Begin with discovery, not design. Ensure thorough community engagement is completed before starting the design phase. Host workshops across different demographics, interview key stakeholders, survey residents and recent visitors and really listen to understand the communities values and aspirations. Document what makes your place genuinely distinctive: the stories, values, and aspirations that already exist.
Assemble a small steering group. Include Council staff( economic development, communications, tourism), 2-3 elected members, and 3-4 community representatives( business, education, community groups). This group guides the process but doesn ' t control outcomes. The broader community must shape the brand identity.
Commit to the long game. Place branding delivers compounding returns over years, not months. If your council is only willing to invest for 12 months, pause and plan for a longer term approach. The real value emerges when the brand becomes embedded in strategy, influencing decisions and perceptions over time.
From Identity to Impact Eighteen months after launching I ' m Kimba, the brand has fundamentally transformed how Kimba operates, communicates, and competes. It has become the thread connecting our economic development strategy, tourism marketing, community engagement, and strategic planning. When we speak with investors, we have a compelling story. When visitors arrive, they experience a genuine and cohesive identity. When residents engage in community projects, they see themselves reflected in a shared narrative of progress and pride.
Being finalists in the 2025 EDA National Economic Development Awards for Excellence validated what we already knew: authentic place branding, executed strategically and embedded comprehensively, is powerful economic development infrastructure. It ' s particularly valuable for regional councils because it levels the competitive playing field. We can ' t outspend metropolitan centres, but we can out-story them.
For economic development professionals sceptical about branding or let down by past superficial attempts, the lesson from Kimba is simple: branding fails when it ' s cosmetic, but succeeds when it ' s strategic. When branding emerges from genuine community identity, is designed for democratic adoption, embedded in strategic decision-making, and measured for impact, it becomes one of the most cost-effective economic development investments a council can make.
Regional Australia faces real challenges; place branding isn ' t about pretending to be something you ' re not. It is about articulating, celebrating, and strategically leveraging who you already are. For Kimba, that identity has become our greatest competitive advantage.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MEL GARIBALDI Mel Garibaldi is the Economic Development Manager for the District Council of Kimba. The I ' m Kimba place branding campaign was a finalist in the Economic Development
Marketing & Promotional category at the 2025 Economic Development Australia awards. She ' s always happy to chat with fellow practitioners about place branding, economic development, or the joys and challenges of working in regional towns. Reach out at mel. garibaldi @ kimba. sa. gov. au.