School of Journalism and Mass Communications

Faculty of Economic and Political Sciences

Rebranding Places affected by immigration crisis: The case of Lesvos

Island in Greece

BY

Danica Donovic

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree of

MASTER OF DIGITAL MEDIA, COMMUNICATION AND JOURNALISM

Specialization: Digital Media, Culture and Communication

Supervisor: Dr. Fani Galatsopoulou

January 2020

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Contents ABSTRACT 3

1. INTRODUCTION 4

2. LITERATURE REVIEW 5

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 9

4. ANALYSIS OF THE IMAGE OF LESVOS ISLAND 10

Branding before the crisis 10

Branding during immigration crisis 12

5. PLACE CHARACTERISTICS: LESVOS ISLAND 15

Positive characteristics 16

Negative Characteristics 17

Associations and visual symbols 20

Lesvos island in the media 22

6. REBRANDING STRATEGY FOR LESVOS ISLAND 25

Addressing the main issues 25

Promotion and brand identity 28

Implementing the rebranding strategy 32

Possible issues 34

7. CONCLUSION 34

BIBLIOGRAPHY 36

Web Reference 42

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ABSTRACT

This research has a goal of representing the rebranding strategy of places affected by

immigration crisis, which started in 2015 and is still ongoing. The case researched is Lesvos

island, an Aegean island located in North-Eastern part of Aegean sea in Greece, the third

largest island in Greece.

The main focus of the research is finding the finding the causes as to why rebranding is

needed and ways in which rebranding can be done and which strategies should be

implemented. This island is particularly interesting due to its constant appearance in the

media since the start of the crisis. This is mostly because this island marks the first place

where many immigrants first come to European land, its proximity to Turkey, and because the

island is the host of one of the most notorious immigrant camp- the Moria camp. This camp

was, and still is the subject of many controversies and due to its reputation and is often

portrayed negatively in the worldwide media. Negative media coverage and the negative

camp’s association with the island affected the island’s image in the eyes of tourists and

casual holiday makers, while at the same time making it a prime destination for humanitarian

and NGO workers working with relief programs helping immigrants cross to Europe and

provide them with basic necessities.

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1. INTRODUCTION

Touristic destinations are brands in a highly competitive market today. Destinations are

treated as brands and are advertised across all platforms. Today, more than ever, users are

aware of the power of a brand and advertising. Destination market is very competitive and

saturated, and brands (destinations) are more prone to refreshing and rebranding today as to

keep their relevance, and every destination aims to stand out with their unique characteristics

and offer. Some destinations became popular because of their aesthetics, some because of

good promotional campaigns and some due to phoenix tourism.

Here it is important to note that while Lesvos island is suffering a humanitarian crisis, the

scope of it does not follow under phoenix tourism as this term is related to destinations that

have suffered serious disasters such as nuclear war, natural disasters and other.

User reviews and eWOM (electronic word of mouth, interaction and communication that

happens between users online) play an incredibly important role in how a destination is

perceived, and how the brand image is further developed. Every destination and its offers in

the world are covered and well reported on in some of the most popular review websites like

TripAdvisor, Yelp and in the Reviews part of the most popular search engine-Google.

Another important factor are social networks that allow and encourage sharing and users

frequently share their travel experiences, adding the location trough a hashtag (metadata tag

on social media platforms) and geolocation. Promotional campaigns are focused on attracting

users, and today they are more often conducted on digital media platforms (namely different

social media platforms) then on traditional media (Television, Radio, Print Press). Targeting

desired audience online, in this day and age, is easier than ever using specific marketing tools.

Lesvos island is a touristic destination that has received negative media backlash since the

year of 2015 due to being the host to infamous camp Moria. The island has been under

pressure to regulate the situation on it, while the conditions were getting worse day by day.

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Now the island is faced with declined economic influx from the hospitality sector, as well as

the continuous issues regarding to the situation in the Moria camp. Solving the problem of the

immigrants on the island would help to establish a new brand identity for the island and to

shed the negative image created by the media. The negative media coverage did not

specifically target the island as a touristic destination, but the connection of the camp to the

island contributed to users associating the situation with the whole island, questioning its

security and stability. The crisis heavily affected the inhabitants of the island, given that in

some regions depends almost solely on tourism. Some of the accommodation was filled by

NGO workers on the island, but they weren’t using other touristic offers that the island has to

offer and usually booked accommodation outside of hotels, which faced decreasing bookings

for four consecutive years. Even though NGOs brought people to the island, that was not the

target group of visitors for the island.

Correcting the current image of the island would benefit the whole island, especially the

hospitability sector as it would again establish the island as a desirable touristic destination

among Aegean islands in Greece. The size, history and the position of the island are very

beneficial for the its brand, and can be used to establish new brand image .

The first chapter of the thesis is theoretical background along with literature review. In it the

literature related to the topic of branding, rebranding, place branding and rebranding, as well

as literature covering the ongoing immigration crisis and Lesvos island as well as Greek

economic crisis.

The second chapter and the third chapters focus on branding strategies of Lesvos island, the

branding before the immigration crisis, and the branding strategy during the crisis. Here the

strategies, both online and offline, will be examined closely trough content analysis in order

to find common threads and symbols that are used for describing and promoting the island.

Also UGC (user generated content) shared across different platforms, mainly TripAdvisor,

will be analyzed as it shows how the island is perceived from the point of view of its visitors.

Chapter four gives a deeper insight into what Lesvos is as a brand, its characteristics, both

positive and negative from visitors point of view. Analyzed are also associations to the island,

which are a big part of rebranding process and it is also shown how is the island perceived in

the media (both modern and traditional).

Chapter five will showcase potential rebranding strategy for Lesvos island, based on previous

branding strategy, current issues and user experience and feedback. Addressing the main

issues is one of the most important points, as the issues are the ones driving the tourist flow

away from the island in the past five years. This does not exclude possible issues that might

appear after the current ones are dealt with, which are also pointed out in the final part of this

chapter.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

Branding and rebranding are two separate terms that are used commonly in today’s society.

As Ermann and Hermanik (2018) define branding as marketing tool used to promote certain

product. That product can be anything, ranging from objects to nation and places (Eshliki and

Kaboudi, 2011). Branding a place or destination proves more challenging than branding a

company or a product, because there is no direct ownership or complete control over the

goods (i.e. place), and unlike with product branding, place branding also affects local

residents and stakeholders. Place marketing has become a strategy widely deployed by

municipalities and regional authorities in the governance of cities, towns and regions. It is

used to increase the competitiveness of places and attract target groups such as tourists, new

residents and investors (Eshuis and Jasper, 2013). The touristic market today is highly

competitive, with people from various countries having more buying power and investing

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more in travel. But while branding may create a positive image and attract potential customers

(in this case tourists), sometimes various factors contribute to creating negative features,

“stale” image, or low visitation. Then rebranding has to be implemented to help improve the

brand image and add value to the brand (Bozzi, 2011). Rebranding involves a process where

an outdated or irrelevant brand identity is modified and re-launched with a new focus. Here it

is important to show the difference between rebranding, repositioning and refreshing a

destination. Destination rebranding focuses on changing the identity of a place (Bozzi, 2011),

while repositioning tends to change the associations a user can have with a brand (Tungsten,

2014). Destination refreshing focuses on adding new features and improving the existing ones,

without changing the core (Gotham, 2007). Haigh (2000) notes that the key steps in

rebranding include naming and registration, logo design and related visual image, market

research, internal communications, external public relations and advertisement. It is often

noted that place branding has important 3 “Rs”: Rights, Roles, Relationships and

Responsibilities (Aitken, 2009). Rebranding is done by choosing and adjusting place

characteristics and brand personality, utilizing communication tools, implementing and

promoting keywords and associations, and choosing and marketing visual symbol ( Ritchie

and Ritchie, 1998). Brand personality can be related to what the brand used to present, if that

presentation did not have negative connotation, in the case of negative connotations and

associations the brand personality should be rebranded as well. Personality is what can set the

destination apart from the others (Kadar, 2013). Urbanickova (2018) states that destination

has to keep its individuality and characteristics, at least at base level. Correcting an image of a

place has to be done in segments, and with help of different research and marketing

techniques. (Nuttavuthisit, 2006). Communication tools are of vital importance, especially

today when our communication is mainly done through one medium, the smartphone. This

gives marketers a unique chance to reach more users than ever. Vasterman (2018) notes that

social media platforms keep gaining in significance during the last years, and that different

from what the users were used to in the classical (traditional) mass media like television, radio

or print media, now the communication became more two-sided as social media permits the

user to have interaction as well as share their content digitally. Moreover, placing visual and

textual promotions via various media channels gives the campaign better coverage and

diversity. (Eshuis and Jasper, 2013). Visual promotions gave better results, especially visual

promotions on photo-oriented social media channels like Instagram, where a lot of brands use

photo and video sharing for extensive marketing (Vasterman, 2018). Briciu and Gulpe (2018)

note that a big part of building a brand is building an identifying network with potential

consumers, because the practice showed that more the users identify with the brand the higher

the chance is that they will covert to consumers of the brand. In that case a favorable image

needs to be communicated to the desired target group, the group of users that is the most

likely to relate to it (Pike, 2007). Once a brand is fully branded, the core idea and values of a

brand are set. Rebranding, however, means changing the core idea, and focus of the campaign

and destination. Rebranding does not have to focus on a destination as a whole; many

different aspects of it can be rebranded like certain areas, touristic attractions, and other

elements (Eshuis, Braun and Klijn, 2013). According to Pike (2005) the core concepts of both

branding are rebranding process are firstly establishing brand identity and core values,

secondly developing brand positioning aspects and finally brand image, the image

recognizable by the costumers. Place identity very much relates to personal identity, meaning

that one individual can connect the meaning of “self” with a specific place (Hernandez, 2007).

The purpose of having an identity is to identify and place a destination for visitors, or its

products and services (Wheeler et al. 2011). Here it is important to mention inhabitants of

certain destination as potential rebranding strongpoints. If the new brand message is

communicated well to the locals, then it is a higher chance that they will communicate the

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brand message back to the consumers without confusion, and since they (locals) are in

constant touch with the tourists this aspect is very important (Choo et al. 2011).

Kapferer (2008) states that brands are intangible and conditional assents. The author also

states that an asset is an item that can bring benefits over a long period of time, and in order

for a destination to deliver the financial benefits it needs to work together with other services,

as the brand cannot exist without other services that can support and carry it. Ries and Trout

(1982) take on the idea of brand positioning as that brands should not try to compete with

rivals by means of ' me-too ' brands (creating the same associations), but rather seek to create

unique positions in the minds of customers through specific brand partnerships aimed at

markets they tightly relate to.

It is also important to see who is behind place branding and rebranding, who builds the place

brands and who markets it.

Kavaratzis (2015) notes that those who build place brands are institutions undertaking

branding programs in place. Those institutions can be of public, private and voluntary groups.

The author also notes that place brands can also be formed by users who provide destination-

related content and make decisions related to one specific place, the individuals who, in their

way, contribute to the place and finally, the place can be branded by the society. These

societal views explore the impact of the social and cultural context within person or group-

based beliefs and how this changes individual definitions towards a more collective viewpoint

(Kavaratzis, 2015).

It is also important to note that not every rebranding has a successful outcome.

According to Tschirhart and Mary (2005) rebranding can fail due to following reasons:

a) No ownership. On the contrary from companies and goods, destinations don’t have a direct

owner and therefore it is harder to manage it.

b) Internal adaptation. Even if the rebranding plan is perfectly thought trough, sometimes

the vision of the government does not match with how the locals envision their country or city.

