March 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 73

Operations
Branding the Recreation,
Park and Tourism Product
Creating a positive identity for your services is key
to successfully promoting them to your community
By Harold J. Nolan, Jr., Ph.D.

T

he 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 bud-

gets 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 muchused 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

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March 2014 - Parks & Recreation

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