News.

31/05/11

Escape the Rat Race to an Australian evocity or a PORTown

We’ve worked for Wagga Wagga City Council and one of us was born and grew up in Albury, so we’ve got a strong affinity for the rationale behind the ‘evocity‘ campaign inviting city dwellers to experience the art of living, working or investing in Albury, Armidale, Bathurst, Dubbo, Orange, Tamworth or Wagga.

And the push to ‘PORT’ (promote our regional towns) encouraging regional towns to apply for Federal grants of up to $1Million on the strength of the evocity campaign is fantastic.

But we just can’t help wondering if the name ‘evocity’ is a bit contrived…………even though the 7 evocities are centres of ‘Energy, Vision and Opportunity’ – does the name ring true? does it resonate with target markets? are city dwellers beginning to think ‘I must move to an evocity?’

The question has relevance to those regional towns who want to take advantage of the PORT funding – what will a collaborative campaign by the smaller councils of Parkes, Lithgow, Cowra, Young, and the Mid-Western Region be branded: ‘portowns’? ‘evotowns’? ‘etrrtowns’ (Escape the Rat Race towns)?

We’d love to hear what others think….especially anyone already touched by the evocity work.  This little video on the evocity website says it all…….

28/05/11

Special rate levy & BIDS vulnerable in Australia

This month’s axing of the CBD Special Rate Levy by the City of Greater Bendigo shows just how vulnerable these BID-like schemes are in an Australian legislative setting. If the scheme had been renewed, it would have raised $1.2Million to market and promote the CBD over the next four years.

Instead, some Councillors and supportive stakeholders are left wondering who will now champion the CBD.  Council’s news release about the decision to reject the new funding round points to concerns by a ‘large number of city centre businesses’.

Although based on the galvanising idea behind US Business Improvement Districts, there are some key differences that make Australian BIDs vulnerable: one of these is that there is no consistent, pre-determined method of obtaining and demonstrating continuing support.

The United Kingdom recognised this potential vulnerability when it formally enabled BIDS through legislation.  The Business Improvement Districts (England) Regulations 2004 describe in detail how a BID should be established, managed (particularly financially), reviewed, renewed and terminated.

We can’t help but think Australia too, needs some national legislation to encourage and support these business driven self-improvement schemes.

16/05/11

Place Branding Clues in National Flags?

Not sure we entirely agree that ‘Flags are the real logo of a country’ as suggested in this article by Andreas Markessinis on Nation Branding, but the visual examples are thought provoking: offering a starting point for discussions about dealing with the brand expression and visual identity of place sub-brands, managed entities and place partners.

14/05/11

Who will pay to turn the Callan Park Master Plan into reality?

We conducted 3 bus tours of Callan Park today, taking a route that was able to explain many of the key features of the draft Master Plan which is now on exhibition.  Like the drop in events we held late last year and earlier this year, the bus tours attracted some new participants who hadn’t been involved in the intense workshopping and surveying and briefings and online interactions that form the basis of what the Master Plan proposes.  It’s no surprise that for these community members the experience of touring Callan Park was highly educational.

http://callanparkyourplan.com.au/index.php even those who had been heavily http://callanparkyourplan.com.au/index.php in the past felt that the tours gave them a much better appreciation of the way the draft Master Plan responds to community input, balances competing community interests, and fits within the framework of the legislation that governs development at Callan Park.

For future projects of this size, it could be fruitful to include bus or walking tours earlier in the consultation process.  For Callan Park, the most frequent question we heard today was ‘who’s going to pay for it?’ A good question on two fronts: it means that despite any lingering individual doubts about certain aspects of the draft Master Plan the overwhelming community sentiment is support for its intent; and it points to the Federal, State and Local funding partnerships that will be necessary to save Callan Park from the neglect it suffers today.

 

 

13/05/11

Congratulations Stephen Gregory new CEO Canberra CBD Ltd

Stepping into the big shoes of Linda Staite, the inaugural CEO of this ground-breaking place management business improvement organisation, is Stephen Gregory, former CEO of Snowy Hydro South Care.

Canberra CBD Limited is funded by a 5 year grant from the ACT Government – the grant itself is funded by a compulsory levy on CBD property owners.  In 2006 and 2007, City Marketing assisted the ACT Government, the ACT Division of the Property Council of Australia, and the Canberra City Heart Business Association establish the framework for the levy and its future operations.

For the last 4 years, Linda has been delivering against a 5 year strategy City Marketing wrote for Canberra CBD Ltd as part of its funding bid.  She’s done a wonderful job and left the organisation and the place it manages in great shape for the new CEO.

 

11/05/11

Mental Health Budget Allocation Good News for Callan Park

The community’s desire to see Callan Park as a Wellness Sanctuary – a place for strengthening and restoring mental health and community wellness – looks a little more possible today after the Federal Government’s $1.5b boost for mental health funding.
With an emphasis on early intervention, care outside hospitals, and employment services for those living with a mental illness, the budget aligns well with draft Master Plan proposals for Callan Park.

11/05/11

Callan Park Master Plan Bus Tours Saturday 14 May

As the formal exhibition period for the Callan Park Master Plan draws to a close, we’re running three bus tours of the site on Saturday 14 May. These tours create the opportunity to explain aspects of the Master Plan in detail, answer specific questions about particular buildings or particular areas of the site or particular aspects of the proposed governance structure for Callan Park. It’s been a while since our last Callan Park workshop, and it looks like this new (for this project) form of engagement has attracted some members of the community we haven’t met before in addition to those who’ve shown their continuing interest in the project through workshops, online participation, and dropping in to the exhibitions. Should be a great day.

06/05/11

The 3Gap Model for Place Branding

We’re intrigued by the 3Gap Model for Place Branding in Robert Govers and Frank Go’s book Place Branding – Glocal, Virtual and Physical Identities.

Gap 1 – where a place has a unique identity but there are gaps in the product offering and brand expression

Gap 2 – where implementation is ‘off-brand’

Gap 3 – where the place experience is ‘on-brand’ but the perceived image is skewed for a range of reasons including cultural interpretations, and biased word-of mouth.

In explaining the 3Gap Model, Govers and Go argue that many branding efforts focus too much on the ‘rational’ elements of destination choice behaviour and too little on the ‘seeing, smelling, feeling and hearing’ that create a ‘rich perceptual experience’.  Analysing a place brand (or brand potential) using the 3Gap model must incorporate the fact that consumers are not purely rational decision makers and ‘affective perceptions are indeed of tremendous importance’.