This is why taking local opinion and vision into consideration is crucial in the process of

rebranding.

c) Rebranding resistance. Forced rebranding is often a product of one-sided vision and

implementation. Rebranding resistance and bad internal adaptation are often connected. To

avoid this case it is important to do a careful marketing and demographic research prior to

making a rebranding strategy.

d) Confused messaging. Without a proper slogan and image rebranding is incomplete. Good

campaign demands message that is clear and easy to remember. Sending mixed and confusing

messages can only harm the campaign. Under this category long slogans and visions

unconnected to the brand are also listed.

Bennett (2003) notes that the essential challenge associated with place rebranding is that a

brand image suitable for one stakeholder group (for example, business investors) may be

inappropriate for others (for example, pre-existing residents) and thus creating an inner issue.

Also the issue of what the local inhabitants of the place might want to showcase in the

rebranding process may arise (Bolton, 1992). Kavaratzis, Warnaby and Ashworth (2015)

point out to the main issue here being the influence of internal disputes between departments

of local authorities and external conflicts between stakeholder organizations.. They note that

such conflicts are seen as potentially harming to the development of a universal brand identity.

Kavaratzis, Warnaby and Ashwort (2015) claim that place branding is not aimed at

maximizing shareholder value, but at maximizing financial value and social welfare in favor

of local residents and other intrested parties. Here it is more notable that city rebranding

campaigns have a 86% higher chance of failure than other place marketing campaigns (North,

2014). One of the most prominent cases of unsuccessful rebranding in the last years is the

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case of rebranding the city of Leeds, England in 2005 (Marshall, 2014). The team behind

Leeds rebranding campaign tried to put the city on the global map with a slogan “Live it Love

it”. Unfortunately the slogan was already used in a city from the United States of America.

The campaign quickly died out and their official website leedsliveitloveit.com was (and still

remains) closed.

A rebranding effort that caused uproar among the locals was the rebranding of Hamburg,

Germany in 2009. The image of the city communicated to the audience was that the city of

Hamburg is a rich city with a lot of cultural offer that could be a perfect spot for the new and

rising “creative class” (Braun et al. 2010). This “stereotype image” was not accepted well

amongst locals and particularly local artists who together wrote a manifesto to demonstrate

this rebranding campaign. The campaign has since been put on halt, but the problem

prevailed as the citizens demonstrated the government due to poor economic reality in the city

and continuous rising of real estate prices.

Kapferer (2008) states that brands are intangible and conditional assents. The author also

states that an asset is an item that can bring benefits over a long period of time, and in order

for a destination to deliver the financial benefits it needs to work together with other services,

as the brand cannot exist without other services that can support and carry it. Other services

supporting the brand could range from hospitality industry in the destination to media services.

Measuring the performance in the place branding and rebranding strategies is a difficult task,

but it is essential and with the extensive use of marketing metrics it is achievable easier

(Dinnie, 2008). Here it is important to establish different measuring scales for different place

types (Kavaratzis, Warnaby and Ashworth, 2015). The impact of place branding (and

rebranding) is measurable trough rankings (Govers, 2016). The author refers to two

measurement and rankings categories, the host or the supply side and the guest, or the demand

side. On the supply side it is important to measure marketing communication, more closely

engagement of stakeholders, accomplished through branding campaign. On the demand side

there are three important aspects, news media image, market loyalty and image on the social

media.

Rebranding can be particularly sensitive when a destination is facing or experiencing crisis

(natural or other) (Palmer, 2013). In those cases sensitive socio-demographic situation has to

be carefully addressed as to avoid potential issues. Current immigration crisis brought big

changes and issues to several European countries, with Greece being one of the most heavily

hit. Verhaeren, R. (1980) notes that immigration can have positive effects on a country under

specific conditions. However, the influx of immigrants that has been steadily arriving to

Europe since 2015 is unprecedented in modern history, with over million people fleeing the

war-hit countries, then followed by so called economic-migrants coming from

underdeveloped countries (N,Trihas and K,Tsilimpokos, 2018), especially because of constant

flow of information and digitalization of modern era . Franck (2018) notes that the quick

spread of information via digital media led to quick response from corporate actors and

individual volunteers, counting in celebrities working with various organizations. Rebranding

after a crisis or a disaster can prove difficult due to unreliable factors and the mere scale of the

disaster (Gotham, 2006). With places like Lesvos island, which heavily rely on its touristic

potential it is important to act quickly and efficiently. Gotham (2006) notes that as far as

tourism is an expression of broader social, economic, and political relationships, tourism

development in any particular city, it will show the peculiarities of the place in the making of

its urban area. It is also important to note that different areas can promote different

characteristics, but they have to be interconnected by the core brand idea (Palmer, 2013).

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3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Questions:

Research question number one:

What is the perceived image of Lesvos island?

Research question number two:

What effects did the immigration crisis have on the island?

Research question number three:

What rebranding strategies should be implemented?

In order to fully answer to questions above, the right research methodology should be

implemented. Research methodology used for this thesis is qualitative research of user

generated content provided on different online platforms and promotional material made and

developed for Lesvos island. Platforms used for content analysis of user generated content are

as follows: tripadvisor.com, lonelyplanet.com, reviews on google.com, youtube.com,

facebook.com, and mobile application Instagram. Promotional content was accessed from

visitgreece.com, material provided by GNTO via various sources and material provided by

Molyvos Touristic Organization The Other Aegean theotheraegean.com. Analyzed are also

news articled related to Lesvos island, prior and after 2015 from sources: cnn.com, bbc.com,

cnn.gr, kathimerini.gr, greekreporter.com, news.gtp.gr, dw.com,lesvosnews.com.

Given that characteristics of the place, as well as the positive and negative treats had to be

assessed, the SWOT analysis of the content had to be done. SWOT analysis, which assesses

strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOTs), is the conventional way to search

for observations into how to achieve the preferred adjustment (Valentin, 2001).

Analysis was done through analyzing user generated content of over 170 articles, blog posts,

forums posts, impressions and videos. Analyzed was content published from 2005 up until

January of 2020 on before mentioned platforms. Researched were 15 different types of posts

per given year (2012-2020), but since UGC related to Lesvos island prior to 2012 is scarce

period from 2005 to 2012 only covers the range of average 5 articles per year. Keywords used

for finding and filtering the UGC are “Lesvos”, “Lesbos”, “Aegean island”, “Refugee Crisis”,

“Moria Camp”. “Lesvos summer 2013”, “Lesvos summer 2014”, “Lesvos 2015”, “Lesvos

2016”, “Lesvos 2017”, “Lesvos 2018” and “Lesvos 2019”. Terms used for filtering Greek

content were “Λέζβνο”, “Μπηηιήλε”, “Μόξηα Λέζβνπ”, “Πξνζθπγηθε θξηζε Διιαδα”,

“Διαηόιαδν Λέζβνπ”. Articles and UGC in Greek were accordingly translated to English for

the purpose of this research.

News articles analyzed for this thesis were duo lingual, in both English and Greek language.

They were accessed via official websites of news agencies and filtered using keywords

“Lesvos” ,“Lesbos”, “Refugee crisis”, “Moria camp”, “Greece”, “Mytilini”. Articles assessed

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in English language were published from 2007 to 2020, while articles published in Greek

originated from 2004 to 2020. The number of articles researched in both languages is 160,

with the number of 10 articles analyzed per each year in the span of 2004 to 2020. The

number of articles in not equally divided between Greek and English, as more articles,

especially prior to 2015, were assessable only in Greek language and they make 70% of that

sample, with average of 7 articles in Greek compared to 3 articles in English for the span of

2004 to 2015. The latest article analyzed for this thesis was published on 15th of January 2020.

4. ANALYSIS OF THE IMAGE OF LESVOS ISLAND

Branding before the crisis

Place branding presents turning a location (city, country, or a specific place) into an consumer

asset. Place branding goes under “Urban branding”, that is branding enhances marketing of an

image of a place, city or a destination in various ways by transforming the their visual image

into a brand image (Rehan, 2013). Urban marketing has as a goal creating of reasonable,

exceptional, and shopper arranged rendition of the urban picture that can "pull in” attractive

customers and expanding purchaser spending. Here it is important to make a distinction

between terms “brand” and “branding” given that first represents overall image of perceptions

and associations while “branding” represents process of creating the said brand (Kavaratzis,

2004). Kavaratzis also notes that branding is a continuous process which have all other

marketing activities as a subject. Promoting the right image can have a big effect on

preference-based decision making. Branding can be done utilizing various channels and

techniques, trying to create a communicative way to promote an image of a place using

tangible assets such as nature, infrastructure and location. Greece, and its National Tourist

Organization had several promotional campaigns that had a goal of promoting various places

(mostly holiday destinations and the capital city of Athens) throughout the years. Greek

islands are especially interesting due to their ongoing popularity and rich history. Lesvos is an

Aegean island located in the north-eastern part of the Aegean sea. Its location and

Mediterranean climate make it a perfect spot for a holiday get-away. Prior to 2015 crisis

Lesvos was seen as a somewhat luxurious and holistic summer destination (V, Katsioni 2018).

Although not as heavily promoted as other Greek islands (Santorini, Mykonos, Crete), Lesvos

definitely maintained a well-known status among tourists and according to Molyvos Tourism

Association (MTA) the island had over 75.000 visitors in 2015 alone. The island was included

in offers of many international tour operators and was connected through either direct or

charter flights with most of the Europe. An important note is that Lesvos was a popular stop

for cruise ships, who would usually dock in the Mytilini harbor, and bring thousands of

tourists per year reaching the record of 95 cruise ships in 2011 (EKathemerini, 2015).

Tourism is an important factor of regional development, especially in Greece, the country that

heavily relies on its tourism income, with positive contribution in the country’s economic

development and social cohesion as tourism is the third most profitable industry in the

country (Rontos, Lagos, 2012). Mass media plays a very important role in branding,

especially when media represents a destination with emotional “background”, weather the

emotion is positive or negative (Moufakkir, 2014). Positive emotions relating to a destinations

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are more desirable as they create favorable images. But sometimes even a negative emotions

(sadness, fear, despair) can bring profit to a destination. The best example of that is the city of

Pripyat, a city heavily hit by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. Once deserted and

contaminated, today Pripyat is a popular destination for extreme tourism. Branding of Lesvos

online during this period island heavily relied on promotional websites and blogs, mostly

made by locals or foreign inhabitants of the island, as well as coverage in the domestic press.

One of the most prominent websites Lesvos.com describes the island as pristine destination,

which has a lot to offer.

Figure 1, Homepage of Lesvos.com, Source: https://www.lesvos.com/

Website discovergreece.com also includes Lesvos as one of the top destinations in the

country, showcasing what the island is most known for: ouzo and local olive oil. There were

also dozens of active websites promoting the island that are not accessible today. One of those

being Travel to Lesvos1 that offered information about the island in seven different languages.

User generated content is really important for branding of the island up to 2015, as it showed

Lesvos almost exclusively as a pristine holiday destination. Dozens of YouTube videos

featuring the island show that travel guides were done mostly by tourists themselves.

