Toolkit for UK destination promotion

A project that united four partner towns across Ireland and Wales, has been extended to March 2013 to continue its campaign in changing image and place making for regions on each side of the border.

The latest in EU Regional Development projects has achieved great success in engaging communities in building a positive reputation for their town and in turn, attracting visitors.

Each of the four towns involved, Rhyl, Holyhead, Athy and Dún Laoghaire, have all undergone capital scheme regeneration work but recognised a need to improve their self-image and reputation both internally and externally.

Funded with 75% European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the EU’s Ireland-Wales Interreg IVA programme, the project was launched in 2009.

Focussing on engaging communities with the changing face of their towns, BRAND set to produce a toolkit whereby dependent on each town’s strengths, they could promote how the town was changing and what it had to offer to visitors effectively.

Positioning each place as a destination in this way enabled BRAND to ensure residents had a portfolio of tactics to showcase their assets. These included an Empty Shop Initiative in Holyhead profiling local businesses, development of a social media presence and app to showcase Dún Laoghaire’s Summer of Events, high street furniture designed to tell local stories in Rhyl and employing ‘town promoters’ in Athy.

Each town was given a project manager who drove the projects forward and worked with each community to get the best out of the campaign for their region.

Now BRAND is looking to help more regions across the UK and Ireland change the image of their towns and challenge negative perceptions to put their area on the map for the right reasons.

Carolyn Brindle, Project Co-ordinator for BRAND, said: "The accomplishments of BRAND in changing perceptions for the partner towns has been testament to the drive and determination of the project managers and their work on the ground with local businesses and communities.

"The resulting development of the toolkit offers a selection of examples of work and tools that can help in developing a new image for a town and driving key messaging to instil pride for residents in where they live, a versatile kit that can be applied to different developing towns across the UK and Ireland."

For more information about the BRAND project, visit http://brand-project.eu/

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