Seoul sees expatriates living in Korea as its key promoters to the world.
"The best way to promote the city is foreign residents telling their friends that Seoul is worth visiting," said Kang Cheol-won, director-general of Seoul's Public Relations Planning Bureau.
Kang is reaching out to expats because Seoul is not as well-known globally as Koreans believe. Any help in increasing global awareness of the city is welcomed, as far as he is concerned. Kang is leading overseas marketing for Seoul.
According to a survey by the Korea Tourism Organization, 42 percent of foreigners said they don't know about Seoul and therefore don't make plans to visit the city.
"We think Seoul is widely known, but that is the first myth we have to dismantle to let the world know our city and Korea better," Kang said.
Seoul ranked 33rd out of 40 in the Anholt Nation Brands Index in 2007, lower than other Asian cities like Tokyo at 20th, Singapore at 23rd and Hong Kong at 26th. "Those cities put millions of dollars into promote themselves," Kang said.
As Seoul's chief of overseas marketing, Kang considers the city a product and seeks ways to "sell" it.
"First, we have to raise the name recognition of Seoul and then promote the charm of the city, where tradition and modernity coexist. We want to solicit foreign investment through Seoul's strong points of safety and convenience," he said. "Ultimately, we want to create Seoul's brand image as a city where people want to come, live and invest."
Seoul spent 21 billion won ($17.5 million) on overseas marketing last year, up 10-fold from the previous year.
For effective marketing, the city has identified Japan, China, Southeast Asia, the Americas and several countries in Europe as benchmarks and concentrated its efforts to boost tourism.
The city has made several commercials featuring local people and celebrities last and this year, with "hallyu" ― or Korean wave ― stars such as TVXQ making appearances in this year's segments.
"We have also attracted Chinese television producers to shoot variety shows in Seoul," he said. For example, actress Lin Chi-Ling visited the city for a photo shoot and television show with Korean actress Yoon Eun-hye, Sunday.
Seoul also signed sponsorship contracts with Manchester United, the English Premier League football team where Korean player Park Ji-sung plys his trade. "Manchester United games are aired worldwide and with audiences averaging 300 million."
Rain, a top Korean singer and actor, became Seoul's global goodwill ambassador in June and actively participates in promoting the city. "The singer suggests ideas for city promotion by himself. He might have a concert on the Han River this winter against the backdrop of the beautiful fountains of Banpo Bridge," Kang said.
The city will hold Big Air, an urban snowboard jump challenge, in December to showcase its downtown area including the new Gwanghwamun Plaza. "Seoul's scenery will be aired through sports channels around the world," he said.
"City marketing is not something we can see the results of right away," Kang said. "However, we are seeing an increase in tourists and a boost in city recognition, and expect to see good results in three to four years."
AC Nielson analyzed the effect of Seoul's overseas marketing through surveys on 2,000 potential visitors. After the promotional efforts, Seoul topped as the city most people want to visit among people in China, Japan and Thailand.
The number of visitors to Korea increased from 6.5 million in 2007 to 6.9 million last year. By April, 2.7 million visited and almost all passed through Seoul. This is a 24-percent increase from the same period last year, proving the marketing abroad has been fruitful so far.
Kang also recognized that Seoul still has a way to go to attract more tourists. "Accommodation in hotels and traditional food is expensive and the language barrier for tourists still exists," he added.
By: Kwon Mee-yoo
Source: www.koreatimes.co.kr
NY Times za pomocą W.Reymonta i miasta Łodzi opisuje dobrą kondycję polskiej gospodarki.. ciekawe!
In the 19th century, the Polish novelist Wladyslaw Reymont titled his masterpiece about Lodz "The Promised Land" because the city attracted people from throughout Central Europe to work in its booming textile mills.
These days, the industries have changed, but something similar is happening again, helping Poland to escape the searing global recession. With multinationals like Procter & Gamble, Dell and ABB leading a wave of foreign investment, cities like Lodz, in central Poland, are experiencing relative booms.
Poles who left the country in search of work years ago are trickling back. 
As its peers in Central and Eastern Europe face a very rough year, Poland is emerging as the one economy in the region that has the heft to withstand a vicious downturn. And it just may end up being the one economy in Europe that avoids an outright contraction in 2009. One of the most flourishing corners of Lodz is a vast former textile factory that is now a complex of stores, restaurants and even a beach volleyball court. The brisk business at the site, known as Manufaktura, illustrates how far Poland is removed from the searing experiences of Latvia or Hungary, not to mention London or New York. "Maybe without the crisis, business would be better," said Slawomir Murawski, the director of Manufaktura.
"But who knows?" Poland has the advantage of being preoccupied with itself these days. Because it sells far less to the rest of the world than its neighbors, Poland is shielded from the vicissitudes of the global economy, while reaping its benefits, reflecting a wave of foreign investment. That, in turn, has helped keep its labor market strong at a time when many Europeans fear for their jobs.
The government reported Friday that Poland's economy expanded at an annual rate of 1.1 percent in the second quarter, bolstered by exports, construction and services. Growth in gross domestic product was well above the 0.5 percent expected by analysts, as well as the first quarter's 0.8 percent annual rate of growth. "We're the only country in the whole European Union that has such good growth, and we've come here to brag," Prime Minister Donald Tusk said at a news conference in Warsaw, Bloomberg News reported. "Poland is the E.U.'s undisputed growth leader." At the beginning of the year, Poland suffered along with other emerging markets as investors pulled their money out en masse. To the immense frustration of Polish business, however, the picture of the region for outsiders has been dominated by countries like Hungary, Latvia, Serbia and Ukraine, whose crushing debt loads drove them into the arms of the International Monetary Fund.
For Poland, a relatively light borrower, the crisis created a riptide in the form of a fast-depreciating currency, the zloty. That hurt some companies, namely those that had carefully hedged themselves against a rising currency, which was the previous year's problem. But Polish banks, keen to avoid driving their clients into bankruptcy, refinanced the hedges to reflect the new reality. "In retrospect, the crisis proved manageable in Poland," said Ryszard Petru, chief economist at BRE Bank in Warsaw. "But it was hard to know at the time." The zloty plunged 27 percent against the euro in the six months ended in March. It has since risen more than 13 percent.
Poland has landed more softly than its neighbors because its economy is far less dependent on exports than other Central European countries, where exports can approach 90 percent of the gross domestic product. Poland, a nation of 38 million people, lives far more from domestic demand, and that depends on a stable labor market. Mr. Petru predicts that unemployment will rise to 9.9 percent by the end of 2009, from 7.1 percent, but that is about even with the European Union average. And it masks some pockets of strong growth; the jobless rate is 2 percent in Warsaw, and about 8 percent in Lodz, or less than half what it was five years ago.
One reason for the surprise in Lodz is clearly the influx of foreign investment. Procter & Gamble has one factory in Lodz and is opening another this fall. Fujitsu, the Japanese computer company, opened a service center in the city this year. Others include Infosys Technologies, the Indian information technology firm; ABB, the Swiss manufacturer of infrastructure equipment; and TNT, a Dutch logistics firm. Even after the shock of last September, when the bankruptcy of the investment house Lehman Brothers sent global business into free fall, "companies in Lodz kept searching for labor," said Piotr Broncher, the Lodz regional director for Manpower, a provider of temporary employees. "I was surprised. Everybody was surprised."
Manpower will probably find jobs for 1,200 people in the Lodz area this year, down slightly from 1,500 in 2008. Dell, the computer maker, made the investment that truly electrified Lodz. In January, Michael S. Dell, the company's founder and chief executive, officially opened a 400,000-square-foot plant that will handle logistics and assemble computers, particularly for customers from Central and Eastern Europe and Scandinavia. Over the next three years, it will employ up to 3,000 people. In a symbolic shift, Dell moved operations to Lodz from Limerick, Ireland. Ireland has protested the 52.7 million euros in subsidies that Dell got from the Polish government, but Dell cited the skilled work force in Lodz and proximity to growing markets as the reasons for its move.
The Irish boom, now possibly the worst bust in Europe, attracted many Poles, who worked with Dell there and are now finding their way home. "We even have some workers in Lodz who have come from our Limerick, Ireland, factory and who are very happy to have come back to help set up this one," Mr. Dell said at the opening in January. Tomasz Rybinski, 30, was among those Poles who left the country after it joined the European Union in 2004. He found work in Britain, which was booming and where he spent three years mixing salads, moving boxes in a warehouse and then, finally, working in a factory that made industrial refrigerators.
Rumors this year that layoffs were in the works were enough to convince Mr. Rybinski that the possibilities in his native Lodz trumped what had by then become a shattered British economy. After taking some time off, he found a job quickly. He recently started work in a factory that produces monitor and computer parts as an operator of a machine that molds plastic into specific shapes. Financially, Mr. Rybinski said he would earn about the same monthly pay, the equivalent of about $500, that he earned in Britain.
The turnaround in Lodz has been startling for a municipality whose population was still declining as recently as three years ago. Mr. Murawski, the director of Manufaktura, said his business benefited from that growth. But one multinational on the horizon might be less welcome for his operation, which combines shopping, eating and entertainment for children. This autumn, the Swedish retailer Ikea will open its own complex in Lodz, employing much the same strategy: bring them in to shop, but amuse them as well.
"That is likely to affect us much more than the crisis," Mr. Murawski said. "It is something concrete." By: Carter Dougherty Source: The new York Times
Ever since Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers appeared in the 1933 film Flying Down to Rio, the world has been fascinated with Rio de Janeiro. Popular perception of the city is infused with images of starry-eyed youngsters dancing into the dusk, backed by imposing mountains and dark sea. That view has propelled Rio to the top of our list of the world's happiest cities. Famous for its annual Carnaval festival (starting Feb. 13 next year), the second-largest metropolis in South America finished first among 50 cities in a recent survey conducted by policy advisor Simon Anholt and market researcher GfK Custom Research North America. "Brazil is associated with all these qualities of good humor and good living and Carnaval," says Anholt. "Carnaval is very important-it's the classic image that people have of Rio, and it's an image of happiness."