The data that can be gathered now in 2020 shows us that there wasn’t planned specific

branding done for the island of Lesvos on the side of Greek National Touristic Organization

during this period. One association that sticks out, related to Lesvos island is definitely how

included the island is in the LGBTQ+ vacation offers (Vidal, 2004), mostly due to the lexical

connection between the words “Lesvos/Lesbos” and the word “lesbian” used to describe the

homosexual woman. The term is derived from the songs of Sappho, a poet from Lesvos who

wrote about affection among women (Kivilo, 2010). This association to the island contributed

to its popularity, raising name awareness and by itself promoting the brand image (Govers,Go,

2009). Internally, in Greece, Lesvos is mostly associated with production of olive oil, the

capital city of the island Mytilene, and ouzo from the village of Plomari. One of the most

important landmarks of the island, however, is the petrified forest in the Sigri-Eressos-Antissa

area, and this landmark is showcased in several promotional videos made by GNTO (Greek

National Touristic Organization). Unfortunately, due to rising popularity of other Greek

islands, especially from the Aegean group of Cyclades, such as Santorini, Mykonos and Ios

(V, Katsioni 2018) Lesvos and other Northeastern Aegean Islands (such as Agios Efstratios,

Thasos, Ikaria, Limnos, Inouses, Samos, Samothrace, Chios, Psara) were outshone and were

1 Retrieved from http://www.travel-to-lesvos.com/ on24.11.2019.

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not given as much attention and publicity. As mentioned before UGC (user generated content)

makes for majority of online promotional material for Lesvos in English during this period.

The island was also featured in guide books, most notably tourist guides written by Brian &

Eileen Anderson who published the total of four books about Lesvos. There are also

photographic albums dedicated to the island like “Sacred Water, The Mineral Springs of

Lesvos” by Maniotis, Doukakis and Hadjidimitriou from 1996. Regarding LGBTQ+

population the guide book titled “A Girl’s Guide to Lesbos” by Tzeli Hadjidimitriou in 2012.

The author also published other Lesvos-related books like Αλεμεξεύλεηε Λέζβνο (Uncharted

Lesvos) in Greek language in 2006.

Lesvos was frequently featured in the offer of different tour operators, most notably from

Scandinavia, Germany and England (Lesvosnews, 2016). Foreign tour operators played an

important role in making the island a popular touristic destination prior to 2015. They also

play an important role in promoting the destination, particularly in their domestic countries.

High number of foreign tourist led to more user generated content in their native languages

being posted online and therefore promoted the image of the island. The peak of popularity of

the island came right in 2015, little before the crisis began with over 95,000 visitors coming to

the island. Important note is that more information is available about period up to 2015 about

Lesvos (news, articles) from the Greek media, in Greek. The island had a relatively good

coverage in the Greek media, mostly focusing on current affairs and cultural events on the

island. The immigrant issue on the island was also present up to 2015, as immigrants kept

coming to the island from neighboring Turkey in smaller numbers during the years. Since this

was a minor issue at the times, the topic was not given as much attention as the current

immigration crisis. The island was a host to many notable festivals like Aegean Doc in 2013,

Beach Festival in 2014 and Graffiti festival in 2013.

Branding during immigration crisis

The beginning of 2015 marked the beginning of a years-long and still ongoing migrant

(immigration) crisis in Europe (Li, 2017). According to U.N. a migrant is a person feeling its

country due to political or war reasons. Migrants coming to Europe through Turkey, Libya

and Morocco are usually from war-hit countries like Syria and Iraq, but also from Pakistan,

Nigeria and other third-world countries marking them as “economic migrants” (Simpson,

2016). The crisis brought a variety of issues with it, mostly to the “landing” countries in the

European Union, such as Greece, Italy and Spain (Tsartas, et al., 2019). Being so close to the

Turkish mainland, Lesvos was one of the first places to welcome the immigrants to European

soil. According to UNHCR reports (2018), 2015 witnessed a total number of 856,323

refugees who arrived in Greece, by 2016 173,440 more refugees crossed to Europe, only to

that number to go down to 29,738 people in 2017. The overflowing number of people came at

the time when Greece was struggling with its own issues, financial crisis and was unprepared

to host and give support to over 800,000 people (Gkionakis, 2016). The lack of infrastructure

and pressure of constantly incoming refuges led to UNHCR describing the situation on

Lesvos as a humanitarian crisis in 2017. Given the limited resources of the islands who were

forced to accommodate unprecedented number of people in a very short period of time, the

humanitarian crisis became very evident in a short period of time (Trihas & Tsilimpokos,

2018). The islands like Lesvos, Chios and Kos needed to find a solution to the growing

number of people. On Lesvos that was opening of Moria, a former military compound that

consists of shipping containers and improvised tents (Tsartas, et al., 2019). The camps

capacity from the beginning, according to UN, was 3100. Overcrowding soon became a big

problem and people started looking for shelter outside of the camp (Ivanov & Stavrinoudis,

2018). During the summer of 2015 it became very evident that everyone on the island of

13

Lesvos was affected, from locals to tourists, and the photos of traumatized refugees started

appearing on the news and social media (CNN Greece, 2017). During this time Lesvos faced a

serious change in the eyes of public, from a sunny, holiday destination to a place of struggle

and pain (Dianeosis, 2016). Names “Lesvos” and “Moria” were often heard in the media,

almost always in a negative context, and the camp soon became the synonym for inhumane

conditions the asylum-seekers were living in (Ivanov and Stavrinoudis, 2018). Hellenic

Ministry of Finance, Infrastructure, Shipping and Tourism in September 2015 declared that

the effect of the ongoing refugee crisis are visible in tourism and economy of the islands in

North and South Aegean, and that will have an effect on other sectors as well. Big role in

promoting the positive image of Lesvos in this period had its residents, who in joined effort

did their best to help the people in need and therefore winning a nomination for the

prestigious Nobel peace prize (Tsartas, et al., 2019). All of the negative representation in the

media led to a big decrease in touristic visits from 2015 onwards. According to authorities of

North Aegean region the Lesvos island witnessed a loss of 58.92 percent of its visitors in

2016. They announced that in 2018 the situation improved, marking a 43.17 percent increase

in visits, with 11 international flights connecting the island to the rest of the Europe. Analyzes

of contemporary researches showed that migration can have positive and negative effects on

destination’s touristic development (Tsartas, et al., 2019). Migration has significant social and

economic implications, according to the World Tourism Organization (2009), by contributing

to the destination countries, by enriching their culture culturally, by developing the tourism

and by diversifying the local food and by offering new labor opportunities. They also noted

the negative effects being the plummeting of wages, social imbalance and uprisings (UN,

2009). Ivanov and Stavrinoudis (2018) note that the constant heavy flow of refugees can

cause a change in public, mostly local, view. The conclude that, even if at first the local

community is accepting and welcoming they may soon start seeing the situation negatively

due to fear of losing potential customers and negative media portrayal. Local community on

Lesvos island gave continuous support to those in need, but at the same time they were

vocally addressing the issues in the media, where they blamed bad international and

government policies for the lack of proper support and safety system, and how isolated they

felt during the peak of the crisis (GTP, 2017) .In 2017 North Aegean Region proposed a

tourism promo plan with the slogan “Exploring the North Aegean Constellation”, a Wide-

ranging marketing campaign aimed at highlighting the islands' tourism offerings. In the same

year over 10 million euros was allocated to Mytilini, in the goal of redevelopment and further

promotion of the city as the urban capital of the Northern Aegean region. (GTP, 2018). The

campaign had as a goal promoting the islands and their unique characteristics, taking away

from the current negative image in the media. Camp Moria became a story of its own, with

multiple media outlets reporting each week about “inhumane and saddening” situation at the

camp (CNN, 2017). Moria at the same time became a place attachment many people had to

Lesvos island (Tsartas, et al., 2019). Hay (1998) states that place attachment can differ

regarding what period of time the person spends on the given location. People who never

visited Lesvos and only heard negative stories from the media were left with no positive

attachments to the island, while people with some connections to Lesvos (past visits,

residence) could form a different picture (Ivanov and Stavrinoudis 2018).

Googling the term “Lesvos island” brings the “People also ask” section in which the first

question is “Is Lesvos safe to visit?”,

14

Figure 2, Google Search Results for Lesvos island, Source:

https://www.google.com/search?q=lesvos+island&oq=lesvos+island&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i59l3j35i39j69i61j6

9i60j69i61.2065j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

This serves as a showcase of what negative media portrayal did to the public image of the

island. Also an interesting point are various groups on social media site Facebook dedicated to

the island of Lesvos, refugees and humanitarian workers that visit the island. They range from

various NGO support groups to variety groups such as LGBTQ+ support for refugees.. Given

that social media is the best marketing tool in the present, the representation of Lesvos there is

very important. Their role in promoting the island became very important since they served as

unofficial public service announcement places for the island. The increased number of NGO

workers became evident in the autumn of 2015 when a lot of different private and NGO

agencies started offering disaster relief to the island. Local businesses, in addition to these

larger commercial players, taped into new markets created by the crisis by providing food,

supplies, accommodation, and services to refugees and crisis management workers (Franck,

2018). This created a new environment on the island, where holiday-goers are replaced with

crisis management workers. This created an environment where “branding” of humanitarian

places became possible. This was also very visible in some other disaster-affected areas like

Fukushima (Japan, 2011), Java (Indonesia, 2005), and Chile 2010 among others (Klein, 2012).

Social media played an important role in spreading the message and the cause, most notably

on Instagram (photo-oriented social media platform owned by the Facebook Group) where

hashtags such as #lesvossolidarity and #lesvosisland have thousands of posts. The island also

has many “fan pages” generating hundreds of thousand followers together.

15

Figure 3, Results for “Lesvos” in Groups part of Facebook.com search, Source: facebook.com

This shows that even with the negative press the island was getting the interest still exists and

continues to attract the audience. During 2016 the island was visited by Eftihis Bletsas, owner

of a popular YouTube channel and TV show “Happy traveller” focusing on travel videos and

first-hand experience in foreign countries. The video was made for Greek audience, and it

showcased the areas of the island as well as some hotels. The video was produced for SKAI

Televison and it was first aired in 2016 with occasional re-runs. The response of the audience

on YouTube is predominately positive, with many people commenting the beauty of the

island.

As the islanders were keep to build back the reputation of the island and attract tourists, the

direct response from the government and bigger organizations was missing. This prompted a

reaction form the locals themselves who started posting about the island on social media using

positive hashtags like #beautifullesvos to promote a more positive image and gradually repair

the damage done by the negative media coverage (AlJezeera, 2019).

5. PLACE CHARACTERISTICS: LESVOS ISLAND When defining a place as a brand, it is primarily important to define what the characteristic of

a place are. Ikuta, Yukawa and Hamasaki (2006) that it is not only important to define

current characteristic, but the ones the place was associated in the past, as well. They also note

that regional branding measures could be more difficult to implement as they are concerning

not only one particular area, but usually many smaller ones. Lesvos island is closely

connected to its region, the Northern Aegean region that is compiled of nine Greek and three

Turkish islands and five regional units (Regional Unit of Ikaria, Regional Unit of Lesvos,

Regional Unit of Lemnos, Regional Unit of Samos, Regional Unit of Chios). Out of that

group, Lesvos is the largest island, also being the third largest in Greece. Greek islands in the

North Aegean region, although considerably far from the most urban regions in Greece have

always been a popular destination among Greek tourists, and are becoming more and more

popular with foreign tourists as well. The islands are characterized with rich history, marking

an important trade point for many centuries due to their position.

