Different and distinctive – the irrefutable case for both in tourism
When it comes to tourism marketing, it’s important for both differentiation and distinctiveness, argues Phil Watson, creative strategy director at Circul8.
Unless you’ve been trapped in some sort of programmatic lower funnel hell for the past few years, you will likely have come across the sometimes heated debate around the roles differentiation and distinctiveness play in marketing success.
There’s plenty of good analysis out there; this article isn’t going to try and explain the nuances. However, here’s a quick refresher for anyone who needs it.
On one side you have the amusingly sweary Professor Mark Ritson who champions an inclusive approach that acknowledges the necessity of distinctive brand assets, but also demands that we consider differentiation to be real and meaningful, even if it’s just relative to the competition.
On the other side, you have the less sweary but amusingly forthright Professor Byron Sharp who urges us to consider that in reality people largely don’t consider brands to be ‘meaningfully different’ and that the research suggests that success relies greatly on developing ‘meaninglessly distinctive’ brand assets and making sure everyone – and that really means everyone – sees them.
