The positive perception of any recreation, park and tourism organization is both a desired and required goal. In reaching this goal for such leisure-based services, the process is based in part on a positive branding image. In today’s environment, without a strong and positive brand image, bad things may happen. If you are a manager of a public recreation, park and tourism agency, you may have had these types of situations happen to you or observed them in surrounding communities:

• An increase in competition from other public- and private-sector providers has begun to erode your services
• Your community’s parks division has merged with public works or another municipal department
• Both the operating and capital budgets have been reduced at a greater rate than other departments within a community

If these and other situations related to a loss of status are occurring within your organization, it may be that your agency’s brand is weak. On the other hand, do you regularly do any of the following to improve your brand image?

• Have lunch with the mayor, superintendent of schools or key business leaders every few months
• Wear business-level attire to the office on a regular basis
• Maintain your office, parks and buildings in a professional manner
• Conduct research on a regular basis to evaluate existing services and changing demands

All these things can help maintain or improve a brand image.

Defining Branding

The concept of branding is a much-used and much-abused marketing term. Within many recreation, park and tourism environments, the use of branding strategy at all levels of the organization has not been as useful as it could be. While there are many different definitions of branding, the following is used for this article:

“Branding is the process of creating both an image and benefits that lead to a level of distinction, brand equity and competitor differential.”

For a recreation, park and tourism agency, branding encompasses the organization’s personality, culture, level of professionalism and visual image. It is the glue that holds an agency’s entire image-building and marketing effort together. Recreation professionals must recognize, however, that no matter how good a branding strategy is, it will not overcome a poorly managed leisure service agency and will also not replace the process of consumer choice of service, or what is generally referred to as consumer behavior. The questions each agency needs to ask are how strong is its brand and what is being done to build and protect the brand. In so doing, each agency needs to be aware of what constitutes both positive and negative branding.

Defining Brand Equity

The equity or degree of perceived value by a consumer of leisure services is normally based on two specific factors: (1) benefit segmentation and (2) values and risks. For every defined recreation, park and tourism offering, there may be multiple benefits sought by different participants. For example, a fitness program may offer such benefits as low price, a higher degree of fitness, social status, improved health or ease of location, while a tourism-based special event may be developed for a variety of target market interests. Different individuals may register for the program, but each may have chosen it for any of a number of different benefits. The key in branding is to understand the specific benefits consumers are prioritizing and position those benefits throughout any marketing endeavors.

The concept of values and risks involves understanding what is most important to the users of recreation, park and tourism services by rank and identifying potential risks related to the different types of leisure-based services. Every individual in every region or state will have unique value systems related to culture and tradition. The trick in branding strategy is to understand what those key values are and incorporate them into the marketing and promotion of programs, events and facilities.

The risk factors in the participation of leisure-based services are many. Knowing such risks and understanding ways to mitigate them certainly aids in the branding process. While risk factors include many specifics, there are some general risks that may be part of any specific offering, including:

• Functional risk (the risk that the service will not perform as expected)
• Physical risk (the risk to self and others that the service may pose)
• Financial risk (the risk that the service will not be worth its cost)
• Social risk (the risk that a poor service choice may result in embarrassment in front of others)
• Psychological risk (the risk that a poor service choice will have a negative impact on a consumer’s ego)
• Time risk (the risk that the time spent in an activity may be wasted if the service does not perform as expected)

There are a number of methods that can be used in order to mitigate any of these types of risks. Some of the more common options include money-back guarantees, testimonials by past participants, free one-time participation allowances, introductory workshops, liberal cancellation policies, positive image building and a good variety of promotional literature.

The key to risk identification is to understand which are most important to your target markets and to try to mitigate such risks as much as possible. Risk management mitigation includes both the risk of actual participation and the risk of choice of provider. The organization that offers the least amount of perceived risks will usually have the most amount of participation. 

