Sydney's brand has been tackled for the past 25 years, but to date it hasn't stuck. In part, this is because of a rush to develop a logo and a tagline - a cohesive idea, but one that can be divisive. Our assessment: tell the story, don't design the logo.
Sydney Global has engaged deeply with the leaders who delivered these brand projects over the years, and learnt from them - what worked, what didn't, and how to deliver a refreshed story that sticks.
More recently, Destination NSW's Visitor Economy Strategy 2035 recognises the importance of experience-led tourism and has developed the 'Feel New Sydney' campaign - urging visitors to go beyond the icons to experience more of Sydney. This is a fantastic step forward towards the development of a universal narrative, focused on the tourism market.
Sydney 2000 Olympics
Sydney created a brand for the Olympics and Paralympics with the theme ‘Global City – Ancient Land,’ focusing on athletes, cultural diversity, freedom, energy and opportunity. This process was ultimately linked to a one-off event, which meant the work did not flow into an ongoing comprehensive brand for Sydney after the Olympics and Paralympics finished.
Events New South Wales
Events New South Wales (predecessor to Destination NSW) was established to “market Sydney and NSW as a leading global events destination.”
Events NSW developed a brand narrative for Sydney that identified Sydney as:
Greater Sydney Partnership Limited
In April 2010, the NSW Government provided seed funding for a new entity: the Greater Sydney Partnership Limited, and appointed Peter Holmes à Court as Chair of the organisation to promote Sydney globally.
However, over time, a lack of agreement on the creative direction of the project, along with the loss of key leaders in the project, caused the partnership to close after a year.
Project Sydney
In 2016, a project led by then Trade Minister, Stuart Ayres, the Department of Premier and Cabinet, and multiple stakeholders, aimed to promote a business brand for Sydney but ultimately failed due to a lack of consensus on the ‘Grow with Us’ brand and logo, despite agreement on Sydney’s core values of liveability, diversity, ambition and beauty.
NSW Visitor Economy 2030 strategy
The NSW Government released the Visitor Economy 2030 strategy. This strategy was largely focused on recovering from Covid-19; to restart the visitor economy and welcome major events back to our shores.
‘Feel New’ campaign
The NSW Government launches the ‘Feel New’ campaign, delivering on a key pillar in the NSW Visitor Economy Strategy 2030. The campaign was also supported by a resources hub where industry, trade and partners could download Destination NSW marketing resources for promotional purposes.
Visitor Economy Strategy Review
The NSW Department of Creative Industries, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport (DCITHS) commenced a review of the existing Visitor Economy 2030 strategy to reflect the government’s focus on experience tourism and to create alignment with the new Creative Communities policy and other whole-of-government policies and programs.
The Committee for Sydney published its submission to Visitor Economy Strategy 2030 Review. See our full submission to the review here.
NSW Visitor Economy Strategy 2035
The NSW Government released the Visitor Economy Strategy 2035, with a clear target to generate $91 billion in annual visitor expenditure, 40,000 hotel rooms, 8.5 million new airline seats and an additional 150,000 jobs by 2035.
The strategy focuses on five key pillars to accelerate growth:
