In August 2020, the European Commission’s DG REGIO launched a project aiming at the repositioning of the European Union Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region (EUSAIR).
EUSAIR is one of the four “macro-regional strategies” adopted by the European Commission and endorsed by the European Council. Launched in 2014, the Strategy was jointly developed by the Commission and the Adriatic-Ionian Region countries and stakeholders, with the objective to jointly address areas of common interest for the benefit of each country and the whole region.
After six years of existence for EUSAIR, the assessment made by DG REGIO and shared by a majority of its stakeholders, is that EUSAIR is insufficiently known by its “target audience”, and that it lacks a proper positioning – i.e., a positioning that would be in the same time authentic, understandable by stakeholders, and compelling. In a context where many regional initiatives coexist, trying to achieve different – but somehow similar – goals, with significant overlaps both in their agenda and participating countries, EUSAIR has so far failed to stand out and still lacks awareness and prestige among its target audience. It has yet to define a “brand territory” making it visible and understandable by all target audiences, conveying clearly to these audiences what specific value it delivers to the macro-region. In marketing terms, EUSAIR’s “brand identity” is both blurred and weak.
To progress in this regard, EUSAIR needs to clarify its positioning, articulate its specific vision, and formulate its mission with a stronger expression. Beyond expression, EUSAIR needs to differentiate and strengthen its identity, with the objective to achieve, by doing so, a greater complementarity with other regional initiatives.
The objective of this project was therefore to help EUSAIR rethink its “brand identity”, in order to increase its notoriety and prestige among its target audience, and to find its right place in the institutional landscape of the macro-region, in complementarity with the other initiatives.
The present report presents our recommendations on possible re-positioning options for the Strategy, and sketches potential next steps for the repositioning of EUSAIR. Considering the amplitude of the transformation that a full repositioning of EUSAIR requires, this report should not be construed as its final point, but rather as the end of the first phase of a broader program.