• Beyond value and risk factors, brand equity variables may also include:
• Brand awareness (familiarity based upon promotion)
• Brand liability (with emphasis on maintaining specific legal requirements) 
• Perceived quality (quality offerings lead to a perceived quality brand)
• Brand assets (value-added features beyond basic service benefits)
• Brand association (based on the concept of luxury brand extensions, by developing partnerships with other well-respected providers of recreation, park and tourism services)

Establishing the Brand

The branding of any organization begins with the firm establishment of both an agency’s vision and mission, or more specifically what the agency wants to be and how it plans to get there. This includes the specific areas of benefits and features. Benefits are the specific values, which consumers are most looking for in a recreation, park and tourism service, while features are the value-added components. The two should not be confused, as benefits will always be the most important factors. 

While a brand is often the result of awareness, innovation, buzz and some luck, it is first and foremost based upon providing some unique offerings and special name recognition. Primary methods to develop name recognition involve the setting of specific standards of operation, creating and maintaining desired partnerships, and creating a good public relations image. This is when luxury brand extensions are especially important in the development of partnerships with reputable individuals and organizations.

No matter which strategies are utilized, it is critical that a recreation, park and tourism agency stays consistent in its messaging. This consistency means sticking to the mission, goals, operations and image, and that an agency should avoid constantly changing its offerings based upon changing trends.

Brand Management

Once a brand strategy is established, it is important that it be managed on a regular basis. This means fully factoring residents and consumers into the brand equation. This is not an easy task in today’s environment, but customer diversity and the marketing concept of benefit segmentation create the need to make brands relevant for different markets. Many years ago, this author, utilizing the eight elementary schools in a community of 50,000 residents, created eight neighborhood advisory committees to help define the recreation, park and tourism needs of each neighborhood. This strategy resulted in a variety of different services being offered for each section of the community. The key is that each consumer of recreation, park and tourism services must in fact own the brand.

There are specific strategies that can be used to enhance the management of a recreation, park and tourism brand. One method to improve brand image is the use of “value-added” strategy. The term “value-added” is an important, yet sometimes confusing concept, with different theories for its use. In essence, it involves giving the customer more than what they expect for their tax dollar or registration fee. One of the best definitions of “value-added” is as follows: TVA=P-E, or total value added = performance minus expectation. Under this definition, the theory is that any participant attending a recreation, park and tourism program, event or facility does so with an expected level of performance. The key is to understand what the perception of performance is and provide more than what is expected. An increased performance over what is expected will help to strengthen any brand.

Without a doubt, the actual marketing component of any recreation, park and tourism agency is a strong contributor to brand development. While general advertising and promotion methods continue to be used in order to help create both awareness and demand for selective recreation, park and tourism services, more specialized marketing efforts can be employed in order to strengthen any agency’s brand image. Staying on top of modern promotional methods beyond the traditional use of brochures, print advertising, etc., is most important. The increased use of websites, Facebook, Twitter and especially the fast-growing use of mobile technology will help reach more people while showing that the brand is state-of-the-art. All marketing activity directed at brand development is based on the perceived experiences the participants will have. Nobody buys a product, but rather they “buy” what the product will do. Nobody registers their child for a day-camp program because it exists; they do so based on the opportunity for the child to have fun, foster relationships, be safe and secure, and be exposed to new types of leisure-based activities. Success in branding is a function of understanding the experience or benefits that consumers may be looking for and promoting those specific desires.

Lastly in brand management is the question of assessing and dealing with anything that might have the potential to damage the recreation, park and tourism brand. While there are many reasons that could lead to brand damage, they typically fall into the following categories:

• Business crisis (a mismanagement of responsibilities)
• Functional crisis (a mismanagement of performance)
• Financial crisis (a mismanagement of budget)

The mismanagement of responsibilities can include functional, ethical or environmental errors that fail to meet the expected standards of society. Errors in performance are related to a failure to provide some type of leisure-based service at a level of desired expectation. The area of budget management can involve everything from basic accounting errors to the legal concerns of fraud and misuse of budget funds.

While all it takes is a simple tweet to start a full-blown branding crisis, it becomes very important for any recreation, park and tourism agency to continue to conduct brand benchmarking prior to any potential crisis and to regulate and monitor the health and vitality of the brand. When bad things happen, very often a positive brand image can mitigate any long-term negative impact.  

Harold J. Nolan, Jr., Ph.D., is the Director of the Institute for Tourism and Recreation Management in Navesink, New Jersey, and a Professor in the School of Business at Georgian Court University in Lakewood, New Jersey.