Nation Branding Strategies Research Articles

Country branding through Olympic Games

Recent geopolitical and economic events make it very clear that the global market place is highly interconnected and very competitive (Lee and Cull, 2010; Levin, 2010; Yung, 2011). To gain competitive advantage, countries, in conjunction with their own multinational firms, strive to develop and implement creative nation branding strategies and to promote positive country brand images (Anholt, 1998; Paswan et al, 2002; Loo and Davies, 2006; Szondi, 2006; Greyser, 2008). Countries compete with each other for foreign investment, for tourists, buyers, overseas students and skilled workers (Beverland and Lindgreen, 2002; Anholt, 2003; Black and Westhuizen, 2004; Dzenovska, 2005; Papadopoulos, 2004; Florek and Conejo, 2006; Dinnie, 2008). Several researchers (for example, O’Shaughnessy and O’Shaughnessy, 2000; Papadopoulos and Heslop, 2000, 2002; Paswan et al, 2002) have suggested that a country could be considered as a brand, and that countries can change their national brand image. Strategic and tactical activities have been suggested to influence a country’s brand image (Nebenzahl and Jaffe, 1991; Jaffe and Nebenzahl, 1993; Swart and Bob, 2004), including hosting major sporting events. However, to the best of our knowledge, few have examined the effect of hosting a major sporting event on country brand image, and where they have the focus was limited to the impact on the destination’s image and tourism (Gibson et al, 2008).

Nation branding and integrated marketing communications: an ASEAN perspective

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the extent to which the nation branding activities of export promotion organisations (EPOs), investment agencies (IAs), national tourism organisations (NTOs) and embassies follow the principle of coordination that characterises an integrated marketing communications approach.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative exploratory approach was taken, comprising face‐to‐face in‐depth interviews with key informants from five Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) involved in the implementation of nation branding communications in terms of export promotion, tourism, investment attraction and public diplomacy.FindingsSeven key dimensions of interorganisational coordination in a nation branding context emerge from our results. These dimensions include sector, organisation domicile, mode, strategy formulation, nature, frequency and target audience.Research limitations/implicationsThe relatively small dataset as well as the restricted geographic scope of the study limits the generalisability of the findings; further research is required to ascertain whether the findings of this study also apply in other settings.Practical implicationsEnhanced coordination needs to occur not only between the different governmental organisations engaged in nation branding strategy, but also between those organisations and their respective private sector stakeholders.Originality/valueThis paper extends previous work on the need for countries to adopt a coordinated approach to their nation branding activities. The paper is original in its examination of actors’ perceptions of the optimal degree of coordination that should occur between a country's EPO, IA, NTO and embassies. The paper is also original in its reporting of findings from a region (ASEAN) that is under‐researched relative to other areas, such as Europe and North America.

Imaging Community: Sweden in ‘cultural propaganda’ then and now

This article discusses the dynamic interplay between autostereotypes and xenostereotypes in the historical context of the Swedish Institute, the government agency responsible for Swedish cultural relations with other countries. More specifically it suggests empirical examples of how ‘national image’ and ‘imagining the national’ have infused one another in the post-war world. Drawing on the archives and publications of the Swedish Institute as well as the archives of the Press Department of the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the article's chronological emphasis lies on the late 1940s. Using this historical perspective, it concludes with some reflections on the Institute's current Nation Branding strategies.

Corporate strategic branding: How country and corporate brands come together

The concept of countries as brands has been increasingly recognized in the post-modern global world. A strong country brand can provide corporate brands with a unique set of values, which supports their positioning on the international market. Simultaneously, once corporate brands achieve worldwide success, they contribute actively to developing new features of the country brand. Consumers pay more and more attention to products' country of origin. When the name of a country is mentioned, they can have positive associations (high quality, modern design, product innovation), which means that the country itself has a powerful brand. However, there are opposite cases where we talk about the weak branding of a particular country. It is necessary to mobilize all the available forces of politicians, business people, artists, sportsmen and scientists to create a strategy for enhancing the image and reputation of a country on the international markets, i.e. for creating the national branding strategy.

Development of a national branding strategy: The case of Latvia

The aim of this research is to investigate the process of the development of the national branding strategy for Latvia. The authors systematically evaluate the current situation in the branding process in Latvia but restrict themselves from investigation of the brand content and occasional promotions of the country. The analysis of the branding process is based on the national branding development model by Erm and Arengu (2003) and the seven-step model proposed by Olins (1999). One of the conclusions made is the absence of a clearly defined branding strategy for Latvia, as several steps according to the theoretical model have been carried out but not in a systematic and purposeful manner. Thus, problems that obstruct a successful strategy development process are identified. The main problem revealed is lack of coordination and collaboration among involved institutions. Other disclosed problems include lack of financial resources, lack of political will and inadequate involvement of experts.

Imagining Places: Image Formation of Tourists and its Consequences for Destination Promotion

Taking as its starting point different approaches to international market communication, this paper discusses the limitations of working within a simple standardization–differentiation framework in relation to tourism promotion. It argues that tourism destinations are culture-bound products which generate associations and meanings that are influenced by the cultural background of the potential tourist. Moreover, some associations and meanings are shared by a locally delimited community whereas others are shared by a number of cultural communities. Hence a tourism destination may generate certain internationally shared meanings which can constitute a standardized platform from which a culturally differentiated market communication can take its point of departure. The advantage of this so-called glocal approach to market communication is, partly that the core elements of the image are recognizable world-wide leading potentially to a consistent and strong image, partly that the core image can be combined with additional meaning structures that are specific to the individual market's way of imagining the given tourism destination. The drawback of this approach may be that the common denominators constituting the image platform, are few and with limited signifying potential. By means of the Danish Tourist Board's national branding strategy, this paper illustrates empirically some of the possibilities as well as the difficulties involved in a glocal approach.