Here’s a quick description of a rebranding project I did for the Seychelles about ten years ago.  I worked together with TBWAHuntLascaris in South Africa.  A great ad agency.

THE PROBLEM

A remote destination of unparalleled natural beauty.
An expensive destination with poor hospitality infrastructure.
No nightlife, few entertainment options.
Bad service from a population who had been taught by politicians not to be subservient to foreigners.
An unattractive investment destination for the hospitality industry. 

A 7 star destination with 3 star facilities and service.

THE AMBITION

Establish Seychelles as a premium destination.

IMPERATIVES

Positive image perception amongst high spending travellers.
Attract investment by leading hotel chains.

BRAND DNA

Unspoiled natural beauty.
Purity.
SImplicity.
Beautiful people, a mixture of African, Asian and European.

KEY CONSUMER INSIGHT

In a world of plenty, nothingness is the only true luxury.

BRAND ESSENCE

Seychelles is as pure as it gets

EXECUTION

Palm fringed tropical beaches area  commodity product.  In a photograph, there is nothing that distinguishes Seychelles from any other tropical islands anywhere else in the world.

We therefore chose black and white photography which also underlined the brand essence.

The strapline was AS PURE AS IT GETS and the copy …..

High rise buildings 0.0007%
American fast food chains 0.00001%
Yuppies on rented Harley-Davidsons 0.002%
Men in leopard skin g-strings 0.005%
Seychelles.
As Pure As It Gets.

MEDIA

Print, focussed on leading international travel titles.
Internet.
Trade shows.
Familiarization visits.
B2B with potential investors. 

Internal campaign on Seychelles State Television aimed at changing habits and attitudes of the Seychellois.

OTHER

High level of interactivity and involvement with tour operators at all stages of the project.
Personal involvement and championing by the State President.
Tourism Marketing was taken from the Ministry and made the responsibility of the newly created Seychelles Tourism Marketing Authority, run like a private corporation.
I assisted in the org structure and staffing of STMA.  Highly focused matrix management.
The creation of “Project Rooms” for each major market.

RESULTS

Attracted investment from major premium hospitality providers – Four Seasons, Ritz Carlton, Banyan Tree and others.
Service levels improved dramatically.
Number of visitors were kept low (stated objective) but revenues increased dramatically.

7 star destination with 7 star facilities and service