Next on the list is the top city from Down Under: Sydney, Australia. Known for balmy weather, friendly locals and an iconic opera house, Sydney fared well in Anholt's survey because of its association with a popular brand--Australia. "It's where everybody would like to go," he says. "Everybody thinks they know Australia because they've seen Crocodile Dundee. There's this image of this nation of people who basically sit around having barbecues." Rounding out the top five are third-ranked Barcelona, Spain, which Anholt calls "the classic Mediterranean city"; fourth-ranked Amsterdam, Netherlands, because Anholt's young respondents "know you can smoke dope in the bars"; and Melbourne, Australia, which makes the list simply because it's in Australia. "People know it's in Australia, and that it's full of Australians," says Anholt. "Therefore
, it must be fun." Behind the Numbers The data Anholt provided for our list is part of the 2009 Anholt-GfK Roper City Brands Index, released in June. The research was compiled through online interviews with 10,000 respondents in 20 countries. Happiness is difficult to quantify, and Anholt acknowledges that his data is less an indicator of where local populations are happiest than a reflection of respondents' thinking about where they could imagine themselves happy. "This is a survey of perception, not a survey of reality," he says. "People write me all the time and say 'that's not true.' It probably isn't true, but it's what people think. The gap between perception and reality is what interests city governments." The French historian Fernand Braudel wrote that " Happiness, whether in business or private life, leaves very little trace in history." (More quotes on happiness.) But a perception of happiness leaves a strong trace on the balance sheets of cities that depend on conventions, tourism and an influx of talent. The Pursuit of Happiness Anholt notes that the results of his survey reflect the longstanding reputation of Mediterranean and Latin American cities as non-stop party locales. "It's pretty much the expected bunch," says Anholt. "Though I'm a little surprised about Spain outdoing Italy. It's interesting that the Spanish are perceived as being happier than the Italians--I find the Spanish rather gloomy." Still, Barcelona--Spain's highest-ranked city--has plenty of supporters. "The beauty of the city and its environs, along with affordable housing and business opportunities, is the fantastic lifestyle," says Michelle Finkelstein, a vice president at travel agency Our Personal Guest. "There's not the stress of getting a child into the best preschool--the public ones are good and close by. And they have the top soccer team and some of the best weather in Europe." Othe
r places in the world that lack the metropolitan flair of the cities on this list are often identified with the notion of happiness. "Anyone lucky enough to visit the magical Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan would know that there is no competition: There can be no happier place," says Patricia Schultz, author of 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. "This small Buddhist nation of incredibly stunning beauty follows a unique guiding philosophy of GNH--Gross National Happiness. You can see it in their open faces--they smile from the heart. Barcelona has nothing on them." Global rivalries notwithstanding, Anholt notes that his findings more or less support historical trends, with one notable exception. "The cities on this list would probably be the same if I'd been running this survey in 1890, aside from Sydney and Melbourne," he says. "Australia is kind of a branding miracle." Not bad for a former penal colony.
BY Zack O'Malley Greenburg
Source: www.forbes.com
British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's new movie about a fictional gay Austrian fashion fanatic who wants to be "the most famous Austrian since Adolf Hitler" has some Austrians up in arms even before its release next month.
The lead character, Bruno, sometimes spelled Brüno, is also a TV presenter reporting for the "Voice of Austrian Youth TV."
People Today columnist Lisa Trompisch said she, for one, finds some lines of the film irritating and upsetting.
"How could a line that obviously points to the most horrifying crime that Austrian has seen in decades, namely a father [Josef Fritzl] keeping his own daughter in a dungeon for 26 years and fathering her seven children during that time, be considered humorous or funny?" she asked, citing one of Bruno's controversial lines, "I want to live the Austrian dream of finding a partner, buying a dungeon and starting a family."
Trompisch said, "I would rather call that irreverent and cynical." She also pointed out that in her heute.at (today.at) column she highlights another quote, "K is for Kampf, as in 'Mein Kampf,' ze fashion bible written by Austria's black sheep Adolf Hitler" as politically incorrect and unacceptable.
"I can't decide which is worse, the insult to Austria, or to present Hitler merely as a black sheep," she writes.
Austrian writers are reminding their readers of Cohen's last movie, "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" (2005), a satire in which the small town of Glod was portrayed in a backward land (Kazakhstan) of poverty and bigotry.
The film hurt a lot of feelings in Kazakhstan at the time and upset many local officials with "the derogatory way" in which their country was presented.
Suggesting that Kazakhstan has been suffering an enormous loss of identity because of Cohen's movie, ORF, the Austrian Broadcasting Corp., published an article on its Web site headlined, "Could that happen to Austria, too? Will Nazis replace our Dirndl image?"
"Could tourists be thinking of Nazis and hatred towards foreigners instead of mountains, lakes and friendly hosts wearing Dirndl dresses?" the article said, referring to the kind of traditional dress worn in southern Germany, Liechtenstein and Austria. "Should we laugh about this movie, or should we simply ignore it? Is this going to threaten our country's image?"
Will the Sacha Baron Cohen Curse Strike Austria?
Austrians needn't worry, said author Simon Anholt, a British nation-branding expert who has just published his latest book "Competitive Identity."
"Absolutely not, they should not worry, this is not how it works," he said.
Anholt, who works with international countries as a policy advisor on national identity issues, said, "This is a lot of wild talk. I know the Austrians are very sensitive about their image, but if a country's image is pretty well established, almost nothing can change it. If at all, this movie will have a short-term superficial impact which will be forgotten as soon as the reporting about it dies down.
"In the case of Kazakhstan, the situation was completely different. Nobody knew the country to begin with. It had no image to lose. In fact, Baron Cohen's film 'Borat' put the country on the map. It made people curious and tourism saw a ten-fold increase after the film. The Austrians would be best advice to ignore it, or better even, to respond with humor."
That's what Alfons Haider, Austria's most famous TV presenter, is suggesting, too.
"It's difficult to judge a film that you haven't seen but I expect it to be very funny, he said. "Sacha Baron Cohen is a wonderful actor; I'm definitely going to see the movie and I'll invite him to show him what the country is really like.
"The only thing that makes me feel strange is the idea to see Austrians marching again in Nazi uniforms and to see Hitler portrayed as entertainment. Hitler simply cannot be a comedy star. I think Cohen is walking on the edge there."
Haider, who is preparing to host a TV show on national Austrian TV ORF the same day the film is released, is thinking out loud. "I have three things in common with the lead character Bruno; I'm male, I'm gay and I'm Austrian. Maybe I'll present the show that night as Bruno."
Author: CHRISTEL KUCHARZ
Source: ABC NEws
Finland was one of many European countries that, in the early 1920s, received loans from the U.S. Government. In 1929, a sudden collapse in the stock market triggered the Great Depression, leading to a worldwide economic downturn. All but one country ceased making repayments to the United States. That country was Finland.
This period also marked the start of Finnish public diplomacy.
Approximately three thousand articles were written in the U.S. about a Scandinavian country in the north of Europe that had repaid its debt to America. Even today, older generations of Americans who lived through the Great Depression remember the story of the trustworthy and honest Finns.
Public diplomacy, as a phrase and paradigm, found its way to the Finnish Foreign Service less than a decade ago. Media relations, cultural diplomacy and exchange programs had all been part of the communications portfolio of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs since the early years of independence; but with the introduction of public diplomacy, the “attempts to manage the international environment through engagement with a foreign public”1 have become more strategic and focused.
“Half of the work of an embassy consists of traditional diplomacy, while the other half consists today of public diplomacy” stated Alexander Stubb, Finland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs last August, at the annual gathering in Helsinki of Finland’s ambassadors.
Soon after, the Foreign Minister appointed a high-level delegation to lead efforts to develop a country brand for Finland. Jorma Ollila, Chairman of Nokia Corporation and Royal Dutch Shell, was invited to chair the delegation.
The delegation is charged with the creation of a country brand for Finland; a strong national image that will enhance Finland’s international competitiveness. The appointment is based on the present Government Programme, an action plan wherein the strengthening of Finland’s image is one of the government’s objectives.
The purpose of the country brand is fourfold: strengthen the operating potential of Finnish businesses; increase foreign political influence; promote interest in Finland as an investment target; and increase tourist flows to Finland. The country brand is regarded as a cornerstone for success and prosperity.
As with any national endeavor, the branding project has become a target for skeptics. Some claim nation branding is just another marketing and communications project. Others claim that as a top performer in international comparisons, Finland need not worry about its brand and, therefore, does not require a high-level delegation. Responding to such criticism at a business seminar last January, Jorma Ollila declared that countries which fail to foster their brand could find themselves in the company of North Korea, Myanmar or Zimbabwe. Furthermore, the Finnish national brand project will rely on hard facts rather than simply a shiny veneer.
The delegation’s tasks include defining key strategic selections, networking, raising critical questions regarding content and devising services that will enhance Finland’s prestige, in addition to monitoring and steering the project. The country brand project can thus be described as the first layer of the Finnish public diplomacy concept and a broad framework for public diplomacy operations.
The second layer of Finnish public diplomacy consists of large-scale public-private cooperation among Finland’s main actors on the international scene. Those actors include the Finnish Tourist Board (MEK), Invest in Finland Agency, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology (Tekes), the national airline Finnair and the Finnish Forest Foundation, among others. This public-private partnership is chaired by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Joint public diplomacy efforts include Finnish participation at the Shanghai World Expo in 2010 and “This is Finland” (http://finland.fi). Such cooperation makes it possible for other stakeholders to be informed about and partake in public diplomacy operations if they believe it will benefit them.
The third layer of the public diplomacy concept consists of specific country programs. Public diplomacy efforts are currently focused on eleven countries Finland considers most important and where a relatively small investment can yield strong returns. These countries are Brazil, China, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Poland, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the United States.
For each of these countries the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and its embassies have developed a public diplomacy program. Each program includes an analysis of the operational environment, the status of the nation brand, definitions of objectives, key messages, target groups, tools and, ultimately, an action plan. The Finnish Embassies and Consulates in the above-mentioned countries will receive additional funding from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs to execute the programs.
The action plans of the public diplomacy programs include a variety of activities. For example, in China, an important market place for Finnish products, Finland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Finland will, this year and next, develop a comprehensive website for the Moomin characters in Chinese; present Finnish food safety guidelines for Chinese journalists and food authorities; promote Finnish environmental know-how by planting trees in Beijing; distribute Chinese-language books about Finland to Chinese universities; and administer an exchange program for Chinese civil servants to come to Finland for a month-long training period.
And what of Finland’s debt to the United States? Firstly, Finland received goodwill for decades for repaying its debt to the U.S. Secondly, part of the paid debt was converted into a fund to finance Finnish-American scientific and educational exchanges—the ASLA-Fulbright program. The fund, managed jointly by the U.S. and Finland, is certainly one of the most important and long-lasting investments in public diplomacy. It has opened invaluable contacts and international avenues for many Finnish scholars and scientists in the United States, and many Americans in Finland. It may sound cliché, but nothing beats the joint will of two countries to understand each other.
Finland beyond Nokia
Finnish public diplomacy makes use of its economy’s shining star, Nokia, whenever possible. For Nokia, a global business, Finnishness in and of itself does not seem to represent any special advantage, although it is not a detriment, either. After all, in theory, Nokia could have been born elsewhere. But the high level of education, especially amongst Finland’s pool of talented engineers, is one reason for the company’s success. The Finns’ positive mindset toward technology has also contributed to Nokia’s success, as have Finnish management culture and values.
Finland, like many countries, has embarked on a nation branding initiative to determine how its brand should be developed, and in which direction. Leading the way in this endeavor is the chairman of Nokia’s Board of Directors, Jorma Ollila. However, one shouldn’t infer that Nokia is seeking a role in Finnish public diplomacy. To be precise, Nokia is always associated with Finland anyway. Rather, it is in the company’s best interest to influence the way the country brand is developed. In this matter, Nokia and Finland have a common interest.
