Branding regions can have drawbacks, JU Marketing Prof. George Gresham tells Florida Times-Union

Branding a region can have its pluses and minuses, a dilemma discussed by George Gresham, associate professor of marketing at Jacksonville University, in a Sunday, July 28, Florida Times-Union business story.

Florida’s coastal areas in particular have taken on names for themselves in recent decades, reporter Drew Dixon notes in the article, as they seek to entice tourists.

The Historic Coast, a new entry, actually lies within the boundaries of the First Coast, running from Ponte Vedra Beach south to Flagler Beach, the article says.

Gresham tells Dixon that that might not be the best idea, and might even cause confusion.

“It’s still what we call destination marketing,” Gresham said in the story. “When you cut up a portion of the First Coast … you’re kind of cutting it in half and slicing and dicing it smaller and smaller.

“In marketing terms, when you start segmenting that market smaller and smaller, your target, what you’re shooting at, gets smaller and smaller,” Gresham added.

Read the entire article here.