Regional Marketing: Beach Chair Relaxing at the G8 Summit

This June, leaders of the G8 Summit plastered the front pages of hundreds of national newspapers as they conversed in an unconventional spot – a wicker beach chair. A nine-person beach chair, to be precise, and it was situated in front of Heiligendamm, Germany's oldest seaside resort. The image of the EU President and eight heads of casually talking in a relaxing chair represented the true brand essence of the hosting region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: “MV tut gut” which means “Mecklenburg-Vorpommern feels good.”

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is a community located on the Baltic Sea in Northern Germany. Once a tiny blip on the map, the region has raised its brand profile and is looked upon as a resource for health, wellness, and maritime enjoyment.

Frank G. Kurzhals, Pleon’s Regional Branding expert, discusses the importance of regional marketing, “As the competition for investors, skilled personnel, tourists and residents increase, so does the need to raise your region’s visibility. If you are not visible, you will be overlooked.”

For this reason, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern engaged Pleon three years ago to strategically reposition its brand, defining the issues the region should concentrate on for the next five to ten years. The G8 Summit was the culminating event in this relationship to take Mecklenburg-Vorpommern from the obscure to the obvious choice for coastal relaxation and health.

A Symbol for Mecklenburg-Vorpommern at the G8 Summit

After careful thought, Pleon chose the Strandkorb -- a special wicker beach chair with a roof that seats two -- as the key visual to represent Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. A strong visual symbol was necessary to present the brand of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern to the international community as the host of the G8 Summit.

Kurzhals believes the Strandkorb ideally embodies the brand, especially since it was local chair maker Wilhelm Bartelmann, of Kuhlungsborn, who invented it 125 years ago. The beach chair was chosen for its maritime aesthetic, for its northern German practicality, and its link to the main strengths of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: the health industry and tourism.

“We knew we would have one shot with the media and one chance to represent Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in photographs from the G8 Summit,” Kurzhals recalls. “We asked ourselves, ‘what makes Mecklenburg-Vorpommern special?’ The state is part of Northern Germany with a maritime flavour and lots of wide-open space. This is how we came up with the nine-person beach chair for the world leaders.”

Waltz commented that they envisioned a scenario where the leaders of the Summit could relax and talk in one place – a place where they could enjoy the clean air of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. This symbol created a strong visual impact and was the lead photo for newspapers across the world.

In addition to the nine-person beach chair, smaller two-person chairs were customised with flags of the countries represented at the conference and placed around the gathering areas for additional photo opportunities for the 5,000 media in attendance. Photographs of the Strandkorb appeared in various sizes and surroundings in over 70 media outlets (most of which appeared on the front page), reaching audiences from Dubai to Tokyo and Washington D.C. to Madrid.

The G8 Summit marked the most significant and final step in Pleon’s efforts with Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, but the efforts with the region began in 2003. It is hardly possible to illustrate or communicate all facets of a city, region or country. Instead, Kurzhals notes, it is important to define thematic focuses.

“From the start, Pleon helped us characterize and project the strengths of our region –tourism, the healthcare industry, agriculture and the food industry, culture, education and population,” said Mr. Bernhard Gläss from the State Marketing Project Group of the Federal State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. “The benefits of our region are now noted around the world with the lasting impression of the Strandkorb at the G8 Summit.”

The regional marketing of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is strategically built for the future. After more than three years of regional marketing, the Berlin pilots can disembark and return to shore. Pleon leaves the continued implementation of its brand strategy to local providers in the region. Waltz notes that Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is left a stronger, more recognizable and attractive region through strategic branding efforts. Perhaps in time, one may casually note: the Strandkorb is to Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris.

SIDEBAR: Strategic Development of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern’s Regional Brand

A regional brand takes shape in the perceptions of a desired target audience. Pleon has developed a clear method for getting into people’s heads to discover how, when and why they formulate regional brand opinions. Four central elements are absolutely fundamental for your regional brand and were applied in revamping Mecklenburg-Vorpommern’s brand:

1. Market-driven: Who do we want? Who needs us?
By defining what target groups find most attractive, relevant and credible, Pleon helped the region identify its authentic characteristics. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is a region blessed by nature with its pure air, clean water and over 1,700 kilometres of coastline. It is the home of the original spa and is a draw for those who want health, wellness and relaxation.

2. Strategic: Evolve with your brand
Pleon did not make the mistake to just visually alter their logo; Pleon repositioned the brand strategically for the future. The overall characteristics of the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern brand were summarised as sub-brands of the federal state: tourism, the healthcare industry, agriculture and the food industry, culture, education and population.

3. Authentic: Stand out by being yourself
Important characteristics of a region can be conveyed using a unique topic. Pleon identified the authentic characteristics of the Baltic whitefish: freshness, excellent water quality and gourmet cuisine as part of the brand communications to support a recent restocking project by the region. As a result, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has turned the situation around and the Baltic whitefish is seeing widespread consumption again.

4. Consistent: Stick to your brand’s essentials
The highlight event in the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern brand campaign was the hosting of the G8 Summit. In order to carry the themes of health industry and tourism through, it was important to integrate with other communication efforts. Pleon experts from press and media relations, publishing, design, and online were involved early in the development of the strategy to consistently convey the defined brand values.

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