Authors:
Petri Tuomi-Nikula is the Director General for the Department of Communications and Culture at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.
René Söderman is the First Secretary at the Public Diplomacy Unit, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.
Source: publicdiplomacymagazine.com
The principle that cities and regions can be branded is a natural extension of corporate brand theory. George Allen, using several examples, explains how this reality offers new opportunities for attracting economic development and tourism. He also reviews the unique dimensions of place branding that make it an especially challenging task.
The idea that physical places can be branded is a natural extension of corporate brand theory. Indeed, it is generally accepted that places, as defined by culture, politics, and geography, are increasingly seen to be products, as subject to brand management practices as a cup of coffee or a car. For brand and design managers, this opens up new opportunities within the world's number-one industry-tourism-and within larger economic development initiatives. However, the branding of places is not without its unique challenges, which go far beyond a compelling marketing campaign or a new logo.
While the place-as-product analogy provides a useful filter through which to understand a place-brand approach, there remain fundamental differences in the implementation of brand theory in the place environment. These include, among others, the role of government organizations, the difficulty in defining the entity to be branded (city, region, or country), the challenges of aligning internal stakeholders (residents, business owners, frontline workers), and the difficulty of sustaining brand consistency and resources over time in the face of competing societal, as opposed to corporate, interests.
Beyond marketing and identity
While it is true that destinations have been "marketed" or otherwise promoted to travelers for decades, if not centuries, the explicit and competitive nature of tourism destination marketing has become more pronounced since the mid twentieth century. Tourism is now seen as a quintessentially consumerist activity, and it has burgeoned since the 1960s, paralleling the main expansion of consumerism during the second half of the last century.1 Indications now suggest that travel has become a "significant lifestyle indicator for today's aspirational consumers" and, indeed, may even be regarded as a fashion accessory.2
What has recently come to distinguish the concept of place branding is the need to provide clear product differentiation in an increasingly competitive, globalizing marketplace that rests on memorability and emotional connection with consumers, delivered through all points of contact in the product/service value chain. Destination marketers are "confronted by increasing product parity, substitutability, and competition," write Nigel Morgan and his colleagues in their book Destination Branding. "Today most destinations have superb five-star resorts, hotels and attractions, every country claims a unique culture and heritage, each place describes itself as having the friendliest people and the most customer-focused tourism industry and service, and facilities are no longer differentiators."' Branding, therefore, now has a role as a strategic lens, a decision-making tool, and as shorthand for the personality of place in the place environment that broadens the traditional role of marketing beyond communicating features and benefits to one of deepening relationships with customers.
The experience of place: Physical and virtual
Places are fundamentally experiential in nature in the way they provide combinations of indoor and outdoor environments, service encounters, products, psychological experiences, experiences over time, and all manner of sensory encounters. But the experience of a place also extends ahead of the actual travel there or the physical experience of being there. That experience includes the period during which an intent to visit/purchase is formed, and to the post-place experience of memory formation, loyalty reinforcement, and word-of-mouth dissemination and communication of the brand. "The traveler's choice of a given vacation destination depends largely on the favorableness of his or her image of that destination. ... The image connotes the traveler's expectation of the destination and a positive image promises the traveler a rewarding life experience. Consequently, the images held by individuals in the marketplace are crucial to a destination's marketing success."4 This applies to images held by customers after visiting a place, as well as before visiting a place. Therefore, it is increasingly important to create a compelling virtual brand experience outside the physical place. Among other things, as communication technologies, most notably the Internet, become more sophisticated, the ability to enrich the preand post-physical experience of a place increases significantly.
The perception of a place formed by potential customers prior to actually visiting is of critical importance within the branding process. As with consumer products and services, formulating predisposition and intent to buy is one of the central drivers of brand investment and decision-making.
Images of a place may be formed internally, by residents or those close to a place, or externally, by potential customers. Such image perceptions may overlap or have little in common and may change over time. The importance of understanding image formation from a brand perspective is that this has a potential impact on several key brand building blocks, including brand identity, service and stakeholder alignment, and marketing strategy.
A place brand is, by its very nature, a complex amalgam of strategic and tactical initiatives involving the management of multiple layers of stakeholder groups and multiple channels of communication, often across diverse geographies, histories, and cultures. In recent qualitative research conducted by the author on the Super, Natural British Columbia brand, two key issues stood out in consideration of the application of brand theory within the place brand environment: the management of stakeholder groups and the role of government as dominant stakeholder.
Stakeholders: Delivering on the front lines of the brand experience
Stakeholder groups, among whom are those delivering the brand experience, can be difficult to manage and align behind brand objectives. These groups may include hotel owners, attraction owners, transportation authorities and, not least, government agencies. It should also be noted that anyone with whom visitors may interact, such as residents, the media, or nontourism-specific service workers, whether or not they are part of the tourism industry, will affect the brand experience.
Beyond front-line service workers, a place brand is often a composite of secondary attractions and destinations. In some cases, individual attractions have their own strong reputations that extend well beyond the region and may or may not constitute important elements of the umbrella place brand. The question arises as to how the relationships among these various elements of the brand are negotiated and aligned. Stakeholder dynamics (for example, sub-brand relationships, brand buy-in by front-line service providers) emerge as a theme in both the corporate and place-brand literature with the conclusion that a common and resonant understanding by stakeholders of a brand's core attributes provides the foundation on which brand strength ultimately sits.
The Starbucks coffee experience, for example, depends in large part on the quality of its frontline employees; but to carry a brand throughout a country involves thousands, if not tens of thousands, of brand stewards, none of whom consider their citizenship necessarily makes them stakeholders in a brand.
Government organizations = challenging partnerships
Government or quasi-governmental tourism agencies, as important players within the stakeholder mix, typically occupy a leadership role in constructing the marketing/brand framework. These agencies often lack the political power within government that tourism income would warrant; funding formulas and, therefore, marketing budgets play an important role in determining promotional tactics.
Government or its related agencies have often played a central organizing role in the management of tourism/destination activities. It is clear that governments can have a significant impact, positive or negative, on brand development and implementation through key roles in the areas of funding, brand leadership, coordination of subbrands, and provision of essential travel and tourism infrastructure, such as roads, airports, electrical power, and land management, for example. While government agencies often lead brand initiatives, the stakeholder domains within which they operate are arguably more difficult to manage than those faced by corporate brand managers. However, despite the lack of role clarity and the vagaries of political processes, government or government-affiliated organizations will continue to play a leading and unique role within the place brand stakeholder spectrum for the foreseeable future.
Managing uncertainty and evolving the brand model
The fragmentation of stakeholder groups and the instability of top-level governmental brand leadership suggest that the coherence deemed critical for brand success may not even be possible in the place brand environment. However, it does suggest potential opportunities for more tactical application of brand tenets that may yield substantial economic benefits. Key brand assets may be identified that have the potential to resonate across other points of brand contact, as identified through the place brand model (on previous page). For example, transportation infrastructure (airports, marine terminals), often seen as strictly utilitarian, can make for compelling first impressions of a place that can resonate throughout a visitor's experience. This model also suggests that the organizations responsible for managing brand need to be executing more than ad campaigns; they need to be liaising with a broader spectrum of organizations responsible for physical infrastructure, visitor support services, urban planning, and even clean public toilets!
Conclusion
In summary, successful place branding requires that attention be focused on the following:
* Understanding the role and dynamics of government
* Isolating key points of brand contact
* Focusing marketing campaigns internally, as well as externally
* Understanding the physical and virtual requirements of the brand experience
* Developing new research frameworks that drive meaningful customer experience
There continues to be confusion in the marketplace, both among brand practitioners and clients, that a logo or an identity is all that constitutes a brand. As a result, brand strategy tends to be driven by short-term, narrow-scope thinking through which the primary tool of brand expression becomes the marketing campaign executed through traditional media channels. Brand strategy should, however, more effectively be used as a tool of a broader economic development strategy that includes public and private infrastructure development, the quality of the built environment, service design, and planning and public policy, among others. Notwithstanding the challenges of an expanded perspective of place brand, this view opens up many new opportunities for design practitioners.
Case Study; Super, Natural British Columbia
The Super, Natural British Columbia brand has maintained a strong market presence for more than 25 years, as measured by brand awareness and recall surveys, and has successfully evolved by building on its core attributes. The author's research reveals that the brand benefited from a solid foundation built with a combination of resonant brand attributes and key early management decisions. There was a large measure of positive intuitive response to the core brand attributes. This appears to have been particularly important, because it allowed brand focus and buy-in to develop more easily despite the recognized complexity of managing stakeholder interests. Although the core attributes of the SNBC brand may have been more obvious than is the case in other jurisdictions, this does point to the critical importance of the formative stages of the branding process and the need to attain clarity of brand essence at the outset of any branding initiative.
The following themes emerged as critical success factors:
* Brand definition: Early establishment (1978) of a brand identity with deeply resonant key brand attributes (mountains, ocean, forests). This brand essence was successfully captured by clearly differentiated visuals and supported by media campaigns that were sufficiently funded to establish early market leadership. While largely driven by powerful landscape imagery, the brand has successfully evolved through the development of complementary regional subbrands and sights and activities, such as agricultural tourism, wildlife viewing, and ecotourism.
* Stakeholder dynamics. The brand has benefited from the early establishment of internal branding practices exemplified by a tourism Superhost program that educates, trains, and rates front-line service providers and services. Stakeholder management practices have also evolved through Tourism British Columbia's public/private partnerships, which incorporate regional subbrands and representation from different industry sectors.
* The role of government: Involvement of key government personnel, up to and including the Minister of Tourism, in providing early focus and leadership, ultimately led to the creation of a culture in which a de-politicized brand was supported. While underfunding is a chronic problem in the tourism sector and, indeed, within many government-dependent programs, strong brand roots make such programs less vulnerable to short-term political tampering.
* Managing the brand environment. Challenges have included ensuring that funding levels are sufficient for long-term brand support and establishing appropriate brand measures that not only track brand awareness, but also track customer response to the brand experience and anticipate future trends important to the evolution of the brand.
Case Study: Seattle Metronatural
With the objective of increasing tourism to the city, the Seattle Convention and Visitors Bureau faced the typical challenge of encapsulatirrg a vast array of attributes into a-cemprehensible and compelling brand position. The keyword metronatural emerged from a year-long consultative process that settled on a combination of urban and outdoor experiences as key brand attributes.
While the new tagline has apparently been well received, the predictable detractors have weighed in with references to urban nudist camps and similarities to words such as tnetrosexual. Stakeholders often acknowledge the need for change but rarely embrace it. As a result, new brand positions need time to take hold.
