Situation
With Dybbøl Mill, Sønderborg Castle and the History Centre Dybbøl Banke, Sønderborg has a strong starting point for positioning itself as a cultural-historical destination with a coherent narrative about 1864 and the history of the borderland region. Together, the visitor sites offer both iconic locations, strong narratives and significant historical weight, providing solid conditions for strengthening Sønderborg’s overall profile among both Danish and international guests. With a wish to work more strategically and in a more coordinated way with this narrative, the visitor sites, in collaboration with Sønderborg Municipality, have established a joint working group.
Complication
The working group involves several historic visitor sites. The sites address different target groups and use different interpretive approaches, which makes it difficult to talk about shared priorities and a common development direction. This created a need for a shared language and an analytical framework that could form the foundation for a coherent narrative and strengthen coherence across the sites. At the same time, it was important to build an understanding of how the individual sites can usefully work in a more targeted and differentiated way with their own visitors and experience offerings.
Recommendation
Epinion designed a process in which the target group tool (in Danish) Sådan Oplever Danskerne formed the common thread in the subsequent strategic work and implementation through workshops. Working with the tool gave the working group a shared language and a concrete navigation tool that clarified differences in target groups and needs across the visitor sites. This created a common starting point for working in a differentiated way with visitors, messages and experience approaches, thereby accommodating each site’s distinctive character, while maintaining the overall narrative and destination thinking. The process concluded with an activation workshop, where the insights were translated into strategic priorities. Participants worked concretely to clarify the direction for the shared core narrative and the opportunities for strategic visitor sharing.
