Uganda has launched a new destination brand identity to promote the country as a competitive tourism destination in the larger strategy of rebuilding, restarting and “more importantly, winning Uganda’s rightful place in the global tourism market.”
CEO, Uganda Tourism Board (UTB), Lilly Ajarova during the launch last Friday, January 21, said “Yes, everyone knew that Uganda is and has always been the Pearl of Africa, – but there was a lack of clarity and consistency on, if Uganda is the Pearl of Africa- what pearls does it have to offer for each of the various travel segments and preferences.”
In respect of this, the new destination brand is “to harmonize messaging around all the positive Ugandan experiences into a consistent, credible, authentic and trusted promise and value proposition that tourists and the travel trade are not only willing to buy into but are happy and confident to recommend to their friends and family and their customers, we needed to go back to the basics,” she said.
The new brand identity is to also offer anchorage towards the objective of ‘Sustainably Promoting Uganda as a Competitive Tourism Destination for Inclusive Development.’
“Explore, Uganda the Pearl of Africa is an invitation to our tourists- both domestic, regional and international to rediscover the magnificence of the Pearl. We are promising and inviting them to Explore Uganda, the Pearl of Africa, for adventure of their lifetime,” the UTB CEO said.
Before the new brand, there were a number of campaigns by various stakeholders, most of which were built around “Visit Uganda” as a call to action, something that Ajarova says did not appropriately capture the uniqueness of Uganda’s attractions.
“If you think about it, when you invite someone to visit you, you are simply asking them to check on you, maybe for a few days. But an invitation to explore is really about inviting someone to indulge themselves. To spoil themselves; to delve into; to deep-dive; to discover and rediscover- the depth, range and variety of attractions in the pearl,” Ms Ajarova stated.
To increase global destination awareness of the new Pearl of Africa brand and the Adventure of a Lifetime brand promise domestically and in key and emerging source markets around the world- over the next couple of months, UTB is rolling out a domestic, regional and Global marketing campaign.
Lilly Ajarova said: “The campaign has two layers- one a domestic one that aims at a creating citizens’ appreciation of our unique pearl and the second is focused on leveraging this renewed appreciation of the brand amongst the citizenry as well as leveraging other media platforms, to serve this brand to the world.
The campaign will be placed on key broadcast, print and digital media platforms for a period of at least six months (January 2021 – June 2022).”
There will also be a number of unground activations as well as familiarisation and immersion experiences to give stakeholders a feel of the brand.
The official launch of the new Destination Uganda Brand and unveiling of the brand logo was done by President Yoweri Museveni.
Story by: Samuel Obeng Appah