More worrisome, from a place-brandingstrategy perspective, is that Seattle has adopted a whole string of identities over the past 20 years, including Emerald City, Jet City, and see-@-L: Soak it Up, not to mention the Say WA? campaign (which refers, of course, more to the state than to the city). Adding to the confusion is the fact that the metronatural press release explicitly encourages people to continue using the Emerald City and Jet City monikers, all of which calls into question the city's ability to sustain a focused branding initiative over the 5-, 10-, and 20-year time frames required. The mixed messaging of these past efforts and the narrow focus of the research and vision underpinning the current iteration of the brand also suggests that Seattle still hasn't quite come to terms with its core personality.
Case Study: Brand Manitoba-Spirited Energy
The Canadian province of Manitoba launched its new Spirited Energy brand in 2006, after a two-year development process under the auspices of the Premier's Economic Advisory Council and the branding consultancy Interbrand. The Manitoba process was inclusive of the highest levels of government; it directly addressed the resident population of the province through the research and launch phases; and its vision for a new brand was to draw immigrants and investors to the province and drive resident pride, as well as draw tourists.
Even a comprehensive program, such as that developed for Manitoba, represents only the starting point of what needs to be a sustained effort involving all stakeholders (government, economic development and tourism agencies, frontline businesses, residents) over time.
Case Study: 100% Pure New Zealand
The isolated nation of New Zealand counts tourism as its number-one export earner. Since the launch of its 100% Pure New Zealand campaign in 1999, it has continued to build on its brand foundation of spectacular scenery and ecotourism/outdoor activities. 100% Pure clearly meets many of the criteria for brand success: an image built on obvious attributes that resonate both internally and externally, a strong Internet presence, a global marketing strategy supported by compelling visuals, training of front-line service providers, and a comprehensive and long-term research commitment.
Author: George Allen, Principal, Design|Strategy|Reseorch|lnc
Source: Design Management Institute
W Australii, pomimo przeprowadzenia w ostatnich latach kilku bardzo udanych projektów promocyjnych w obszarze turystyki (m.in. kampanii "So where the bloody hell are you?" oraz z tego roku opartej na filmie Baza Luhrmanna "Australia" - opisywanej w marcowym numerze Brief for Poland), cały czas dyskutuje się o budowaniu marki kraju. Tym razem mówi się o unifikacji wizerunku, wykorzystaniu sukcesu działań promocyjnych w obszarze turystycznym na gruncie promocji gospodarczej. Proponuje się także powołania "Brand Australia Council". Więcej w artykule poniżej:
One nation, one brand, one shrimp
Tourism chiefs across Australia are calling for one unified Australian brand to use when selling the country's products and services and encouraging tourists from the rest of the world - so are we gearing up to expect another ‘Throw a shrimp on the barbie' ad or what? TheMoveChannel finds out...
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has been approached by Australia's major exporters calling for a ‘Brand Australia Council.'
Selling Australia with one unified brand will strengthen people's awareness of the country both as a tourist destination and business hub.
Whilst tourism has done most of the legwork in selling Australia to the world thus far, there now needs to be a coordinated approach which will see the will see the marketing efforts of all Australian businesses, artists, musicians, actors, sportspeople, designers and more, leverage off each other, under a unified Australian brand.
Managing Director of the Tourism and Transport Forum, Christopher Brown, said that it was an easily affordable project.
"Australia is one of the most recognisable country brands on Earth, and the brand has been valued at around £391 billion.
"In context, the most valuable corporate brand in 2008 was Coca-Cola, valued at £24 billion. Coca-Cola has tens of thousands of people worldwide looking after its brand, but at the moment we are going into the market without a marketing department," he added.
Mr Brown said the forum had been working on the proposal for an Australian brand for a couple of years.
Amongst the suggestions for the brand is playing on Australia's relaxed, laid back, outdoorsy nature coupled with a sense of space.
Unlike other cities such as London and New York, Australia offers an uncrowded way of life with a reliable climate and fantastic beaches.
Other suggestions included playing on the physical beauty of the country.
Chief Executive of advertising agency Leo Burnett, Todd Sampson, said, "The challenge facing Australia now is to find its own space in people's heads.
"Just like Las Vegas instantly means adult playground, so Australia needs to find its own brand," he added.
Author: Catherine Deshayes
Source: www.themovechannel.com
W rankingu marek krajów z 2008 r. (Anholt-Gfk, 2008) Korea uplasowała się na 33 miejscu. To rozczarowujący dla nich wynik, biorąc pod uwagę potencjał gospodarczy (15 gospodarka na świecie, 4 w Azji) oraz atrakcyjny świat kultury i sztuki. I to właśnie koreańska kultura ma dodać energii marce kraju. Więcej w wywiadzie z Kim He-beom-em, dyrektorem organizacji odpowiedzialnej za promocję kultury, afiliowanej przy Ministerstwie Kultury.
Consensus key to vibrant national brand
‘It is our responsibility to draw the whole picture of Korea for [the world],and offer facts on the rest of the spectrum.’
A decade or two ago, few thought that a country or a culture could be called a brand in its own right, a marketable, profitable name capable of generating business and trade deals all on its own.
Yet Koreans these days are constantly reminded of the importance of the country’s image as a brand and marketing tool, since the Lee Myung-bak administration is particularly keen on promoting Korea and commercializing its culture.
According to Anholt-GfK, a New York-based market research company that ranks the world’s national brands, Korea was 33rd of 50 countries in 2008 in terms of the power and quality of its image. For number-conscious Koreans, the ranking is both disappointing and alarming, especially considering that the country is the world’s 15th-largest economy, and No. 4 in Asia.
There are several government organizations in Korea responsible for promoting it and its culture to the international community. Perhaps one of the oldest is the Korean Culture and Information Service. Kim He-beom, a veteran government publicist, took the helm at the Culture Ministry-affiliated organization about three months ago. The JoongAng Daily sat down with him for his take on Korea the brand.
Q. How have efforts to promote Korea abroad changed over the years?
A. Next year marks the 40th anniversary of the Korean Culture and Information Service. [The agency has existed under different names depending on the leadership at the time.]
In the early years [of the 1970s and ’80s], the work was largely about the justification of the government. Amid rising calls for democracy, the military regimes that came to power in coups d’etat lacked legitimacy. Thus, our main function was to provide justification of the government.
Then in the early 1990s, North Korea began to provoke the international community with nuclear threats. Our prior task then was explaining to the world the situation with the North Korean nuclear program - to tell them precisely what’s going on on the Korean Peninsula and defuse unnecessary concerns or crises.
In the late 1990s, the Asian financial crisis erupted. Thus, our work was mostly about reporting to the world how Korea was handling the situation, and how it was recovering in order to win back credibility and investment from foreign partners.
Today, Korea no longer has to prove the legitimacy of its government, but the North Korea issue lingers, and like many other countries in the world, Korea has been hit with another economic crisis.
So we are working to let the world know how Korea’s quickly recovering from the crisis using its previous experience from the late 1990s. We are also working to promote Korea’s cultural aspects, since as a member of the OECD and the G-20, the country has a lot to offer culturally, too.
What Korean cultural content do you think is particularly viable in the global arena?
Korean food is one. There is a diversity in Korean food that is rarely seen in food in other countries. And that variety, along with richness in taste and quantity, has so much potential. We just have agree on how best to promote it overseas.
The Hallyu [Korean Wave] phenomenon is another. When I ask foreigners about the appeal of Korean films and dramas, they pick their lack of sexual and violent content and abundance of emotional and moral elements, which certainly set them apart from say, Hollywood films.
The Korean government’s green initiatives can also be utilized. Korea is a small country with high population density and few natural resources. Thus the government is extremely interested in eco-friendly, sustainable development. Green is the buzzword in the international community today. If we succeed in these initiatives, we could become an exemplary model for others.
Finding a linkage among these elements can also yield synergistic effects. One example would be a bicycle tour to take participants on Korean food tasting experiences in different regions. The green element would be the bicycles, and the cultural element, the food, and they would work synergistically to promote Korea and enhance its image.
How do foreigners perceive Korea? And how is the Korean Culture and Information Service working with these perceptions?
It seems that there are two very contrasting views on Korea.
At the one end of the spectrum is the negative perception that Korea is politically unstable because of the North Korean nuclear threat and that the economy is also weak and unpredictable due to factors like management-labor conflicts and protests.
At the other end of the spectrum is a sense of respect, even awe, for successful Korean-made goods and content like Samsung products or [the drama] “Jewel in the Palace.” This is often seen in regions in Southeast Asia, Central Asia or the Middle East.
I don’t want to call these perceptions stereotypes because they are, after all, what make up Korea. Instead I would call them partial, unbalanced views on Korea. In that sense, it is our responsibility to draw the whole picture of Korea for them, and offer facts on the rest of the spectrum.
There has been criticism of the official slogan “Dynamic Korea,” adopted by the government in 2001. Do you think it does a good job of representing Korea?
I am aware that there are both supporters and opponents of that slogan. One thing that cannot be ignored is the amount of research, work and money that went into creating that slogan. Another equally important thing is the brand recognition it has accumulated abroad over the years. In fact, “Dynamic Korea” is more famous abroad than here in Korea.
The key to a good slogan is coming to a consensus among ourselves about what facet of us we want to present to the world. Is it our 5,000-year history? Historic sites like Gyeongbok Palace? IT? A slogan is important, but no slogan can satisfy everyone. Some will like it and others are bound to hate it. All we can do is find consensus as best we can beforehand.
There are many government groups working to promote Korea and its culture: the Council on Nation Branding under the presidential office, the Korea Foundation under the Foreign Ministry, the Korea Tourism Organization, and others. Is this ever challenging for you?
The launch of those organizations was inevitable given circumstances in the past. But the situation has changed now. It seems that Korea has grown in body size, yet is still wearing old clothes. It’s crucial that we differentiate these group’s missions while centralizing efforts and strengthening networking.
As part of these efforts, we envision something like the British Council or the Japan Foundation. Its tentative name is the “Korea Center.” The center will centralize the nation’s PR efforts, which are now scattered, and enhance communication among organizations like the Culture Ministry, the Korea Tourism Organization and the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency.
By Kim Hyung-eun, The JoongAng Daily
(Kim He-beom, Director of the Korean Culture and Information Service)
Source: joongangdaily.joins.com
Australia szuka nowego sloganu, który będzie promował turystyczną "twarz" kraju. Rząd chce przeznaczyć na to nawet do 20 milinów. Premiera nowego systemu wizualnego marki turystycznej odbędzie się w przyszłym roku. Więcej w artykule:
Australia searches for new tourism slogan
Australia's search for a new identity to match New Zealand's successful "100% Pure" and South Africa's "Rainbow Nation" brands will see the Government put up $20 million to find it.
The Trade Minister, Simon Crean, will today challenge the nation's marketing agencies to come up with a catch-all slogan, image or logo that best exemplifies Australia and promote it overseas.
The brand will be launched domestically in February and internationally in May, at the Shanghai World Expo.
