Andy Stalman presenting the new brand logo. | Teresa Ayuga

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On December 17, the Council of Mallorca unveiled its new tourism brand. With the main slogan Mallorca Ca Nostra (Mallorca Our Home), the logo was an M inspired by the ikat dyeing technique that gives the 'teles de llengües' look and a QR code.

Absent from the presentation at Palma Auditorium were the Balearic tourism minister, Jaume Bauzá, the government's director of tourism, Josep Aloy, and the director of the AETIB tourism strategy agency, Pere Joan Planas. The reason given for their absence was that they had other engagements. It now appears, however, that they shunned the presentation.

AETIB is responsible for the strategic tourism positioning of the Balearic Islands. Planas says that during the twelve months when the brand was being created, the Council of Mallorca didn't coordinate the process or ask the government for its opinion. "The island council has responsibilities for promotion and we fully respect its autonomy, but they did not explain their strategy to us or coordinate it with us."

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Planas feels that the new brand is "inappropriate". "I do not believe that it is the most appropriate time to create a new brand when we are working on the sustainability pact and when we are just two months away from deciding what kind of tourism we want and what measures we will apply."

The new image will appear for the first time at the Fitur tourism fair in Madrid in January. It will be alongside the logo that the government uses to promote the Balearics as a whole.

Planas argues that there should continue to be a common brand. For Europeans, he accepts that the individual islands represent "very powerful brands". "But travellers from further afield, especially from America, see us as a whole and identify us as the Balearic Islands between Gibraltar and the Gulf of Genoa. As a government we will continue to promote a uniform brand."

He stresses the need for the Council and the government to agree on promotion and be more synchronised. "Every new brand requires a powerful investment in advertising to launch it and position it."