Countrybranding

branding-slovenia-2 i feel loveIf countries were cars, which would be the fastest, the safest and the sexiest? The answers are no accident. Nations are increasingly calling on advertising agencies to rebrand them as they have done other big business.

The mental image that’s immediately conjured up by the mention of a country’s name has enormous implications, and not just for its tourist trade or its foreign direct investment figures. A nation’s brand – what it stands for – is an enormously powerful thing, as many countries are realising. It can boost or hold back the businesses that call it home, and affect the way its nationals are treated as tourists or potential employees. “Countrybranding” verder lezen

Branding Sweden & Ikea

IKEA is doing more for the image of Sweden than all governmental efforts combined. That might be a sad statement coming from a governmental official tasked with enforcing “the brand of Sweden.” But IKEA’s 285 stores in 37 countries feature the blue-and-yellow national colors, serve Swedish meatballs and sell blond-wood Swedish designs and books about Sweden. To visit IKEA is to visit Sweden.

Every “nation brand” is a simplification. But even though it may be paradoxical in a globalized world, most countries have found that they must stress their individuality to be able to compete. Reputation is the new currency now that countries are beginning to understand that soft power can be more forceful than the hard power that has so often failes to succeed. “Branding Sweden & Ikea” verder lezen