''We are much more than a nation of great people and great places,'' Mr Crean will say at today's launch.
''We have won 10 Nobel Prizes and we are a nation bursting with creativity and ingenuity. The Australian way is to underplay our achievements but this kind of modesty only surrenders the edge to our competitors.''
The successful brand must have an ''unashamedly commercial focus'' to promote Australia as a tourist destination, and as a great place to live, do business, and invest.
The exercise, an initiative of Austrade, trumps an idea put forward by a group of prominent businessmen - led by the former Qantas chief Geoff Dixon - for a ''Brand Australia Council'' to manage big industries such as tourism, education, resources and services.
Mr Crean supported that idea last September at a tourism conference in Canberra.
Representatives of the Brand Australia Council initiative are due to see Kevin Rudd within the next month to get the Prime Minister's support for the idea.
At the same time the federal tourism body Tourism Australia is close to signing off on a new blockbuster advertising campaign to follow in the footsteps of the marketing campaign that hinged on Baz Luhrmann's epic movie Australia. Tourism Australia is believed to have been consulted by Mr Crean's office.
Mr Crean will use today's launch to push back against protectionism, saying the brand project ''is another sign that we are not turning inwards and going down a path of a mandatory Buy Australia campaign''.
With the world emerging from the financial crisis, Mr Crean will declare the ''protectionist push has been contained''.
BY PHILLIP COOREY AND JULIAN LEE
Source: www.illawarramercury.com.au
Klip promocyjny Australii z 1984 r.:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn_CPrCS8gs
South Africa 2010 communication: still no central message
Having attended the fourth and final National Communications Partnership (NCP) Conference last week, I hoped to gain clarity on the NCP's communications plan and my role as a communicator in delivering on that plan. Although feeling inspired to take on an active role, I'm still unsure of what that role will be and the central message is that the NCP wishes professional communicators to champion.
Despite being a brand leadership workshop for the communication industry, the session aimed to serve two functions: not only to debrief the industry on the Confederations Cup and provide a status update on the progress for 2010, but also to discuss and agree on a way forward for communication for 2010.
Holistic message
The partnership, consisting of the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS), the Local Organising Committee (LOC), FIFA, Brand South Africa, the National Tourism Board, and various communications agencies and stakeholders in the private and public sector, aims to drive a holistic message and create brand ambassadors in South Africa in acting as hosts to the world in 2010.
Everything made so much sense. If the practice of branding, and in this context nation branding, is essentially about creating consistency around the 2010 brand message, then mobilising and uniting people through a centralised message and calls to action that encourage citizens to act as brand ambassadors is a natural strategy.
The process, it seems, is well understood by those in control of our nation's 2010 communication; however, there is still no brand message.
Lot of talk
There was a lot of talk surrounding Germany's 2006 campaign, a nation-building campaign that united Germany and greatly improved the perception of Germans and Germany as a whole.
Quite simply, the campaign encouraged making friends. The ‘Time to Make Friends' campaign was honest, and spoke directly to the perception and relationship troubles that Germany had with the rest of the world and, most importantly, gave the German people the tools to literally, be friendly.
On top of this, the country launched a ‘Land of Ideas' campaign locally and internationally that positioned Germany as a cultural centre, and delivered on that external promise by investing large sums into arts and culture in the country.
It didn't matter which host city you went to; Munich, Frankfurt, Berlin, the messaging was consistent and the communication was coherent. It sung of one Germany, one voice. It was - by all accounts - a masterfully managed and delivered campaign.
What are we telling?
So in South Africa, what are we telling the rest of the world, for 2010?
With the exception of the ‘Diski Dance' campaign, the national tourism board is not creating any new campaigns, and using old positioning and campaigns with the 2010 logo stamped on them.
2010 provides us with an opportunity like no other to refocus our international positioning as we reach out to the millions of people visiting our country and the billions watching around the world and what are they going to see?
Well, so far no one knows.
In addition, South African Tourism will be using an American service provider to research and train 500 000 service industry staff (a debate for another day). Again, what will the campaign message be that aligns everyone in preparation for the delivery for service excellence? ‘Come and feel it?' ‘South Africa, It's Possible'?, ‘Welcome'?
No-one knows
Again, no-one knows.
At the end of the conference there was agreement on several symbols and calls to action that we can communicate and rally support for. The Diski Dance, Flying the Flag, learning and understanding the National Anthem, and support for Bafana Bafana were but a few.
However, none of these provide a great context; none of these adequately represent what South Africa has to offer the world. They are all sub-components of a bigger message - which, with less than 300 days to go, is unknown.
Dr Irvin Khosa said in his address at the NCP conference that he's not feeling it, there isn't enough hype and we need to get moving. Well, Dr Khosa. we aren't feeling it either.
It's time
So maybe it's time for the 2010 national communication partnership to dispense with the consultation and commit to a core message that as communication professionals and South Africans we can all get behind.
By: Karin Botta
Source: www.bizcommunity.com
Szwecja rozpoczęła budowę swojej marki od działań na poziomie centralnym. W 2006 r. Rada Promocji Szwecji uruchomiła platformę brandingową dla swojego kraju. Platforma opisuje istotę komunikacji Szwecji na zewnątrz. Obecnie działania brandingowe schodzą o jeden poziom niżej - do miast i regionów. Więcej w artykule:
'Brand Sweden' goes local
Nation-branding, though controversial in some quarters, is becoming ever more important and can be of great value to towns and regions wishing to reach out to the wider world, writes Joakim Norén of the Swedish Institute.
Nowadays, a place is also a brand. But branding a place is fairly different from branding a product. For Swedish regions and municipalities, the “Brand Sweden” platform may make the job easier.
In 2006 The Council for the Promotion of Sweden (NSU*) launched a brand platform for Sweden. The NSU is a cooperation between the Swedish Institute, VisitSweden, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Invest in Sweden Agency and the Trade Council. The platform describes the essence that is the foundation or starting point for all official communication of Sweden abroad.
It is quite unique that organisations with such diverse missions from the government share a brand platform, and similar organisations from around the world have shown interest in the platform. The Swedish Institute has also noticed a growing interest from Swedish regions and municipalities, both to learn from the process of developing a brand platform with a broad group of interested parties and to relate to “Brand Sweden” when they develop their own brands.
Branding is becoming ever more important. For companies targeting the consumer market it’s a prerequisite, and for most business-to-business companies as well. But many still think that branding of places is a little bit strange, sometimes even controversial. However, places have as much to gain from a strong brand as products and services. And quite often product brands and place brands interact; you all know which country builds the best quality luxury cars or where the most cutting edge consumer electronics come from.
Branding of places has some additional challenges compared with branding of commercial products. Products can often be changed to fit a brand platform, something which is very difficult or impossible when it comes to a place. There is also a broader range of interested parties involved, who will have to contribute to realising the brand but also have something to benefit from a successful brand. A brand platform for a place needs to be accessible to the public and is therefore more likely to be questioned and criticised.
The Swedish regions and municipalities have far less resources to allocate for branding than the NSU, so sharing the experience from developing “Brand Sweden” is a good way for the Swedish Institute to help them move forward in this process. In the spring of 2009, the Swedish Institute arranged a seminar together with Geobrands, where we presented the brand platform for Sweden together with some insights into how the national brand can be interpreted and used on a local or regional level.
For the regions and municipalities it is essential to know how Sweden is perceived abroad for their own branding efforts, and they wouldn’t be able to afford to carry out all the research that the Swedish Institute does. Sharing this information broadly is also a way for the Swedish Institute to reach its target of a stronger, clearer and more up-to-date image for Sweden abroad.
Brand Sweden is the sum of all encounters between people around the world and anything Swedish – products, people, culture or actual visits to Sweden. The key to a clear and strong national brand is not only in what message the Swedish institute or the rest of the NSU send out, but what all Swedish regions, product brands, people, etc do and say.
For example, companies like Volvo and Ikea have done a great job of positioning Sweden as a country that makes products where design and innovation is really used for the benefit of ordinary people. If we can get more Swedish organisations to share and use the Brand Sweden platform and communicate the unique values and the position that sets Sweden apart in the world, it will surely benefit both the image of Sweden in general and any brand associated with Sweden.
Author: Joakim Norén, Brand Development Manager, Swedish Institute
Source: www.thelocal.se
W kolejnym afrykańskim kraju, tym razem w Kenii, zaczyna się ponowna dyskusja o marce tego kraju. Posiadanie pozytywnego wizerunku na arenie międzynarodowej może pomóc w utrzymaniu silnej gospodarki, nawet w przypadku niewielkich perturbacji politycznych. Ciekawy artykuł CEO jednej z agencji ze Wschodniej Afryki.
Country branding for unity and growth
The current political standoff and intolerance is threatening to erode the major economic gains that Kenya has achieved over the past five years. Not only is the situation affecting logistics within the country, it is also affecting our hard-earned international image.
Whereas we had reached a point where Kenya was seen as a case study in political tranquility and economic stability, we are now being showcased in the international media as a war torn economic time bomb. One solution to counter this is to create a strong country brand.
Why brand a country
Much has been said in the past about Brand Kenya but not much has been done, possibly because only a few people could understand the power of branding for a nation like Kenya. A strong focused country brand strategy not only strengthens the international image of a nation, but it also realigns the citizen's mindset about their country and speeds up healing and reconciliation.
Currently Kenya is experiencing strong economic growth of approximately 7% and this is projected to continue growing, especially if we rapidly upgrade our road network. However, the upgrade of infrastructure will provide only part of the desired growth. It will get us to double digit growth but may not keep us there. Countries like Singapore and South Africa that have been through similar situations also realised that one way to enhance their growth beyond what will be provided by improved infrastructure, is country branding. Just like in the world of product brands, country branding can position a country way above its peers, even though both may have the same offering. Ireland and Scotland are widely acknowledged as having created country brands that punch far above their natural weight.
Principles of country branding
The principles of branding apply in equal measure to countries as they do to corporations; the only difference is the methods applied. Countries compete daily with neighbouring countries or block regions for tourism, inward investment and export sales. Due to the limited amount of business available in the global market those countries that do not develop and hone a competitive edge will find it difficult to boost their commercial success beyond a certain level. Countries that have an unknown or poor reputation will find themselves limited or marginalised. Consequently they will always languish at the bottom of the influence ladder at regional economic summits.
Germany, a country that has been at the centre of two world wars, today has a clear and positive reputation, whereby products made in Germany have a certain aura of meticulous engineering. The added brand equity they possess by originating in Germany opens door and wins contracts. According to statistics on the European car business, the vehicle of choice for the mass market in each country is largely indigenous brands; for example Citroen and Renault in France and Seat in Spain. However, when a second car is required, more often than not it's a German brand.
Creating a branding programme for a country requires an integration policy that most countries do not possess. This entails the ability to act and speak in a coordinated and repetitive way about themes that are the most motivating and differentiating for a country.
