2010 Country Brand Index released

It’s November and it’s time for the annual Country Brand Index to be released, as we announced on our Early Results from the 2010 Country Brand Index post. This index is a yearly study made by FutureBrand, a global brand consulting firm, and is based upon a global quantitative research study with 3,400 international business…

How The World Sees The Netherlands

Does the continuing debate on the rights of Muslims in the Netherlands affect the country’s nation brand? Does the rise of anti-immigration politicians in Dutch politics affect the image people have of the Dutch? Does hosting international insitutions like the International Criminal Court improve the country’s brand image? The Dutch government has investigated these perceptions,…

New insights on Finland’s country branding program

Some 80 guests and friends of Finland gathered on a sunny October 14th afternoon at Dutch Zoetermeer to hear a panel discussion about the theme “Finland Country Branding”. The purpose of the event was to raise awareness about the ongoing country branding project in Finland and create discussion around the theme among the Finnish-minded business…

Branding Slovenia

Slovenia has an identity crisis. People confound it with Slovakia. The names of the two countries, and even their flags are virtually interchangeable. Their languages are also both Slavic and so similar that both nationalities call their language with the same name: Slovenians call it “slovenski” (“slovenian”) and Slovaks also call it “slovensky” (“slovak”). The…

Branding Holland contest

On September 25, the Dutch Government launched a competition called “Paint the World Orange” to harvest ideas for the branding Holland project. The initiative seeks to find the best idea to brand the Netherlands internationally and develop a new approach for the international branding of the Netherlands. The goal is to develop innovative marketing concepts,…

Branding Belgium

Belgium’s brand image is undergoing trouble because of inter-ethnic tensions between the Flemish and the Walloons, hence the need of re-packing the nation as one and re-brand it. But, not surprisingly, branding such a weakened state entity is far from easy, as Dafydd ab Iago notes in this article: The Belgian dilemma is that of…