Peter Gutwein,Premier
Tasmania has been named Place Brand of the Year at the City Nation Place awards held in London overnight.
The global Place Brand of the Year award recognises the achievements of organisations that demonstrate a committed, strategic approach to place branding, and who work to balance the needs of their community, environment, businesses, and visitors.
Premier Peter Gutwein said the judges were inspired by Brand Tasmania's approach to developing an effective place brand strategy.
"In particular they noted the honesty and authenticity of Brand Tasmania's work and stated that they were impressed by the successful, intelligent and creative approach taken to bring stakeholders and citizens on board with the whole process of understanding what Tasmania stands for," he said.
"This award is an impressive acknowledgment of the ongoing commitment and hard work over the past two and half years since Brand Tasmania commenced as the first place-branding statutory authority to be established in Australia.
"The work that has been led here has brought together government, business, and the community to activate our brand in a distinctly Tasmanian way."
Brand Tasmania Chairperson, Nick Haddow, said the motivation has always been to deeply understand how Tasmanians think and feel about this place.
"What they love and don't love about it, what they are proud and ashamed of, what keeps them here, what sends them away, and what brings them back," he said.
"At its simplest, the Tasmanian brand is an expression of our culture – our character, our story – and it is a story that we can all relate to in some way."
Brand Tasmania's podcast series Be Tasmanian, which tells the story of the evolution of the Tasmanian brand story and strategy through the words of Tasmanians, was also one of five finalists shortlisted for Best Citizen Engagement.
Brand Tasmania CEO, Todd Babiak, said for the team it's been an honour to work on something so meaningful.
"It's been such a cooperative effort, with the hundreds — now thousands — of Tasmanians who shared their stories, and who are bringing it to life in their work and communities every day," he said.
The award was accepted on behalf of Tasmania by the Deputy High Commissioner in the UK, Julie Heckscher.