The benefits of consistent and professional country branding can be observed in every region, including the ability to win more investment business because the country image says the right things about taxation, labour skills, safety, the environment and political stability. It also gives weight to the “made in” label because it will positively aid the sale of products in foreign markets. Furthermore, it builds up patriotism and pride that goes far beyond personal political opinions and inclinations.
Developing a country brand
To develop a country brand you require having the cooperation and involvement of representatives of government, business, the arts, education and importantly the media. Usually the media will be keen to be involved because it gives them the opportunity to objectively settle some scores on unfair attacks by foreign media. The media also enable fast and uniform dissipation of the country brand message to the general populace.
Using qualitative and quantitative research methodologies you also need to find out how your country is perceived both internally by citizens and externally by people abroad who you want to influence. You should also consult with opinion leaders on the countries strengths and weaknesses and compare their views with the research information gathered.
Similar to how brand strategies are developed for corporations; the research information is collated and analysed using professional brand strategy models. This enables the development of a brand idea and positioning that positively and clearly differentiates the country from any other. The brand idea enables the development of messaging to the various audiences previously identified. The message created for tourism will be different from that created for investment; however they will both portray the same overall brand positioning.
The most difficult part of country branding is on the ground roll out. You should work out a programme to make the strategy tangible through improvement projects. For example, people want their country to have the best physical impression at ports of entry, city centres, entertainment venues etc.
A major challenge is to create a system that links together the different organisations and departments that drive implementation of your brand strategy, without making it look too governmental, because people will instinctively avoid working with it. In addition to this the government needs to drive support for the initiative but shouldn't try to take all the accolades, otherwise all you will end up with is a number of re-branded ministries and government bodies.
Most of all, to be successful, it is actions that really count. You cannot impose branding on a country, but you can find out the aspects that appeal to the widest group of people and which are different and special. The execution of the strategy takes time but you have to be consistent, building an integrated picture and always backing it with quality. The consistency in execution should not be affected by the day to day changes in the political atmosphere.
These same principles and methodologies of country branding can be applied to a city or an economic region. Two great examples of city branding are New York and Jo'burg. Visitors to these cities tend to state the name of the city as opposed to the country when they are discussing their trip. The same can be done for Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu cities.
By: Richard Mukoma (Chief executive at Interbrand Sampson East Africa)
Source: www.bizcommunity.com
Coraz więcej krajów uświadamia sobie, że budowanie marki to nie tylko logo i hasło promocyjne ale o wiele, wiele więcej. Minister ds. Informacji Nigerii uważa, że należy zacząć od etycznej rewolucji przywódców kraju. Jeśli dadzą oni dobry przykład, ich zwolennicy łatwo pójdą w ich ślady. To się dopiero nazywa re-branding! Więcej w artykule poniżej:
Re-branding Nigeria should go beyond sloganeering
The current hype on re-branding Nigeria project may not achieve the desired result unless, there is a radical change to purposeful leadership by the leaders.
A mass communication expert and Public Relations cum Advertising consultant, Sulaimon Osho gave the verdict in his assessment of the on-going effort at lifting the country image.
He noted that the present approach of the Minister of Information, Professor Dora Akunyili to the re-branding Nigeria project is predicated on sloganeering, and has failed to address the core-issues that would serve as impetus that could galvanize the followers toward positive and exemplary conduct.
Osho who is a member of many professional bodies such as Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ); the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR); Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON); Nigeria Institute of Management (NIM) and many more spoke to Daily Sun in Abeokuta, Ogun state capital. This erudite scholar is also an author and among his numerous books are: Political Public Relations and National Stability (1999), Advertising and Public Relations Law (2001), Public Relations and Development (2003), Public Relations Copy and Media (2008), Public Relations Policy, Planning and Strategy (2008) and others.
According to Osho, re-branding Nigeria goes beyond the present approach of Minister of Information, Professor Akunyili to the concept. The superficial launching of the logo and slogan, making pronouncements in the media are not enough.
“Re-branding of Nigeria must start with the ethical revolution of our leaders not superficial launching of logo and slogan, and making pronouncements in the media. If the leaders lead by good example, the followers will easily follow in their footsteps. You cannot use the same strategy and tactics used for re-branding a product like Milo, MTN, and GLO for a country”, he said.
To him, there must be total behavioral change. There must be purposefulness and determination to turn the country around for good by our leaders.
The communication guru also spoke on several burning issues such as national development, leadership, politics and why the step adopted by the federal government to re-brand Nigeria will fail if the abnormality in the campaign is not corrected
Nigeria as a Brand
No doubt, Nigeria is a brand any day, anytime. Nigeria as country is a brand and re-branding is a different branding, a brand is a corporate entity, product, services or an institution.
Re-branding is the re-packing of a brand to promote the brand, the promotion of the brand is what will be called branding.
Nigeria is a brand under the concept of branding. Nigeria is a marketable commodity because it has geographical location, people and a government. It is a sovereign state, it has all the qualities it takes to be called a brand. Nigeria can be presented for people to come and visit, trade and many more. Nigeria has a product to sell. It has a collection of people in it and marketable people for that matter, therefore, it has human and material resources that are marketable.
Re-branding Nigeria
It is necessary to re-brand Nigeria because the country has a bad image among the comity of nations in the world, but it is just the approach, strategy and tactics being used by the federal government that is wrong.
Nigeria is regarded as the giant of Africa in terms of population, human resources and natural resources , when you put all these together, you will know that Nigeria is a country that needs to be re-branded because when you look at the image of the country, you will realize that something is wrong.
If you travel out of the country regularly , you will know what it means once they see you as a Nigerian outside the country. They do all sort of things to you to search you because of their past experience in the hand of Nigerians. Even in the country, despite the huge amount of resources the country is blessed with, Nigeria is still proverty stricken, a country that sells about 3million barrels of oil daily in the world market is still ranked second to the last among the poorest nations in the world .
Nigeria lacks natural resources it produced itself , no social amenities for citizens, educational system is something you cannot be proud of , health sector is down, brain drain syndrome has taken over the country, so many professionals have left the country for Europe ,Asia, America, even some little African countries which are not up to Nigeria .
The situation of our political setting is not even helping the matter, the kind of democracy we practice is something that is shocking. look at the rate at which election petition is increasing from 1999 till date. The last election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the country was adjudged as fraudulent, full of malpratices yet INEC still goes ahead to declare the “selection “ not election as free and fair.
The true picture of the last election is what we are seeing now which is the reversal of INEC declaration. In a situation where a Governor has ruled for several months and election tribunal now throws him out for taking short cut to get to office , is it not free and fair according to INEC ? A state where election tribunal declared that there should be re-election to determine who really won the election and INEC had earlier declared that election in that state is perfect , is it not perfect? All these are giving us a bad image in the international community. Foreign observers who monitored the election in the country said the last election was fraudulent, bad, full of manipulation but the only thing INEC can say is that the election was free and fair , when we heard about all that happened through out the whole country during the election.
Apart from that, look at our economy, we have many refineries, many terminals, yet none is functioning properly, we export the whole crude oil out of the country in order to get the finished product. Iran which is not up to Nigeria has about seven functioning oil processing companies and they only export the finished product, they don’ t export all their crude oil in order to get finished product but the story is not the same here. They said we have NNPC and there are people working there. What are they doing ?, even look at where the oil is being got, it has beeen negelected for long. No education for them , no good water , poor health care and many adnormality.
By LUKMAN OLABIYI
Source: www.sunnewsonline.com
Jeremy Hildreth, jeden z najbardziej doświadczonych konsultantów ds. brandingu miast i państw, były współpracownik Wally Olinsa w Saffron Consultants (Londyn, UK), autor (razem z Simonem Anhotlem) bestsellera "Brand Ameryka: Tajemnica Megamarki" odwiedził w kwietniu br. Chile, gdzie dał inspirujący wykład.
Jest szansa, że będzie można obejrzeć i posłuchać Jeremiego na żywo już 20 listopada podczas II edycji Form Praktyków Marketingu Miejsc (w Łodzi, przy okazji pierwszych targów usług marketingowych dla administracji publicznej organizowanych przez Brief for Poland).
A tymczasem poniżej transkrypcja wykładu Jeremiego z Chile.
While people are coming in, I’ll put this introductory slide up. I love this. These are the end pages from a book by Douglas Coupland. Douglas Coupland is the guy who invented the term “Generation X.” So he always has his finger on the pulse of things and you know what this is about. This is about... this is when you finish a document and you call it “final version” and you’d send it out and then someone calls you up and says, “There’s a mistake on page 6. You need to fix that,” and you do it again. And then you have the second final and then the absolutely final and all of that. And I just laughed when I saw when I opened the book, I saw this in the end pages because every article I write for The Wall Street Journal, every report I do for a client, this is how I feel, too. I know that as soon as I give this talk I’m going to want to give it a different way right at the end, so this is always the case.
Now what about me? The question was where...the question at the top of the presentation is, “Where are you from?” I say, “Soy de los Angeles pero vivo en Londres.” I like to say I’m an American who lives abroad and regards the world as his home. Anyway, these issues of identity fascinate me. I agree with Simon completely that this is some of the most interesting stuff that one can possibly turn one’s attention or efforts to. And until two months ago, I was working for a company called Saffron, which is a brand consultancy based in London, Mumbai, Madrid and New York, which specialized in what we used to say was working with companies, countries, and other entities on issues related to identity and reputation. And there was a lot of corporate identity work, a lot of corporate clients and often the issue of provenance came into it. If there was a Turkish phone company, then the issue of their Turkishness was very much paramount in their thinking about the brand.
For the last two of the five years I was at Saffron, I was head of place branding and in that post, I did have clients, a number of actual place clients and now I’m on my own. I do work for various people but in this presentation I refer to work that I did while I was at Saffron, or work that Saffron did while I was there.
Let’s talk first, what does it mean for a place to be branded? I think to be branded is to mean something. To be known, to be thought about in a certain way, to be deemed relevant, to be appreciated, understood, valued, liked, loved, personally identified with. Therefore, I think you could say that the strongest place brand, at least in theory, is the one that belongs to the place that the most people identify with most strongly and positively. I mean, there is no way to quantify this kind of thing. But if you were, I think the ultimate place brand is probably New York. Because the worst I ever heard anybody say about New York is that “it’s my dream to visit it some day.” Some people would say “I wouldn’t want to live there,” but I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t interested in at least visiting New York. And I’ve never met anyone who hadn’t heard of New York or known something about it.
Brand, I should put my cards on the table and say that when we’re talking about brand, because people mean a lot of things and so it’s worth defining on terms.
