The ‘Made in Turkey’ place brand strategy highlights the region’s economic potential in a global context.
Renowned design studio Saffron teamed up with the Turkish Exporters Assembly to conceptualise the eclectic ‘Made in Turkey’ place brand identity. Launched in 2014 on a national and international stage, one of the significant design challenges was: how do you capture Turkey’s complex and rich culture and heritage? To answer this challenge, Saffron developed a suite of patterns and combined these to represent the values of Turkey and the Turkish Exporters Assembly. Incorporated into a sans serif wordmark, the patterned typography achieves a distinctive appearance and Mediterranean feel. The chosen colours – blue, turquoise and gold – act to strengthen the brand’s cultural expression. The white space around the brandmark was also a deliberate choice; symbolising Turkey’s capacity to grow.
When combined, the motifs represent the coming together of culture and innovation. The variety of patterns help to capture the various industries within the Turkish Exporters Assembly.
GREAT DESTINATION BRANDING EMPHASISES YOUR DISTINCTIVENESS
Place branding is a complex process of assessing the unique assets of a region that are both reflected by the local people and appealing to an external audience. By questioning what is the competitive advantage that Turkey represents in an international context, the overarching brand strategy seeks to portray the country as ‘Masters of Change’. The motifs tap into the country’s unmatched adaptability to rapid change, their ability to accommodate several cultures, and the region’s rich historical background.
The ‘Made in Turkey’ brand identity highlights the adaptability of the nation to rapid change, inspired by their rich cultural history.
The brand identity also represents the multitude of the products and services provided by the Turkish Exporters Assembly. It is a visual expression which unites the numerous industries within the group with the brand strategy; facilitating the group to behave and communicate in a more cohesive way within and outside of Turkey. By clearly emphasising the region’s points of differences, the ‘Made in Turkey’ brand identity establishes a competitive advantage and clearly communicates what makes the destination compelling to various audiences.
GREAT DESTINATION BRANDS ARE EVER-EVOLVING
The ‘Made in Turkey’ brand positioning line – “Discover the Potential” – aims to tell a story of the country’s economic capabilities through “the visual translation of [the brand’s] invitation to the world”. The slogan is directed to a global target audience and invites potential investors to engage with Turkey and uncover first-hand the possible benefits for their businesses. A range of marketing collateral highlighting various industries was developed to enhance the projected image of Turkey’s economic viability as the nation continuously seeks opportunities to present itself as an adaptable and internationally-connected key player in the global economy. However, to best-resonate with key audiences and remain relevant a destination brand needs to evolve over time.
The marketing collateral heroes the economic potential of Turkey to both a national and international audience.
Following the launch of the brand, the Turkish Exporters Assembly rolled out the brand identity across a range of applications, showing off a suite of elegant and luxurious brand collateral. The flexible brand identity system successfully reflected the diversity of Turkey’s industries and elevated the public image of the products and services from the country; leading to an increased export percentage in 2017 to countries including Russia (29.4%) and North America (28.7%) and a number of CEOs from industries within the Turkish Exporters Assembly committing themselves to the continuing growth and improvement of the country.
The ‘Made in Turkey’ brand identity achieved a desirable and sophisticated look and feel when rolled out across the brand collateral.
Destinations are dynamic and evolve along with society and cultures; consequently, its brand must be built with the flexibility to adapt to remain relevant in the present day. In 2020, Turkey built upon its brand values of ‘humanity’ and ‘goodness’ by providing over 70 countries with ‘Made in Turkey’ branded hygiene products. Unarguably, the ‘Made in Turkey’ brand is a benchmark for developing a captivating place brand; it is a successful example of utilising a country’s unique assets to create a strong brand strategy and distinctive visual identity.
7 STRATEGIES BEHIND THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL DESTINATION BRANDS
Drawing from a collection of case studies, research papers and expert insights from Harvard, we’ve curated a selection of the world’s leading destination brands and identified the seven strategies that position them as iconic places to live, work and visit.
NEED HELP?
If you need help positioning your destination at a competitive advantage to win new visitation and rebound financially, we’d like to offer you a complimentary strategy call with our Managing Director and Head of Strategy, Grant Davidson. Having nearly 30 years of industry experience working with groundbreaking brands, Grant has the experience and knowledge necessary to identify your core brand strategy and communicate it effectively.
