Tuvalu?

Tuvalu is a remote South Pacific Island which, according to its website, is "timeless."  I have no reason to doubt them, and know nothing about Tuvalu other than that for some reason I think their entire GDP is dependent on licensing the .TV internet domain to community cable TV stations in countries that actually have community cable TV stations.



Tuvalu has five things going for it in terms of establishing its destination brand credentials as an isolated and idyllic South Pacific paradise:

1. It looks really really beautiful on the website;
2. Almost nobody I asked had ever heard of the place;
3. If you take the trouble to find it on a map, it is indeed in the South Pacific and very far from anywhere else;
   
4. If you search for Tuvalu on Tripadvisor you'll only find an endless series of tourists discussing Disneyland's Polynesian Resort in Orlando, Florida; and
5. Most importantly, if you chose to correspond with them, it will involve the use of a "private mail bag" and their address sounds like the latest flavours from Baskin Robbins:
• Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Industries
  Private Mail Bag
  Vaiaku
  Funafuti
  Tuvalu

In other words, it's the very lack of information on Tuvalu that brings its brand to life and makes its positioning so compelling (at least to folks who are looking for that sort of experience).

Now compare Tuvalu's simple, honest authenticity to the efforts of an equally remote, though somewhat better known, destination:  The Cook Islands.



The two destinations are seeking to position their brands in the same way to consumers, but where Tuvalu does it with simplicity and honesty, the Cook Islands over-intellectualize the offer and make me feel as though it's going to require some serious spiritual soul-seeking just to find a hotel room.  The new-age approach of the Cook Islands makes me feel as though they are anything but timeless.  And that's not what I'm looking for in a laid-back South Seas vacation.  The lesson?  You can do all the great brand work in the world, but if the communications of that brand miss the mark, you're sunk.  And worse yet, if your marketing strategy and consumer segmentation schemes become the focus of your message, you'll turn off everyone you're hoping to reach.

There are very few places in the world that you could mention to friends and encounter blank stares and still enjoy a great travel experience.  Tuvalu, from the very little that I'm satisfied to know, is one such place.  Now if only they could sell enough .TV extensions to promote that mail bag angle...