The popular vote for the best of the 20 concepts of the Belarusian tourism brand will be held from November 16 to December 20

What kind of Belarus do its people see and what kind of image do they want to show the world? We will find out the answers very soon: the expert commission of the contest “Image of Belarus”. Posirk and adkryzzo, announced by the National Tourism Agency, is finishing its work. On November 16, the popular vote for the concept-finalists of the national tourism brand will begin. Details were found by the correspondent “R”.

Kirill Macharsky. The National Tourism Agency accepted applications from Belarusians, foreign citizens and stateless persons permanently residing in our country for almost four months - from July 9 to November 1. We wanted to know what image of Belarus is important to broadcast to the world by those who do not superficially know local history, culture and traditions. As a result, the competition received more than 1,400 ideas, 41 of them from marketing and design companies. Most applications came from Minsk - more than 400. The competition caused an unexpectedly wide public response, the director of the National Tourism Agency, the chairman of the competition commission Kirill Masharsky emphasized:

Belarusians showed great interest in the competition, we saw it both in our social networks and in the number of concepts received. Each application was assigned its own number, the name of its author is hidden and will become known only after summing up the results. Who are the judges? The expert committee is now finishing its review of the work. Who was included in the jury consisting of 20 people, said Kirill Masharsky:

- Consciously selected creative personalities, the basis was made by specialists in marketing and communications. The commission also includes representatives of the tourism community, well-known historians, members of unions of artists and architects, popular travel and food bloggers and media experts. They are able to see in the project not just a beautiful picture, but a strong idea, emotion, recognizable style and the ability to really interest a person. Marketers assess how much work stands out, is remembered and helps to form an attractive image of Belarus. Representatives of tourist communities look at projects through the prism of real experience. And bloggers add to the understanding of modern formats and what kind of content today really catches the audience on social networks. It is important for us to hear not only representatives of government agencies, but also those who work with ideas, visuals, audiences and tourism every day.

The jury has been working online since November 2. This allows experts to conveniently and quickly get acquainted with a large number of received works. The algorithm of actions and nuances of work on a specially created platform for assessing ideas were previously discussed with everyone at a meeting in the national agency in late October. Recall that the jury will evaluate the elaboration of the concept of the tour brand – the slogan and the logo revealing its essence. At the same time, the idea itself should be authentic, do not echo the tourist brands of other countries, clearly look at various souvenir products.

Will the jury be able to review all the work on time? Deadline, recall, November 15. The director of the National Tourism Agency commented:

- With this volume of applications, the schedule is really tense - more than 80 works per day for each jury member. Nevertheless, we see that there will be no disruption of the deadlines: the commission members complete the assessment of the work, and the top 20 is formed automatically.

The interlocutor shared his observations about what symbols of the country were found in the applications:

- Our traditional images - castles, bison, stork, cornflower, gold fields, nature - are often repeated in works. This means that they are really important to our countrymen. The number of options for the turbrand, which we received, is a very valuable feedback for the national agency as an industry regulator. I am sure that one of the images sent in conjunction with the slogan may well represent our country. I anticipate that the final selection will be difficult, because, in my opinion, there are noticeable and strong ideas among the works. The word - public Twenty best will bring to the court of the public on Monday, November 16. The vote will be held on the website of the National Tourism Agency until December 20. The organization counts on the active participation of citizens: feedback is of great importance for the regulator. Kirill Masharsky advises to carefully study the options selected by the jury, because you can vote once. At the same time, there is also technical protection from cheating votes.

Then the opinions of the jury and the public will add up and the total amount of points will determine the three leaders. They will receive a cash prize from the official partner of the competition - Belarusbank. The total prize fund, recall, is 22 thousand rubles. The results of the competition are planned to be summed up until December 25.

According to the terms of the competition, the organizer reserves the right, if necessary, to finalize the winner’s option with the involvement of a specialized marketing company.

- This is necessary to ensure that the final symbol of the country is not just the winner of the competition, but a truly professional, complete and recognizable image of Belarus. This approach allows you to preserve the author’s idea proposed by citizens, and at the same time bring it to a higher visual and semantic level, explained Kirill Masharsky.

druk@sb.by