Edexcel Geography Unit 2 - Re-Branding Places

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Rebranding

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Aims to improve a (place) and it's image. Involves Regeneration and Re-imaging. Aimed at Internal (local) people and External (businesses) people. Rebranding has many different scales, from rebranding a village to rebranding a country. Aims to improve the QoL for internal, and attract external. Hopes to create a virtuous cycle. Rebranding is needed when an area is in decline.

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Regeneration

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Making actual improvements to an area, e.g. new buildings and services

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Re-imaging

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Using marketing to improve the image and reputation of a place (e.g. Margate a place of culture)

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Virtuous Cycle

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Urban areas in decline

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Many industrial towns lost factories = ↓ in manufacturing jobs = ↑ unemployment = economic problems as people live on low incomes and benefits. Leads to a spiral of decline as people move to find work = closure of services, so even less jobs = further decline. Rebranding needed to encourage investment that should bring money and jobs to area. Improved housing & local environments = people move back

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Rural areas in decline

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↓ Agriculture = ↓ jobs & ↑ economic problems. Lack of opportunity = out-migration of young = ageing popn. Services close as people move = spiral of decline. Attracting new businesses and tourists to area through rebranding = ↑ jobs and services. Encourage young to stay and new people to area.

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Coastal Resorts in decline

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Cheap flights abroad = less UK holiday makers at coastal resorts = losing business and and money, so they close. ↓ fishing industry = fewer jobs and more economic problems. Leads to out-migration of young and spiral of decline as probs worsen. Rebranding encourages new investment = Jobs and Money.

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Different Rebranding strategies

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Different ways to rebrand an area. Projects can focus on: Attracting tourists, Improving conditions for residents, Attracting Investment. Rebranding can be achieved through regeneration & re-imaging, by developing new: housing, Shops, commercial, art & culture, tech, leisure & sport Or promoting: parks, historical heritage, festivals, food, links with media, leisure & sport, art & culture. There's a lot of overlap between the two. Focusing on 1 strat can speed up the process, acting as a catalyst for further development. In successful rebranding, starts will link. Aim to create virtuous cycle, where first change leads to further improvement etc.

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Flagship Projects

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Large-scale, expensive projects designed to make a radical change to a place’s image and generate media interest. They’re ‘top-down’ initiatives, which means the idea and funding comes from local or national government and big business (the top). E.g. Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain.

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Guggenheim Museum

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Decline of industry in Bilbao (an industrial port) in 70s and 80s led to high unemployment and many social problems in the area. The museum was opened in 1997, as a flagship project designed to act as a catalyst for regeneration of the Bilbao area. The art museum is housed in an eye-catching building that attracts around 1mn visitors and approx. €150-200mn per year. Further regeneration of the area has included new tram and bus lines, further cultural centres and concert venues, and improved buildings & services.

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Community Porjects

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Tend to be smaller than flagship projects. They’re ‘bottom-up’ initiatives, which means they’re started by local people (the bottom). E.g. Rebranding of Ludlow

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Ludlow

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Ludlow is a market town in Shropshire (UK). It started to be rebranded as the ‘slow food town’ in 1995 when a few local people came up with the idea of holding a food festival there. The festival now more than doubles the town’s population for one each weekend each September. It attracts visitors with top-class restaurants and independent shops selling local produce

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Rebranding Players

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Rebranding of an area can’t be done by a single organisation. It needs many different players (people who have an interest in the rebranding). Each of these players will have a different roles and reasons for getting involved.

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Player: Local Government

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Likely Role: Funding & planning permission. Possible reasons: To improve urban areas for social and economic benefit, to increase income for taxes, to gain votes.

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Player: National Government

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Likely Role: Funding. Possible reasons: To improve urban areas for social and economic benefit, to increase income for taxes, to gain votes.

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Player: Urban Regeneration Companies (URCs)

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Likely Role: Coordinating government and private investment and deciding priorities for rebranding. Possible Reasons: It’s the job of these companies to support regeneration and rebranding

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Player: Private Companies

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Likely Role: Project funding, Moving into the rebranded area. Possible Reasons: Publicity, association with vibrant modern projects. Profit, taking advantage of the likely increase in business as a result of rebranding.

