Why, oh why, do people responsible for boosting tourism sink so low in the intellectual ladder when it comes to branding? The latest case of Branding Cluelessness comes from the Island of the Gods, aka Bali is My Life aka The World’s Place of Harmonious Peace or it could be Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.
Confused already? The three/four are taglines referring to Bali. It was and is also known popularly as the Island of the Gods. Then some idiot convinced the government to part with lots of money and came up with Bali is My Life. Now comes the totoally moronic The World’s Place of Harmonious Peace or maybe it is Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.
This latest fit of idiocy is a result of suckers in the Bali government paying lots of dosh for so-called experts on branding to conduct “six months of intensive research” on how Bali is to rebranded to bring back the tourists and move forward with the development of theisland.
The results, reported in The Jakarta Post today (I’ve included the entire story in this post because the Post still hasn’t figured out how to properly store its html pages in its archives so they remain linkable from outside), has led the government to “unveil its new tourism brand for Bali”.
There is something totally wrong here. Unveil a new tourism brand? Like it is going to act as a talisman to bring back the tourists and pump up the economy by itself. Many people look at Malaysia’s Truly Asia tagline and think that it alone helps bring the tourists to Malaysia. It does not. What it does is to provide a handle for people to hold on to to understand the tourism promotion package that Malaysia offers, which is based on its diversity of races/culture.
This new Bali branding shindig is totally laughable. Rather than waste good money and six months of intensive research to give them nonsense such as this the government would have spent their money much wiser if they improved the infrastructure in Bali, clean up the streets, taught the shopkeepers how to be more creative and original in producing and marketing their goods instead. If they have done all this then the can go ahead to launch a campaign in which the brand logo, tagline and attrubutes would go toward supporting this new direction.
The brand, in other words, is the means to an end but not an end itself. Go figure.
Below is the full story from today’s Jakarta Post:
New tourism brand invokes Bali of peace
Following six months of intensive research, which included direct interviews with hundreds of Balinese residents and foreign visitors, the local government has finally unveiled its new tourism brand for the resort island.
The new brand is expected to unite the tourism industry under a single flag and battle cry in an effort to elevate the vital economic sector, which had been paralyzed by two terrorist attacks, environmental degradation and the locals’ increasing resentment toward tourism development.
“We hope this brand will give us new energy in our struggle to recover the industry, which for decades has been the backbone of the island’s economy,” Bali Tourism Agency head Nurdjaya said.
The new brand — comprising a logo, a tagline and a series of strategic recommendations — centers around the vision of making Bali known as “The World’s Place of Harmonious Peace”.
Teguh Mahasari, the engine behind the so-called Bali Reborn team responsible for preparing the new tourism brand, said the vision was the key, recurring message conveyed by a large majority of the research participants.
“It genuinely reflects the true aspiration of the Balinese people as well as the visitors’. Harmony, balance, peace and spirituality are several major themes that kept appearing in our interviews with people from a wide spectrum of society,” she said.
In the course of their research, the Bali Reborn team interviewed 900 Balinese individuals, from Hindu high priests to academic scholars, and from farmers to housewives in every regency of the island.
The results showed that over 50 percent believed “paradise” or “heaven” was the image that most correctly described Bali. This was followed by “balance” at 26.5 percent of respondents then by “harmony” at 21.9 percent. Curiously, “vacation” was only selected as the most suitable image by 16.5 percent of respondents.
Moreover, they also listed temple, culture, traditional customs and arts as the island’s most precious heritage. A staggering 73.5 percent majority viewed the temple as the perfect icon to represent Bali.
Meanwhile, 37.3 percent of 327 foreign visitors to Bali recalled “Island of the Gods” as the island’s most popular tagline. Only a minuscule 5.8 percent considered it to be Bali is My Life”, the most recent tagline, as popular.
“The team analyzed and interpreted the findings and then came up with this new brand,” Teguh said.
The brand concept was based on the ancient Balinese Hindu principle of Tri Hita Karana, the harmonious and balanced relationship between three primary elements: mankind, nature and God.
“That’s the philosophy behind our triangular-shaped logo. The triangle perfectly captures the stable relationship between the three elements,” Teguh said.
The spiritual nature of the brand is further reflected in the colors of the logo — red, black and white, the colors respectively associated with the Balinese Hindu trinity of Brahma, Wisnu (Vishnu) and Siwa (Shiva).
The final touch was the tagline “Shanti, Shanti, Shanti”, obviously taken from the daily Balinese Hindu prayer of Tri Sandhya. Literally meaning peace, shanti and its repetitive chant is a sacred invocation for a reign of peace in the three worlds — the under, middle and upper.
“Frankly, we want this brand to inspire the Balinese as much as the foreign visitors. With the increasing internal conflicts among Balinese, the people of this island needs peace as much as any other in this world,” Teguh stressed.
Unspun 
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