Brand for me is: substance plus feeling, or reality plus image, or truth plus imagination, fact plus impression. It’s some combination and good branding work and good marketing keeps both of these things in mind. So now to this question of, “Where are you from?” From a commercial standpoint, companies and brands have been trying to answer this for a long time. This is an age old question. This is a Victorian-era can of condensed milk portrayed as an English brand. Nowadays, often the law requires you to say where you are from. But even when the law doesn’t require it, people seem to prefer products that are from somewhere. They like you more if you are from some place because then they think they know something about you. This bottle of wine doesn’t exist and I think there’s a very good reason why it doesn’t exist. I don’t think it would sell very well, because it’s not from anywhere. And some things are supposed to come from certain places and if they don’t it’s just weird. So you buy Scotch whisky and you’ll enjoy it and you think about highlands and islands while you drink it. But if I try to sell you Roberto Rastrelli Italiano whisky, you wouldn’t pay any extra for it. Probably you’d want it at a discount and if you did drink it, you’d imagine, you’d believe that you were tasting olives in it somehow. It wouldn’t be any good at all. Italian olive oil, on the other hand, is no problem, but scotch olive oil just wouldn’t be credible.
So people like a good story and place can fit into that. The story doesn’t have to be perfectly true. Neutrogena Hand Cream Concentrated Norwegian Formula is naturally produced by a Belgian company that’s owned by an American conglomerate. But still, when you put it on your hands, you can imagine a fisherman pulling up his nets and pulling out a tube of Neutrogena and, uh, softening his hard palms.
Bailey’s Original Irish Cream, naturally invented by product development and branding people in 1973 in Soho, London. But it--never mind, because these stories have resonance, you know, they work. They fit with what we think we know about a place and that helps. There’s a concept that’s relevant here called “truthiness” which is a term coined by an American satirist called Stephen Colbert and the definition of truthiness is a felt sense of something being true independent of logic, evidence, intellectual examination or actual facts. So it’s basically you’re saying to yourself, “I feel it’s true and that’s what matters.” And, like it or not, a lot of effective brand stories seem to have this quality of truthiness and I’ll hasten to add that it’s very hard to achieve truthiness without some degree of truthfulness, but they are not the same thing and it’s truthiness that at the end of the day matters the most.
So how do commercial companies deal with where they are from? Let’s look at a few examples.
Germany. A few years ago, a branding agency in London called Wolff Olins carried out a series of studies with the Financial Times, on what “Made in Germany” means to people. What does that label mean? I think they did it with telephone interviews with senior executives around the world. And what they came up with they asked things like, “Which industries do you associate with Germany?” Most people, a vast majority in fact, associate Germany with automotive and engineering products and meanwhile give very low association to areas with high emotion or passion and that’s why you see, very obviously, a company like Volkswagen--they actually ran an ad campaign in the U.S. some years ago, where they used a German word. Every American of a certain age can tell you what “farfegnugen” is or knows what it is. They can tell you what it means and it has something to do with pleasure of driving. And this is not the only German automotive company that I’ve seen that uses actual German language in their ads. Another car company recently ran some ads in Britain which played on all kinds of stereotypes about Germans and Germany and had “Ride of the Valkyries” playing in the background, you know, this Wagnerian music and you get to the end of the ad and in fact, it’s an ad for Citroen, a French car that they are describing as “unmistakably German.” It’s quite controversial these ads, but they did get attention. And then after that a screenshot, a little while later this little asterisk comes up that says “Made in France”. It’s bizarre, but it shows the overwhelming power of provenance sometimes. And it’s why a company like Miele, which is a super-premium, incredibly expensive white-goods appliance manufacturer doesn’t even bother trying to have a brand personality of their own. They just pin it all on German-ness. That’s all they tell you about them. “We are Miele, you’ve heard about us, we are super-premium and we’re German. Pay lots of money for us.” And it seems to work. But a company like Deutsche Bank doesn’t--it’s neither hurt much nor helped much by being German. And so they call themselves Deutsche Bank and they don’t take it further than that. Same thing with SAP, a software company. Their German-ness doesn’t do anything for them.
At the other extreme you’ve got, if you are a fashion company from Germany, being German is probably unhelpful to you. So, what do you do? You know, fashion is an industry that’s marketed on emotion and there is a complete misfit here between national perception or misperception, or whatever it is and the reality of the brand—same with Jil Sander. OK.
Spain: The images people had of Spain for a long time, I think, it’s changed a lot now. We are dominated by romanticized nonsense, shall we say, and particularly by this grotesque caricature of a particular region of Spain called Andalucía. People thought all of Spain is like that and this includes—you know, the images of Spain were of toreros, and Sanfermines, Pamplona. More recently you’ve got Almodóvar films –and all of this amounts to, in a very roundabout kind of way, some idea of passion, some central, loose, guiding principle of passion which Spanish brands, or brands that want to portray themselves as Spanish can pick up on. And hence San Miguel beer, which is owned, I think, actually by a Filipino concern, but it’s certainly offered as Spanish product, sells beer where Spain is basically one of the ingredients in the beer—this is effectively what they are doing. They are saying this beer with water, malt, barley, hops, and a little spoonful of Spain in there; and that’s what you find in the bottle. And say our cars use this tagline auto-emoción so they play on their origins as well. And I couldn’t find an actual label showing this but I understand some years ago, Spanish wine was marketed under this slogan. And it all ties in to ideas that people have about Spain.
Brazil: Another case. The image of Brazil is funny because at least beyond South America, the image of the whole country is dominated by the image of one city in that country, Río. As Marie Castro, a Brazilian writer put it: “Anything for good or ill that’s going on in Brazil’s 3.3 million square miles is thought of outside Brazil as happening here. A forest catches fire in Amazonia and its thought someone in Río had something to do with it. This is funny because it’s very... it’s one of the few situations where the city image absolutely dominates the national image. And the city has some common associations: favelas, Carnival, Carmen Miranda, if you are a little before my time. And you know, the beach and the relaxed life style that goes with it. I’ve been told that Río is a city composed of people who live like they are nowhere near a city. This is the idea of Río out of Brazil; which is great because if you are Havaianas, then all you have to say is, “Look, we are the flip-flop from the flip-flop capital of the world, buy us.” And it works, your marketing’s done for you. You just identify where you are from and go home.
And then other people will try to use your brand equity. They’ll try to steal a bit of it. So Estée Lauder comes out with a new fragrance--I took this photograph in the Duty Free Shop in London a week ago. They’ve come out with a fragrance and call it “Brazil Dream,” and it says, “Go where it’s warm, exciting and full of life.” They just bottle a little bit of Brazil’s brand equity and try to get that to do their marketing for them.
Estée Lauder, incidentally, is an American cosmetics company named after the daughter of a ... well, Estée Lauder’s original name, her given name, is like Esther Metzner or something, her father was Czechoslovakian and her mother was half Hungarian Jewish and half French Catholic and she changed her name because she had an innate sense of the power of place, I guess. Although it’s easy for her to answer the question “Where are you from?” She was from Queens, New York.
This image of Brazil though, doesn’t help you very much if you are Embraer and you are trying to sell serious aircraft to serious people, and I would argue that Embraer has built their brand, which is a strong one, despite being Brazilian rather than because of being Brazilian. It’s no surprise that mostly they don’t use their Brazilian-ness in their identity. They call their model the “Phenom.” I did find one example from the history books, in which they did call a plane the “Brazilia.” But you’ll note that they didn’t call the model the “Copacabana” or the “Caipirinha” or the “Bossa Nova.” They call it something relatively serious. Although I think I’d like to fly a plane called “the Saudade,” I think that would be interesting.
Anyway the apparent lesson here is that if your national stereotypes are helpful then you milk them and if what you’re doing or selling doesn’t have much to do with the prevailing perceptions of your national origin, then you downplay or hide where you are from. And I can’t really fault people who do that, I guess, it’s hard to criticize. It’s certainly easy to understand why they do it, but I think there are two constructive alternatives that I want to propose to you:
The first is to turn a widely-held perception or stereotype, presumably somewhat negative, into a real positive, and the other possibility is to employ creative labeling to recast where you are from. One that I quite like is an Indian brand that came to Saffron some months ago, called Apollo Tyres. They are the second largest manufacturers of tires in India and they are getting ready to enter the European market, they want to sell tires in Germany, and they wanted to sell very discounted tires. And we said, “Hang on a sec. OK. You’ve got to price it at a discount to Michelin and Goodyear but sell at a normal price for a branded tire and make your Indian-ness into an asset by saying, “Look, we design tires for these kinds of conditions, we design tires for the worst roads and the worst drivers in the known universe and if we can do that, can we certainly make tires that are good enough for your European roads. So we gave them this brand idea which was written up like this: “Where the silk road meets the autobahn.” And they liked that. We gave them a visual identity to go with that, sort of based on four wheels but building in little bit of Indian color, the bright colors that are very popular in India, that are a very basic expression of Indian identity and they went on like that. We’ll see how successful it is, but I think it should work.
Now, the United States is by far, the best-known nation in the world. Simon and I wrote a book about the history of the image of America and it’s coming out again on the 4th of July in a revised version, but anyway... The United States is famously the land of the brave, home of the free, symbolized by the Statue of Liberty. Give us your tired, your hungry, your poor, all of that. Democracy, freedom, opportunity. Well, it was like that for a long time but recently things changed and we got some new sides to the image and U.S. brands had to react to that and one of my favorite reactions to this is what Apple did. Does anyone have an iPhone or an iPod with them? Who’s got one? Can you take it out, look at the back and tell us where it says it’s made? Do you have it with you? Someone’s got an iPhone or iPod. No, no, read the whole line. What it says, not made in USA, it says, “Designed by Apple in California. Assembled in China.” This is perfect, it portrays the origins and exactly the proportions that we, as consumers, are absolutely delighted to accept. It’s a faultless line of copy in terms of labeling. We’ll take it. Designed by Apple, that’s great, in California. We like California. We know that a technology company in California is probably among the best in the world. And we are OK with things being assembled in China now. We accept that that’s not a diminution in quality, especially if it’s supervised by a great company in California like Apple. This is brilliant, the way they walked around being made in America. It assumes, probably correctly, that people know about California, and know about Apple. What if they don’t, as in the case of Chile? Then I think you need to teach them. So here’s my idea. Why not label export products clearly but also creatively. Why can’t “hecho en…” be a national advertising space for a not-so-well-known country? I think it can be. I’ll come back to that.
