When Cabria Design starting working with the newly formed Granite Belt Wine & Tourism Inc, our priority was to help the association realise its vision that 'The Granite Belt will be nationally recognised as Queensland's premier wine tourism destination, with a unique identity and a vibrant, sustainable wine tourism business sector'.

Queensland's Granite Belt describes the area in Australia's Great Dividing Ranges and is situated less than three hours by road from Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Our challenge was to differentiate The Granite Belt from the heavily promoted Queensland beach tourist destinations and secondly, from the many premium interstate wine regions.

Our aim was also to promote The Granite Belt Wine & Tourism Inc. as the peak local tourist association for businesses in the region, its philosophies and the services it offers, including membership and the operation of the Stanthorpe Visitor Information Centre.

We felt the key differentiator for the region is that 'The Granite Belt is what Queensland is not'. The refreshingly cool climate, national parks, eco tourism and excepional food and wines mean that 'unexpected has become the expected' for tourists seeking a totally different Queensland experience. Our goal was to attract the short break drive market and day-trippers aged 35+ with a cohesive and contemporary visual identity which could be implemented across a diverse range of marketing collateral, from advertising and promotional brochures to a comprehensive website to mouse mats.

We renamed the region 'Granite Belt Wine Country' and incorporated an instantly recognisable motif, a grapevine leaf, and manipulated it to form a stylised iconic emblem. The semi transparent layering of this leaf represents the diverse layers of the Granite Belt Wine Country waiting to be explored by the short break drive market. We added the positioning statement 'expect to be surprised' to highlight the region's unique offerings compared to its beach destination competitors.

Three variations of the logo and supporting graphic elements were created to be implemented in

• business to business communications
  
  
• business to consumer communications
  
  
• as a stamp to be used by local businesses to confirm their association with the Granite Belt Wine & Tourism Inc

Local businesses have embraced the new branding and have been proud to be associated with the newly formed Granite Belt Wine & Tourism Inc. The brand has received much positive feedback for its ability to be flexible across a large range of applications whilst maintaining consistency.