In the Spotlight

Interviews with the place leaders and CEOs, Directors, CMOs and heads of strategy for place branding teams from around the world.

In The Spotlight

Diversity, talent attraction, and the Pittsburgh Passport

Pittsburgh is revolutionising their talent attraction strategy – and having the hard conversations about racism and inequality. Alison Treaster, Senior Director of Talent, at the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, shared how the Pittsburgh Passport initiative is connecting to talented individuals around the world and helping the region move towards a more equitable future.

label_outline CollaborationPrivate SectorReputationTalent Attraction
In The Spotlight

Restarting tourism in the Maldives

While most of the world looks to domestic tourism to shore up their tourism economy, this simply isn’t a viable solution for many destinations that rely heavily on international travel. Thoyyib Mohamed, Managing Director at the Maldives Marketing & PR Corporation, explained how the islands prepared for their July opening and how they are anticipating their strategies evolving in  the wake of COVID-19.

label_outline ReputationSustainabilityTourism
In The Spotlight

Papatūānuku is Breathing: how Māori values underpin Auckland's sustainable destination management

Closing the narrative gap between your identity and your perceived identity is a challenge for many places. Nick Hill, Chief Executive, Auckland Tourism, Events & Economic Development, shared with us how they're working to change perceptions with a new brand playbook - and how they're putting sustainable destination management at the core of their strategy.

label_outline Cultural HeritageDestination ManagementPlace BrandingSoft PowerSustainability
In The Spotlight

Take Another Look: Azerbaijan’s path to a successful design identity

Azerbaijan took the world by storm with their 2018 “Take Another Look” campaign which encouraged travellers to see the nation’s wonderful diversity. We reached out to Fidan Aliyeva, Azerbaijan Tourism Board, to understand the key to their successful design identity and how an organisation that is still forging its path adapted to the new challenges of COVID-19.

label_outline Cultural HeritageDesignDestination MarketingSocial MediaTourism
In The Spotlight

From Day Zero to COVID-19: how collaboration is key to the Western Cape's crisis and recovery management

In late 2017, Cape Town announced that the city was facing ‘Day Zero’ – or the day when Cape Town would become the first major world city to have to turn off the taps. We reached out to Tim Harris, CEO at Wesgro, the trade and tourism promotion body for the Western Cape, to discover how the region is responding to the pandemic and to understand how their experience of the drought has influenced their response to COVID-19.

label_outline CollaborationCrisis ManagementEconomic Development Tourism