High-time North East Indian States recreate itself as brands

Davis Kangjam *

Closing Ceremony for Manipur Sangai Festival 2017 on 30 November 2017 :: Pix - Lamdamba Oinam

The Northeastern part of India has always been considered as a region with enormous potential and have been described as 'paradise unexplored' many times. Even with the potential the region holds, which could be big especially in the tourism sector, the North-eastern region of the country never has been in much of the limelight it deserves.

The region has never been promoted like many of the tourist destinations in the country like Kerala also called 'God's Own Country' and had been lacking efforts to attract tourism.

Some central issues faced by this part of the country primarily include awareness and contact or connection with the rest of India.

Until recently, the situation is seen slowly changing with State Governments of North-east India embracing the fact that the region needs to make its presence felt by creating awareness through activities like 'Northeast Calling' organised by the Ministry of DoNER to highlight diverse art, cultures, heritage, cuisine, tourism and business opportunities in the region.

However, besides creating awareness and connectivity, there is a need to build a stable position of the region to change the perception and tell people about the region and each of States correctly to attract tourist and investors. Each of the States in the region should in fact work on creating a brand image of its own and install a unique sense of ideas and feelings in the people.

To create feeling similar to the one you get when you hear 'God's Own Country.' It is time the States in the North-eastern part of India relaunch themselves with new brand identities to attract tourists and unique investment opportunity.

Rebranding can help make people aware of the existence of new places and give differentiated recognition to the area from other places. In today's time, creating such brand image has become a necessity and easily relatable to the new age traveler and tourist looking to experience a unique lifestyle, cultures, food, nature, and people. With this group of people actively present across social media platforms has also helped in the process of boosting and building that brand image with their views and opinions of these destinations.

How the media portrays the region or State also plays a vital role in changing the fundamental character of the area. While the media help in improving the perception, it also acts as a catalog for well-traveled people from across the world who are looking for mostly unexplored destinations.

Stories around uniquely positioned festivals in the region like Ziro in Arunachal Pradesh and Hornbill in Nagaland had drawn many tourists long before social media did its part. Every year audience from across India and abroad are showing their loyalty to these fests with their presence.

To raise awareness and establish a unique identity of the States in the North-east region, it would need to have a marketing campaign in place. This marketing campaign may include tactics such as search engine marketing, digital advertising, content marketing, conferences/summits to reach investors from across the country, festivals- music, art and craft, pan-India press releases, etc. telling people about what the State has to offer.

Building and creating a successful brand of the State is much like building a product or personal brand. The State needs to discover itself and determine what it can offer. If the State feels that it does not have some of the elements necessary to attract the desired audience, then it needs a team of professionals to devise a plan to develop them.

With a strategic campaign in place, the State can showcase what the State as a brand feels like and what the target audience can experience through communications across multiple channels.

With such strategically aligned campaign, it can help build partnerships between State Government, key opinion leaders, universities, companies, and bodies to create environments where State thrive as a brand and increase its visibility not just domestically but globally.


About the author Davis Kangjam is a strategic communications professional who have been an integral part of image building Public Relations and Influencer Marketing team for some well-known Indian as well as global brands. He has also been recognised as one of the promising PR professionals in India under the age of 30 by making it in to the list of the esteemed Godrej PRmoment India 30 under 30, 2018. Davis currently heads PR and Strategic Communications for a Delhi based firm and also does consulting for multiple agencies and personalities.