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Positive characteristics

First step in approaching the rebranding process of any kind is formulating the project goals

(vision, mission and objectives) which then leads to analyzing the current place brand in terms

of perceived identity, as well as in perceived and projected image (Braun, 2012). To

understand how the place identity is developed, and how it can be improved it is necessary to

identify the characteristics of a brand, in this case a place. Adjusting and properly formulating

positive characteristics and later communicating them to the audience can have a big impact

on the rebranding process. When we talk about characteristic it is important to make a

distinction between three main types of place characteristics: geographical, urban and social.

First, it is important to note positive geographical characteristics of the Lesvos island. As

mentioned before, Lesvos is an island located in the Northern part of the Aegean Sea in

Greece, in close proximity to the Turkish coast. It is often presented as a holiday destination,

given its Mediterranean climate and natural sites. The island is heavily featured on various

online platforms, from TripAdvisor where a user can find detailed information about must-see

places on the island, to various different forums where the island is discussed, to blog entries

and vlogs (video blogs, usually uploaded on the video sharing platform- YouTube) about the

island. Lesvos is relatively big island, in comparison to some other in Greece (Amulliani,

Skiathos, Limnos) and as such offers bigger variety in its offer. One particular geographical

characteristic, and a popular site on the island is the Petrified Forest. This forest is heavily

featured in blog posts and YouTube videos from the island. Users often describe it as a

“globally unique”2, it is rated 15 out of 66 “things to do in Lesvos” on TripAdvisor, marked

as a third “Top Attraction” and from over 300 reviews to date, it generated an average grade

of 4 out of 53. The issue visitors have with the site is that it has been closed for the past 3

years without a proper notification online, as many of them have noted on tripadvisor.com

and on Google Reviews. Nevertheless, the nearby museum, The Natural History Museum of

the Lesvos Petrified Forest remains open and alone generates good reviews and is one of the

island’s top destinations. The most striking geographical feature of the island, according to

user reviews and user generated content, are the beaches. Many websites generated ratings of

the “top beaches of Lesvos island”4 rating them on the scale of one to ten. Online user reviews

on tripadvisor.com and lonelyplanet.com show us that what visitors like most is the variety of

different beaches on the island. From sandy, trendy beaches, to rocky private get-aways, the

island is rich in diverse offer. The most common words used to describe the beaches are

“clean” and “safe”5 which generates a good public image for the said spots. Adjectives

“private” and “perfect” are also commonly seen in user generated content, and those

adjectives are very favorable keywords that can be used in SEO (search engine optimization)

when promoting the island. Urban characteristics are also well-represented on different

websites, primarily focusing on the size of the island compared to its population (1,630sq. km

to 90,000 residents6. Given that Lesvos is the third largest island in Greece, the island is the

host Aegean Marine Ministry, the North Aegean Region (Greek: Πεξηθέξεηα Βνξείνπ

Αηγαίνπ) and the Aegean University. The capital Mytilini contains about one third of the

whole population of the island (approximately 30,000 residents) and is the administrative

center of the region. The city alone is so well known, that sometimes its name “Mytilini” is

2 Retrieved from: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forums/europe-western-europe/greece/chios-or-

lesvos on 24.12.2019 3 Retrieved from: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g189479-d1069860-Reviews-

Petrified_Forest_of_Lesbos-Lesbos_Northeast_Aegean_Islands.html on 24.12.2019. 4 Retrieved from: greeka.com, blog.visitgreece.com, protothema.gr on 24.12.2019.

5 Retrieved from: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g189479-Activities-c61-t52-Lesbos_Northeast_Aegean_Islands.html on 24.12.2019. 6 Retrieved from: http://www.visitgreece.gr/en/greek_islands/lesvos on 05.09.2019.

17

used as a synonym for the whole island. The city is one of the most ancient cities in Greece

and as such a very attractive touristic spots. Lonely Planet, one of the leading travel

publishers presented top spots in Mytilini, all of which have glowing reviews across various

online platforms7. Important is also the note that many tourists who discuss and recommend

the city of Mytilini online show the tendency of returning to Lesvos in the following year, or

given the next opportunity. This tendency is of vital importance for the, firstly, economy of

the island, and secondly, it shows that creating a faithful and returning audience, with good

marketing program is possible on the island, and that the base of returning customers already

exists. The ancient history of the whole island makes a good base for museums, which are

plentiful. Website Lesvos.com lists ten of the most well-known ones8

out of which

Barbayannis Ouzo Museum has the best online reviews, especially given that ouzo is a very

popular product of Lesvos island. Social and ethno cultural characteristics (ethnicity,

language and religion) of Lesvos island are similar to national social and ethno cultural

characteristics of Greece (V, Katsioni 2018). What sets the demography of the island apart

from other regions in Greece is that the inhabitants of the island made front-page news

multiple times since 2015. Reason for this is the hospitability and sympathy they showed to

the refugees who docked ashore their island. As Verhaeren (1980) describes, the immigration

can have negative consequences on the economic scene if the scale of immigrants exceeds the

scale the area is ready to receive. In the times when the island and the situation on it were

portrayed negatively in the media (CNN, 2017), the residents were ones who showed

humanity in a difficult situation, both for them and for the immigrants. The sacrifices they

made were recognized internationally, more notably by the Nobel Prize Board Committee

which nominated two local residents from Lesvos, Stratis Valamios and Aimilia Kamvisi, for

the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016 (UNHCR, 2016). Their efforts showed another face of Lesvos,

a strong community that showed compassion in the most trying times (Reuters, 2016).

Religion is one of the most prominent characteristics of the island and there are many

religious festivals during the year which have been noted by the visitors of TripAdvisor as

“admirable” and “traditional”. Festivals (weather religious, traditional or other) are plentiful

with the most notable – Women’s Festival (International Eressos Women’s Festival/Sappho

Women’s Festival) which is a two week long event “put on by women, and for women”9, and

the Festival is widely accepted by the international audience (Lonely Planet, 2018), especially

by the LGBTQ+ community who makes for a larger part of the audience (GoMag, 2019). The

festival serves not only as a female-empowerment event, but also as a good promotional event

for the island, with many of visitors coming solely for the purpose of attending it. One of the

most striking characteristics is that the island is often described as LGBTQ+ friendly by

various sources (CNN, OnlyOnce, GTP) and sites like LonelyPlanet offer travel guides for

Lesvos island made specifically for the LGBTQ+ audience, more specifically for the lesbian

audience who see the island as a “place of pilgrimage” (LonelyPlanet, 2017). With today’s

rise in popularity of LGBTQ+ friendly destinations this characteristic can be well

implemented in the rebranding strategy, and more content targeting the audience of this

profile can be made.

Negative Characteristics

Alongside positive, negative characteristics (traits or attributes) have to be fully understood

before making a rebranding plan. As Rao (2004) states, the understanding of negative or

unfavorable traits leads to better perception on how to “correct” and brand (rebrand) the

7 Retrieved from: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/greece/mytilini-town/top-things-to-do/a/poi/359492 on

05.09.2019. 8 Retrieved from: https://www.lesvos.com/museums.html on 07.09.2019.

9 Retrieved from: https://www.womensfestival.eu/ on 10.09.2019.

18

product. Overcoming negative perceptions is one of the key goals of rebranding and

repositioning. As VanAuken (2011) noted the brand experience is more often created by the

product or service experience, rather than poor marketing communication. Of course, there

were cases in which bad marketing communication led to downfall of the product, and those

examples are more common in the digital era (the recent example of “Google glasses”)

(Philiastides, 2013). Negative characteristics of a physical product (eg. a car or a smartphone)

are identifiable trough market research, content and review analysis. The same can be applied

for a place, particularly now that online platforms offer many sources of user generated

content. The first issue regarding negative perception of Lesvos island is evident after

googling term “Lesvos island”. The first question raised by Google users is the one of safety.

This might come surprising because the most of the positive reviews contain the word “safe”

when describing the island, according to TripAdvisor. So why is safety an issue? Looking into

the “News” section of Google Search it becomes evident that most of the news coming from

the island are related to the immigration crisis and the bad conditions on the island.

Figure 4, Google Search Results in News Section for Lesvos Island, Source:

https://www.google.com/search?q=lesvos+island&sxsrf=ACYBGNQaY4qau5t6jgX8j189zfCXs7tStw:15795628

82623&source=lnms&tbm=nws&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwink5OkqpPnAhUQx4sKHcoIBQQQ_AUoA3oECBAQ

BQ&biw=1517&bih=694

The visitors’ concern is also visible on travel forums (TripAdvisor, Lonely Planet) where

dozens of “safety” questions are rose. User Alina K. on TripAdvisor’s forum raised a question

of begin safe while on vacation on Lesvos island10

. Even if the responses assured the user the

island is completely safe, this question was asked repeatedly in the past five years (2010-

2020). Negative image of Moria camp reflected on the islands general image and led to

dropping numbers of tourists on the island, according to GTP. Safety is an issue that many

destinations deal with, and that is a concern for many travellers. But even with “safety issues”

some destinations like London, where only 20% of the residents feel safe (Popescu, 2011),

10

Retrieved from: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g189479-i1459-k11387199-Refugees_problems-Lesbos_Northeast_Aegean_Islands.html on 15.10.2019.

19

continue to grow in the tourist sector and attract visitors. Negative image of the island is

further enhanced by the media, who is more often reporting about the issues on the island

regarding immigrants and the poor condition in the Moria camp, then on positive aspects of

the island. The media reports most on incoming immigrants (Greek City Times, CNN,

Ekathimerini) and humanitarian crisis on the island. That question is further worsened by the

new laws that prohibit the asylum-seekers from leaving the island and further causing

occasional riots and protests.

This led to immigrants overflowing from Moria to inhabit nearby areas, setting up

improvised camp. They are also free to roam the island on Lesvos, which was another cause

for concern for both tourists and locals, as the situation with riots and violent accidents

worsened (Ekathimerini, 2019). Here it is important to note that violent accidents did not

happen between locals or tourist on the island and immigrant, but between themselves,

usually due to differences in nationality (CNN Greece, 2019). Another negative

characteristics brought up by visitors of the island is the lack of information in English about

public transportation and ferry schedules.

This is an issue related not only to Lesvos, but to other Greek islands and areas as well

(Aditjra, 2018). Lack of information can cause confusion, and information given in the native

language of the country (in this case Modern Greek language) is shown to have negative

impact on tourists, especially ones coming from an English speaking country (Marcotte,

2006). This can create an unfavorable image of the island as “undeveloped” and “not tourist

friendly”. Next issue encountered while examining content and reviews provided by past

visitors is underwhelming scenery compared to other Greek islands11

, mostly because of its

rocky terrain and hilly scenery. This is an issue that overcomes human influence and is a

problem of general marketing of Greek islands. High popularity of some islands like Santorini,

Crete, Zakinthos and others led to creating a certain “image” of what islands in Greece should

look like. While some tourists are very pleased with what Lesvos has to offer, others describe

the island as “not particularly beautiful” and barren12

. This description goes against what

marketed image of a “typical” Greek island is, if such exists. The ongoing situation with

unresolved question of many immigrants on the island created a even bigger issue, leading

some visitors to describe the island as “ more reminiscent of a third world country”. This

image is enhanced my sights on the island as “Life-Jacket Graveyard”, a pile of life-jackets

left by immigrants that marks their journey from Turkey to Greece. Local authorities on

Lesvos have marked the site as the environmental hazard and as of 2019 are working on

removing it. The site alone was hard to miss as more than 12,000 cubic meters of life-jackets,

clothes, broken ships and other belongings were left there (Kokkinidis, 2019). Kokkinidis also

notes that most of the items are not recyclable and pose even bigger environmental threat to

the nature and wild life on the island as times goes by. This can further attract the negative

attention from environmental groups, who are already targeting the situation on the island

(BBC, 2019).

11

Retrieved from: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g189479-r20757696-Lesbos_Northeast_Aegean_Islands.htm on 14.11.2019. 12

Retrieved from https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g189479-r20757696-Lesbos_Northeast_Aegean_Islands.html on 14.11.2019.

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Associations and visual symbols

Brand associations are the specific features or attributes that come into the minds of your

customers whenever they think about a brand (Addams, 2018). The associations can come

from a wide range – the association can be a feeling, a celebrity image connected to your

brand, an image of a certain lifestyle or a user, or even your brand-related visual graphic

elements. Burns and Lester (2003) note that tourism is closely related to visual stimulants and

symbols, even though in that time, the field wasn’t researched fully. These associations are

an important feature, as they help in developing a desired image for the brand. To discover

what associations and visuals symbols are connected to Lesvos island it is important to

analyze content provided by:

a) Past visitors of the island and the content they shared on various online platforms

b) The representation of the island in promotional material provided by Greek National

Touristic Organization via visitgreece.com channels

From the first look it is clear that the island’s capital plays a big role in the overall image of

the island. The capital Mytilini is so influential that the island itself is sometimes referred to

as Mytilini (Mitilini) as opposed to its official name Lesbos (Lesvos). This ancient city

(founded in 11th century BC) is the capital and the administration center of the North Aegean

Region. It is described as “fun” and “culturally enlightened” by Matt Barrett of Lesvos.com.

The city is filled with history and interesting architecture, which past visitors like to refer in

their reviews. Mytilini and the island itself have an important religious association as well.

The island is a home to many Christian churches and monasteries from different periods in

history, which are often visited by religious pilgrims. The museums in the city are also well

mentioned in the user reviews (Tripadvisor, 2016) but they don’t go beyond a “place of

interest” category in terms of touristic attractions. Mytilini is also a first place that lots of

visitors see in Lesvos, given that the biggest port Mytilini Port and the airport Mytilini Airport

are in close proximity to the city. The fact that the reputation of a “capital” city is important

for overall image of the place we can see in other examples (Johansson, 2004). In the example

of Tokyo, the capital city of Japan, we can see that prolonged branding of one specific city

can have an impact on the whole country and how tourists perceive it (Wyer, 2005). The

researchers showed that the certain image promoted to tourists of Tokyo (modern meeting

traditional, new-age, revolutionizing) is how most of visitors described country as a whole

(Schmitt, 2009). This shows that branding and consumer psychology are interconnected and

that branding of one place alone can have big impact on a bigger level. Another association to

the island, according to user generated content on youtube.com, tripadvisor.com and

greeka.com is Molyvos. Molyvos is described as a “tourist central of the island” (Lesvos.com,

2013), and its striking characteristic is the Castle of Mithymna, a Byzantium fortress that sits

on the top of the hill, overlooking the city.

The castle gathered over 500 reviews on the Google Review platform, coming to the total

grade of 4.5 out of 5. Users describe it was “Beautiful”, “Historical” and “Cheap” . One of the

complains visitors had is the lack of information in English about the history of the castle,

which is a common issue for many places in Greece. The city of Molyvos esthetically

matches the castle, as the city is filled with stone houses and picturesque port of Molyvos.

Important association to the island, especially in the eyes of people from Greece who are

more familiar with the Greek products is olive oil. This might not be the first association for

the regular holiday-maker but it is evident that the island is very famous for its production of

olive oil. This oil is so valuable that it is protected by Common Agricultural Policy of

European Union. Greeknet states that the average annual olive oil production on the island

goes up to 20,000 tons, depending on the weather, and the island is the host to almost eleven

million olive trees. Olive oil production is very important to the habitants of the island given

that many small-scale farmers press the oil alongside big factories that are located on the

21

island (Greeknet, 2013). The richness of the island in olives did not go unnoted by the tourists,

who rated the The Museum of Industrial Olive-Oil Production of Lesvos among the highest

highlights of the island on TripAdvisor. The museum has over 90% of positive (four and five

star) reviews and is located in the village of Agia Paraskevi. Here it is important to note that

most of the users who reviewed the The Museum of Industrial Olive-Oil Production of Lesvos

come from the United States of America and Greece13

.

After olive oil the most striking product of the island is traditional Greek alcoholic beverage,

ouzo. As Casey (2014) describes, ouzo has a deep connection to Greece and is a strong

association to the country. Different from olive oil, the production and the popularity of ouzo

on the Lesvos island really caught on the visitors attention and is a part of many reviews.

Searching “Lesvos ouzo” on YouTube gives as a result dozens of videos, produced by various

content creators. The production and consummation of ouzo led to forming a “Ouzo Festival”

that is being held for six consecutive years on the island. Greekreporter (2019) notes that the

island of Lesvos is the creating place of beverage industry, as well as the first place that made

ouzo in Greece, after receiving recipe from Greek residents of Constantinople (Istanbul).

They also note that Ouzo was officially labeled as an exclusive Greek product only in 2006,

with the coveted designation PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) being obtained from the

Lesvos towns of Mytilene and Plomari. The island today produces over 15 varieties of the

drink (Burgi, 2018), in small and big factories alike. The island is also a host to the Greek

Ouzo Barbayanni, a heritage museum dedicated to the ouzo production. This site has glowing

reviews on Google, rating 4.7 out of 5 stars, and users’ most common keywords used to

describe Greek Ouzo Barbayanni are taste, family, and learn14

. The site is also described as

“perfect” and “must-see” all attributing to its popularity amongst visitors. The ouzo products

manufactured on Lesvos island are also a visual association to the island, especially given the

big variety of options coming from it.

Visual symbols are especially important in storytelling marketing (Taei, 2017), noting that

symbols play an important role in modern content creation. Visual symbol shouldn’t be mixed

with brand symbol, as brand symbol is one, unique symbol representing a brand (i.e. Apple

products and their logo of a bitten apple) while visual symbols serve as brand associations and

can be more than one (Butz and Yakaboylum, 2005). Visual branding is very present in urban

branding strategies, especially in today’s digital era, where most of the information we receive

come from visual sources (O’Malley, 2017). Visual symbols of Lesvos are presented in

VisitGreece’s video posted on YouTube platform on June 1st 2016. VisitGreece is the official

channel of Greek National Tourism Organization, and their slogan is “Greece – All Time

Classic”. In the span from 2010 to today the organization produced various promotional

videos showcasing the most important and unique features of regions in Greece, as well as

travel experiences and historical videos. The video featuring Lesvos island is only a minute

and five seconds long and it lists most prominent points of the island. They start the video

with shots from Molyvos and the fortress, continuing to Geras bay showcasing the beach,

followed by Mytilini and snippets of historical buildings in the city, followed by Plomari and

shots of ouzo and traditional Greek taverns, later showing Scri and Skala Sykamias, small

villages with relaxing atmosphere. The video finished with “Enjoy your stay in Lesvos”

followed by VisitGreece’s slogan and website. In this video we can six places and points of

interest on the island. The video is very striking, with saturated colors, added sound effects to

mimic the sound of seagulls and waves crashing, and extended shots of sea and coastal areas.

This representation speaks of summer, and as such targets future holiday makers. This video

was posted in 2016., in the time when immigration crisis was at its peak and when the

13 Retrieved from: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g189479-d3473263-Reviews-The_Museum_of_Industrial_Olive_Oil_Production_of_Lesvos-Lesbos_Northeast_Aegean_I.html on 20.12.2019. 14 Retrieved from: google.com on 20.12.2019.

22

situation on the island was extremely dissatisfactory. Unfortunately today, because of the

extended negative media coverage of Moria camp, many have this exact camp and terrifying

images of overcrowded facilities, riots and drowned immigrants are a part of visual symbols

of the island (Franck, 2018). BBC (2018) has titled Moria as “The words refugee camp on

Earth” doing both video and textual coverage of the situation describing the situation at the

camp as “appalling”, and they even note that many charities have left the camp in protest of

how bad it is.15

Moria camp and the immigrant crisis on the island left a big economic mark, especially in the

tourism sector, as the island suffered a 42% decline rate since 2015 (GNTO, 2017).

Lesvos island in the media

Media coverage means any reporting, recording, broadcasting, narrowcasting, cablecasting or

webcasting of court proceedings by the media using TV, radio, photographic, recording, or

other electronic devices. (Law Insider, 2018).

Media is an extensive term relating to means of mass communication (Kulchina, 2014).

Media coverage can be divided into two groups (Ye and Wang, 2015):

a) Placed media coverage. Placed ads, such as newspaper advertising or public service

announcements, are created by the campaign or by a professional company, e.g. a public

relations agency (PR) employed by the campaign team for that purpose.

b) Earned media coverage. Earned coverage is media coverage produced by journalists, or

freely given by the writer or a campaign, which may be accepted by the media outlet.

Here it is also important to add social and digital media channels, which are the most popular

form of media in today’s society (Wang, 2018)

Lesvos island has been featured in various media formats, with extensive coverage of crisis

related to Moria camp and continuous immigration issues on the island. The reports, on the

crisis specifically, can be found in all big news media outlets, in both text, image and video

format. Most of this coverage perceives the island in a negative way, giving it direct

association with the dreaded Moria camp. Searching for the term “Lesvos” on some of the

biggest media outlets, BBC and DW (Deutsche Welle) brings results as followed:

15 Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8v-OHi3iGQI on 24.12.2019.

23

Figure 5, Search Results for Lesvos on bbc.com, Source:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/search?q=lesvos&filter=news&suggid=

Figure 6, Search Results for Lesvos on dw.com, Source:

https://www.dw.com/search/en?searchNavigationId=9097&languageCode=en&origin=gN&it

em=lesvos

The coverages featuring the island are in most cases focused on the ongoing situation, and has

been such since the outbreak of crisis in 2015. The main problem with the bad press

surrounding the camp is that the coverage was almost constant since 2015. Unfortunately, due

to worsening conditions and rise of violent actions between different groups of immigrants,

more stories broke out. Negative news media coverage has deeply affected the island, which

relies on tourism for its economic stability. Occasionally, the stories about the island’s

inhabitants and their efforts to help the ones in need have been praised in the media, but the

negative image prevailed. Due to the bad press, the island lost a lot of revenue from tourism

with some of the biggest tour operators and cruise companies leaving the island amidst the

crisis. As mentioned before, most of the tour operators on Lesvos came from North-Western

Europe and losing tourist from United Kingdom and Germany left a heavy toll on island’s

economy since in 2017 alone tourists from those countries spent 5 billion dollars with over 6

and a half million visitors (The New Athenian, 2019).

On the other hand, social media and user-generated content online had a more favorable

approach. The island is well-featured in travel blogs, travel vlogs (video blogs), online forums

and throughout different social media platforms. Dariece Swift shared a picturesque travel

blog of Lesvos island titled “Lesvos, Greece: Our 5 Day Travel Guide” on her blog

goatsontheroad.com. This blog post is a good representative of what Lesvos travel blogs are,

informative with an positive outlook on the island and its offer. This type of content is

important in the promotion of the island, since it promotes the island as a holiday destination

and offers valuable information about the main attractions to future visitors.

