Faced with a lack of awareness, South Australia knew they needed to adopt a new approach to their place storytelling. One that elevated above asset-drive promotion and instead answered the question, ‘what can South Australia do better than anyone else?’

Erik de Roos, CMO for the South Australian Tourism Commission, sat down with us to explain how they landed on ‘simple pleasures’ as the cornerstone for their place promotion, as well as how and why they partnered with local creatives to bring the strategy to life.

Congratulations for winning Best Use of Design for your strategy, ‘Celebrate the Simple Pleasures.’ Can you begin by giving us a quick overview of what the strategy hoped to achieve?

South Australia, located in the central southern region of the country, currently experiences low levels of awareness, familiarity, and appeal as a leisure destination among domestic Australian travellers. This challenge is even more pronounced from an international perspective.

Our objective was to develop an enduring brand platform that would be both creatively distinctive and facilitate consistent long-term brand growth. To ensure lasting impact, it was essential that our strategic foundations were robust, thoughtfully developed, and grounded in authenticity.

‘Celebrate the Simple Pleasures’ is more than a marketing campaign – it’s about amplifying a philosophy to life that is central to South Australia. What process did you go through to identify this would be the linchpin of your strategy?

To effectively promote South Australia externally, we began by conducting a thorough internal assessment. This involved identifying the core truths about our region and its people — defining who we are and articulating the values and characteristics that unite us. A cross-government place brand working group was established, comprising representatives from departments responsible for leisure tourism, skilled migration, trade and investment, and education. Each stakeholder recognised the importance of a unified understanding of South Australia's identity to develop a cohesive narrative.

We engaged Dr Natasha Grand-Norman of the Institute of Identity (INSTID) as a partner in this initiative. In collaboration with INSTID and a local research agency, we conducted over 100 individual ethnographic interviews statewide, supplemented by an additional 40 qualitative focus groups. The findings enabled us to identify the fundamental values, characteristics, and underlying philosophy that define South Australia.

Additionally, a cultural insight study was undertaken to gain an external perspective, focusing on current cultural trends and the needs and desires of both residents and visitors. Bringing together the insights into “who we are” and the external expectations, the concept of Simple Pleasures emerged as a central theme.

What do you think the secret is to a successful place brand or place marketing visual identity?

Avoid self-diagnosis – seek out a research partner who has proven experience and credentials in place branding. It's best if this partner has limited familiarity with your destination, as this can help minimise bias in the research results.

Focus on achieving distinction and consistency rather than trying to differentiate, since it's challenging for any destination to be truly unique and different compared to others across the globe.

Your design is clearly rooted in both South Australia’s environment and the philosophy of living that’s at the heart of your strategy – to celebrate the simple pleasures. How did you translate something so all-encompassing into a workable design framework?

We know Simple Pleasures are a universal truth. This presents both an opportunity and a challenge for us. It’s an opportunity as it’s something people intuitively understand, and we can attempt to make South Australia synonymous with Simple Pleasures. Yet it’s also a challenge as the ubiquitous nature of Simple Pleasures means they can also be found elsewhere, outside of South Australia.

This means we had to work hard to provide a distinct South Australian perspective on Simple Pleasures, to make it more meaningful and ownable. This led us to the idea of co-creating the campaign with South Australian creatives.

We know South Australia has an abundance of Simple Pleasures that are found effortlessly. We also know South Australian creativity is infinite. The combination of those truths provides a rich platform for continued storytelling.

The decision to work with local creators and spotlight South Australian creativity is one of the things the jurors loved about your approach. How did that collaboration work, and is it something you intend to continue building into your creative?

Expanding on the prior point, this was very much a strategic choice to help ensure we would create a distinct and ownable brand. Working with a South Australian creative agency as our lead partner, Frame Creative, was crucial to shaping this as they are hyper-aware of the creative talent that exists within our State. Frame became an important conduit to finding the right creative talent for the right jobs and working with them to deliver the executions.

This is absolutely something we intend to continue building on, and we want our future work to present local creators an opportunity to express their craft where those opportunities may potentially not exist otherwise. For example, we have been working with local musicians who have been given the opportunity to record in recording studios for the first time. Long term, we hope the South Australian Tourism Commission becomes a recognised incubator for South Australian creative talent, in its many forms.

What challenges did you have to overcome along the way? Is there anything that you would do differently with the benefit of hindsight?

With the benefit of hindsight, we would be more realistic on the time it would take to complete the end-to-end process! Not only do you need to allow sufficient time to complete the research, you also need to be realistic with the time you allow to distil this down. What’s more, if you want to ensure the work you produce has the best chance of long-term success, you need to bring the right people along on the journey with you. This stakeholder management process requires time, patience, and resilience.

What one thing have you been most proud of since the launch of your new place brand identity?

There have been many proud moments, but a highlight has been seeing South Australians support the brand. When locals identify with a place brand, it shows your foundational work was successful.

We couldn’t have said it better. Congratulations again, and we look forward to seeing what comes next!

Explore over 350 finalists’ and winners’ case studies from the last five years of the City Nation Place Awards on the Place Brand Portfolio – each one has earned industry-wide recognition and contains nuggets of inspiration for building your place brand, engaging your citizens, attracting tourism, talent, or investment. If you’re looking for ideas or to track the approaches of other places around the world, the Portfolio provides the perfect tool.

Learn more here!