But first I want to show you a third constructive alternative which is much more ambitious, which is to change the context that the product lines or company brands are operating in by re-branding the country or a sector of the country. For this I’ll go back to Spain. Spain, in addition to those threadbare, you know, the real stereotypes, also has recently become known for a lot of other things, especially in the U.K. You know, its soccer, it’s Real Madrid, Costa del Sol and great new architecture by Gehry in Bilbao or Calatrava who is himself Spanish, or global financial institutions like Banco Santander or major retail chains. Zara’s got more than a thousand stores in more than sixty countries now. It’s a major flagship for Spain, although I don’t know how many people know they’re Spanish and maybe it’s a missed opportunity. Or Richard Rogers’s airport terminal in Madrid or Fernando Alonso, Rafael Nadal, these sports championships that Spain had a habit of winning for a little while, and real world-class Spanish designers that are gaining a real international notoriety. These all are new or relatively recent reputational aspects to Spain. And unfortunately, one of them is not technology, even though technology from Spain is one of the pillars of the economic success of the resurgent Spain. And you might not know it, in fact you almost certainly don’t, but Spanish technology is all around you. These are some American examples but the U.S. Navy, the only non-American supplier to the US Navy is a Spanish company called Indra. Hotels, like ones in las Vegas are routinely built with Spanish cranes. Both Coca-Cola and their rival, Pepsi, use bottling equipment that’s designed by a Spanish company. And the U.S. Coast Guard aircraft are Spanish. The Metropolitan Transport Authority of New York City hired a Spanish company to extend one of the subway lines. And when it comes to windmills it’s not just Don Quixote anymore: A Spanish company called Iberdrola is one of the most important private energy groups in the world, operating in more than forty countries. And even in software, some Spanish company has this software that analyzes pop songs after they are recorded but before they are released and it suggests, based on its database, like tweaking the song to make it more likely that it will become a hit. The point is that there’s real substance here. There’s real substance to the claim that Spain is a powerhouse for certain types of technology and yet in the words of one of our former clients, and I love this line, “no sólo hay que serlo, hay que parecerlo.” Which, as best I can grasp the translation, means: it’s not enough to be, you have also to seem, which is such a profound thought. So, in that interest, in that goal of seeming, the Spanish export office appointed Saffron in 2005 to create a brand identity for Spanish technology; not a brand for Spain, just for the technology. And we came up with this idea which, in my view, is a bit generic but anyway, sustainable ingenuity and we devised a mark which would be used as an endorsement. It would go next to other people’s logos, like trade organizations and private companies, and we had to convince them to use it. No arm twisting was allowed—this mark had to be something that people would want to use alongside their own identities, and we had to portray the benefits and the potential to the people who might use it. So we showed them things like the wall mark, or this UL, the Underwriter’s Laboratory seal, or the European version of that, or the Royal Appointment Crest that products take and our holy grail was that this brand mark become for Spanish technology exports what the Joan Miró sun logo had become for Spanish tourism, which is another export, actually. In other words, a true seal: Eventually we hoped that it would have this kind of recognition and ability to transmit meaning. We told them, too, “Look, the communications that you use, even if communication isn’t the essence of an image change strategy, have to reflect the high quality of the products on offer, so take these lousy product catalogues that you’ve got that look like auto parts, you know, sprinkler heads and combined harvesters and the way....” You know, they were just ugly, we said, “Get rid of this. Get some style, photograph them nicely, present that, think about your presentation, bring some more attention to that and while you are at it, tell authentic stories because there are enough ones and back the claims that you are making with true facts, and cases and real people.” And they did that, and so when they ran ads --and these are real ads—they told little stories, all of which portrayed real people doing something real as part of that. And then we made this video. We worked with another company to make the video, and the point of the video was to connect what people thought they knew about Spain –in other words, current perceptions-- with what we wanted them to know about Spanish technology, and to do it in a way that was harmonious so it wouldn’t jar. So they would go, “Of course,
Spain should be good at this kind of technology. This makes perfect sense.” It’s so natural and maybe it doesn’t show as much about the people as Simon would have it. It’s more about the machines and things. But I think it has a human side and it’s stylish and slick. There should be sound.
[Video]
You can argue its merits, but I think that it does a, it’s an example of at least a halfway decent attempt to do something very worthwhile, which is to connect perceptions, existing perceptions, to some new perceptions that you’re trying to engender. And the royal family of Spain, I know, took it to China with them for two days after the--I think they held off the trip a day or two so that they could take this thing with them on a mission to China. And the important thing is that the brand, this brand of Spanish technology, was about not only showing off Spanish technology, but actually using this platform of Spanish technology to show off modern Spain and modern Spanish-ness. So there is real interplay of the place and the products, which leads me to promoting a place—kind of an abrupt change, but I think most of you out there are advertising people working for Chilean companies but some of you are working for the Chilean government promoting Chile in different ways, so I thought I would touch on that.
I want to show two country promotion slogans.
One I think is the worst going right now and one I think is the best, which they don’t use anymore. It’s really a way of saying, I guess, my favorite and my least favorite. My least favorite is the one Panama is using right now, which says “Panama, it will never leave you.”
And whenever I see this on a bus in London I always giggle and I imagine how the committee that chose this had it narrowed down to two: “It will never leave you,” or “You will never leave it,” and they were arguing about it… and this one won by one vote. I don’t know, that’s how I imagine its happening. But I think it’s awful.
And then Norway, many years ago, ran a campaign where they used this slogan. You know, Norway, known for the Fjords and has a very similar environment to Chile, as you know, because of the Norwegian connection to the salmon business here, among other things. Norway run a campaign where they said, “Any decent doctor would prescribe Norway.” And it’s dated in its style and so on, but it’s has charm and it has real confidence and speaks in a subtle but unmistakable and very alluring way to something genuine about Norway that they were seeking to promote, and that’s why I like it.
Now, what about Chile?, Well I’ve only been in this country for six days, this is my first visit. Four of these days were in Easter Island, and as I flew from Easter Island to Santiago the other day, I caught this in the lobby, in the check-in area, “All ways surprising.” And I think it’s in vogue to put down this slogan right now. But anyway, I think it’s somewhere in the middle, it’s not the worst slogan even written, that’s for sure, but what I want to point out here, because you guys are a lot in this business of promoting things to countries that do not speak Spanish, is when you look closely at this thing, it’s advertising Eastern Island, which probably exists somewhere but it’s not in Chile. The point is, be very, very careful. There’s really no excuse for this—if you’re going to run an ad in a foreign country, get a native speaker to have a look at it. I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen this kind of thing, and it’s really amateurish. Its power to undo a lot of the other things that you are doing should not be underestimated.
And anyway, do you really have to use a slogan? This is a question I’ve been pondering a lot lately. And I think the answer might be, in many cases, is no.
One example of this is Visit London, a project that I led for Saffron last year. Visit London is the tourist board for London basically. And we won this job of creating a new corporate identity for them. And they are, it’s fair to say, the marketing arm of Europe’s largest city. And this challenge was to find something that let London be historic and charming and also contemporary and evolving and which avoided the clichés, because they said, “No Big Ben, leave Big Ben and the changing of the guard out of it, please.” We had tussle with them, because we said, “Yes, OK, but these are assets.” We had to find the way to get all of this in there. And the other tricky bit was that the identity had to be used for business tourism and conferences and things, and also just leisure tourism. And so it couldn’t be too, you know, too much fun. It had to have a bit of sobriety to it, because of the business aspect. And this is what we were replacing, this is the identity that they had. Which is based on the street signs around London. It’s the same typographic style. And our solution was also typographic and it was based around the core idea of the Visit London guides being the champions for London. Which is really what they do. And we did it in red because red is, if not uniquely, then very strongly identified with London. And it’s this: Visit London. This version was “Established 50 AD.” And we didn’t just have “Established 50 AD.” We had a whole range of things that they could choose from, depending on the situation. So “GMT+0,” “Black cabs in 12 colors,” “300 hundred languages spoken,” “31 tailors on Savile Row.” So any kind of situation that they might be in, they could choose a different one that would suit that. So if you are promoting the Tate Modern, then you have this “Visit London, Established 50 AD.” This contract is really nice, because London, is not merely about... it’s not just old and new. It’s not like that, it’s completely utterly ancient Roman ruins, right next to an absolutely vital, most modern and significant stuff happening in the world. And that’s uniquely London, and we wanted to get that across. Another side of London is the humor. I mean London is in Britain, even though more than half of Londoners are non-British. Only city in the world where more than half the people living there are not from the country that the city is in. So there’s a humor there, so we said you could have a mug, and they actually made a bunch of these where it says, “Tea time, 4 o’clock.” So you could play a little bit, it was very flexible. And it came in different colors, and they used it. Although in fact, as you see, the ad agency that was working for them couldn’t resist a slogan, and came up with, “See the world, visit London,” which they used alongside the material that we provided. So there’s the “Established 50 AD,” “The greenest big city in the world.” There are more than 600 parks in London, I’ll have you know. “Black cabs in 12 colors,” and in all of the versions it’s very unpretentious, unadorned and it befits London’s stature. We were very concerned about this because London, it’s a premium product, it’s not a cheap holiday destination. And it needed to be handled and marketed that way.
So back quickly to Chile and my thoughts about labeling, and the opportunities that you have here. Simon said that the export stuff is the main way perhaps that Chile is likely to... it’s the main lever at your disposal, for changing the way that you are perceived. And if the basic goal is to get people to know and like Chile, more than they do already, wherever they are on that curve, then your tools when it comes to labeling are language, facts and flair. And really, I have no idea what you should say, but I think that you should say something. You should label in a way that characterizes and conveys Chilean-ness, and teaches people something about the country. 40:15 There was some discussion earlier about aspects of Chilean-ness. Well, you need to pin that down, and then label accordingly on a case-by-case basis. So in wine, Chilean-ness might mean one thing, in fruit something slightly different, and in a manufactured product, or in services it could be really quite different but it’s all Chilean. And I imagine what Simon’s done, I’m not very familiar with the work that has been done or the foundation that’s being created, but I imagine that that will help. But here are some random ideas that occurred to me. So you could say, “Made by Chileans, the British of South America.” I’ve never seen anything labeled like that, but why not? Why couldn’t you do it? I can’t see a reason. Or “Made in Chile, called the thin country by the Nobel prize winning Chilean poet Pablo Neruda.” That can fit on a bottle of wine. I’ve never seen a country say anything other than “Made in” on their bottles of wine, but you could do it. And Simon talked at length about the incredible benefits of being winemakers, so add to that some facts that you can plant in people’s heads—a Nobel prize, that’s not a bad thing. Or “Made in Chile, the most stable, safe, prosperous and democratic nation in South America.” It’s not an exiting thing to say, I wouldn’t put it on a bottle of wine, but you could do it. Or “Chile, Latin America’s success story.” Really, I’m not sure how you would use this, but I can conceive of a situation where, the simple, rather dull but entirely sober and somewhat bold statement, could be helpful. More helpful than a catchy slogan. Or you could say, “Product of Chile, home of 55 active volcanoes.” You could use that in tourism, or you could use that on textiles, some outdoors products, some fruit. I don’t know, I know volcanic ash –I learned this on Easter Island-- volcanic ash is good for the soil. So you could tell, if there’s room on the back panel, you can tell some story about that.
The possibilities are nearly endless and what’s appropriate will depend on context and circumstances. But it should be always link to the basic brand strategy. And to this national image strategy that Simon Anholt has worked out with you. I’ve pulled these out of the air, so take them with a grain of salt. As Woody Allen said, right now it’s only a notion, but I think I can make it into a concept, and later turn it into an idea.
So, those were my notions. I hope you’ve found some of my remarks useful, and or provocative. Thank you for listening.
Posty
