Place branding is more than a logo—it’s the DNA of a place. Sparrowly Group’s Jackie Hicks explores how place branding and placemaking serve as critical economic and social drivers that shape a community’s identity. Drawing on insights from the City Nation Place Australasia forum, we highlight the importance of community engagement, strategic storytelling and collaborative brand development. Whether for a town, city or region, embracing place branding as a strategic priority ensures a stronger, more connected future.

There is a constant pull and push in many cultural institutions between curating a space that is thought provoking, innovative and unique while also managing the need to be sustainable or, in some cases, generate an income just to keep the doors open. tourism can play a role in helping to fill this void.  

According to Cultural Attractions of Australia, cultural tourism is one of Australia’s fastest growing tourism segments with the sector growing 23% over the past five years, compared to total tourism growth of 19%.

So where should you start? Sparrowly Group’s Justine Sinclair provides the key steps to diversifying without losing your cultural DNA.

At Sparrowly Group creating strong and connected industries and people is part of who we are. We believe that sharing collective knowledge is key to helping everyone and every place thrive. Over the past month or so the team has been out and about gathering and sharing knowledge across a number of industries including the Visitor Economy, Economic and Workforce development.  

Beyond sharing our knowledge, we also value the opportunity to learn from our peers. Here are our key takeaways.

The arts, culture and creative industries sector in NSW has the largest creative workforce in Australia. The creative industries are an important part of the economy, accounting for a fifth of services exports and 10% of the state’s workforce and with great potential to grow. Australia is facing a big issue with our creative trade – for every dollar we make by selling creative stuff, we end up spending eight dollars on importing similar things. This deficit shows the potential growth that the arts, culture, and creative industries could have to bring in a lot more money and boost our economy as well as the profile of the sector. To support this growth opportunity, the 'Creative Communities Policy was introduced by the NSW Government late last year to maximise the opportunity this sector presents and enhance the cultural and creative sectors. Sparrowly Group’s Justine Sinclair provides a practical framework for realising the opportunities of this policy.

Sensory Experience is the connection of physical senses including sight, touch, taste, sound and smell to an experience. In this article, Sparrowly Group’s Morgan Thorn explores how your every day activities or surroundings can be developed into a memorable sensory experience.