Brand Malta: Moving forward

The operational goal of Brand Malta is to foster a sustainable tourism industry and increase the economic benefit to Malta via increased employment and visits. For the MTA, the brand will act as a platform from which a focused communication strategy will be developed.

Part of developing this brand, or any brand, for that matter, involves deciding how and when our brand should communicate to its audience. This process is better known as communication planning.

At the centre of this process lie consumers, their attitudes, lifestyles and media consumption habits. This is where Malta needs to determine who is this ideal visitor, and what is the best way to target them. Some consumers offer Malta greater value than others, while some may be more receptive to our communications, hence furthering our chances of effecting behaviour, attitudes and visitation.

To my mind, the ideal visitor is broadly characterised by a willingness to make time to travel, is not put off by the barriers for travel to Malta, and is unprompted to considering Malta as a potential destination. Psychographically, this group enjoys observing different cultures, seeks the challenge of "stepping into the unknown", and wants to experience a place before it becomes too touristy (Gozo). Finally, they are willing to become an advocate of Malta and generate word of mouth on their return home.

This is, of course, the ideal. So the MTA must identify a close target group and prioritise resources to research, marketing communications, organisational support and leveraging partnerships. Much of these resources will be invested towards achieving growth in our western European "cash cow" markets. This makes sense since these have high air service capacity and will deliver the vast majority of our future growth and spend. However, these are also marked by high competitive clutter, not only from our immediate neighbours, but also from long-haul destinations. Additionally, these are complex media markets characterised by two key trends. Covering both in depth would go beyond the purpose of this article, so I will give but a snapshot of each one.

Firstly, the digital revolution has made consumers more individual, more connected and less nuclear. From passive recipients, consumers are now active participants of media content, more demanding, more cynical about advertising and able to talk back in real time and in mass numbers (have a look on youtube and see what our visitors are broadcasting online).

The internet is the major driving factor, and a greater variety of demographics are now spending more time online, at the expense of traditional media consumption. Communication is now multidirectional, and engaging with the audience is key. A recent manifestation to this fact is that virtually all bookings with low-cost airlines are made via the internet, with no intermediary involved.

The second trend is that these markets are also characterised by strong media fragmentation. From mass media, we are now in the age of masses of media. Thirty years ago there was one TV channel in the UK. Today there are about 340. This example alone demonstrates that we have to be even more focused in our segmentation and targeting to ensure that our message gets to the right people.

These are but two trends that need to be taken into consideration when determining where and how we are going to allocate our marketing investments to develop a balanced communication campaign based on both brand building as well as tactical promotion.

As I have expressed in past articles, Malta must outsmart not outspend. We must never forget that we have a strong and unique product and, in its maturity, Brand Malta will place our country like no other; a destination beyond categorisation and above comparison.

Mr Saliba is a global media strategist at Carat Global Management, London.

saliba.kevin@gmail.com