Brand India: Future of Change

As India asserts itself within the ever-evolving global power dynamic, India is having a vibrant discussion about public diplomacy and nation-branding, and how to engage in channels of public diplomacy as a means to project its emergence. One such platform for this discussion is found in the India Future of Change initiative. The India Future…

Top Gear – Mexico episode highlights power of nation brands

The recent episode about BBC’s motor show Top Gear’s remarks on Mexico, Mexicans and Mexican products highlights the sometimes under-valued power of nation brands. The episode vividly showed to what extent countries are haunted by stereotypes and cliches, and how commercial brands and products are many times judged by their country of origin rather than…

Korea wants to shake ‘Korean Discount’ off

It’s over two years ago since South Korea launched a nation branding programme. At first, it looked as just another (fake) ‘nation branding’ project consisting of a new logo, a new slogan, some ads and some press releases. But throughout these two years the South Koreans have proved that were bloody serious about branding, and…

Korea urged to revamp overseas PR system

The South Korean government needs to set up a unified source of information on what’s happening here as well as the country’s unique culture and history to meet the growing interest from foreigners following the successful hosting of the G20 summit last November, a Korean public relations expert told a Korean newspaper. “We must ask…

Is Tyler Brûlé a new nation branding evangelist?

The flamboyantly punctuated Tyler Brûlé, the known global style guru and editor in chief of Monocle magazine, has in recent weeks shown strong interest in nation branding and country brands. In ‘Fast Lane’, his weekly column at the Financial Post, the chieftain of “the Lufthansa audience”, as he calls Monocle’s reader base, has touched the…

Lebanon’s brand notoriety declines

Lebanon was ranked in 194th place among 200 countries and territories around the world and in 18th place among 20 countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in the third quarter of 2010, according to the 2010 edition of the Nation Brand Perception Index (NBPI). Lebanon also came in 41st place among…

Naming a nation: Southern Sudan

Country naming is as old as countries. Historically most countries have ‘accidentally’ obtained their name from the peoples or tribes living on them, from empires and kings ruling over them, from physical and geographical features found on them, or from a specific word in the indigenous language of the country’s natives. However, it hasn’t been…

Antigua & Barbuda plans nation branding for 2011

The concept of nation branding will be put into practice by the Ministry of Tourism from the start of 2011, according to Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation John Maginley. The tourism minister said the initiative will start by finding out how people view the twin island state. He said the ministry will be “going…

Defining a post-crisis nation brand for Ireland

We’ve touched the issue of before (see our ‘Economic crisis may force countries to re-brand’ post). Small economies like Dubai, Greece and Iceland among others have undergone massive preassures in the last couple of years, and their image, their nation brand so to speak, has been more or less damaged. More recently, Ireland has been…

Branding Indonesia as a challenger

According to Homer Simpson, jokes about national stereotypes are funny because they are true. That is, if we take perception to be reality, and in marketing we do. A country’s reputation is based on the perceptions of others, though these are often nothing more than cliches. People are often wilfully ignorant of what others think of…

2010 Country Brand Index: Brand value goes North

A noteworthy trend can be seen by looking at the rankings in the 2010 Country Brand Index. In Europe, nation branding value is moving from South to North. Without a doubt, the countries winning more nation-brand value this year at the Country Brand Index were the Scandinavian ones. They all have improved their ranks in…