Malta is seen differently by potential tourists in core source markets, hence the need to rebrand, says Malta Tourism Authority executive chairman Romwald Lungaro-Mifsud
The Malta Tourism Authority is getting ready to face the challenges of the future - it is embarking on a branding exercise, which will lead to marketing Malta more effectively, and which will have an impact on the way Malta is marketed in the various tourism segments.
The branding of the Maltese Islands is high on the agenda of Government and the MTA, and goes hand in hand with the MTA's new approach to marketing the destination.
To date, the MTA's marketing strategy has been based on the premise that each source market should be approached individually and addressed in terms of the strengths of the destination, as perceived in that particular geographical area. Although this approach has been effective - Malta has more or less held on to its market share despite the increased competition - it has also led to a confused message where Malta has come to mean different things in the various markets.
The overseas offices have had a great deal of autonomy. There was a situation where the MTA set the core brief for the promotion of Malta, but how that was put into practice was left up to the office responsible for that particular source market, and to the office director who knew the market.
However, markets change. The time has come for the MTA to change its marketing strategy, through specialisation in its market segments.
If we want to secure a stronger future for our industry, if we want Malta to be recognised in today's crowded and increasingly competitive tourism scene, and if we want to become a destination of choice, we need to take a good look at how we have been addressing the market over these past years, and to compare this to the focused manner in which our competitors are presenting themselves in the marketplace today.
As competition on the international tourism scene has increasingly become fiercer over the past five to six years, destination branding has taken on an even more important function, as countries fighting for market share have set out to send a strong cohesive message to their target markets, promoting their product offering and identity.
Destinations like Turkey, Dubai, the Egyptian Red Sea resorts, Cyprus, Britain, Greece and Croatia, just to mention a few, have successfully achieved this. Given this situation, one can say that we are latecomers to destination branding.
A brand is a lot more than just a logo - it is a promise of delivery of the expectations of the consumer, of the service qualities which a brand represents. We therefore need to consider the importance of positioning Malta correctly in relation to our product offer. It is also essential that we peg our branding to the delivery of our product.
For example, if on a scale of one to ten, we are delivering a product at level five, it would be detrimental to the industry to position the destination, through our brand image, at say, level eight, as we will not be meeting our clients' expectations. As such, we need to brand Malta always slightly ahead of the level of our actual offer.
As we continue to improve the product, a process that is gathering momentum, we will need to revisit our positioning, and revise our brand promise accordingly.
A strong brand is successfully developed from within, by adopting the core values of the brand into our lifestyles.
The core values of the Malta brand, which have now been identified and will soon be made public, need to be adopted by each and every one of us living in the Maltese Islands... Malta, Gozo and Comino need to have their 400,000 brand managers (yes, the whole population) if we want to be truly ahead of our competitors.
A brand also needs the involvement of all the people engaged in marketing and delivering the product to the customer. It is crucial that these subscribe to the basic promise, and seek to deliver a top-quality product.
The process has already kicked off with a workshop held on July 7 which saw the active participation of more than a hundred stakeholders. It is vital to get the industry involved. The industry knows the market, and needs to own the process. Everyone needs to buy into the brand.
Ownership of the process will also facilitate the effective use of the new brand platform by the private sector in its marketing efforts.
Christian Sinding, a Norwegian with extensive international experience in branding, led the workshop, which began by evaluating how our competitors are currently promoting themselves, and how Malta is being promoted overseas.
This was followed by a presentation of the results of the qualitative studies which had been commissioned by the MTA in June in Malta's four core source markets (the UK, Germany, France and Italy) to ascertain how our customers perceive the destination. A very mixed message resulted, as we are seen quite differently in all four markets, emphasising the urgent need for branding.
There was also an in-depth explanation of the relevance and the application of branding in relation to tourism destinations given by Mr Sinding.
The afternoon was devoted to working groups which discussed the Malta brand's core values, and the development of potential mission and vision statements for the Malta brand. A core team led by Mr Sinding then examined the results of the groups and developed a synoptic document by the next day.
This document was discussed by a focus group meeting of major tourism investors, which took place on July 8. This group went on to develop a brand platform for Malta. The next phase will be to issue an international call for proposals based on a brief which specifies, among others, the new brand platform.
We hope to have the brand concept ready by November, in time for World Travel Market - a very tight schedule. Realistically, however, we see this new brand concept being utilised in our marketing campaigns by spring or early summer next year.