Country branding: an imperative for developing countries

Abstract

In today's globalised marketplace the new marketing battle for tourism, exports, and inward investment is intensifying as brands have become more and more the vehicles for communication. Country branding which is about employing strategic marketing to promote a country's identity has become a strategic tool of a country's competitiveness. However, only few developing countries have articulated and implemented a branding strategy. Clarifying what a country brand and country branding encompasses, this paper examines the competitive advantage a country brand engenders for developing countries. Furthermore, emphasising country branding as a social construction, this paper argues that for developing countries entrenched in the poverty cycle there is more than persuasive rationale for country branding strategy to direct the full range of political, economic, cultural and social development.IFE PsychologIA Vol. 13(2) 2005: 150-163