24

Out of the websites promoting the island, and focusing on Lesvos island specifically it is

important to note Molyvos Tourism Association’s website titled “The Other Aegean”

(theotheraegean.com). The website features information about the island, publications about

the island, events and activities. The Molyvos Tourism Association (Φνξέαο Τνπξηζκνύ

Μνιύβνπ) has also created five social media channels for The Other Aegean initiative:

YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. The Association states that direct airline

connections between Lesvos and other countries (not counting the domestic fights) are in the

number of twelve and three ferry lines from Turkey. They offer extensive information about

the transportation, fight details and ferry details. The organization also joined efforts with

Germania Airlines to promote the island 2018, under “Lesvos: After all it’s still the Aegean”

campaign.16

Another website dedicated entirely to Lesvos is Lesvos.com with the slogan “Lesvos

More Than Just Another Greek Island”, made by Matt Barrett, a travel enthusiast whose

Greek-themed websites gathered millions of visitors in the past fifteen years (Kathimerini,

2013). Matt’s website offers a slightly different approach to Lesvos, with heavily saturated

photos that showcase the life on the island. This website also offers links to charity donations

to the island, more specifically the Starfish foundation founded by the locals for helping the

people in need on the island.

In recent years it became evident that the average user switched from traditional media

(printed press, TV and radio) to digital media (Daniels, Gregory and Cottom, 2017). Most

prominent platform on a continuous rise today is YouTube, a video sharing service. On the

platform, Lesvos island is forms of vlogs, travel vlogs, documentaries and news videos. One

important notice here is that for two official names for the island “Lesvos” and “Lesbos”

different types of results are given. Searching “Lesbos” on youtube.com in the first ten search

results gives nine videos related to immigration crisis on the island, and only one video

unrelated to the crisis. The results change when searching “Lesvos” where in ten first search

results, eight are either travel vlogs or documentaries about the island and only two videos are

related to the crisis on the island. This shows an interesting “name bias” by which YouTube

algorithm sorts videos.

16

Retrieved from: https://news.gtp.gr/2018/05/21/lesvos-promoted-german-market-joint-campaign/ on 2.9.2019.

25

Figure 7, Search results for Lesvos on youtube.com, Source:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=lesvos

Figure 8, Search results for Lesbos on youtube.com, source:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=lesbos

Videos on the platform showcasing the crisis focus mostly on the crisis and the situation in

Moria camp, not particularly mentioning other places on the island, just like news websites do.

Travel vlogs of the island are mostly summer-themed and portray holidaymakers as they go

around the island, and thus showing some of the most interesting and most popular places.

On the most popular photo and video sharing social network of today – Instagram Lesvos has

more than fifty associated tags, with over dozen accounts dedicated only to the photos and

videos of the island, therefore promoting it across this platform.

6. REBRANDING STRATEGY FOR LESVOS ISLAND

Addressing the main issues

As seen in previous chapters, there are several reasons as to why Lesvos island needs

rebranding and serious issues contributing to the topic. More specifically, when it comes to a

brand, the branding issues can be divided into two categories by Rao (2004)

a) Inner (internal) issues

b) Outer (external) issues

Inner or internal issues deal with the issues that come from the inside of the brand, a company,

organization or a group. Outer or external issues deal with issues outside of the brand, and

they cover consumers, media and other external factors. When it comes to place branding,

these issues are hard to distinguish because, as mentioned before, there is ,in most cases, no

direct ownership and therefore the collective image depends on other factors. Kapferer (2008)

notes that brands' value comes from their ability to continually add value and yield profits

26

through corporate focus and cohesiveness. So what happens when brands stop adding value

and starts receiving negative reviews? In this case, brands opt to rebrand, refresh or

reposition. The first step of rebranding is identifying why rebranding has to be done, and what

are the core issues. During the research done for this thesis two core issues have been

identified:

1) Immigration crisis and negative media coverage

2) Lack of marketing and branding campaigns

Immigration crisis and negative media coverage are connected due to one leading to another.

The island faced no negative international media coverage prior to the crisis. Immigration

crisis is a big issue, not only for Greece, but for other border countries as well like Spain and

Italy, but unlike Greece those countries haven’t received such harsh criticism, mostly because

the criticism towards Greece is directly connected to Moria camp on Lesvos island and the

conditions in it. Negative media coverage started almost as soon as first migrants came from

Turkey, as overcrowding became evident. That issue is still not resolved completely, and the

bad media coverage continues. In the last months of 2019 newly elected Greek government

with prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis passed a , in the eyes of the media marked as a “very

controversial”, bill regarding migrants, their rights and asylum appeals (The Guardian, 2019).

On November 1st 2019, the 237-page long bill passed, and caused negative reactions from

many human rights movements and the immigrants on the island.

Prior to passing the bill, immigrant on Lesvos island protested it multiple times stating that it

will further worsen their position and demanding to be transported to the Greek mainland

(The Guardian, 2019). In November 2019, according to UNHCR, Moria camp held more than

13,400 people. This was a record number of inhabitants in the 2019 and it was four times

more people than the camp had the ability to host. Europe’s commission for human rights

urged Greece to address the issues on the island and take measures as the situation kept

worsening in 2019. In the meantime, measures taken by Greek government failed to provide

positive response from both European Union and migrants on the island. The asylum center

on the island closed, immigrants are forbidden to enter mainland Greece, thus leading to

increasing number of people on the island. People who did apply for an asylum were largely

denied, and Greece has pledged to return up to 10,000 denied asylum seekers by the end of

2020 (BBC, 2019). Currently up to 70,000 people awaits for the judgment of their asylum

requests, and Greek officials claim that it would take the system up to six years to process

every person (DW, 2019). With European Union closing its borders, the pressure of

registering and accepting asylum seekers is left on Greece alone. In December 2019 Greek

Government addressed the issues of Moria camp, by announcing that they will replace the

existing camps of Aegean islands with new ones, more restrictive of migrants’ movements

(The New York Times, 2019), also trying to detain arrivals of future immigrants.

The rise of the right-wing populism and "closing" of the European Union borders can have

potentially negative impacts on future immigrants arriving to the island. Even with new

measures implemented by the Greek government for reducing the number of the people on the

island, and discouraging the future immigrants who would try to go on a path of many before

them in crossing the Aegean, it is certain that after the closing of camp Moria they will have

no organized center on the island. Certainly the camp has a bad reputation and terrible

conditions, but it is what keeps the NGOs that help the immigrants on the island. With the

unrest in several underdeveloped counties it is expected that another "wave" of potential

immigrants might happen, and with EU - Turkey deal weakening it is almost certain that, if

that happens, the people, potential immigrants, would be facing serious consequences. At the

moment Greek officials report that the country is missing the resources and personnel to work

through asylum request faster. Current waiting time is over six months for thousands of

applicants (Kathimerini, 2019). The EU - Turkey deal that was signed in order to stop

27

immigrants from the, usually fatal, trip from Turkey to Greece showed efficiency when it was

first implemented in 2016, but since then the influx of immigrants steadily grew and Turkey

did little to keep them within their borders (DW, 2017). Already sensitive groups of

immigrants like children, women and young adults would face dangers of human trafficking

and deportation. These are the reasons why the solution to the current crisis is needed as soon

as possible.

While the strategy developed by the Greek government may help with tearing down the

infamous reputation of Moria camp and, therefore, Lesvos island, it may also provoke further

riots on the islands. The Government also plans to put additional 800 members of border

patrol on the most-hit islands (Lesvos, Chios, Samos) and tighten inspections towards Turkey.

In their article about the new bill New York Times (2019) also states that the locals on the

affected islands have also started protesting as the ongoing crisis kept affecting their business

and daily lives for almost 5 years. New legislation and shutting down the Moria camp offer a

new opportunity for Lesvos to make up the lost touristic potential and revenue, as tour

operators and cruise ships slowly start to include this island in their offers again. As

JakartaPost (2019) reports, in 2019 the island was visited by eight cruise ships, which is

significantly less than 91 reported in 2011, but more than a single cruise ship that visited the

island in 2018. Slowly rising numbers show that the situation is gradually getting better, even

though it will take time for the island to reach the former number of visitors again. As

JakartaPost (2019) quotes the local resident Vati, who actively promoted the island on social

media: “"People don't want to swim where (others) drowned," 17

This impactful sentence

shows that, as oppose to its previous image of a peaceful touristic destination, Lesvos now has

a reputation of death and suffering. These two associations are among the most negative

associations a destination can have, and solving this issue requires a big project. One of the

world’s biggest tour operators, now going through bankruptcy, Thomas Cook has returned to

the island in 2017. At the time very positive development is now cause of a lot of concert as

the collapse of Thomas Cook in 2019 left a deep mark on Greek hospitality industry.

According to AlJezeera (2019) many tour operators on Lesvos worked exclusively with

Thomas Cook, and so did some hotels and resorts. Now they are left without their only and

biggest client with incoming summer season of 2020. Negative media coverage is still

present, but not as frequent as it was in the past three years, and the media attention is shifting

to Samos island and mainland camps, which have experienced more riots and unrest in the

last months of 2019.

Negative press coverage was also accompanied by the lack of marketing and branding

campaigns for Lesvos. The marketing attempts from Greek National Tourism Organization

(GNTO) did not result in increased number of visitors to the island, especially from 2015 to

2019. In their promotional video for Lesvos island posted on YouTube Visitgreece showcased

the island as a summer holiday destination, partly using denying visual technique in their

campaign. Denying visual is a marketing technique in which only certain elements are

presented, leaving out other elements (Liu, Horsley, Yang, 2012). This can create potential

issues with the audience and visitors, as they may feel deceived over what was advertised and

what they received. This technique is especially sensitive when branding places, and the

consequences form using it may follow the destination’s reputation for years. Some of the

examples of unsuccessful using of denying visual technique can be seen in branding Egypt

and the pyramids (Liu, 2014) and branding Venice, Italy (Rizzi, 2010). In 2016, when the

video was posted, the crisis on Lesvos was reaching its peak. The media reported on it almost

daily and general public was aware about the situation on the island. The situation did not

apply to the whole island, and many places were completely unaffected but the image media 17

Retrieved from: https://www.thejakartapost.com/travel/2019/05/27/lesbos-keen-to-woo-back-tourists-after-migration-crisis.html

28

created was stronger than what Visitgreece promoted, especially because their promotion

clashed with what media was presenting. Here it is also important to mention the case of

Samos island, also an island in the North Aegean region, that in spite of immigration crisis

witnessed historical increase in numbers of visitors in 2018. While during the same year

Lesvos was visited by 62,647 visitors, Samos had a record of 140,598 visitors from 17

different countries (UK, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Israel, Norway,

Holland, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden, Serbia, Czech Republic, Finland and Cyprus)

(GTP, 2019). The island of Samos is also a host to a refugee camp, but received little negative

media coverage during this period. Another example of increased number of tourists during

the immigration crisis is the North Aegean island of Chios, that was also heavily affected by

the crisis. In 2018 Chios had an increase of 221.5 percent in visits (GTP, 2019). With the

example of other islands who managed to overcome the negative image brought by the crisis

(Samos, Chios ) it is evident that attracting the right audience is possible trough right channels.

Tour operators and their campaigns played a really important role on Samos and Chios, so

returning services of various tour operators to Lesvos should be one of the top priorities. Even

if the popularity of "self booking" services (i.e. Booking.com , AirBnB) is constantly rising,

the researchers showed that a good portion of European travellers still prefers booking longer

stays (especially in a foreign country) trough tour operators examples show that even during

this situation it is possible to conduct a good promotional campaign via tour operators, that

after leaving Lesvos became more active in these areas.

