After ten years the Sunshine Coast has had a makeover, with a new look brand for the region being launched today by Tourism Sunshine Coast and Tourism Queensland.

Tourism Sunshine Coast General Manager John Fitzgerald said the new brand would take the Sunshine Coast to the next level of tourism marketing.

“The look and feel of the new brand will reposition our destination at a critical time, as competition for a slice of the tourism market gets even more intense, and the market itself is flat,” Mr Fitzgerald said.

“I’m personally very excited with the outcome, which is based on 12 months of hard work from our Brand Working Group, representing our partners and industry.”

The brand attracted strong government support with Tourism Queensland (TQ) contributing $315,000 for the brand review and a further $250,000 grant from the Federal Government’s Australian Tourism Development Program (ATDP).

The new “retro” beach towel image will replace the Sunshine Coast’s existing sun and water graphic that was created in 1996.

Tourism Minister Margaret Keech said the co-operative approach taken by Tourism Queensland, Tourism Sunshine Coast and local partners to develop the new brand had reaped great rewards.

“This new brand is the result of many months of collaborative work and the result is a brand that truly represents the region,” Mrs Keech said.

“Market testing in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne gave strong results in key consumer segments, with a high number of respondents easily identifying with the new imagery.”

Mr Fitzgerald said that while the old Sunshine Coast brand had worked well for the region research had shown it was time for a change.

“Towards the end of 2004 our market testing showed that the while the existing brand was not negative it was not inspiring consumer action in our target markets,” Mr Fitzgerald said.

“This meant that as a destination the Sunshine Coast wasn’t connecting with consumers at an emotional level. The new brand certainly addresses this gap and highlights the very personal ways that consumers identify with our destination.”

The new brand was created by one of Australia’s leading creative agencies, cummins&partners who have a proven track record with tourism industry clients having produced the hugely successful “You’ll Love Every Piece of Victoria” campaign.

cummins&partners Creative Director Sean Cummins said the agency was  particularly proud of their work in creating the new brand for the Sunshine  Coast.

“The Sunshine Coast has existed as a tourist destination for 40 years but during that time it really hasn’t conducted itself as a brand and by brand I mean a holding a spot in people’s hearts  - that’s where brands are created,” he said.

“We have developed a logo device and an attitude for the Sunshine Coast which is all about connecting with people on a more emotional level than you would normally see in travel and tourism advertising.

“The towel is there to create an interesting and unique vernacular for the region. It has a touch of retro to keep it classic, a touch of surf culture to keep it connected to the region and it fundamentally says that the moment you lay your towel down on the Sunshine Coast your holiday has really begun.”

Potential Sunshine Coast visitors from Sydney and Melbourne have been among the first to be targeted by the new brand with a $390,000 launch campaign which commenced in July.