Gloria Guevara, CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council reflects on a marketing project rebranding the entire country of Mexico, to increase travel and tourism revenues
When people think about brands, what typically comes to mind are classic consumer brands such as Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and Apple. However, branding is a factor across many different parts of the economy.
In recent years, the country of Mexico has faced a series of branding challenges. A campaign to reposition the brand of Mexico successfully addressed these challenges, and the experience highlights why branding is so important and how leaders can change brand perceptions.
The challenge
In 2009 Mexico faced what experts described as a ‘perfect storm,’ which resulted in a significant economic downturn for the economy.
Several factors contributed to the storm: the H1N1 flu outbreak; fighting among drug cartel gangs (which led to violence in certain areas of the country); and the financial and economic crisis in the US, whose economy is intertwined with Mexico’s.
Tourism and travel, a critical economic sector for Mexico, was particularly hard hit: the country saw a decline of four million people in international visitors. Despite efforts to reverse the decline, the negative trend continued into the first half of 2010.
According to the World Travel and Tourism Council’s 2017 report Travel & Tourism Economic Impact 2017, travel and tourism is the third-largest contributor to the Mexican economy after oil and remittances, accounting for 16% of the Mexican GDP and employing around eight million people. However, this important sector lacked the strong foundation needed to withstand the perfect storm it faced.
In March 2010, the then President of Mexico, Felipe Calderón, invited me to join his cabinet as the Secretary of Tourism. My team and I needed to find a way to reverse the decline by growing Mexican tourism and thereby boosting the economy.
The insight: changing the conversation
Mexico has an amazing history, a unique culture, and a diverse geography. It has more than 3,000 years of recorded history and over 40,000 archaeological sites. There are 62 ethnic groups that maintain distinct cultures, languages, and culinary traditions. And, the country is home to 35 tangible sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List as well as nine intangible offerings, such as cuisine. According to Virtuoso, a leading luxury travel network, Mexico has the world’s second-largest offering of hotels, tours, and experiences for highend travellers.
However, most international travelers have limited knowledge of the diversity in geography and culture in Mexico. For example, few know of Mexico’s enchanting colonial and cultural towns, such as San Miguel de Allende in Guanajuato, which has festivals and unique traditions and was named one of the top destinations in the world by Travel + Leisure magazine following our campaign. Another little-known destination is Puebla, a city with unique cuisine and beverages that features a Baroque museum and a church built atop the largest pyramid in the world.
From 2009 to 2010, stories of drug violence in Mexico captured the headlines and created the impression that Mexico was a dangerous place to visit, even though the violence was concentrated in only a few areas of the vast country. Presenting data that countered these impressions only served to continue the conversation about drug violence and failed to provide a compelling reason for prospective tourists to visit Mexico. US travellers were weary of Cancún and Cabo, but they were not willing to push their boundaries and consider unfamiliar destinations within the country.
International travellers from countries beyond the US were simply not coming in large numbers because they held images of Mexico that were limited to ‘sun, sand, and burritos,’ and because, for some nationalities, the need to obtain a visa seemed like too much red tape.
To grow tourism in Mexico, we needed a fresh approach – one that would paint Mexico in a positive light and expand travellers’ views of what a vacation in Mexico could offer. We also needed to attract more visitors from countries beyond the United States and Canada.
The plan: a holistic approach
In order to achieve our goals, we took a holistic approach to engaging both public and private stakeholders and developed a four-step plan. First, we made an inventory of tourism assets and aligned stakeholders around the goal of growing tourism through a strategy of diversification. Second, we identified the need to diversify both the tourism experiences we offered and segments we targeted, and developed a strategic plan around this goal. Third, we persuaded government officials and the private sector to increase their investment in tourism. Finally, we launched an aggressive rebranding campaign to position Mexico as a tourist destination.
The results: closing the gap between perception and reality
Mexico’s rebranding efforts delivered clear and positive results. Mexico broke a new record for international arrivals and domestic travelers in 2011 and each subsequent year, with the number of tourists from 143 nations around the world increasing significantly in just 12 months. The number of tourists from Russia increased by 85 percent, while those from Brazil increased by 51% and from Peru by 30%. Canadian tourists also increased and accounted for 15% of total travelers. Tourists from the United States continued to visit in large numbers that increased by 5%, but Mexico became less dependent on them. After the campaign, the United States accounted for 50% of the total volume of tourists, down from 70%.
Our campaign achieved 12.5 billion impressions in traditional media, due to interviews, road shows, and participation with editorial boards. We also achieved 13 billion media impressions of celebrities endorsing Mexico and sharing their experiences. Most important, we were able to dispel some of the negative perceptions and build positive associations with the brand of Mexico.
Gloria Guevara is CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council. She was secretary of tourism for Mexico and CEO of the Mexican Tourism Board from 2010 to 2012. She is a G20 pioneer with vast experience in the private sector. She holds a BS from Anahuac University and an MBA (2009) from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
This is an edited extract from Kellogg on Branding in a Hyper-Connected World (Wiley, 2019). AMBA members can benefit from a 20% discount on this book as part of the AMBA Book Club, click here for details.
