Introduction:
We at GemGfx were recently approached to assist in putting together a proposal for the development of a brand for Trinidad and Tobago. We had never before done anything of this scale or scope and we were very excited at the opportunity. So we immediately began doing our research on the subject of country branding. In the end, we lost the opportunity to a much larger firm, but we still had all these ideas and this unspent design energy that we had to find an outlet for. So we decided to go ahead and work on the project and bring it to development anyway. This would give us an outlet for our pent up creative energy and we would gain great experience from working on the project. We also decided to make an article of our journey on this project that it might inspire some other creatives out there, as we ourselves were inspired working on it. Trinidad and Tobago also recently celebrated it's 51 st year of Independence. The US secretary of State John Kerry also sent greetings to mark this occasion. So the timing was perfect.
Project Scope:
- Development of a Tourism Destination Brand Programme utilizing integrated multi-media advertising and PR to promote sport, culture, festivals, natural resources and people of T&T.
- Create a brand ID and Manual
- Implementation across all media traditional and non-traditional
- Destination T&T booth designs.
Target Markets:
Primary: 25-55 year old and 56-75 year old leisure and adventure seekers from North America, UK, Scandinavia, India, Germany.
Secondary: Regional visitors, T&T Nationals, Caribbean Diaspora, Local/International Tour Operators, Meeting Planners.
Objectives:
- Raise the level of awareness of Trinidad and Tobago as a tourist destination.
- Create sustained deman and interest in Trinidad and Tobago's niche products.
- Encourage people to find out more about Trinidad and Tobago's destination.
- Establish Trinidad and Tobago's USP.
So this basically is what had to be worked on and what we had to deliver. As said before even though we eventually were not selected to work on the project, we decided to go ahead and work on it anyway, as though we had the opportunity, as we believed the experience would have done us well. And it did.
Disclaimer:
This is a case study developed by my wife and I, therefore it does not go into the vast detail a complete project developed by a full team or for a real client. It was done simply to illustrate the possible and the potential, not to be looked at as the finished product. The images used in this presentation are for display purposes only and all credit and copyright goes to the respective parties. The logo icon and brand design apart from the images used, are the property of GemGfx and are not to be used without our permission.
Research
Being sure to stay close to our Method of Approach, and since the objectives of the project were already clearly defined by the project scope, we believed the next step would be to begin the research. We had already started gathering information so it was just a matter of thoroughly researching so we would be better informed and thus have a better chance of developing an award winning design.
Country Branding:
This was maybe the most educational part of our research. Nation branding appears to be practised by many states, including Canada, the United States, France, United Kingdom (where it is officially referred to as public diplomacy), Japan, China, South Korea, Singapore, South Africa, New Zealand, Israel and most Western European countries. We were never really exposed to country branding let alone to learn that there was a Country Brand Index. Future Brand, is one of the largest and most experienced design firms in the world. They are responsible for the development and management of such brands as Bentley and their most recent mega project American Airlines. Future Brand is also responsible for putting together an annual Country Branding Index. It was very interesting to learn that Switzerland was number one followed by Canada and Japan.
Our future is shaped by forces at a macroeconomic, political and social level.
Consumer and corporate brand decision making needs to be understood in the context of those forces, so that we can create a future that resolves tensions between what society wants today and needs tomorrow.
Where brands are made, the geographic location of businesses and the regulatory forces shaping global trade and industry are fundamental to our understanding of the future.
Which is why FutureBrand produces the world’s largest and longest standing global study of country brand perception.
Barbados is very high up on the list just outside the coveted first twenty five, by sitting at number twenty nine (29). Trinidad and Tobago is currently sitting just about in the middle of a list of one
hundred countries at number fifty four (54). This is very far down the list. If a visitor were to be considering places to visit, and they were to consult this list, it is highly unlikely that they would get to number fifty four. It is no far reaching conclusion then that Trinidad and Tobago is in need of a
strong brand. There is also evidence that the implementation of a strong brand on a country can affect the entire nationalistic face of that country on a local, regional and international scale. An enhanced image may create more favorable conditions for foreign direct investment, tourism, trade and even political relations with other states. Developing nations such as Tanzania and Colombia are creating smaller nation branding programs aimed at increased overall image and with the case of Colombia, changing international
perception.