An important factor playing a role in the lack of proper promotion is the economic crisis. The

crisis started in 2009, and while the economy is improving the effect of the crisis are still

present. Frequent protests and strikes of different industries marked the first years of the crisis.

Economic and migrant crisis together led to lack of funds to launch promotional campaigns

(V, Katsioni 2018). The main problem with the lack of marketing campaign and promotion

arose when other destinations from Greece started getting more attention from the tourists and

media. This was especially connected with islands that are a part of Cyclades, Santorini and

Mikonos. The esthetically pleasing architecture of the islands led to their rise in popularity on

social media, and they still remain as top of the most-visit destinations in the world. This even

led to overcrowding on Santorini (CNN Greece, 2019), while other islands, especially ones

affected by the crisis struggled to attract visitors. It is also notable that the island of Lesvos

did not have a proper branding campaign, as many Greek islands did not as well. Lack of

promotional material is also a reason why the island is not as discussed online as other

destinations in Greece by foreign users, while at the same time did not lose popularity with

domestic tourists. It is also evident that more information about the island is available to the

Greek speakers, than to speakers of other languages.

All of these reason contributed to a declining popularity of the island, given that the island

had both inner and outer branding issues. Inner issues were the nonexistence of proper

marketing campaign for the island on the side of Greek National Tourism Organization and

outer issues are contributed to immigration crisis and negative media coverage.

Promotion and brand identity

After identifying and addressing the main issues, the next step in the rebranding process is

creating a promotional and marketing strategy for the island of Lesvos. But before going into

this, the clear brand image of the island has to be defined. So far, Lesvos has been branded in

the eyes of visitors and general public as a Greek summer destination with a humanitarian

problem and a “ground zero” of European refugee crisis. Kalantari (2008) notes that this

might be due to the case that media coverage tends to focus on dramatic events, whether they

are positive or negative. This is not a good brand image as it has a negative association, so it

has to be reversed into something favorable. In case of Lesvos, overcoming negative media

coverage is the first step in defying a new brand image. The extensive negative media

29

coverage mentioned in previous chapters has associated the island with the Moria camp which

caused big hits to the island’s economy and tourism. Liu, Horsley and Yang (2012) argued

that good government communication plays an important role in overcoming negative media

coverage. The government of Greece did, in fact, announce a plan to close the infamous camp,

and with its closing the island should be able to “shed” the negative associations related to it.

Unfortunately, this decision came after years of declining tourism on the island, and many

protests led by locals angered by lack of response from both Greece and European Union. The

government officials declared that changing the image of Lesvos is a big project that would

take more than half a million euros in investments (Ekathimerini, 2019) Dealing with the

aftermath of negative press coverage should be done by promoting the new brand identity,

and having new, clear associations to the island. Given that Lesvos island did not have a

clearly defined brand identity prior to the crisis, other than a image of a sunny Greek island,

as some of its counterparts in Greece do, steps have to be taken in order to establish a brand

new image. According to Kotler (1993) there are four main steps in establishing brand

identity, and they are as follow:

1) Identifying the key audience.

As there is no official information available from Greek National Touristic Organization as

where most of the visitors come from to Lesvos, the data from Molyvos Tourism Association

for flight and ferry numbers will be taken. Currently, Lesvos is connected to twelve countries

via direct airline connections, and to one country (Turkey) via three direct ferry lines. Turkish

Airlines also offers charter flights in the high-season but the countries connected by this mean

are not constant, and change with tour operators and their number depends on how many

booking the operators had for the destination. By direct flight lines Lesvos is connected with:

Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Norway,

Poland, Romania, Turkey and the United Kingdom. With the exceptions of Turkey and

Norway, all the other countries belong to European Union. Most of the countries are located

in central Europe (Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Poland), with Belgium, Netherlands

and the United Kingdom being a part of Western Europe, Denmark, Finland and Norway are

part of Scandinavia or Northern Europe, Romania being in the Southeastern Europe and

Turkey in Southern Europe and Western Asia. Through an extensive research it is important

to determine cultural, economic and social dimensions of this audience, as well as their

impact on the local economy of the places that they visit. Since Lesvos lost a big amount of

tourists in the past few years, working on audience development is of key significance.

Audience development can be divided into three categories according to target groups:

a) Developing or increasing audience - Attracting new markets with the same socio-

demographic profile. In this case that would include before mentioned countries and markets.

b) Deepening the relations with existing audience – Encouraging existing customers to further

deepen their relationship with the brand, offering new experiences or royalty program. Re-

targeting existing tourists with new offers and special deals is a common practice in this

category.

c) Diversifying audience - Attracting people with a different socio-demographic profile, like

non-audiences, to existing audiences. This case would include expanding the market, and

promoting the destination to users that, possibly didn’t show particular interest in this

destination but are interested in similar offers (different destinations in same or similar

category).

It is also important to note that Lesvos is popular destination for Greek tourists, and that is

accessible from Athens, Thessaloniki, Rhodes, Crete, Chios, Samos and Lemnos by direct

everyday fights and from Athens and Kavala by ferry. Baldacchino (2016) states that

30

researches have showed that ferry connection is important for destination development in

Greece, as ferry represents an important mean of transportations, particularly in case of the

islands. The island of Lesvos remained a popular holiday destination for Greek tourist even

though the crisis, with tourists from Greece making up more than a half of the visitors during

the first two years of the crisis (GTP, 2017). It is also important to note that the island

represents year-round destination for domestic visitors, while it is a summer destination for

foreign visitors. Lesvos is also a regional and a University center of the North Aegean Region

and as such represents an important destination for Greek visitors. The visitors from Turkey

also frequent the island, and different tour guides, news, and free press about the island can be

found online in Turkish. GTP (2018) also reports on declining number of visitors from Turkey

due to the economic instability in the country.

After identifying the audience and working on audience development, the next step is:

2) Determining critical business goals

Business goals, in both product and destination rebranding can be divided into two categories:

a) Short term goals – Something we want to achieve in the near future.

b) Long term goals – Goals we want to achieve further in the future. They usually require

more time and planning.

Given the current situation on the island, short term goals should include: Improving

awareness of the island’s touristic offer, increase user satisfaction, and promoting the island’s

new image.

Long term goals should include: increasing the number of both domestic and foreign visitors,

reducing churn, increasing positive exposure of the island in the media.

These goals can be achieved with constant working on the brand and expanding the offer on

the island in forms of new events, activities and continuous marketing campaign. Goals have

to be realistic in achievement, time, and budget and therefore they have to be well thought out.

After determining critical business goals, the next step is:

c) Define The New Brand Identity

Like in business rebranding, it is important to define the new image of the brand, the one that

should appeal to the audience, differentiate the destinations from others in the same category

and articulate the message in the form of logo and the slogan. Defining the rebranded image

should also eliminate negative connotations of the past and reshape the perception of the

brand. When a destination is a brand, first it is important to conduct a research including

previous visitors and note what were the positive key points of the place and what are they

current positive key points. Trough research done for this thesis of user online comments,

impressions and reviews of the island the results showed that the island’s tranquility

compared to other islands, historical heritage, variety of beaches, and safety were perceived as

main qualities. It is also important to note that a large number of online users claimed to be

either a returning visitor or that they planned returning to the island in the future. This point

can be used for retargeting campaign. It is also important to note what visitors did not like

and those characteristics were as follows: not a typical image of a Greek island, lack of

information, bad public transportation system on the island. Lekakou (2007) points out that

the bad public transportation on the Aegean islands led to declining efficiency of both locals

and tourists as they were not able to quickly commute without their own vehicle. Baldacchino

(2016) states that Aegean islands already have built their common brand, with some islands

growing past that brand and into their own, niche branding. Improving those negative

characteristics is achievable while at the same time promoting the positive aspects. Not seeing

Lesvos as a “typical” Greek island can be the advantage in rebranding the image of the island

because its natural sights and architecture can differentiate it and therefore make it easy to

31

distinguish for potential customer. Szondi (2007) states that the nation's branding strategy is

an attempt to embrace both historical history and present-day living culture, so that obsolete

representations do not blur the views of customers from what might be vibrant modern society.

This can be best achieved through channels like Molyvos Tourism Association whose

association “The Other Aegean” is already promoting this image for Molyvos and the

surrounding area, but this campaign should be implemented on the island as a whole. In

defining the new brand image it is important to establish the visual symbols for the destination.

Muller and Schade (2012) stated that visual are of particular importance for the production of

local stakeholder group identity in locations. In addition, symbols are viewed as essential

aspects of a sense of place (place commitment) belonging. Some of the most famous visual

symbols in place branding are I love NY logo, I Amsterdam and Incredible India. Visual

association can also be a landscape as seen in the example of Santorini, where the

characteristically blue and white architecture is a clear association to the island.

Visual symbols can be well-implemented on Lesvos, as the island has several distinctive

features like the Petrified Forest and Mylovos Fortress. Logos, on the other hand, are difficult

to produce and are often related to the slogan chosen for a destination. Lesvos does not have

an official slogan yet, the closest to slogan for the island is the above mentioned Molyvos

Tourism Association’s “The Other Aegean” but that slogan is copy written and is connected

to the association. Slogans usually contain include functional destination attributes, affective

qualities, travel motivation, market segmentation, brand leadership, focus and unfocus (Pike,

2004).

After defining the new brand image the following stage is :

d) Defining the unique selling points

Many argue that this is the most important step when both branding and rebranding a product.

There is a vast array of ways a destination can stand out, such as unique tourist experiences,

or unique natural features, such as mountains, beaches or other natural sights. When defining

the unique selling point researching competition destinations is of vital importance, to avoid

similarities and see what “works” for them (Popescu, 2009). There are different ways of

defining what unique selling points of a brand are, and the results are, in most cases, a product

of an extensive research. Content research done for this thesis showed that unique selling

points of Lesvos are: it’s relatively unexposed (as a touristic destination) compared to other

destinations in Greece, unique architecture (especially in the Molyvos region), production of

ouzo and olive oil. Sustainable tourism development strategies, which are gaining on

popularity, should also be implemented as sustainable and eco-friendly destinations are

becoming a staple in tourism and are attracting more and more visitors.

One attraction of the islands that stands out in typical summer holiday offer for Greece is

Eftalou thermal springs. Eftalou springs are in close proximity to Molyvos, featuring a 17th

century building, seven smaller pool and one main pool. The springs are locally run and are

closed from October to April, which was an issue for some TripAdvisor users who

complained that there was no information about this issue online. Eftalou thermal baths could

be a unique selling point as they can be targeted to a different audience than a typical holiday

maker, and they add to the uniqueness of the island as not many destinations have this in their

offers.

The final step in establishing a brand identity is:

e) Developing key messaging

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Key messaging is an important part of developing a brand a communicating it to a customer.

Key messages should not only be unique and represent the destination, they should also be

aligned with the customers. Creating compelling key messaging takes in-depth research of the

market. Key messages lay in the core of communication with the audience as they carry the

influence of the brand promoted. Storytelling, especially in tourism, is an important way of

communication and it is frequently used to communicate the brand (destination) vision to the

audience. Storytelling is a good way for showing the brand personality, and can be used to

promote inclusivity. Bhattacarya (2019) states that good storytelling help brand connect more

strongly and deeply with the audience as well as it helps to create brand royalty.

