KINGDOM BRANDING
Kerry Group is a fairly well known ingredients multinational, and for the brand logo the company drops ‘Group’ and simply goes by ‘KERRY’, all in caps. Now there is another ‘KERRY’ brand, also all in caps, and in truth not that dissimilar from the food giant’s logo.
It would be interesting to see a trademark barney between the two, though that’s unlikely, because the great and the good in The Kingdom are backing the new ‘KERRY’ brand, which is part of an effort to market the rainy south-west county as a destination for enterprise, quality of life, and visiting.
Other counties around Ireland will be sitting up and taking notice of the DiscoverKerry.com project. It was two years in the making and started with the county council convening a Kerry Economic Forum comprising stakeholders from the enterprise, tourism and education sectors. Agreement was reached on the need for a unified brand for the county, supported by a marketing strategy.
Funding from the Leader programme paid for initial research that resulted in a ‘Marketing Kerry’ report. More stakeholder engagement followed and the development of DiscoverKerry.com commenced. The website is the lynchpin of the project, and plenty of thought has gone into it, as evidenced by the excellent content.
The exact investment has not been disclosed, but various State-funded development partnerships, the council, and the Dept of Rural & Community Development all chipped in. The DiscoverKerry marketing project has four objectives:
Highlight Kerry’s strengths and attractions to create growth opportunities that benefit local communities.
Promote businesses and experiences within the county.
Position Kerry as a destination for
The DiscoverKerry brand reveal on Inch Beach and (below) the other Kerry logo.
individuals, new businesses, and investment.
Provide easy access to information to enhance the county’s accessibility and appeal.
Though the football team’s green and gold are the colours associated with Kerry, the county’s ‘KERRY’ logo is black and green on the website, and colour agnostic when used on social media and video. The indent at the top of the logo is for a reason; if rotated 90 degrees the logo on its side represents the letter ‘K’.
DiscoverKerry.com is populated with good business stories, reflecting the input of software entrepreneur Sean Ryan, founding member of KerrySciTech.
“By showcasing the breadth of achievements and limitless potential of our region through this new brand, we are proudly showcasing to the world what we already know – everything is possible in Kerry,” Ryan enthuses.