The incomes of successful Shetland producers will be higher and more secure.

The main aims of the strategy are:

(1)       To improve Shetland’s reputation as a place that offers:

 

§         Products of excellent quality that meet the needs and aspirations of the consumers most likely to be interested in what Shetland has to offer

§         Services provided to a standard that consistently exceeds customer expectations

 

(2)       To enable individuals and businesses to develop and promote Shetland products and services with confidence and pride

 

The strategy goes on to emphasise the need for initial research to help us understand the market and identify Shetland’s strengths and weaknesses.  A wide range of actions was proposed and many of these have already been started or completed.  We’ve given some examples below.

Research

Understanding our customers is fundamental.  We also need to know where our strengths and weaknesses lie.  Some recent projects have thrown more light on what our customers want and on what their experience of Shetland products and services has been.  Other projects can give us an objective view of how well we’re performing.  For example:

  • A study of Shetland websites has demonstrated that although there’s some variation in the quality of local websites, the best of them are very good.
  • A study of business-to-business links has given us information about how well local businesses serve customers elsewhere
  • A study into the possibility of having a Shetland presence (including a retail shop) in Edinburgh

Website Development

Communicating effectively these days invariably involves using the internet.  The Council has developed three websites with specific purposes in mind:

The Shetland Food Directory (www.foodshetland.com)

A website for people thinking of moving to Shetland (move.shetland.org)

This site, which provides marketing support for Shetland businesses

The Shetland Food Directory is also available as a printed booklet.

Events

Events offer a platform on which Shetland can promote products or services, which helps build reputation, either directly with visitors to the event or indirectly via the media coverage that can be attracted.  Events can also offer an excellent opportunity for producers to get to know their customers and understand their needs, which helps improve confidence.

Two major events within Shetland, the Johnsmas Foy (incorporating Flavour of Shetland) and the Shetland Food Festival, are intended to do these things.  Outside Shetland, there has been a Shetland presence at a range of events, carefully selected to reach our target customers and help us learn more about them.  There has also been continuing contact with journalists and broadcasters, resulting, for example, in Matthew Fort’s article in the Guardian.

Other examples of events in which Shetland has been involved include:

  • the hosting by Shetland, in London, of the annual dinner of the Guild of Food Writers, linked with visits by several food writers to producers in Shetland
  • Celtic Connections in Glasgow; at the 2008 event, a whole evening was devoted to Shetland music and a staffed stand offered information about our islands and our music
  • The London Boat Show, an opportunity to make an impact on yachtspeople and engage them in conversation about what Shetland has to offer, and
  • Foodies at the Festival, a weekend event in Edinburgh during the International Festival that offers the chance to present Shetland as a source of excellent food, with literature and samples of delicious food available

There’s no doubt that interest in Shetland and its products has increased over recent years.  For example, several visits have been made to Shetland by small groups of food enthusiasts from Italy; they’ve visited local producers and sampled local food.  By the end of 2009, it’s expected that around 60 people will have taken part in these visits.