This is a not from the kitchen, but just from its doorsteps.
The Topic - yesterday the new logo for Bulgaria as a tourist destination
was officially presented and it should represent the country in the next 10-15 years
in its official tourism strategy.
When MEET (Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism)
announced the public bid for "Development of a Brand Bulgaria strategy,
development of product and regional brands and the introduction of integrated
brand management" I was working at Publicis and dealing with public
tenders. The company decided to participate in this contract and I personally
prepared the proposal for the public bid. When we won the project Publicis and
I parted and I did not work on this project, for which yesterday I thanked a
lot to my former employer.
Here are the activities included in MEET’s requirements for the project:
Phase 1 - Develop a brand strategy for the destination Bulgaria,
consulting, analyzes and further studies
- Analysis of the results of market research conducted under
Project 1 "Marketing research and evaluation of the effectiveness of national
marketing"Contract № BG161PO001/3.3-01/2008/001-1 OP "Regional
Development" and further studies
- Legal analysis and creation of the concept of ownership of
the products of the project as part of a more general system for integrated
management of national, regional and product brands
- Developing a strategy for brand destination Bulgaria
- Consulting and promoting brand strategy "Bulgaria"
in the tourism business, its associations and other interested
Phase 2: Develop creative proposals for a national brand and
sub-brands, as well as a regional brand
- Presentation of the logo, slogan and character set of the
destination brand of Bulgaria
- Development of product brands as sub-brands brand
destination Bulgaria
- Developing a branding strategy of tourism development and
production of at least one pilot regional tourism brand
Phase 3: Testing the proposed brand to internal and external
markets
- Testing the national, regional product and brands at
international and domestic markets
This is public information as well as the fact that the
execution time of all this is 7 months. Given that the activities require the
completion of part of the job before starting another (writing a strategy after
analyzing the results of the survey, also while running a public consultations
almost nothing can be done), the time was very "scarce". The price
offered by us, was 1.4 million BGN, modest budget accounting the ones offered
by other participants - over 2.5 million BGN (this information is also
public).
An excerpt of the Consortium for Brand Bulgaria's proposal
might explain the silence on the part of the Contractor on these details,
instead of left to speculating in the press about finance, timing and
resources:
"For the successful implementation of the project
activities we plan to keep the following principles in their work:
· ... The Contractor will refrain from any public statements
concerning the project or services without the advance written consent of the
Contracting Authority, and ill refrain from engaging in any activity that runs
counter to its obligations to the Employer under the contract. "
So, why do I think the logo is just another bullshit?
- Because Ivo Marinov is an incompetent Minister and he
presented the whole project as a book in pictures. His presentation yesterday
claimed that the new logo would increase the flow of tourists ... Total
nonsense, logos do not increase tourist flows, Mr. Marinov! Does not anyone
read your official statements?
- Also according to Minister Ivo Marinov, the new logo would
lead to twice as many tourists, but only 25% above revenues in the tourism
industry. I.e. this logo will attract more poor tourists for an even cheaper tourism
product? Pity then, for the efforts and money. Bulgaria is already known mainly as
a cheap tourist destination and the idea of the
whole project was to demonstrate sustainable content of the destination on
which to build its image for the next 10-15 years, not to score cheap points!
- The logo has it ALL, everyone can see this, it is like a
bad fast food product - poached eggs, but with a plastic slice of Turkish tomatoes and blanched
Romanian potatoes:
* The SAME rose is used by the Bulgarian Socialist Party (already
discussed many times as plagiarism) and has some
*? mountains (Maybe this dark blue stain at the top) and
*? Sea (light blue stain below), for example, and it is
marked with a parasol from the cheapish ones, not a shell or a dolphin, but then you promote
concrete jungles by the sea, right? What a change!
In this logo - Is there something authentic? Nope. Something
specific? Neither. And something that challenges you to find it in Bulgaria? (The
slogan is "Discover and share"). Well, it showed nothing particularly
intriguing.
This usage of “all that comes around” in advertising circles
is called "creative impotence" and lack of strategic thinking. It is
further complemented by the font used, which is one of the most impersonal among
the impersonal fonts. And Bulgaria
is at least rich of specific fonts!
- Explanation of the choice of the logo was based on testing
different creative proposals to potential audiences, based on likes. This is
incredible! Testing such a logo should not be based on likes but on whether it
best represents certain characteristics that we want to communicate. In this
case we can only guess what was supposed to present the logo, but it is rather unlikely
that it represented a wealth of content beyond the obvious. As I read the
comments yesterday: "For me, this cartoon stirs strong associations of stylized
eroticism Bulgarian beach style - boobs, female bottoms, peaches and roses
under an umbrella ..." Just a cheap bottle of alcohol is missing from the
picture. Is that what we like to say and it will be left with no comments?
"The definition of a country brand is as follows:
Brand of a country is the unique discernable sense based on
overall emotional and irrational perception of the main assets of the
destination: location, attractions, infrastructure, landscape, products,
people, culture, history and politics.
Branding countries is a complex activity that aims to create
that feeling, to strengthen or modify it if it is negative. "
Admiration for the fellow (former) colleagues who worked on
the project. It was clear that whatever is done will be spitted on. I think they’ve
worked hard but did not fulfill the task (perhaps a mountain of objective
reasons for this, as always). Anyway, this project will stand great in your portfolio!
Relax, at some point people will get used to it, and when it comes the time for
a new logo, everyone will say, just as now: "The old one was better".
Let us celebrate the new tourism brand Bulgaria!
In the meanwhile I will continue to discover and share what it actually stands for – the authentic side and
not your side! This logo is a total nonsense – Bulgaria tourism could very well do
without it. Its value is 0, not 1.4 million BGN. Millions remain only as money spent for an empty and cheap shell. Hopefully the strategy (that will clearly remain a
big mystery), is worth at least more than 0. For example, the value of 1 BGN,
just as Chinese merchandise.
