Destination mutant brands: An empirical perspective of tourism professionals and host community to create Mutant Brand Cape Verde

In spring of 2010, as an attempt to compete in the international marketplace, the Ministry of Tourism of Cape Verde embarked on a mission to create Brand Cape Verde. The concept of destination branding is premised on the objective of understanding the key elements of visual communication identity as well as the differentiated attributes of a place. As new technological advances continue to break new grounds and penetrate all sectors of commerce, an innovative branding strategy has been introduced in the destination branding context – Mutant Brands – as a means to visually communicate all the key elements of a place. The present study aims to present the contemporary branding strategy concept of Mutant Brands, highlight the authentic attributes that make Cape Verde a unique destination, provide a new perspective for destination branding, and present insightful empirical research regarding the implementation of Mutant Brand Cape Verde. To accomplish the set objectives, 17 in-depth interviews were conducted on the island of Santiago in Cape Verde, during the months of March and April. Results indicated that Brand Cape Verde failed to aggregate the differentiated characteristics of the islands in the branding strategy. As a result, the implementation of a brand strategy based on the concept of Mutant Brands proved to be adaptable in the context of Cape Verde.