Ready for Action! Destination Climate Change Communication: An Archetypal Branding Approach

Area of Science:

• Environmental communication
• Marketing and branding
• Tourism studies

Background:

• Destination branding and climate change communication often overlap due to shared audience targeting.
• This overlap risks diminishing the effectiveness of climate change messaging and hindering climate action.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose an archetypal branding approach for destination-level climate change communication.
• To integrate climate action into destination branding while preserving unique destination identities.

Main Methods:

• This viewpoint paper analyzes the intersection of destination branding and climate change communication.
• It introduces an archetypal framework (villains, victims, heroes) for destinations.
• The paper discusses mechanisms and proposes a framework for practical investigation.

Main Results:

• Destinations should avoid villainous climate portrayals and adopt a balanced victim narrative.
• The study advocates for destinations to embrace heroic archetypes through climate change mitigation efforts.

Conclusions:

• An archetypal branding strategy can effectively align destination branding with climate change communication.
• This approach supports destinations in promoting climate action and enhancing their image.