Destination Brand
An exciting new destination brand has been launched to strengthen Victor Harbor’s position as the vibrant, creative heart of the Fleurieu Peninsula.
The design of the new brand draws on the feeling you get as you catch a glimpse of the township against the backdrop of a stunning coastline evoking a personal connection and draws you in. It centres around the positioning statement of ‘feel it calling’.
The new destination brand, launched as a collaboration between Council and Business Victor Harbor, aims to create a renewed impression of Victor Harbor as a place to live, work, visit and invest.
Adelaide based agency, NATION, were engaged to develop the new brand with input from the community through a range of targeted workshops.
Brand Manifesto
In addition to the brand logo, positioning statement and colours, a brand manifesto was created to explain what Brand Victor Harbor stands for and what will drive it forward.
Victor Harbor is somewhere you feel at the mention of its name—a place that stirs a profound personal connection and gently draws you in.
It’s in the natural beauty of the landscape and the depth of your breath. You can hear it echoing in the air as you come closer as if the coastline is calling to you.
People come here to be immersed. To catch a glimpse of wildlife from the shore. To relive their childhood summers. To stand on the very soil where history happened. And what they feel—rejuvenation, adventure, reflection—forever connects them to this wondrously one-of-a-kind place where the hum of community meets the stillness of the sea.
There is an endless energy that flows through us and binds us together. It’s in our fertile farmlands, our bustling streets and our thriving people. Here, every individual sustains the whole and strengthens our capacity for meaningful collaboration in life, at work and in business.
Our world is one built on connection. We cooperate and innovate for the benefit of all, combining the supportive relationships of a country town with the vision and opportunities of a regional centre.
Victor Harbor is the vibrant, creative heart of our Fleurieu, circulating the currents that course through our peninsula. This is a place brimming with life and culture, inviting you to come and experience it for yourself.
Victor Harbor. Feel it calling.
So what are you waiting for? Find out more and sign up to be Brand Ambassador at the Brand Victor Harbor website.
Project Information
- The re-positioning of Victor Harbor as a destination to live, work, invest and visit has been highlighted as a priority action in the recently adopted Economic Development Strategy
- The Council has been working in collaboration with Business Victor Harbor on the review and re-definition of the existing ‘Encounter it All’ brand, while incorporating the key elements of the concept developed by Business Victor Harbor referred to as ‘Breathe’
- The process has involved the appointment of a specialist Adelaide-based brand agency NATION to work with Council and Business Victor Harbor on this important project.
Victor Harbor is currently undergoing significant investment to reposition itself as an aspirational place to visit, live, work and invest.
The City currently suffers from a lack of strategic positioning, industry cohesion, poor brand management, and an over-reliance on low value visitors. The economy has tended to rely on retirees settling in the area who do not generate wealth independently and rely on Government level welfare to sustain many of these retirees.
Overall, this has led to an overall long-term decline in the wider economy and an identity far from aspirational. Victor Harbor is currently vulnerable to other competitor regions that are better organised, more strategically focused and established and therefore at long-term risk of sliding into irrelevance at a time when many people look to escape the city for a better lifestyle.
Research shows Victor Harbor is generally perceived negatively and is at a point where it now needs to be re-imagined and transition to a narrative that is aspirational and positive. Specifically, a place to: visit year-round, choose to live and work, and to establish or relocate a business.
Improving perceptions and beliefs of Victor Harbor, from within the community, visitor market, and investors in and outside the region will influence decision-making to drive a thriving economy.
Business objectives:
Develop a bold new brand that is aspirational, provides emotional connection and genuine meaning, to be led in delivery by digital and destination marketing aligned to Victor Harbor’s Economic Development Strategy, of which the pillars are:
- Investment in attraction that creates economic activity
- Investment in infrastructure that enables business growth
- Education, Skills and Entrepreneurship that supports job creation
- A destination of choice to live, work and visit.
Marketing objectives:
- Position Victor Harbor as an aspirational place to visit, live, work and invest
- Increase awareness and consideration of Victor Harbor as a tourism destination, residential location and as a positive business and investment opportunity.
Strategic inputs
- Economic Development Strategy
- Council’s ‘Encounter it all’ including significant community consultation resulting in key Victor Harbor themes
- Business Victor Harbor’s ‘Breathe’ concept and brand impression
- Gap analysis
- Brand workshop with Victor Harbor participants from a broad demographic
Strategic outputs
- Brand workshop results
- Brand essence, DNA, and architecture
Creative outputs
- Brand manifesto
- Brand positioning
- Brand identity concepts (including design of logo)
- Brand style guide
The Council at its meeting held on Monday, 23 November 2020 adopted the City of Victor Harbor Economic Development Strategy 2020-2030 and endorsed engaging Business Victor Harbor on the implementation of preliminary actions within the strategy.
Having a clear and well-articulated destination brand was identified by both organisations as critically important to informing future elements of the economic development strategy and therefore actions one and two under pillar 4 was determined as the first priority.
The Economic Development Strategy under pillar 4. A destination of choice to live, work and visit identifies the need for ‘….Victor Harbor to clearly articulate its key strengths and direction to a target audience that is receptive of the messages….’
As a starting point the existing destination brand ‘Encounter it All’ was reviewed looking at the methodology and marketing science behind its development. The review into the ‘Encounter it All’ brand identified that the community engagement work undertaken by Council and a series of appointed community leaders was excellent and provided a very valuable foundation as to what the community valued about its town.
Concurrently Business Victor Harbor were researching and developing a destination brand concept previously referred to as ‘Breathe’. The inertia from this work was been incorporated in the brand project.
In late March the Council and Business Victor Harbor sought proposals from Adelaide-based marketing agencies to assist with the refinement of the existing ‘Encounter it All’ foundations while incorporating the research and concept development work undertaken by Business Victor Harbor’s ‘Breathe’ concept. To assist in the evaluation of the best partner, a detailed scope and brief was prepared to support the procurement.
The successful applicant for the project was NATION.