Partnership: Ceutí municipality, Spain. Local authority. Tranemo municipality. Sweden. Local authority. Lemvig municipality, Denmark. Local authority. Vzw Midwest Development, Belgium. Regional non-profit organisation. Colegiul Economic Buzau, Romania. Vocational school specialized in business administration and tourism studies Ekonomska Skola Braca Radic, Croatia. Secondary vocational business school. Exesios Ltd, U.K. SME company specialising in Branding, digital, and design projects. University of Almería, Spain. One of the youngest and most dynamic universities in Spain. Context/ background: Partners’ territories in this project and other rural areas in Europe face the same problem: population is decreasing, low educational level and a need for new market opportunities. Partners in this project think they could attract more people by creating jobs and working on a better image. Tourism offers a mixture of both. Objectives of the project: Participating municipalities and local SMEs in the tourism sector will work together with vocational schools, the University and the company expert in branding Exesios, to develop vocational skills by exploring already existing branding methods, and identify the most effective methods on a municipal level to strengthen the link between SMEs and the municipality with a special emphasis on SMEs with focus on tourism. This is to create employment and a more attractive local area where residents and tourists want to come and stay. Activities and methodology: We will have four different workshops on different topics hosted by different partners. During and between the workshops all partners and participants will work on different tasks: 1. Global/ European/ national/ local scanning 2. How do we see ourselves? How do others look at us? 3. Traditional/ non traditional branding methods/ tools 4. Local action plans on branding All workshops will be aimed at learning the learners, being the first target group the staff members like municipal development professionals and teachers. During each meeting, a lecture on each topic will be made by Exesios, to which vocational student and SMEs on tourism will attend As some of the partners can bring very good examples of tourism projects, the University of Almería, together with Ceutí Town Council and the collaboration of the rest of partners, will develop an intellectual output: a Study and Analysis of Tourist Resources to provide advices to foster process innovation and entrepreneurial activities in rural areas. It will include a toolkit and recommendations for local and regional authorities on branding and local action plans, innovative ideas for SMEs, contents for vocational schools curriculum and a guide to create apps for smart phones with the aim of promoting tourist resources and local SMEs. Results and impact: The partnership is built up on common needs and all partners have been/will in near future work with branding and tourist planning together with local SMEs in the tourism sector. All partners have different experiences and different knowledge about branding and will bring new methods and ways of seeing things to the partnership. Expected results are new networks, new knowledge and skills on branding, cooperation with SMEs, development of methods, SWOT's, do's and dont's, new learning process, a movie, the intellectual output, etc. Longs-term benefits are: more attractive partners' territories, creation of employment in the tourist sector, better skilled staff, students, workers in SMEs.
Partnership: Ceutí municipality, Spain. Local authority. Tranemo municipality. Sweden. Local authority. Lemvig municipality, Denmark. Local authority. Vzw Midwest Development, Belgium. Regional non-profit organisation. Colegiul Economic Buzau, Romania. Vocational school specialized in business administration and tourism studies Ekonomska Skola Braca Radic, Croatia. Secondary vocational business school. Exesios Ltd, U.K. SME company specialising in Branding, digital, and design projects. University of Almería, Spain. One of the youngest and most dynamic universities in Spain. Context/ background: Partners’ territories in this project and other rural areas in Europe face the same problem: population is decreasing, low educational level and a need for new market opportunities. Partners in this project think they could attract more people by creating jobs and working on a better image. Tourism offers a mixture of both. Objectives of the project: Participating municipalities and local SMEs in the tourism sector would work together with vocational schools, the University and the company expert in branding Exesios, to develop vocational skills by exploring already existing branding methods, and identify the most effective methods on a municipal level to strengthen the link between SMEs and the municipality with a special emphasis on SMEs with focus on tourism. This is to create employment and a more attractive local area where residents and tourists want to come and stay. Activities and methodology: Partners worked on four different topics which corresponded to four workshops hosted by different partners. 1. Global/ European/ national/ local scanning, with an emphasis on tourism apps. Ceutí. 2. How do we see ourselves? How do others look at us? SWOT analysis. Lemvig 3. Place branding. Roeselare. 4. Local action plans on branding. Tranemo All workshops were aimed at learning the learners, being the first target group the staff members like local development professionals and teachers. During the meetings, a lecture and/ or a workshop on the topic was made by Exesios, which were recorded and are available on Youtube. The second target group are the students, SMEs, and other stakeholders trained and advised by the first target group. A fifth workshop was organised in Buzau, after having realised of the excellent work carried out by the two vocational schools from Romania and Croatia by involving their students in their territory promotion through the creation of promotional material and merchandising. The topic was the collaboration between local entities and vocational schools. All partners, as well as professionals from other destinations, have brought very good examples of tourism projects and place branding; so the University of Almería, together with Ceutí Town Council and the collaboration of the rest of partners, have developed an intellectual output: “Destination Branding. A compilation of Success Cases”, a useful toolkit which shows 16 mini cases presenting different alternatives to create and develop “place branding” strategies by tourist destinations, as well as an app guide with best examples of applications to promote local businesses, give information to tourists, make their experience unique and give visibility to your destination. Results and impact: Better prepared staff to train students, SMEs and entrepreneurs, with an increased knowledge on place branding and innovative tools applied to tourism, much more aware of the importance of involving local population in place branding processes and their role as local ambassadors, with a more strategic vision More qualified and better prepared students for labour market raising their employability by improving their professional skills and making them more aware of the opportunities that the tourism sector offers. New and stronger local networks between local entities, SMEs, vocational schools and other stakeholders New international networks. IBRAVE movie which shows all partners explaining the project’s impact. Newsletters showing all the project process, local implementation and impact on participants as well as organisations. SWOT analysis, the intellectual output, IBRAVE website and youtube channel, new curriculum for the educational partners, local development plans on branding, promotional materials and merchandising created by students, Almería Summer Course "Tourist destination branding for local development", "Economy everywhere" (a course in Croatia, registered in School Education Gateway which is expected to be celebrated in October 2017) Longs-term benefits are: more attractive partners' territories, creation of employment in the tourist sector, better skilled staff, students, workers in SMEs.