Whether you are a marketer for an airline, hotel, resort, attraction, online, tour operator, domestic or international destination you will think in a new way about your brand. You will walk away with actionable ideas that will enhance your overall brand strategy and make you a star back at the office

Story-Based Brand Strategy
Executive Think Tank
The Grand Bohemian Hotel, Orlando, Florida
October 11 - 12, 2007

Beyond hiring, nurturing and rewarding the best and the brightest employees, the ideal way to articulate a well-synergized organization is through a thorough understanding and deployment of your brand.

All too often a brand is seen as simply a name and a logo. A resort or destination represents a promise of a particular vacation experience - a brand experience. It establishes a relationship between you and your visitors. Power resort brands command the preference of their patrons and stimulate word-of-mouth advertising. Effective branding begins with a strong concept and clear strategy. It is about positioning the entity in an attractive manner, resonating with your targeted visitors in a compelling way. Moreover, it is about enculturation, which supports a positive experience and ensures that everyone responsible for delivery of the brand experience has a clear understanding of what is to be accomplished and how.

The morning session will be built around a case study of developing a new brand strategy for Grand Bahama Island incorporating a story-based approach. This technique derives from extensive experience of storytelling in the entertainment, film and theme park industries. It is more powerful when we apply the process to authentic experiences provided by actual resorts, destinations and other travel entities. The process mines both the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Human beings are storytelling primates. According to Bruce D. Perry, MD, Ph.D. and international authority on brain development and learning, “We are curious, and we love to learn. The challenge is to find ways to engage the audience and take advantage of the novelty-seeking property of the human brain.”

Nonetheless, every brand evolves over time. Accordingly, the afternoon session will be dedicated to Brand Leadership and Innovation across industry categories, including innovative thinking from the restaurant and hotel food & beverage perspective.

October 11, Thursday
6:00-7:00pm Welcome Reception
7:00-9:00pm Dinner
Speaker: Joseph Couceiro, VP Marketing, Anheuser-Busch Adventure Parks

October 12, Friday
8:00am-9:00am Breakfast
9:00am – Noon Session
“Story-Based Brand Strategy”

Moderator: Dennis Marzella, Vice President, Brand Strategy & Research, Quantified Marketing Group
Bob Allen, Chief Storyteller, i.d.e.a.s, located at the Disney MGM-Studios
David Johnson, Senior Deputy Director-General, Bahamas Ministry of Tourism
Denise Adderley, Director of Marketing Services, Grand Bahama Island Tourism Board

12:00 -1:30pm Lunch with industry speaker - to be announced.

1:45 -3:00pm Session
Brand Leadership & Innovation Panel:

Moderator: Dennis Marzella, Vice President, Brand Strategy & Research, Quantified Marketing Group
Alice Norsworthy, SVP Marketing, Royal Caribbean International
Helen McCabe-Young, SVP-Sales & Marketing, One & Only Resorts
Aaron Allen, Founder & CEO, Quantified Marketing Group, the nation's largest integrated restaurant branding, conceptual design, marketing and public relations firm
Patrick O'Neil, CEO, NYLO Loft Accommodations
Other panelist to named.

3:00 -3:30pm Open Discussion
Departures

Click to register online

VISIT

Kristin Zern