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Player: Private investors

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Likely Role: Funding local projects and companies. Possible Reasons: Profit, taking advantage of the likely increase in business as a result of rebranding.

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Player: Not for Profit organisations

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Likely Role: Funding, support, advice. Possible Reasons: Regeneration is often the aim of the organisation or it supports the aim (e.g. improving social problems).

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Player: Local Tourist Board

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Likely Role: Market & Promotion Possible Reason: Leads to increased tourist numbers and improved visitor experience.

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Player: Local community

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Likely role: Backing rebranding process and helping to decide priorities for rebranding. Possible Reasons: Desire to live and work in a place with improved facilities, environment and reputation.

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Urban Rebranding can involve Regeneration

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On of the most obvious ways to regenerate an urban area is to improve its buildings. This can involve smartening up existing buildings or building eye-catching new ones. Building improvements tend to focus on four mains areas: Residential – Improving existing housing or building new estates (e.g. 1700 new homes in New Islington, Manchester). Shopping – Building new shopping centres or improving existing ones to attract consumers and investors to the area. Commercial – New business buildings (e.g. Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai). Waterfront Development – Regenerating former industrial areas like docks. This can be done with new housing, shops and commercial buildings. Waterfront projects also often on culture (e.g. Baltic Mill in Gateshead has been turned into a modern art gallery, helping increase tourism).

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Urban rebranding can involve Promoting an existing image

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Cities often promote themselves by reinforcing a + aspect of their identity that people already know, rather than actually changing. E.g. historic centres can promote existing links with history to combine heritage & tourism, York is marketed as ‘England’s first city of history’. Promoting existing image can create a virtuous cycle – people are persuaded to visit, which encourages more investment, encouraging more visitors etc. E.g. Hay-on-wye set up literacy festival in 1988 on back of its reputation for used book shops. Originally small festival developed into a big attraction, bringing over 80,000 visitors and an extra £3mn to the town per year. However, promoting an image can sometimes be risky, as developers can be accused of ‘spin’ if they just remarket the place without actually making improvement.

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Marketing a New Image

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Sometimes promoting a city’s identity involves changing an existing perception of the place. E.g. Amsterdam has tried to alter its reputation for prostitution and drugs by promoting itself as a historic place filled with art and culture. Declining coastal towns can also benefit from a new image.

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Eastbourne

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Eastbourne is known for being a popular tourist and retirement destination for older people. When the # of elderly visitors started to decline, Eastbourne council launched the ‘Change Your View’ poster campaign in 2004. It aimed to diversify the tourist economy by attracting younger visitors and families with children. The campaign promoted Eastbourne as a place to enjoy extreme sports, live bands and theme parks. The rebranding seems to have been successful, visitor numbers are increasing (60% from 2007 to 8) and over half of the 4mn people who visited in 2008 had never been before. This suggests that the campaign had reached out to a different ‘types’ of tourist.

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Sports as a catalyst

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Sports can act as a catalyst for rebranding – It speeds up urban rebranding by generating publicity, attracting visitors and investors, and creating jobs for residents. Hosting a major sport event can have huge impact on area, e.g. Chinese gov spend $40 bn on hosting 2008 Olympics as massive global publicity would boost China’s profile around the world. Aim was to increase tourism and international investment in China. On a smaller scale new sports facilities can help too. Development of Arsenal’s £430mn Emirates Stadium provided 2600 new jobs or area and 2500 new homes. Also replaced old recycling facilities and provided new nursery & health club.

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Urban Rebranding Disadvantages

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Sometimes has – impact. Particularly unrebraned areas can become isolated as result from rebranding elsewhere, e.g. Manchester rebranded the ‘happening place’ resulting in regeneration of run-down suburbs such as Hulme. This lead to increased crime and poverty where there hadn’t been any regeneration, like parts of Moss Side. This gap between the two led to: >\/ in local shops due to large outlets near-by >Fear of crime in ‘older’ suburbs >Reduction in volunteer work, social interaction and local clubs, as families move out and single professionals move in.