So we first did research on Country Branding, then we did research on Trinidad and Tobago itself. I was born in Trinidad and Tobago and have lived here most of my life. Yet in doing the research I learned things about Trinidad and Tobago that I did not know. Things that were instrumental in the brand that we eventually came up with.
So we had to develop a brand based on the guidelines set out by Future Brands criteria. We had our work cut out for us.
Analyse
We had now come to the part of the design process where we analyse the data we collected during our research. This step is also called Brainstorming. We basically study in detail the research, and bounce ideas around till something hits us. My wife was instrumental in this step. So much so that I told her she had to be present at all brainstorming sessions from now on. We looked at all the aspects of Trinidad and Tobago life, and were fascinated by the vast and rich culture we have here in Trinidad and Tobago. We drew upon several channels of inspiration when we came up with the logo.
Hummingbird:
Trinidad and Tobago's National Birds are the Scarlet Ibis and the Cocrico (Tobago Pheasant). The Scarlet Ibis is the larger bird representing Trinidad and the Cocrico, the smaller, represents Tobago. These birds are represented in the Trinidad and Tobago Coat of Arms. The hummingbirds have been included for sentimental reasons. It's said that more species of humming bird are found in T&T than any other country in the world, and that early inhabitants of Trinidad called Trinidad Iere or Caire, which means the Land of the Humming Bird. So we decided to go with the hummingbird to develop the logo and it's influence can be quickly seen when looking at the logo.
Carnival:
An explosion of colour, music, revelry, and creativity, Trinidad's Carnival has spawned similar celebrations around the world; but nothing on earth can rival the abandon, euphoria and stunning spectacle of our festival.
Trinidad and Tobago Carnival was an obvious inspiration, as it demonstrates visually the variety of Trinidad and Tobago life and culture. The logo was designed to have a look and feel of a Carnival Masquerader's Costume.
Steel Pan:
Also known as Steel Drums or Pans, is a musical instrument invented in Trinidad and Tobago. For a brief history of the Steel Pan you can check out Pantrinbago's website. The invention of a musical instrument is a huge deal, and that came from Trinidad and Tobago.
The logo was also designed to have the look and feel of the inside of the Steel Pan.
The Chaconia:
The National Flower of Trinidad and Tobago, the Chaconia, is sometimes called Wild Poinsettia. It is known as the Pride of Trinidad. This was also one of the influences of the design as it was designed to have the feel of flower petals.
The National Flag
The flag of Trinidad and Tobago was adopted upon independence from the United Kingdom on August 31, 1962. The flag was chosen by the independence committee of 1962. Red, black and white symbolize fire (the sun, representing courage), earth (representing dedication) and water (representing purity and equality). The obvious choice of colour. We decided to make red the most dominant colour in the design because it is the most dominant colour on the flag, and it is the one that is most readily recognized as representing Trinidad and Tobago.
Next we worked on a tagline.
The National Watchwords of Trinidad and Tobago are "Discipline, Tolerance and Production." To find out about where the watchwords came from, you can check this link. While very inspiring in and of themselves, they did not help much with coming up with a tagline, as they do not lend themselves to the awareness of the Trinidad and Tobago brand. The following is a concise rationale of how I came up with the tagline.
Tagline Rationale
Future Brand uses the following criteria for the compilation of its list and the measuring of the country brands:
Awareness, familiarity, preference, consideration, advocacy and active decisions to visit or interact with a place. But the most important factors—the aspects that truly differentiate a country brand—are its associations and attributes across five key dimensions: Value System, Quality of Life, Good for
Business, Heritage and Culture and Tourism. A strong country brand is more than the sum of its attributes: in total, it must make people’s lives better.
This got me to thinking about my own country of Trinidad and Tobago. I thought about our country's weak points first. Then I thought about it's strengths. Then I thought about which one of those strengths had the potential to make people's lives better. Then I thought about which of those strengths raised the global awareness of Trinidad and Tobago. As you can see a lot of thinking was involved. One answer came back as the answer to all these questions though. Our People. No matter what strength I focused on at any given point in time, the root of that strength was the people of Trinidad and Tobago. Weather sport, academics, industry or culture. The answer came back the same people, people, people. So I decided to develop that line of thinking.
When it comes to the global awareness of Trinidad and Tobago, the reason people know we exist is because of our people. In particular our Achievers. The individuals who throughout the history of Trinidad and Tobago have risen to great achievements that put them, and by extension their country on the world stage. Weather it is be in Sport, Culture, Academics or whatever when our people achieve it as though the entire country achieves. For the global stage not only gets to meet the individual who achieved, but the entire country seems to follow with them and share in their success.
