Hubs and Spokespeople
We often look to promote our regions, projects or businesses through a tightly drawn descriptive phrase or brand to help them stand out. But there can be a fine line between finding a strapline or tag with an immediate, widely understood connotation and simply resorting to common, or even spent currency.
Lately, the ‘energy hub’ positioning has been applied thick and fast to aspiring countries, regions and projects from the whole of Turkey to the East of England and even to a humble buildings-and-environment laboratory in Salford.
So where’s the harm in applying this type of blunt and easy descriptor, or encouraging the media and others to apply it because we don’t supply something more appropriate?
No harm, perhaps, but certainly no marketing gain, as we simply huddle in the same congested marketplace.
The ‘energy hub’ term has also arisen sometimes in relation to an area which is close to my own heart – Scotland’s Highlands and Islands. This is a region whose unique natural resources and pioneering achievements truly invite clear differentiation to customer and supply chain audiences.
For instance, it is the first region in the world to pilot deepwater offshore wind production; undertake grid-connected testing of full-scale wave and tidal energy devices; and achieve commercial-scale leasing of marine energy sites, sufficient to match the power of several nuclear power stations.
But how do you find a realistic promotional ‘shorthand’ to distinguish a region like this and reinforce market perceptions, stimulating interest, engagement and investment in its current momentum and future potential?
In my view, by summoning up and confidently deploying a descriptive catchline which is itself a first, as well as being realistic and useable by the region’s businesses, and is credible to its target audiences.
Such a tool is only one part of the marketing mix, of course, but it would help project this region into its own competitive space and out of the crowded centre ground – or hub, you might say.
Leave a comment