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Rural Rebranding Players

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As with urban, rural rebranded can’t be done by one organisation. Virtuous cycle needs involvement from many players. Quite similar players to urban, except: >Less money is available, as less likely to generate as much money as urban, so less interest from ‘big business’ (Exceptions include energy development e.g. wind farm). >Planning permission hard to get. Quite hard compared to run-down urban areas. Particularly difficult to build in National Parks, may not approve as they want to preserve the environment there, even if it’s good for rebranding.

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Internet & Rural Regeneration

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With /\ of internet more people can move to rural areas and work from home. However high-speed internet yet to be installed in most rural areas (mostly in urban dense areas). E.g. to tackle this in remote parts of Scotland, gov have funded £70mn to connect every community to high-speed broadband. Advertised as good place to start a business and live ‘at a slower pace’.

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Community Radio & Rural Regeneration

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Radio reaches out to rural communities by catering to their specific needs. E.g. since 1994 a lot of community radio stations set up in South Africa. They discuss local issues and play local music. Often also have educational function. Many in rural Africa cannot read/write, so feel isolated, but radio helps them feel part of community. Helps rebrand area by making residents more positive about it. Radio can also advertise local business and good points.

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Films & Rural Regeneration

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Rural areas can be rebranded as good filming locations. National trust promotes rural locations and hires out properties like stately homes to film-makers. Particularly popular for period drama e.g. Pride and Prejudice. This brings business to area and generates interest while filming is taking place. The area can also be prompted as the filming location after process is complete, attracting more fans and tourists.

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Rural Reimaging – Promoting links with Media

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If successful film/TV series is set in a particular rural area then it can attract more visitors. If said media portrays a certain image of the area, this can be used to help rebrand it. E.g. Kids TV show ‘Balamory’ is filmed in the village of Tobermory on the Isle of Mull, Scotland. Since launched in 2003, the island attracted 160,000 extra visitors each year. Many of these are families and with toddlers, so island developed attractions specifically for them. The series contributed ~£5mn per year.

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Rural Re-imaging – Promoting Heritage and the Arts

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Re-imaging can involve promoting the art and heritage that’s unique to an area. E.g. >Art – Angel of the North is huge steel sculpture on a hill by the side of the road near Gateshead. It’s regenerated he site of a disused mine and helped attract visitors and investment. >Cultural Heritage – Lake district is often called ‘Wordsworth Country’ because the poet lived there and wrote many poems about the area. >Rural Heritage – Production of whiskey in Scotland has become a way of attracting tourists to the region. People can go on tours of distilleries to see it produced. Brings visitors who spend money (e.g. accommodation). >Historical Heritage – World Heritage Site between Newcastle and Carlisle on border of England and Scotland has been branded “Hadrian’s Wall Country” because of the roman wall.

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Rural Re-imaging – National Park Status

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Large areas of natural beauty can be re-imaged as national parks: E.g. New Forest (area in S England) became national park in 2005. The aim is to attract new visitors and protect the area from overdevelopment. Will hopefully create a virtuous cycle, where the extra visitors will bring money to the area, so more money spent on conservation, and repeat.

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Integrated Projects good for Rural Rebranding

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Intergrated projects involve more than one rebranding strategy. They’re more likely to be successful because they’re more sustainable. If one strategy fails, there’s more to fall back on. These include: >Joining up social, economic and environmental strategies, to try and tackle all issues at once. >Involving both public sector activity and private sector business development in the rebranding project- e.g. linking gov tourist boards with new tourist businesses. >Having different business sectors work together – e.g. food festival brings together farming, food processing, restaurants and tourism.

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Integrating Projects leads to Diversification

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The decline in agriculture in many places means rural areas need to find other ways of generating income from postproduction countryside. This means lots of rural rebranding strategies involves diversification.

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Cornwall Spiral of Decline

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Cornwall economy relied on farming, fishing, quarrying etc. which are now in decline since 1970s, damaged local economy and landscape, forcing people to migrate to find work. Relies now on tourist jobs, which are seasonal and low paid. Low wages lead young people to leave, as they cannot afford a house (made worse by sale of holiday homes). Leads local small services to close due to lack of customers, so more people leave.

