Provision of Place Brand and Marketing Communications Services and Investment Promotion Services.

Client: Cork

Location: Ireland

Target Sectors: Cross-sector

Markets: Ireland, UK, North America

Delivery: 2017-2020

About the project

Cork City and County Councils are the authorities responsible for the governing of Cork City and County in Ireland. The councils are responsible for the urban planning and development, roads and transportation, community and housing, tourism, culture and amenities.

The Cork region has an ambitious plan to establish itself as a leading European city region and international destination for inward investment. To support this key objective, Cork needed to develop a place brand from which to develop positioning and messaging to promote the region and develop an effective marketing communications strategy for the promotion of inward investment. Over a three-year period, we designed and developed a holistic place brand for the Cork Region – “We Are Cork”, designing a brand architecture that could be deployed across key pillars in a consistent way for all stakeholders to embrace.

OCO Global carried out a detailed stakeholder engagement programme with Government officials, Education Authorities and local businesses in the region, to fully understand the essence of Cork and translate that into a workable brand strategy.

OCO Global then developed an economic marketing strategy and executed campaigns, including the development of core collateral including two websites for the promotion of the place brand and inward investment, testimonials across key sectors, sector collateral including brochures and video content, as well as executing digital campaigns targeting the UK and North America to support investment promotion activities.

 

Key challenges

A key challenge is the increasingly noisy and crowded marketplace for investment promotion, making standing out difficult.  The key for Cork would be to develop a brand and marketing communications strategy that was fresh and creative, differentiating Cork from the repetitive marketing, too often seen from competitor regions.

Another challenge was the impact of, and the uncertainty around, Brexit which had a significant impact for Ireland as the UK’s closest trading partner.  However, this also uniquely positioned Ireland to capitalise on the decision as a main route to market for the UK and North American investment into Europe.

 

Outcomes

  • Design and development of a Place Brand
  • Design and development of a promotional place brand and investment websites including content development, SEO, bespoke photography and videography and testimonials
  • Economic marketing strategy and execution of digital campaigns
  • PR

 

“OCO Global worked with us to develop and deliver a place brand and targeted marketing activity for the Cork region. With their wealth of experience and highly professional team, they helped us position Cork as a premier destination in Ireland for Investment. OCO Global were involved in every aspect from stakeholder engagement, through to website development, to the execution of digital campaigns. Cork City and County now has a firm foundation from which to promote our place-brand and we were delighted to work with OCO Global on such an important project.”

Fergal Gough, Strategic and Economic Directorate, Cork County Council