Survey, Case Study & Interviews Combined

Finally, instruments 1, 2, 3 along with secondary data are amalgamated. The aim here is to measure the success of The Branding Project Report’s (2006) objectives and ascertain if sociotechnical misalignment has affected the ability of the nation brand to meet its primary objectives. In this way, RO2 is considered as evaluating the causes of alignment and misalignment and RO3 as investigating its effect. Thus, RO3 concerned the nation brand’s ability to attain its objectives and assessing if its ability to do so was affected by the degree of alignment uncovered in RO1.

The motivation or purpose for creating the nation brand was to “help the Isle of Man (IOM) enhance its unique identity and social cohesion, and generate continued strong economic growth” (The

Branding Project Report, 2006, p.3). To facilitate this, six objectives were created- objectives A-E concern the development and use of the brand, whereas objective F relates to its overall outcome (Table 3.3).

# The Branding Project Report (2006) Objectives

A To develop a clear, relevant and distinctive brand proposition for the IOM. This will express the IOM’s values and advantages. The brand proposition will be persuasive as well as being flexible enough to be consistently applied within the IOM as well as outside the IOM.

B To use this proposition for social and economic advantage; to motivate and unite the people of the IOM, and to enhance both the quality of life and economic performance of the IOM.

C To identify strategies necessary to improve the substance of the IOM, from arts and culture to education and training to customer focus and market access to infrastructure. To be effective, the substance of the brand promise needs to be both delivered and continuously improved over time.

D To communicate this proposition strongly and imaginatively both internally to the Isle of Man population responsible for living it and delivering it so that they feel ownership of it and externally to our target customers who will also benefit.

E To dramatically raise awareness of the existence, location and advantages of the Isle of Man among target customers in the outside world.

F As a result of the above, to have a nation that is confident of its own identity, a nation that works together to meet the needs of all in our society funded by a strong economy that is recognised internationally as a high-quality place to do business in the sectors we choose to pursue.

Table 3.3 The Branding Project Report Objectives (The Branding Project Report, 2006, p.8)

By using instrument 4 the mixed-methods approach is applied in addressing RO3. Three primary data collection instruments (historical account, survey, interviews) are utilised to collect the data, along with secondary data. Secondary quantitative data is present in the form of official statistical and longitudinal data relating to the measurements of economic health. At this stage it is noted that while measuring economic growth and health will indicate if the Manx economy has strengthened since the approval of The Branding Project Report (2006), the impact of the financial crisis in 2007

and other macro-environmental factors may have affected this. Moreover, due to the lack of available data, research was not in a position to ascertain if any growth in the economy is a consequence of the Island’s nation brand. This is because, in addition to the lack of Isle of Man brand-specific measurements and even if research were to opt to utilise one of the nation brand equity measurements detailed in Chapter 2; the data relating to FDI and exports is not available on the Island. Further, while data concerning immigration is in the public domain it is based on 2006 census data, thus it is not appropriate for this research because the data relates to a period prior to the brand being developed.

Nonetheless, to asses if the objectives have been met, each objective was broken-down into sets of measurements and applicable instruments (Table 3.4). As achieving Objective F is primarily bound by the extent to which the nation brand has achieved its purpose of helping the Isle of Man to “enhance its unique identity and social cohesion, and generate strong economic growth” (The Branding Project Report, 2006, p.3), an addition measurement (P) is added to the objectives. Based on this, addressing RO3 research focused on assessing the specific aspects of the outcomes of the nation brand, rather than its brand equity.

# Objective Measurement Instrument

A To develop a clear, relevant and distinctive brand proposition for the IOM. This will express the IOM’s values and advantages. The brand proposition will be persuasive as well as being flexible enough to be consistently applied within the IOM as well as outside the IOM.

Distinction of brand proposition Whether brand expresses IOM values Consistent application of brand

Survey, historical account, interviews.

B To use this proposition for social and economic advantage:

to motivate and unite the people of the IOM, and to enhance both the quality of life and, economic performance of the IOM.

Value attached to brand Perceptions of quality of life Economic health and growth

Survey, longitudinal data

C To identify strategies necessary to improve: the substance of the IOM, from arts and culture to education and training to, customer focus and market access to infrastructure. To be effective, the substance of the brand promise needs to be both delivered and continuously improved over time.

Whether arts, culture, education and training strategies were identified

Whether arts, culture, education and training strategies were developed/implemented Whether customer focus, market access and infrastructure strategies were identified Whether customer focus, market access and infrastructure strategies were

developed/implement

Whether brand was delivered over time Whether brand was continuously improved over time

Historical account, interviews

D To communicate this proposition strongly and imaginatively both:

internally to the Isle of Man population responsible for living it and delivering it so that they feel ownership of it and, externally to our target customers who will also benefit.

Whether brand was communicated internally Value attached to brand

Survey, interviews, historical account

E To dramatically raise awareness of the existence, location and advantages of the Isle of Man among target customers in the outside world.

N/A

F As a result of the above, to have:

a nation that is confident of its own identity, a nation that works together to meet the needs of all in our society,

funded by a strong economy that is recognised internationally as a high-quality place to do business in the sectors we choose to pursue.

Perceptions of the Isle of Man as nation confident in its identity

Perceptions of the Isle of Man as working together to meet the needs of all in society

Economic health and growth

Longitudinal/ statistical data

P To help the Isle of Man:

enhance its unique identity and social cohesion, and

generate strong economic growth

Perceptions of Manx identity Perceptions of social cohesion

Indicators of general trends of social cohesion Economic health and growth

Survey, Longitudinal/ statistical data

Table 3.4 Measurements for the Outcomes of the Nation Brand Based on The Branding Project Report (2006, p.8)

To measure economic health and growth as part of objectives B, F and P in addition to using the Island’s main economic measures- GDP and GNP (Isle of Man Government Annual Report, 2010, p.10), to combat criticisms of the limitation of using GDP as a measure of economic well-being (de Leon and Boris, 2010), an additional 15 indicators were employed (Table 3.5).

Measurement

1 GDP

2 GNP

3 Unemployment

4 Retail Price Index 5 Rate of Inflation 6 Average Weekly Earnings 7 Median Weekly Earnings 8 Bank Deposit Base 9 Company Registrations 10 Health Service Expenditure 11 Income Support Benefit

12 Primary and Secondary State School Population 13 Students in Further/Higher Education

14 National Income 15 Income per head

Table 3.5 Indicators of Economic Well-Being (Adapted from de Leon and Boris, 2010)

These indicators of economic well-being are taken from the work produced by the Urban Institute Centre on Non-profits and Philanthropy (de Leon and Boris, 2010). The rationale for using the Institute’s indicators is that, while the Institute produces a list of up to 72 and argues for the interconnection between social and economic wellbeing (de Leon and Boris, 2010, p.1). A lack of available data on the Island and a through measurement of all indicators being outside the realms of this research, means that the fifteen indicators shown above are used as an indication, not an overall assessment, of the health and strength of the Manx economy

As such, measuring the outcomes of The Branding Project Report (2006) objectives involves collecting a mixture of data from a variety of sources, which are depicted in Figure 3.6.

Figure 3.6 Measuring the Social and Technical Outcomes of the Brand