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As we announced on this update on Finland’s nation branding project, the Brand Finland delegation published the results of their work last Thursday, November 25th. The delegation, set up in 2008 by Alexander Stubb, the Finnish Minister of Foreign Affairs, was charged with the task to think and discuss ways to make Finland more visible,…
As we reported in September this year, the Brand Africa forum was celebrated in Johannesburg, South Africa, as a summit with nation branding experts and country brand managers from a number of African nations. The forum’s objective was to explore ways so that Africa as a continent and African countries can improve their image and…
As one could intuitively tell, Belarus has several image issues. But Belarusians have noted that the country’s image is sometimes more a liability than an asset, and want to turn the situation upside down. In order to discuss nation branding approaches to improve Belarus’ international image, a forum will be held on November 25-26 in…
Early results from the 2010 edition of the Country Brand Index have been announced today by FutureBrand, the authoring company behind the Country Brand Index. The brand rankings (produced in partnership with BBC World News this year) cover 102 countries and aim at measuring the “intangible asset” of how the country is perceived amongst international…
Lately we’ve had a handful of news coming from Africa. We’ve seen how some African countries have embarked in nation branding projects to prompt outer people to change their images of them. Among these countries you can count Kenya, Ghana, Botswana and South Africa. The following is a video interview with Mathias Akotia, the chief…
Earlier this week we looked at how countries have taken different tactics in their nation branding efforts at the Shanghai’s World Expo. But, how do these approaches render in real life? Once again, as the leading field researcher from the USC Center on Public Diplomacy at the Shanghai Expo 2010, Jay Wang has done a…
Several video clips have been posted on the Internet about the recent Brand Africa forum, and we’ve compiled them all on this video marathon. The first one is made of some cuts from speeches by Dambisa Moyo, Miller Matola and Simon Anholt, and the second one is the nation branding panel’s highlights, while the third…
‘Young Europeans’, Kosovo’s ‘nation branding’ campaign created by BBR Saatchi & Saatchi, has won the Best Nation and Place Branding category at the 2010 M&M Awards. Minister of Economy and Finance, Ahmet Shala received the award on behalf of the Kosovo Government at a Gala Dinner on Thursday at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London….
Panama’s Tourism Authority has hired David Lightle, a leading authority on nation branding responsible for creating “Colombia is Passion,” to redress Panama’s image. Panama ‘country branding’ slogans or ideas for slogans in the past have included: “Panama, Crossroads of the World”; “Panama, It Stays in You” (with a true gem of what a misfortunate advertising…
Most of us have heard of Simon Anholt – the brilliantly caustic, conventions-defier and outspoken nation branding (or as he prefers, ‘policy advisor’) expert. Mr. Anholt was in Johannesburg for the Brand Africa Forum held in on 16 September 2010, and he was interviewed by South Africa’s Talk Radio 702’s Jenny Crwys-Williams about the importance…
Something’s going on in Africa. Just a few days after a summit was held in Accra to explore a country brand identity for Ghana, another large-scale nation branding event took place in the continent, this time in Johannesburg, South Africa. Over 300 representants from the African media, business and political leadership, together with nation branding…
Monocle magazine has in its September edition a special feature on ‘rebranding Britannia’. For those who don’t know, Monocle’s editor in chief is the flamboyantly punctuated Tyler Brûlé, former Wallpaper founder and columnist at the Financial Times – a style icon and a trendsetting guru. As Brûlé himself explains, ‘For our September issue, we’ve decided…
