Discover Kerry
Shaping a shared identity for County Kerry
The Brief
To support the development of a new place brand for County Kerry – one that could unite community, enterprise, education, tourism and identity under a shared vision.
Working as part of a specialist team led by O'Connell Marketing, the project involved creating a brand capable of operating across multiple sectors and audiences – from tourism and business to education, investment and community life.
Kerry is one of Ireland's most recognised destinations. The challenge was not visibility, but clarity.
The opportunity was to move beyond destination marketing and develop a place brand that reflected:
life, work and investment
local identity and global positioning
community, landscape and economy
This required a shift from marketing a destination to articulating a place.
The Approach
The project was built around a structured place-brand methodology that combined national and international research, stakeholder engagement, strategy, and creative development.
Working as the Brand Experience Lead, Anthony focused on ensuring the identity would not simply be designed but understood, adopted, and lived by the people and organisations it represented.
This included:
contributing to the core narrative and messaging framework
gathering support and insights from stalkholders
developing tone of voice and storytelling principles
bringing international place-brand insight into the process
shaping how the identity could connect tourism, enterprise and community sectors
writing copy and messaging across the brand system
supporting stakeholder engagement and alignment
A key focus was ensuring the brand could operate as a living system rather than a static identity.
The Outcome
The project resulted in a comprehensive place-brand framework for Kerry – bringing together strategy, narrative, visual identity and activation under a single shared direction.
The work helped:
align multiple stakeholders around a common vision
position Kerry as a place to visit, live, work and invest
create a flexible brand system capable of operating across sectors
establish a clear tone of voice and storytelling direction
support future marketing, communications and destination activity
More importantly, it helped shift the conversation from destination promotion towards place-making and long-term identity building.
The resulting framework continues to support how Kerry presents itself nationally and internationally.
Check out the new brand and messaging at DiscoverKerry.com
Areas of Work
Place-brand strategy
Brand narrative and storytelling
Messaging and tone of voice
International benchmarking and insight
Stakeholder engagement
Workshop facilitation
Copywriting and content development
Brand experience thinking
In Collaboration With
Delivered as part of a specialist team including:
O'Connell Marketing
Lisa Gildea
Kerry County Council
Kerry Tourism Industry Federation
Stakeholders from tourism, enterprise, education and community sectors across County Kerry
A project demonstrating how place branding can become a tool for shaping identity, building alignment and supporting long-term regional development.