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The Eden Project

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Eden Project near St Austell in Cornwall opened in 2001. Example of rural diversification and rebranding. Changed the rural landscape and aims to regenerate the local area through ecotourism. It’s a ‘eco theme park’ situated in a former china-clay quarry, made of huge plastic domes. Several zones; tropical, Mediterranean and outdoor temperate. Contain plants from each location and focus on sustainable farming. Eden project has changed the image of Cornwall from a summer holiday destination, attracted 1mn extra visitors per year, developed scientific research and educational resources, and boosted the local farming by using local suppliers wherever possible. Helped to create a virtuous cycle – the extra business creates more jobs and higher salaries, so young people stay, also means more money is spent, so extra business created and services stay open, so people stay.

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Eden Project +

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>Visitor survey in S Cornwall showed 36% people there for Eden Project >Buys over £7mn of food produce per year >Generates £150mn for local businesses per year >Created over 500 jobs, and estimated 2500 in local services >Led £75mn facelift project for St Austell town centre >22% local businesses mentioned improvements because of Eden Project

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Eden Project -

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>All extra visitors have created traffic problem in area, lowers quality of experience so less people visit again >Extra cars produce more CO2, drawback to the projects focus on environment, led to cheaper entrance fee for those not in cars >Keeps needing public money, despite £15 entry fee still needed £150mn of donations for funding

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Jurassic Coast

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Coast of Dorset and East Devon was awarded World Heritage Site status by UNESCO in 2001, because of prehistoric rock, fossils and dinosaur remains there, has since been rebranded as the Jurassic Coast. Area was in need of rebranding because local economy relied on tourists in summer, so there was no income rest of the year. Rebranding mainly focused on increasing visitors to the area, especially at time not peak (summer season). Aims to educate visitors about coasts, rocks and fossils. Rebranding was also designed to inspire local communities to enjoy the area, and businesses, to invest in it

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Jurassic Coast +

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>Number of visitors increased, especially out of season. Lyme Regis Fossil Festival attracts 5000 new visitors each April. >West Bay’s £16mn Jurassic pier helped double visitor numbers. >New or renovated visitor centres in Beer, Exmouth, Swanage and Charmouth have increased visitor numbers. >Bournemouth to Exeter X53 Jurassic bus saw 130% rise in passengers 2002-5. Meaning not all visitors are coming by car, benefiting local people. >Area spread across 150km coast, so avoids traffic problems from Eden project >Cliffs of Charmouth well managed in terms of safety. >Changing coasts image and building visitor attractions has increased number of visitors to the area, generated income for the tourist economy, and attracted more investors.

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Jurassic Coast-

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>Concern that rebranding is focused solely on tourism, rather than wider benefits. Risky because it means that a decline in tourism could have a huge negative impact on local economy >Some locals feel that rebranding has been top-down, and haven’t been consulted about the changes.

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Impact of rebranding in the Future

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For rebranding to be successful, needs to be sustainable, lead to long-time benefits and able to be maintained. To do this needs more than 1 strategy, if focused on one thing a decline in that sector would devastate. Also important for it to be self-sufficient, means creating a virtuous cycle.

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Sustainable rebranding

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Need to ensure strategy is sustainable: >Involve local people in the planning, more likely to succeed if locals behind it, they’re more likely to support it if they can make suggestions/decisions. Can be done by constructing surveys for locals. >Improve infrastructure, like public transport can attract more residents and visitors to an area. This can improve areas image and bring investment. >Build legacy facilities that can keep being used after stage of rebranding is over, e.g. 2012 Olympic stadium for leisure use now. Important to leave a legacy if going to have a long-term impact. They focus on social improvements e.g. education. >Include conservation measures, important to consider environmental impact of a strategy. Showing concern about things e.g. energy efficiency will make scheme more popular, and get public support.

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Evaluation of rebranding

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To find out whether rebranding was successful, need to compare the area before and after. Rebranding process should begin with detailed assessment, measuring economic, environmental and social state of area. Later evaluations can measure changes by comparing data, should also take into account impact of different groups e.g. local businesses. Comparing data is good way of measuring whether rebranding is successful, but not completely reliable, e.g. people disliked rebranding moved.