In May 2013 we were part of a team led by Colliers International (Ireland), which was responsable for developing a Place Brand strategy for the Cork City Region of south west Ireland. This was the first City Brand created in Ireland and one of the first in Europe.
Although the Region had been quite successful in attracting significant new businesses through the work of the Country’s national Industrial Development Agency (IDA), it recognised it lacked a comprehensive development strategy covering tourism, human talent and urban regeneration as well as the attraction of Foreign Development Investment (FDI).
Over the following two years, a realistic and complete brand proposition was created along with marketing colateral by the consortium, which was designed to retain and attract investment, business and talented people as agreed.
The brand development programme commenced with an audit of the current marketing and messages from local authorities and private sector operators in the Region. This was followed by an extensive audit of that offer and experience, resulting in the development of an outlined brand proposition. It was refined following the results of market testing with the key local stakeholders in the Region.
It was then largely and successfully tested with a sophisticated brand descriptor designed and developed by the team of experts.
* Project led by Placematters before uniting with Bloom Consulting
