South African Tourism, FCB Joburg Successfully Rebrand Africa’s Travel Indaba

South African Tourism and FCB Joburg have successfully completed the rebranding of ‘Indaba’ as ‘Africa’s Travel Indaba’ at this year’s event, which drew to a close in Durban on May 10.

Key reasons for the rebrand included further entrenching Indaba’s position as the world class tourism show in Africa as well as maintaining an upward trajectory of exhibitor and buyer numbers. According to Minister of Tourism, Derek Hanekom, tourism already contributes about 8% to Africa’s Gross Domestic Product and employs 6.5% of the workforce.

The rebranding, as well as the execution of Africa’s Travel Indaba 2018, was declared an outstanding success by delegates, exhibitors and the media, and is one of the projects that will add to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s tourism narrative.

FCB Joburg Joint Chief Creative Officer, Ahmed Tilly, explained the rationale behind the rebranding.

“The word ‘Indaba’, initially strongly associated with the travel industry’s annual conference and exhibition, had over the years become associated with many other initiatives, conferences, exhibitions and the like – Mining Indaba and Baba Indaba being good examples,” he said.

“Solving the issue that ‘Indaba’ was not immediately associated with tourism or travel appears simple on the surface but is grounded in strong strategy that distinguished the event in 2018 and gives it a presence it can move forward with into the future,” he said.

“The prefixes ‘Africa’s’ and ‘Travel’ were added to the name ‘Indaba’ to immediately distinguish it as a pan-African tourism gathering. But, in addition to seeking to cement Indaba’s respected position in the global travel industry, there was another major contributing factor for the decision to rebrand, that being grounded in the absolute truth that those who run and contribute to the annual gathering are Africans. As such, they understand Africa and her value proposition better than anyone else. And, with the evolution into Africa’s Travel Indaba, are unashamedly taking ownership of ‘Africa’ as a travel destination.

“It was important for us to show recognition of the fact that our buyers and exhibitors are the absolute experts of travel in, and around, Africa. They understand that travel in Africa is not only about getting from point A to point B, but also about the stories that happen between points A and B,” he said.

“Travel in Africa moves us not just geographically, but from one state of being to another. Whether experiencing its diversity from ancient cultures to modern cities to wild and lonely spaces or meeting new people and signing the business deal of the lifetime, simply being in Africa, travelling through Africa changes us.

“So, for the physical representation of the new name, the FCB design team found a way to showcase this physical and metaphysical movement,” he said.

Creative Director Collette Wasielewski, Head of Design Liana Liebenberg, Senior Designer Thabang Lehobye, Senior Copywriter Jessica Everson and Associate Creative Director Kyra Antrobus created the corporate identity using new technologies and old techniques.

To express the ‘Africa Moves You’ idea, the team created a dynamic logo system that allows the logo to expand and contract using patterns and pictograms to tell stories. By doing this, the logo itself shows the movement from A to B and all the stories that happen in-between.

The new name and identity was launched at Indaba 2017 with a ‘logo’ that moved through Durban. This stretched over 33km from King Shaka International Airport via the North Beach Promenade to the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Convention Centre.

“Patterns placed en route – on everything from bridges and fences to rooftops and pavements – connected all of the elements together; clearly showcasing the concept of movement from ‘A to B’. On the final day of the show, the logo was displayed in its entirety at the entrance of the conference centre.

“The new branding, however, really came into effect at Africa’s Travel Indaba 2018. It was an incredible project to work on and I’m so proud of the South African Tourism and FCB team that pulled everything together. “