Nelson Mandela Bay - New tourism brand icon

The area of the Nelson Mandela Bay consists of the former Transitional Local Councils of Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage and Despatch, the former Local Councils of Seaview and Blue Horizon Bay, portions of the former Western District Council and portions of the former Transitional Local Councils of Uitenhage and Port Elizabeth. The official name of the Local Governing Institution remains the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality.

The search for a new brand identity and brand marketing plan for the area follows the recommendations in the Municipality's Economic Development Macro Plan to brand and market the Metro regionally, nationally and internationally.

Arriving at a brand name and logo has been unique because of the consultative approach used to select the final name and brand look.

This started with extensive market research conducted over December and January to ascertain the strengths and weaknesses of the area. The research indicated that tourism and industry needed to be at the core of the NMMM's new brand identity and marketing plan for the region.

After an extensive consultative process involving over a 1000 respondents from business, tourism, government and civil society across the spectrum, it was overwhelmingly agreed that the new brand identity must include the name Nelson Mandela.

A final choice of two possible names was Nelson Mandela City and Nelson Mandela Bay. This was put to public vote with an overwhelming majority preferring Bay.

"The name Nelson Mandela is our competitive advantage that we have over any other place in the world. The consultative process affirmed that we need to fully exploit this advantage," said the Municipality's Communications Manager, Roland Williams.

Says Shaun van Eck, Marketing Manager of the BoardWalk Casino and Entertainment World: "We, at the BoardWalk, are so passionate about Nelson Mandela Bay that we have taken the lead and changed our communication and branding, such as our mission statement, to embrace the new identity.

"Nelson Mandela Bay fulfils many great aspects and emotional attachment that are looked for in a brand. Our tourism attributes are starting to take shape, we are a first-rate malaria-free game-viewing destination, and we have a rich Xhosa cultural heritage."

The unveiling of the Nelson Mandela Bay brand is the start of a process that will see the Municipality focusing on raising its profile in business and tourism markets, and positioning itself as an optimal destination. The process also includes the building a brand identity, implementing a cohesive marketing strategy, and growing Nelson Mandela Bay into the optimal brand, now and into the future.

According to a spokesperson from the Sakaza-Citigate Consortium, the consultants appointed to develop a branding and marketing strategy for the NMMM: "The communication process was fully transparent and involved absolute two-way communication between the consultants and all of the Metro's stakeholders.

"For the project to be successful, it was important for us to understand how the various interest groups view the area in which they live, play and do business.

"As the consultants, we were not the decision makers, but were rather the facilitators in enabling the Metro's vision to come alive."

The graphic representation of the new Nelson Mandela Bay logo shows an outline of a man, right hand out-stretched and open-palmed, above his head with his other hand is on the shoulder of a child. The two are silhouetted by the sun and are standing at the edge of a graphic representation of the bay.

Each symbol in the logo has a specific meaning that has strong ties to the key findings of the research.

The sun represents natural energy, energy on which seeds, rainbows and industry itself thrives.

The bay is a living line joining the vitality of the ocean with the strength of the land and suggests the presence of pristine, tourist beaches. A bay is also a place of shelter and trade.

The father and son represent the friendly warmth and cultural diversity of the people of the metro and symbolise their ability to move forward together with a unity of purpose.

The people of the area are bound together by Nelson Mandela's vision of giving years of his life so that South Africans now and into the future can live in freedom and unity.

The logo is underpinned by the words 'Africa's capital of freedom and excellence'.

Nomzamo Ncanywa, a BTech: Human Resources student at Port Elizabeth Technikon is very positive about the Nelson Mandela Metro creating this new identity. "I support this idea 100 percent because it will attract more tourists to the area. In this way, more people will realise that Nelson Mandela Bay has a lot to offer as a tourist destination as well as offering lucrative business prospects."

The new brand is merely one, but a very important cog in the overall-branding plan that is being developed for the NMMM area. The next step will see the implementation of the strategic branding process to better market the newly named area locally and abroad.