Visit Brussels, sized for april fool's

06 avril 2011

I had some interesting feedback on last week’s Brussels rebranded. Many commented positively on the barcode design and I certainly agree. In the elongated version, the new logo and its multicoloured stripes look even more attractive. It’s just the strapline-slogan which is causing the grief, and no-one who commented had anything complimentary to say.

Last Friday I received a Visit Brussels press communication; a sort of short reminder about the 14^th March re-branding. I sent it on to my chief editor friend in the UK who responded immediately asking whether the branding itself was an April Fool. I assured him it wasn’t and that it just proved Brussels had not lost its sense of humour, amid all the business & marketing jargon.

I suspect the branding is organic and will develop. With a bit of luck ‘sized for’ with be planted/buried a long way away in the countryside with the new crop of Belgian ‘frites’.

Try Googling VisitBrussels

The website www.visitbrussels.be also has a fresh multicoloured new look. Although it’s still pretty busy, the information is better organised and easier to navigate. However, one PCO did tell me they were not able to find what they were looking for.

I also did a quick test for myself as a potential Brussels’ client and looked for a list of Belgian PCOs (Professional Conference Organisers) who organise conferences in Brussels. Maybe there is one somewhere but I didn’t find it or any mention of BAPCO, Belgium’s highly professional association of PCOs…

Most surprising of all was ‘Meet the team’ where I discovered a total of 94 people work for VisitBrussels (compared to 87 at the Paris Visitor & Convention Bureau and 85 in the former VisitLondon). And 16 of them appear to be involved in ‘communication’.

The beginning of the end for ‘Visits’?

London has been enterprising and just replaced VisitLondon, Think London (inward investment) and Study London (academic marketing) with a new super-agency with the trendier name of London & Partners. Sounds a bit like a law firm, but it still has a nice ring to it.

The Board members are not politicians, but high fliers representing worlds of business, culture, tourism & MICE, fashion, sport…The new trend is to bring together all the myriad organisations promoting different aspects of a city into one much more powerful agency with strong private sector support and above all involvement.

PS Sized for Religions

Congratulations where they are due! Brussels has just won a bid to host the Parliament of the World’s Religions in 2014. This major congress will attract some 10,000 religious and spiritual delegates to the city over 7 whole days, but I couldn’t find out in which month. Maybe December, like the most recent edition in 2009 in Melbourne? 

PPS I just received a ‘sized for communication’ press release this morning about a Miss Brazil Belgium contest on 9 April. Luckily no-one adapted the strapline here…

 Bruce Taylor