An issue of national identity

Siegel+Gale, the NYC-based branding firm, has issued an interesting, yet short, article on country branding. On “An issue of national identity”, the author tackles how we relate to our country and our neighbours. The issue of national identity cropped up again last week at Siegel+Gale…..which got me thinking about nation brands. Europe is a patchwork quilt of different cultures,…

Brand new country – South Sudan

It’s official now. Throw your atlases to the bin – they’re useless now. A new country’s born today. It’s provisionally called South Sudan, which will be the baby country’s name while a better, proper name is found (to have a look at the South Sudan’s naming issue, you can read this previous story: Naming a…

Palestinians to embark in nation branding too

Palestine might not be a country yet, but it’s a nation to most people – which qualifies it to rightfully do some nation branding. And as it turns out by this story on the Financial Times, they’ve just started to create a brand-new Palestinian Institute for Public Diplomacy, which will be charged with Palestine’s nation branding…

Why Costa Rica is a winning brand

Dorie Clark, CEO of Clark Strategic Communications, is a marketing and communications consultant. She’s written a small piece on why Costa Rica is a winning brand from the touristic point of view: I recently returned from a trip to Costa Rica — and along the way, discovered that almost everyone I know has either traveled…

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…

What are ‘touchpoints’ in nation branding?

Branding specialists like to refer to ‘brand touchpoints’ as the instances when consumers interact with a brand. It might be a technical support service, a website, a shop or an employee. When we speak of nation brands, what can be “nation brand touchpoints”?  Here’s a list that may come in handy: Airline companies Exported goods People…