2024 in Review: The Role of Branding in Local Government Growth
Branding: Not Just for Shampoo Bottles and Big Corporates Anymore.
Throughout 2024, we sat down with many local councils across NSW and quietly donned our strategy hats. It’s clear that the days are gone when a council’s brand was little more than a coat of arms and a one-liner about being “the heart of the region.” This year, we loved working with forward-thinking LGAs to show how strategic branding can do more than make a region look great; it drives economic growth, attracts investment, and unites a community in ways that feel almost…well, magic! Here’s a look at what worked, what we learned, and how 2025 can be the year every LGA gets its groove on…
1. A Strong Brand Isn’t Just a Logo, It’s a Guiding Light
2024 proved that effective branding doesn’t stop at aesthetics. Singleton led the charge with a narrative shift that could make Hollywood jealous. Moving beyond its coal-mining legacy, the council built a story around opportunity, sustainability, and community pride while tipping the Chapeau to industry heritage. The result? A co-funded future fund and a refreshed identity that’s set to turn investor heads and tourist wallets through 2025 and beyond.
Lesson: Branding isn’t just aesthetics. It’s a guiding light that helps residents, visitors, and investors alike see your region’s full potential. When done right, it’s the difference between being “just another town” and being the place to be.
2. It’s Not Branding vs Collaboration; It’s Branding via Collaboration
Many councils sussed out that good branding isn’t cooked up in the back room of a marketing agency and slapped on the town’s website. It’s a shared effort—residents, businesses, stakeholders, all pulling in the same direction. Think of it as a community potluck: everyone brings something, and the results are surprisingly delicious.
Lesson: The more hands-on deck, the better. The greater the engagement opportunities along the process are, the greater the end result will be. People buy into a story they helped write. LGAs that embraced co-creation didn’t just build brands—they built advocates.
3. Digital: Where Your Story Meets the World
If 2024 proved one thing, it’s that your brand is only as good as the screen it lives on. From snappy TikToks to immersive VR experiences, LGAs that leaned into digital storytelling saw real engagement and genuine results in terms of lifted visitation.
A gold standard and Award winning example of the use of immersive, digital first content has to be from our Cousins across the ditch, New Zealand. The IF YOU SEEK campaign demonstrates how storytelling can be enhanced via cutting edge technology – but importantly, not just for the sake of innovation but based on behavioural science principals. The audience were elegantly teased into engaging with the content – and when they did engage, they were rewarded with further captivating and interactive content which bought to life visitation experiences within a digital environment. Through 2D, 3D and sound the campaign bought to life tourism highlights from Hobbiton, to Dolphin encounters, to natural beauty and iconic cultural experiences.
Lesson: You don’t need to be everywhere online, but where you are, you need to be creative with a digital experience that is evocative and best represents the attributes of your region. Don’t just push out a series messages with the belief if we tell enough people, they will come – get the audience to meet you halfway and adapt your storytelling approach to suit the individual media channel or social platform engagement mechanics.
Looking Ahead to 2025: Build a Brand People Believe In
As we head into 2025, the playbook for LGAs is simple: think big, act bold, and make branding more than a box-ticking exercise. A strong brand doesn’t just draw visitors. It brings jobs, investment, and pride. It’s the unifying thread that ties economic development to tourism, to community identity, to a sense of belonging.