North Star Destination Strategies

What North Star Destination Strategies does

North Star Destination Strategies (legal entity Burdette Agency, Inc., also doing business as North Star Place Branding + Marketing and North Star Ideas) is a Jacksonville, Florida-based place marketing agency founded in 2000 by Don McEachern. The firm specializes in brand strategy, creative development, and full-service marketing execution for emerging communities and public agencies — primarily municipal governments, economic development organizations, and tourism boards in small-to-mid-size U.S. cities. Services span community and stakeholder engagement, qualitative and quantitative research, brand DNA development, creative production (logo, tagline, visual identity, advertising, photography, video), public relations, social media management, digital marketing, and multi-channel campaign deployment, delivered through a four-phase process of Research, Strategy, Creativity, and Activation.

The business is a project-based professional services firm with a fully integrated in-house team of approximately 15 multi-disciplinary professionals led by CEO Will Ketchum. The firm does not disclose pricing publicly; engagements are custom, quote-based contracts typical of B2B government and EDO procurement. North Star has completed more than 250 community marketing outcomes across 44+ U.S. states since founding, with documented results including the Downtown New Orleans engagement (associated with over $4 billion in subsequent investment) and recurring industry recognition (ADDY, Effie, Clio awards). The go-to-market model is direct enterprise field sales to municipal and community decision-makers, supported by thought leadership content, conference speaking, earned media, and a working library of case studies. The company is privately held and founder-led, with no disclosed institutional investment, M&A activity, or formal strategic partnerships.

Name

North Star Destination Strategies

Legal name

Burdette Agency, Inc.

Website

https://northstarideas.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

North Star Destination Strategies is a Jacksonville, Florida-based place marketing agency providing brand strategy, creative, and full-service marketing execution for municipal governments, economic development organizations, and tourism boards across 44+ U.S. states, with 250+ completed community engagements since 2000.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Place Branding & Marketing Services

NAICS

Advertising Agencies (54181)

SIC

Services-Advertising Agencies (7311), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Brand Activations & Experiential Campaign Design (MPAAAGAA)

Keywords

• Place branding services
• Community marketing
• Economic development branding
• Destination marketing
• Community identity strategy

Headquarters

HQ city

Nashville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Professional Services - Place Branding: Project-based consulting engagements for community branding and marketing services including research, strategy, creative development, and campaign execution for municipal clients and economic development organizations.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

North Star Destination Strategies is a place branding and marketing agency that helps emerging communities and public agencies uncover authentic stories, build distinctive brand identities, and execute integrated marketing campaigns. Services span research, brand strategy, creative development (logos, taglines, visual identity), campaign deployment, public relations, digital and social media, and photography/video production. Engagements are delivered as project-based programs following a four-phase process of Research, Strategy, Creativity, and Activation, targeting outcomes in economic development, tourism, and resident engagement.

Product overview

North Star Destination Strategies is a place marketing agency offering comprehensive brand strategy and marketing services for emerging communities and public agencies. The company provides an integrated suite of services including brand strategy and development, creative production, campaign deployment, public relations, digital marketing, social media management, and photography/video production. Services are delivered through a proven four-phase process: Research, Strategy, Creativity, and Activation. North Star serves diverse community types including downtowns, towns, cities, counties, developments of regional impact, regions, and states across 44+ states.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Place Branding Strategy & Development
• Brand Creative Services
• Campaign Development & Deployment
• Public Relations & Communications
• Social Media Management
• Digital Marketing
• Photography & Video Production
• Research & Insights
• Community & Stakeholder Engagement

Quantifiable outcome

• $4 billion of investment in downtown New Orleans since brand rollout
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers13 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• FutureBrand: Global brand consultancy that has produced country, city, and place brand projects (e.g., country branding for the UAE). Comparable to North Star in place branding services but serves larger, more international clients and offers a broader corporate branding portfolio.
• Interbrand: Global brand consultancy known for Best Global Brands rankings, with experience in place and country branding. Operates as a broad incumbent across corporate and place clients rather than specializing in the emerging-community niche North Star serves.
• Landor & Fitch: Global brand consulting firm with an active place branding and destination practice for cities, regions, and countries. Operates at a much larger scale than North Star, with broader corporate clientele, but competes in the same place branding category.

Direct peers

• Biggins Lacy Shapiro & Company (BLS): Economic development and location strategy consulting firm serving EDOs, utilities, and communities with strategy, marketing, and site-selection research. Comparable to North Star in EDO customer segment and community positioning work, though more analytics-oriented.
• TIP Strategies: Economic development, talent attraction, and community strategy consulting firm that works with cities, regions, and EDOs on research, planning, and implementation. Adjacent to North Star in public-sector clientele and research-driven methodology, with a heavier strategy/analytics focus.
• Destination Think: Destination marketing and management firm working with DMOs, cities, and tourism authorities on research-driven brand strategy, content, and campaign execution. Closely matches North Star's place branding and tourism marketing focus, with a similar research-to-activation process.
• Development Counsellors International (DCI): Economic development and place marketing agency that works with cities, regions, EDOs, and tourism organizations on branding, talent attraction, and marketing strategy. Directly comparable to North Star in target customer (public sector), service mix (research, strategy, creative), and category (place/destination branding).
• Resonance Consultancy: Place branding and marketing consultancy producing destination rankings (e.g., Best Cities, Best Countries) and advising cities and countries on brand strategy, perception research, and marketing. Direct peer in place branding with overlapping public-sector client base.
• Miles Partnership: Destination marketing agency providing research, brand strategy, content, and media services to destination marketing organizations (DMOs), state tourism offices, and CVBs. Comparable to North Star in serving public-sector tourism clients and operating a full-service, research-driven engagement model.

Others

• Saffron Brand Consultants: Independent brand consultancy working on corporate and public-sector brand strategy, including country branding engagements. Not a direct place-marketing specialist, but operates in the same strategic branding space and is a relevant adjacent peer.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/northstarideas
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/north-star-destination-strategies

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles16 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about North Star Destination Strategies