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CAIRNGORMS NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY 
Paper 3 Date 04/06/04 

CAIRNGORMS NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY

Title: DEVELOPING A CAIRNGORMS BRAND 

Prepared by: DANIEL ALEXANDER, HEAD OF 
COMMUNICATIONS 
RUATHY DONALD, BUSINESS & MARKETING 
OFFICER 

Purpose 

The purpose of this paper is to bring Board members up to date on progress that has been 
made on brand development, to outline the next steps in the development of a Cairngorms 
Brand and to seek the Board’s approval for this approach and associated expenditure. 

Recommendations 

• The Board are invited to note developments to date and to endorse the proposed next 
steps for development and associated financial commitment. 

Executive Summary 

The development of a Cairngorms Brand is widely supported by the tourism industry as a 
means of presenting a coherent visual identity, based on agreed brand values for the Park 
area. A strong brand will provide a useful tool in the delivery of a wide range of marketing 
and promotional activity, both on a Park-wide basis and by individual businesses/ 
organisations, the latter being subject to the satisfaction of certain criteria. 

DEVELOPING A CAIRNGORMS BRAND 

Introduction 

1. The designation of the area as a National Park provides an opportunity to develop a 
cohesive approach to the marketing and promotion of the area. The development of a 
Cairngorms Brand is a fundamental tool in the creation of an identity for the area to be 
used in all marketing and promotional activity. The intention is through the provision 
of a cohesive identity that the Cairngorms Brand will enhance, not replace existing 
strong brands operating in the area. It will provides an additional marketing tool for 
businesses and will act as an umbrella for the diverse communities of interest in the 
Park area. 

2. In February 2004 key stakeholders from the tourism industry (including members of 
the TDWG) in the Cairngorms met to develop a “Brand Wheel” for the Cairngorms. 
The purpose of the exercise was to establish a distilled version of what the brand is all 
about. The "wheel" is not something the consumer will see, more that it forms the 
underlying rationale for everything to do with the brand. 

3. The brand wheel examined both the rational element of the brand; what the product is, 
facts and symbols and what is does for me, and the more emotional aspects, how the 
brand makes me feel, how is makes me look; what its personality is; and what are its 
values (the rules by which it lives). These all lead to the centre of the wheel which 
outlines the fundamental proposition (why people should come here) and the 
subsequent market positioning (competitive edge). It was subsequently endorsed by 
the Tourism Development Working Group 

The Next Steps 

4. The next stage now the brand wheel has been completed is to develop the visual 
identity of the Brand. As the Cairngorms Brand will encompass the values of the area 
and be used in a wide range of circumstances, it is more than simply a logo. 
Furthermore the Brand should be different from, but coherent with the National Park 
Authority logo, as the latter is an organisation and the former, the Cairngorms, a 
product. 

5. As the development of a brand is a specialised piece of work requiring design 
expertise it is proposed that the work to develop visual identity is put out to tender. A 
copy of the design brief, and brand wheel is attached at Annex 1. 

6. The cost of creating a strong visual identity for the Cairngorms will be in the region of 
£20,000. This includes all forms of visual requirements, for print, web materials, 
supporting straplines etc ensuring that the values associated with the brand become 
synonymous with the visual designs. It also includes supporting guidelines on the use 
of the brand and the testing of the brand on the tourism industry. 

7. Once the visual identity has been created, the Cairngorms National Park Authority 
will act as the brand manager of the Brand. Criteria for use of the brand are in the 
process of being developed. All those seeking use of the Brand must satisfy these 
prior to their use of the brand being endorsed by the NPA. 

DANIEL ALEXANDER 
RUATHY DONALD 
20th May 2004 

danielalexander@cairngorms.co.uk 
ruathydonald@cairngorms.co.uk