Malta Tourism Authority’s branding campaign, that will focus on the local sector, is expected to begin later on this month with a blitz of advertising in several different media, said MTA international branding consultant Christian Sinding yesterday.

Speaking at a media briefing on the branding exercise, Mr Sinding explained that this is an ongoing process and that one cannot expect immediate results for the first two or three years.

He said that the funds allocated by the government for the branding campaign amounted to Lm500,000, although he pointed out that he wished another zero could be added to that figure, because this was an extremely costly exercise.

Mr Sinding then gave details on the specifics of branding, which include what is termed as a “Brand Platform”. The vision statement chosen for Malta is Enriching Your Life. He explained that the three core values of the campaign are diversity, heritage and hospitality.

He said that the Maltese do now appreciate that they are “sitting on a goldmine”, because there is no other destination in the world where you can do so many things within 30 minutes of your hotel. He said that the brand personality is based on four characteristics, which are: welcoming, diverse, deep-rooted and invigorating.

Mr Sinding said that branding was segmentation-focused and that it was crucial to involve all the stakeholders in the decision-making process. He insisted that Brand Malta must be driven “fanatically” as that was the key to success for any brand concept.

MTA Brand Manager Kevin Drake revealed that a CNN crew will be in Malta over the weekend to film the fourth advertisement from the series entitled I Am Malta. He said that this advert. had been given free to the MTA, as the original agreement was for just two advertisements.

Mr Drake said that a brand audit would be taking place at the end of the year, at which feedback and results could be assessed for the eventual fine-tuning of the product.