Another year, another branding exercise. This time it’s Valletta’s turn to get the marketing make-over. Just like obese women are told that a mud wrap will melt away the mounds of cellulite on their bottoms, we are being told that a branding exercise will help reverse Valletta’s declining fortunes.
I hate to disillusion all the City fans and uber patriotic readers, but visiting Valletta is not so intriguing- Claire Bonello
A marketing plan drawn up by a consulting services company, commissioned by the Valletta council comes up with the rather unsurprising conclusion that the city needs “rejuvenation and refurbishment”. This conclusion drew hoots of laughter from the regulars at my favourite Valletta café – the ones who have witnessed the decline of the city fist-hand and don’t need fancy marketing plans to tell them why people are staying away.
There were howls of derision when they read the report about Valletta’s woes being turned around by having its image spruced up – and that ultimate panacea – having a new logo. The healing power of the new logo has been unleashed, or is about to be unleashed, and people will flock to Valletta. Or so the marketing people would like us to believe.
Unfortunately we’ve been down this branding route before, and rather than delivering the marketing miracle which was expected, we realised that we had shelled out a lot of money for practically no return. Does anybody remember the Brand Malta fiasco? The first stage of that particular exercise in futility was internal branding where Maltese citizens and service providers were to be able to ‘own’ and subsequently transmit the country’s brand promise or values, to visitors.
That floundered because Maltese people felt that the brand promise was a hollow one. How could they praise that their country as a centre of excellence when it clearly was not? It wasn’t a case of self-sabotage as claimed in some quarters, but simply a reluctance to convey an inaccurate image of the country. People weren’t going to go around praising their lovely towns and villages, great roads and efficient service providers, when they were scurrying around in overbuilt urban uglies, bump-ing along to work on craterous roads every day and having to face soul-sapping shoddy service at all levels.
In other words no amount of branding or marketing is going to work if the product or service on offer doesn’t make the grade. An excellent product will be successful despite poor or conservative market efforts. It doesn’t work the other way round.
A case in point is that of the locally produced cheesy snack Twistees. For as long as I can remember, Twistees have come in the same, relatively unexciting red and yellow packet and no great launches or media events to promote the snack. Still, people love them and brand loyalty is so strong that when a plastic bucket fell into the Twistee mix contaminating a batch, consumers weren’t put off their favourite snack. Rather, the great majority of online commenters resented the Environment Health Directorate’s intervention and threat of legal action and called on the authorities to lay off their beloved Twistees. Now that is consumer loyalty and it is not a response to glitzy marketing or artistic logos, but simply due to the fact that the product is good.
Going back to Valletta, and what can be done to save it from becoming a more decrepit version of Mdina, where tourists nip in and out in a couple of hours flat.
It’s not going to be a sleek logo which will save the day. It’s the Valletta experience – the product – which has to be remarkable and enjoyable. I hate to disillusion all the City fans and uber patriotic readers, but visiting Valletta is not so intriguing.
It’s not exactly unpleasant, just – bland. Yes, there are the main draws, such as St John’s Co-Cathedral, the Palace, the National Museum of Fine Arts, the National Museum of Archaeology and Casa Rocca Piccola, but these attractions are not enough to endow the city with the vibrancy it so desperately needs. And the Renzo Piano parliament may be a talking point, but it still won’t be enough to add to the interest quotient of the city.
Having visited these sites and downed a coffee in one of the few good cafes in the capital, there is little to retain one’s interest. Most of the shop’s are outlets of the same international franchises found in every high street, the restaurants (barring a few exceptions) are nothing to write home about and the entertainment options are limited.
If we had to be brutally honest with ourselves, we would admit that Valletta doesn’t possess the zesty artistic scene of Barcelona, the myriad attractions of Valencia or the quirky, whimsical shops of Ortygia. History and archaeology buffs may love it, but if they pop over to nearby Sicily they will discover more archaeological remains and baroque architecture than they can shake a stick at.
If Valletta is to be a draw and to remain a vibrant, buzzing city, there have to be initiatives which promote a thriving artistic community, and activities to cater for the younger generations. Incidentally, these were some other suggestions that made it to the conclusions of the report. Knowing the skewed sense of priorities of the authorities, we’ll end up with a new logo for Valletta and nothing else.
cl.bon@nextgen.net.mt