It was then that my wife and I realized something that we ourselves have experienced many times before but never really took notice of it. In November 2005, I remember an incident that was etched into my mind and remains till this day. Our National Football Team nicknamed the Soca Warriors were scheduled to play a qualifying match for the 2006 World Cup. Trinidad and Tobago had never qualified for the World Cup before and this was their last chance at doing so. I remember sitting in my office that evening, and suddenly started to hear lots of car horns honking. I wondered what had happened. I went outside the office to be greeted by a sea of people in the streets and music and celebration was in the air. The cry was the same. "We goin' to the world cup." It was our footballers who played the match. Dennis Lawrence scored the winning goal, but "We", the entire country, were going to the World Cup. This is what I meant when I said, when our achievers succeed, the entire country succeeds.
On that day, all the troubles everyone and the country were facing, were forgotten so we could celebrate "Our" victory. Our then Prime Minister Patrick Manning declared a Nation Holiday just so the country could celebrate. On that day there was no colour, class, race or creed. We were united as a people around our achievers. Then we realized that this was a phenomena that happens every time one of our people achieves. When our famous cricketer Brian Lara broke the long standing record by Sir Garfield Sobers. The entire country erupted in celebration as though it was we who scored the runs. When Janelle Commissiong and Wendy Fitzwilliams wond Miss Universe, the entire country was there celebrating with them. "We won Miss Universe."
Trinidad and Tobago even though it is a small country, have quite a list of achievers. The list is so long I won't even attempt to list it here. Just to say that with each achievement, not just the individual, but the country was placed on the world stage. Because it was Trinidad and Tobago that produced this achievement. We the country don't just celebrate our hero and their achievement, but the fact that they have achieved something that gave Trinidad and Tobago some recognition. These achievements allow people from around the world the opportunity to hear about this small twin island republic, whereas they would not have known about us before. When Nelson Mandela visited Trinidad and Tobago, one of the first questions he asked was "Where is Brian Lara?"
The celebration is not primarily about what the achievement was, but we celebrate the fact that they have achieved.
Then the proverbial light went on and I made a connection that gave me the tagline. I was here thinking and talking about Achievers, Achievements and the fact of Achieving. I had already looked at the country's watchwords that didn't help me much. I had forgotten however about the national motto.
Together We Aspire, Together We Achieve.
Th meaning of the motto is; "Once we dream, act and work together then we will succeed together." It was established by the late first Prime Minister Dr Eric Williams, who himself was an achiever, when Trinidad and Tobago achieved independence in 1962. I could not have asked for a better tie in. In Trinidad and Tobago, we Aspire together and we Achieve together.
This motto however was all inclusive, but on a country level. It spoke only to Trinidadians and Tobagonians. I needed it to speak to everyone, including a global audience. To do that, I simply shortened it. Trinidad and Tobago "Aspire....Achieve". In Trinidad and Tobago we Aspire and Achieve and if you come to Trinidad and Tobago, you also will Aspire and Achieve. What ever your Aspiration, you can Achieve it in Trinidad and Tobago. You Aspire to succeed in business investment? You can Achieve it in Trinidad and Tobago. You Aspire to a great cultural experience? You can achieve it in Trinidad and Tobago. You Aspire to a relaxing holiday in a tropical island? You can Achieve it in Trinidad and Tobago. To me, I had arrived at the perfect tagline, that was in a sense always there.
It was now time to to move on to the next phase of the design process.
Execute
So now that we had the logo and the concept solidified in our minds, it was time to implement the design into various mediums. Or as we say in the design process, Execute. The following is the brand id that we came up with. Again the images used are for display purposes only and the copyright belongs to the respective owners. The logo icon and brand design belong to GemGfx. It's quite a few images, so depending on your connection and system, give it a few to load. If you prefer, you can also view the project on Facebook and Behance.
Evaluation
This brings us to the last part of the design process. For this we'll need your help. We're putting the design out there and asking my fellow creatives and others to evaluate it. What do you think about it? How could it be improved? Did it succeed at the all the objectives? Or just a few? Or none at all? All constructive comments and feedback is welcomed. We look forward to hearing from you guys and we hope that this case study helps to inspire others in creating great brands.
Till next time.
