Here’s a Way to Build Your Destination Brand – Hire Someone to Live It

Everyone is looking for a job, so why not hire someone to live your brand? Recently some tourism organizations have been creating some nice exposure for themselves by advertising new jobs to work at their destination – all in the name of branding. Apparently, the newest way to tell your destination’s story is to hire someone whose job description embodies your brand. I love it. The most widely talked about has been Queensland, Australia, who recently won the coveted Grand Prize at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival with an ad campaign seeking to hire "the best job in the world". The advertising calls for applicants to fill the role as caretaker of Hamilton Island in Queensland, Australia. They received over 34,000 applications from over 200 countries. I guess that means it worked.

First of all - great idea. I wish I had thought of that.

This is no different than expecting to see the big jolly elf in Santa Claus, IN or North Pole, AK (he does live in both places you know). Let’s have some fun. What other interesting destinations could hire a person to be the ambassadors of their brand?

Here are a few I came up with -

Chief Leprechaun – Dublin, OH (they’re tourism tagline touts where Irish Is An Attitude; Hmmm do you think they could go too far by making their official breakfast Frosted Lucky Charms? Probably.

Purveyor of Flavor - Mesquite, TX (their local CVB uses the tagline - Real. Texas. Flavor.)

City Manger of Creativity - Providence, RI markets using the Creative Capital.

Maestro of Music – Nashville, TN (who now officially uses Music City as its brand theme)

Storymaster – Jonesboro, TN (home of the world’s international storytelling festival)

Master Tailor - Augusta, GA (their tourism organization inspires everyone to “Play Augusta” and make all experiences a green jacket moment)

The Candyman - Hersey, PA (that was just too easy)

Head Witch - Salem, MA

Dr. Love – Philadelphia (City of Brotherly Love)

The Wizard - Liberal, KS who touts being the Land of Oz

Okay. I think you get the picture. If every community took this approach to branding, not only would it bring their brand to life literally, but it would create lots of cool jobs. “Copy catters” are already out there. Snow Peaks Canada is promoting a 3-month opportunity to become a snow bum (check out www.snowbumcanada.com). Nicely done.

Do you have any ideas for destination jobs? Let’s see what you got?

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