COUNTY BRANDING
COUNTY BRANDING
STRATEGIC BRANDING OF A COUNTY
By Dr Mary Mugo
The practice of marketing and branding has worked very well for product and corporate brands . Companies such as Coca Cola , Toyota , IBM and Microsoft have succeeded very well in their marketing and branding . The brand equity for Coca Cola for example is 7 Trillion Kenya Shillings , which is about seven times the Kenyan annual GDP .
Place branding on the other hand has already been shown to work with successful examples such as St . Lous . Milwaukee , Malaysia , and South Africa . The recent politico-legal changes in Kenya will enable counties and cities to retain more money than hitherto . It has also ushered in an era of healthy competition between counties and cities .
Many have misunderstood the concept of branding completely . When one speaks of branding , what comes to the minds of many is advertising and media . Branding is the bundle of promises from a product to your consumers . This bundle must be well identified and by keeping your promise you create a relationship between your product and the consumers . A good brand
‘‘ When counties brand they reap several benefits . One of the potential benefits is clear identification of assets and factors affecting the exploitation and maximization of such assets . By branding one is also able to focus on all the stakeholders and collectively analyse and resolve problems . It is proper effective branding that will ultimately lead to maximization of revenues leading to county growth .’’ will always make more money and hence the need for serious branding for any county .
When counties brand they reap several benefits . One of the potential benefits is clear identification of assets and factors affecting the exploitation and maximization of such assets . By branding one is also able to focus on all the stakeholders and collectively analyse and resolve problems . It is proper effective branding that will ultimately lead to maximization of revenues leading to county growth .
Brand ownership is critical for success of any county . Ownership of the brand is tricky and must be handled strategically for better gains . This is because many county consumers may have more than two counties and are confused where they really belong yet one county may be needing them more than the other .
For instance I could be living in Machakos County , work in Nairobi County and was born in Embu County . The question is then which among the three is my county yet as a consumer I need services from all the three counties . The county governor must own the branding process for it to succeed .
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