Implementing the rebranding strategy

After establishing brand image marketing is implemented. Marketing has as a goal promoting

the brand image, spreading the key message and attracting the new costumers/ raising brand

awareness. Smith (2019) notes that when promoting a whole country it is more efficient to use

contextual ads, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and social media campaigns, while when

promoting a destination within a country one should also focus on testimonial services

(TripAdvisor, Yelp) as well as tourists today are more prone to checking a destination on

those services before booking the trip. When starting a marketing campaign first it is

important to target the audience, in case of Lesvos both international and domestic audiences

should be targeted with different campaigns because the focus is retrieving the lost foreign

visitors while at the same time keeping existing Greek visitors. After conducting the target

group profile marketing channels platforms for the campaign should be chosen. Those

platforms should be selected accordingly to what target audience uses and by their popularity.

Pike (2004) argues that choosing and utilizing the right slogan can already make a big impact,

regardless who our target audience and selected marketing channels are. This belief might be

challenged nowadays because it is almost impossible to transfer a message without utilizing

digital media, mostly in the sector of social media. Another marketing channel that should be

considered in influencer marketing. Brown (2013) defines social media influencers as people

with a considerable social media clout whose opinion has a direct influence on the opinion

and decisions of their audience. Influencer marketing has been heavily used in promoting

destinations in the past few years, with both stakeholders, touristic organizations and other

included parties using the influence of social media personas to promote their destinations.

Using this marketing channel proved very efficient to business as over 72% of marketers

reporting positive results from these campaigns (Ong and Ito, 2018). The authors also note

that the influence of social media in tourism keeps growing.

When doing a rebranding it is of vital importance to transfer your message clearly and

promote the new brand image without confusion. Destination marketing is in most cases done

by either a tourist board of a destination or on a national level or by a destination marketing

organization (Jojic, 2018). Rupp (2012) states that when a brand is well managed and

controlled, the difference between success and failure can be a well-defined mark, particularly

in today’s market that is highly competitive. This is because in the minds of customers the

brand forms the foundation for product differentiation. At this point unique selling points

should already be defined and developed for further promotion. Moisescu (2012) notes that

rebranding marketing plan should follow a strict set of well thought-out principles and

marketing strategies from situation analysis to planning and implementation and budget.

Before starting the rebranding campaign all stages of it should be plan in details, but given

that this is a destination rebranding it is impossible to control some of the external factors that

might appear. Those factors include politics, natural disasters and other factor out of the

control of the marketers. Pike (2005) notes that DMOs and national touristic organizations

strive for a geographically broad market and a wide range of segments, seeking to increase

33

interest in existing and inelastic goods, i.e. destinations, thus making destination rebranding

much more difficult than product branding or rebranding. Both DMOs and national

organizations are reliant on government funding, meaning that sometimes optimal budget

might not be met (Savani and Bennett, 2003). When budget is determined marketing tools

have to be implemented. Depending on budget, target audience, long term and short term

goals different marketing tools can be utilized. Popescu and Andrei (2011) state that first step

towards media campaigns is media planning and research. Without proper plan and carefully

conducted research it is difficult to set up different stages of rebranding process.

As today’s market is very competitive and ad-saturated placing a destination properly could

prove crucial for a successful rebranding campaign. Given that the main target audience are

foreigners, it would be best to use digital media tools, and a mix of traditional and digital

media tools for domestic audience. Digital media tools are: Search Engine Marketing (SEM),

Pay Per Click (PPC), Digital Media Placement (Photo, Video, Storytelling and Narrative

Content), E-Mail, Paid Social, Social Media (both paid and organic), Promotional and

Commercial Tie-Ins. Consequently, target marketing tools have a considerable influence on

the reputation of the destination. Social Media presence is, as mentioned in the previous

chapters, of essential value as the world’s population now uses social media services more

than ever (Ott and Seker, 2019). Social media campaigns, their target and reach vary from

platform to platform. It is very important to track the campaigns and their success using media

measurements and analytics. Trough those means we can also track brand awareness and lift.

Another important factor in rebranding a destination are stakeholders, according to Koneckin

and Go (2008). They further state that brand identity for a destination reflects a common

opinion of a destination they live in from various stakeholders such as business operators and

the host community. Stakeholders play a big role in promoting and communicating the brand

(destination) message. Tendency not to include big stakeholders or a destination, like tourism

operators and host business owners, while they are the first delivering the brand message by

personal interaction with the visitors (Wheeler et al. (2011). Instead of focusing on developing

relationships with the local stakeholders, there was a trend in destination branding and

rebranding only to focus on future visitors and to completely exclude stakeho lders’ interests.

As Pike (2005) notes inclusion of local tourism community in the new brand image, and their

understanding of it can make it easier for them to identify with it and, therefore spread the

new brand message better (Pike, 2005). In case of Lesvos island it is evident that local

tourism organizations and business work on promoting the island. The locals of the island

have been described as “friendly” and “welcomin” by the users of TripAdvisor and Google

Reviews, and reports speaking of generosity of people in Lesvos in the most difficult times

are positive characteristics that need to be utilized. Bringing all local stakeholders under the

same brand for the destination would be more powerful for the brand than having small

groups of unconnected promoters (Mak, 2011). Brand image that is weak and inconsistent can

create confusion and distrust among visitors. Involving stakeholders from the beginning can

be very beneficial, and the residents of Lesvos already showed the initiative to repair the

damaged image of their island and to bring the tourist and revenues back. An important mark

would be providing more official information in English (potentially other languages as well),

and working to make public transportation better across the island, as this was one of the main

concerns of previous visitos. Providing messaging in the language potential users speak

makes the user more prone to developing the interest for the brand via language-bias (Sanchez

and Vargas, 2016).

34

Possible issues

A number of challenges is related to destination rebranding. According to Pride (2015) three

main challenges are failing to create the environment and organizational structure that will

allow brand to influence potential consumers, not being able to create the effective message

that can be communicated easily, and creating the messaging that is not equally effective for

different types of audience. Also in case of Lesvos, the delay of shutting down Moria camp

could lead to issues as camp is the main negative association to the island. In case of delay or

higher influx of immigrants in the future, it is certain that these issues would collide with

rebranding efforts and possibly further delay them. Also struggling Greek economy could be

the cause of an issue, as the budget for rebranding the island and the necessity of it, compared

to other problem could be brought to question.

Unresponsiveness and unavailability of information for some touristic spots and places of

interest on the island raised concern and dissatisfaction among travelers who shared their

stories via online platforms. While researching for this thesis that lack on information,

especially in English, became very evident. In current day and age it is expected of tourist

destinations to keep up with the technological development, especially in the digital sphere. If

the businesses do not update their practice they could potentially lose customers as the

hospitality industry is very dense and competitive online.

If the brand message isn’t communicated well, like in the case of Taiwan during their 2010

rebranding campaign trough food, where the rebranding message wasn’t communicated well

to local stakeholders and that created contradictions in what both parties communicated to the

visitors, leading the visitors’ expectations not to be met (Lin et al. 2010). Avoiding confusion

and meeting the expectations of tourists should be a priority when conducting a campaign.

Also inconsistency in rebranding strategy could lead to drop of interest. Social media today is

very dynamic and providing new content constantly is of vital importance if a brand wants to

stay relevant. Good example of continuous and engaged destination marketing campaign is “I

Feel Slovenia” where the campaign is spread across different platforms, with dynamic and

engaging content. As seen so far, Greek destinations (other than destination-enthusiast or

local-run pages) are rarely engaged in active social media campaigns. They are mostly

promoted trough VisitGreece and their profiles, as well as individual tourism organizations of

Greek regions (i.e. Loutraki, Limnos, Thessaloniki).

7. CONCLUSION The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the image of Lesvos island, what are the effects

of current image of Lesvos island in the media, and what aspects should potential rebranding

focus on. Analyzed content showed that the current crisis related to immigrants inhabiting the

island had a vastly negative effect on many aspects of the island, predominantly on its

economy. Lesvos island, its economy, hospitality industry and local inhabitants have faced

many challenged in the past five years. Given that the cause of issues on the island is still not

solved and that it is an especially sensitive topic regarding more than just plain branding issue,

it should be approached with special care. Potentially, if the rebranding is simultaneously

done with the crisis it would make it more prone to negative criticism and eventual fail. With

topics this sensitive, and the scale of media coverage

Although the unfavorable image of the island in the media led to significantly lowered

number of tourists, Lesvos as a predominantly summer touristic destination in Greece, faces a

lot of domestic competition as well. Overcoming this competition and attracting tourists is a

difficult task, given that the competitors are some of the most well-know and popular

destinations in the world, namely islands of Cyclades group Santorini and Mykonos. Those

islands are heavily featured in the media, and their popularity lead to directly associating

terms “Greece” and “islands” with the visual representation of those specific places.

35

Differentiating Lesvos as a brand from the rest of Greek islands is essential for building its

brand, as the architecture of the island and history can be used to create a unique association

related to this island alone. As we have seen in this research, the island itself has a rich

cultural and historical offer that is very well received with the visitors and it also has potential

for more development in those areas. Focusing on unique selling points of the island, like its

famous ouzo production or LGBTQ+ relations due to the history of the island, could work in

favor of overcoming the current negative associations.

From the research it is also evident that the island is very popular with the domestic (Greek)

audience. Even if there is a rising number of pages that offer information in English about

Lesvos, there is still a predominant number of Greek pages that offer more content and in-

depth information about the island, the events on the island and overall offer. The destination

remained popular with the domestic audience, in spite of issues it faced. This speak of how

the island managed to create brand royalty with its visitors, and how domestic visitors should

not be neglected in favor of foreign visitors.

As concluded with regards of content analyzed suggested rebranding strategy would first have

to develop the new brand identity for Lesvos island, which would be communicated through

different channels to the audience. Developing the brand identity which would cover the

strengths and positive traits of the island, as perceived by the examined audience, is essential

for creating a favorable brand and overcoming the negative media image that is currently

prevailing. Involving stakeholders and local residents of the island is of vital importance, as

previous researches showed that their involvement produces positive incomes when the brand

image is communicated well. Creating a unique brand for the island, as seen in examples of

other Greek islands, is possible with promotion of unique characteristics. Those

characteristics should be promoted to the targeted audience using the social media channels,

as they give measurable results and provide precise targeting using adjustable parameters.

According to the Greek government as of January 2020, the year of 2020 will be crucial for

the further development of the situation on the islands heavily hit by the crisis. Until further

action from the government is taken, it is impossible to see what consequences those actions

will potentially have on the island.

With the circumstances surrounding future arrivals of immigrants to the island uncertain at

this point, it is difficult to predict how will that aspect affect the island. Local inhabitants

welcomed the new regular hoping that after their implementation the island would start

welcoming a large number of tourists again. But even with the Camp Moria closed, it is

certain that without the proper rebranding campaign the potential large number of tourists

could only be achievable in a much longer period of time.

This thesis strongly suggest that more research is needed to determine the extent of current

situation on the island and the consequences it will have. Research is also needed to determine

exact profile of the user target group and suitable methods for rebranding, depending on the

budget and means used. It is also important to make a comparison between achieved and

desired brand identity after rebranding process.

36

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Petrified Forest of Lesbos

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Visit Greece, Lesvos

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Eressos Women’s Festival

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Refugees problems?

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The Museum of Industrial Olive-Oil Production of Lesvos

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Definition of Media coverage Share Cite Open Split View

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Healing Springs of Lesvos: Eftalou

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The Other Aegean

44

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A crisis within a crisis: Refugees in Lesbos

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45

Lessons from Lesbos: Can tourism survive amid migrant crisis?

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