Zim has megabrand potential
IF a brand such as Zimbabwe finds itself stale and boring, it is because it is not creative, innovative and refreshing enough to present itself to the world given its potential in terms of naturally endowed assets such as tourism sites, minerals, agricultural prowess , human skills and talent.
God favoured Zimbabwe with an abundance of these comparative and competitive advantages, which can be leveraged upon to create a solid, dynamic and vibrant brand in Africa and on the global stage. With its potential Zimbabwe can be a MEGABRAND of world standards.
New thinking and approaches
A megabrand is one that is established by design and effective positioning in the face of major socio-economic and political changes and still remains resolute on the basis of its policy, assets and good strategy. It doesn’t come by luck or chance.
Destination branding entails taking control of many elements of a destination some of which are complex to manage.
Despite these demands places must gear themselves to become megabrands by getting world famous. If a brand remains static, stagnant, flat and stale, it is because according to Albert Einstein, continually repeating the same behaviour in the expectation of a different result.
Destinations, get the image they deserve and imagining that they can change the brand of a destination without changing the way they behave is the height of delusion.
New and interesting narratives, approaches such as web driven strategies, trusted and knowledge based brand awareness, sizzling and exhilarating tactics are part of the game in establishing megabrands.
Exploiting the new media with interesting approaches captures the world’s attention. Innovativeness and creativity are central to this, Murimi et al 2013 advocate for shifting attention from traditional tourism sites such as the Great Zimbabwe, the Mighty Victoria Falls, Kariba, the Eastern Highlands and other mega tourism gems to other exciting and refreshing tourism gems which the country can leverage upon coupled with creativity and innovativeness packaging, effective segmentation, positioning and targeting, key pillars of destination marketing.
Proper segmentation determines a good pricing strategy or a good marketing strategy. Effective targeting avoids wastage of resources, risk reduction and target audience and market analysis.
Positioning is the tonic of getting into consumer mindsets thus creating brand awareness through knowledge, brand trust and brand loyalty.
The target market through STP are meant to be in direct sync with the functional and symbolic self-expressive, emotional and social status tastes that will create brand loyalty, the highest consumer buying stage which leads to repeat visits, destination reference and high tourism expenditure.
These aspects are marks of high competitiveness that appeal to visitors but requires clinical planning and execution of the highest order for Zimbabwe to be a megabrand in Africa and the world stage.
A sharp creative, innovative techno-savvy think tank solely established for purposes of bringing new ideas and practical approaches is of urgent necessity. The world has become dynamic and full of agility to be stuck in old ways of doing things, Universities and other training institutions are churning our creative, vibrant, fast and furious, and pulse of the movement inspired graduates who can take destination branding, creative art and design, visual and multi-media design to higher levels and they are not being exploited effectively to position Zimbabwe as a megabrand.
Rather you meet them in South Africa, Europe and the America’s doing wonders through skills horned in Zimbabwe promoting foreign brands to world standards. In the spirit of leaving no one and no place behind, there is need to blend the “NewAge” thinkers and the old to start revolutionizing our approaches to destination branding.
Yes a lot is being done by tourism stakeholders and including the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Zimbabwe, Tourism Authority and other tourism government and private sector related players BUT given the skills and talents being churned out more can be done.
Exploiting academic work and research
Numerous excellent thesis, research papers, practical proposals and conference papers have been presented nationally and internationally even to PhD levels and have been well received and even copied by other countries but have not been given space locally to champion or to add to the brand investment for the country. Thesis, conference papers and presentations must not be paper tigers gathering dust on academic shelves. They must be interrogated, form the basis of brainstorming and implementation. It’s an important resource, Education 5.0 in doing wonders in higher education as a new philosophy that has coopted innovation and industrialization besides the traditional pillars of teaching, research and community engagement. Innovation and creativity outcomes outputs and impact are beginning to be felt in our economy. Tourism, information and broadcasting, OPC and other government arms can tap from this important resource base and inject new but guided thinking. A protectionist approach to these domains should be a thing of the past. The world’s moving fast and Zimbabwe cannot be left behind. In fact, with our skilled human resource base, we must be leading the pack.
Appreciation of Efforts and
Demand for more
Indeed, a lot of work is and has been done by the Ministry of Tourism, ZTA, private players and other stakeholders. Zimbabwe has received motivating and inspiring awards, His Excellency ED Mnangagwa has been on the forefront in changing the country’s narrative preaching peace and positive messaging such as “leaving no one, no place behind,” Zimbabwe is open for business, nyika inovakwa nevene vayo and other messages.
“All these positive efforts must be converted into a unified investment that should be converted into “megabucks”, and “mega branding”.
Let’s not get easily satisfied but remain hungry for bigger things.
Let’s make our efforts translate into higher tourism expenditure and visitor numbers.
“Let’s turn over good and brilliant strides into dollars and cents through ambitions contribution to Zimbabwe’s GDP.
“It is important to coopt new talents and skills into our strategy particularly web — driven, internet approaches and more. Let’s blend the old school and the “new age” to inject sharp creativity and innovations. This is because the country can have multitudes of resources and policy but without good strategy, our efforts remain limited amidst good capacity which must be exploited.
Appreciation yes but hunger for more is important success. It’s not an event but a process. It’s our country together.