旅游目的地品牌标识评价研究——以中国优秀旅游城市为例

品牌标识是旅游目的地的核心品牌要素,也是其竞争优势的重要来源.但是,目前国内外对旅游目的地品牌标识及其评价的研究很少.文章在分析旅游目的地品牌标识内涵和类型基础上,提出旅游目的地品牌标识评价应遵循市场营销之功能性原则.基于此,文章构建了旅游目的地品牌标识评价的IDCAM模型,提出一个好的品牌标识应该具备识别性、区分性、一致性、易于被注意和易于被记忆之特征.以该模型为基础,文章从信号传递、符号意义、要素组合、视觉要素四个视角对旅游目的地品牌标识评价的具体标准进行了研究,并构建了基于IDCAM模型的旅游目的地品牌标识评价标准模型.依据IDCAM模型,我国优秀旅游城市正在独立使用的149个品牌标识大部分具有识别性,但是区分性明显不够,而且符合理想层次评价标准者仅有31个.

Evaluation on Tourist Destination Brand Logos——Taking China Excellent Tourism Cities as Examples

As one of the core brand elements,brand logos are important sources of a destination’s competitive advantage.More and more destinations are beginning to use brand logo to attract tourists.But there are few researches on destination brand logo evaluation in tourism research at present.No research has put forward an useful model for it.There is no common definition about the standards of good destination brand logos in practice either.Therefore,this paper tries to construct a systematic model for evaluating destination brand logos to improve the theoretical research and guide practices. Brand logos,which are usually considered as the signature of a destination,can become a long-term marketing tool.It can be used in a wide range of special marketing campaigns in destination management.So we should evaluate the destination brand logo from the marketing perspective and follow the marketing function principle.That is to say,we should evaluate brand logo according to whether it can effectively market the destination it represents.Guided by this principle and destination branding theories,this paper constructs an IDCAM(Identification,Differentiation,Consistency,Attention,Memorization) model for destination brand logo evaluation.Firstly,it puts forward that we should evaluate the destination brand logo from five dimensions: identification,differentiation,consistency,absorbing consumer’s attention and easily being memorized.Secondly,it puts forward that we should evaluate the destination brand logo according to the process from identification,differentiation,consistency and attention to memorization.The IDCAM model is a holistic system which has the attributes of good theoretical basis,clear evaluation principle and goal. Furthermore,this paper identifies the specific standards of destination brand logo evaluation from four perspectives: signal transmission,symbolic meaning,brand elements combination and visual effect.After the detailed analysis from these four perspectives,this paper puts forward a model for the standards of destination brand logos.Notably,the standards for five dimensions are as follows.Firstly,for the identification dimension,a brand logo must contain clear information that can show the destination’s important attributes and characteristics.Secondly,for the differentiation dimension,a brand logo must contain key information that reflects the destination’s function,quality and benefit,and shows its symbolic meaning to tourist.Thus,a brand logo must show the destination’s unique selling point and express a clear value proposition.Thirdly,for the consistency dimension,a brand logo must keep consistent with the other brand elements,especially the slogan.At last,for the attention and memorization dimensions,a brand logo’s color must fit well with the type of the destination and be attractive to the target market.At the same time,its graphic should avoid being too low of naturalness and keep harmony and appropriate elaborativeness.The most important factor to these two dimensions is that the elements of a brand logo,especially color,graphic,character,and word or phrase,can not go beyond the target population’s comprehension ability.Based on this model,we categorize destination logos into three levels: the basic(identification dimension),the good(differentiation dimension),and the ideal(the other three dimensions) level. Then,we use the former two models to evaluate the destination logos of China excellent tourism cities.According to the authors’ statistics(the data is acquired from official websites),there are 149 of 323 China excellent cities using their own brand logos.The evaluation conclusions are as follows.Firstly,123 of 149 brand logos have some degree of identification.According to the correctness and clearness of a brand logo’s identification capability,this paper further divides 123 brand logos into three degrees.There are 89 of them in the first degree.Secondly,for the good level,this paper divides these 89 brand logos into three degrees.Only 31 of them clearly differentiate destinations;they represent the first differentiation degree.Thirdly,this paper analyzes all these 31 brand logos according to the standards of the other three dimensions and concludes that brand logos of Harbin,Qingdao,Weihai,Wuxi,Yancheng,Shenzhen,and Jincheng are amongst the best.