Nation Branding

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Nation Branding is a field of theory and practice which aims to measure, build and manage the reputation of countries (closely related to city branding and regional branding). It applies some approaches from commercial brand management practice to countries, in an effort to build, change, or protect their international reputations. It is based on the observation that the "brand images" of countries are just as important to their success in the global marketplace as those of products and services.

Simon Anholt is normally credited as a pioneer in the field; other practitioners include Wally Olins, Dr Nikolaus Eberl and numerous branding and public affairs agencies. There is one professional/academic journal in the field, Place Branding, published by Palgrave Macmillan.

Nation branding appears to be practised by many states, including the United States and United Kingdom (where it is officially referred to as Public Diplomacy), South Africa, New Zealand, and most Western European countries. There is increasing interest in the concept from poorer states on the grounds that an enhanced image might create more favorable conditions for foreign direct investment, tourism, trade and even political relations with other states.

[edit] Sources

• Entry on Nation Branding from Center for Media & Democracy's Sourcewatch
• Boston Globe article By Clay Risen, March 13, 2005
• Feature by Eric Weiner on National Public Radio's "Day to Day", January 11, 2006
• Time Magazine article by Peter Gumbel, May 29 2005
• Article in New York Times entitled "Branding Nations" by Clay Risen, Dec 11 2005
• RENDON, Jim: “When Nations Need a Little Marketing.” New York Times. November 23, 2003.
• ANHOLT, Simon. Brand New Justice: the upside of global branding. Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford, 2003.
• OLINS, Wally. 2002. Branding the nation – the historical context. In Journal of Brand Management, 9(4-5).
• FAN, Ying. 2006. “Nation branding: what is being branded?” Journal of Vacation Marketing, 12:1, 5-14.
• ANHOLT, Simon with Jeremy Hildreth, Brand America: The Mother of All Brands. London: Cyan Books, 2004.
• JOHANSSON, Johny K. In Your Face: How American Marketing Fuels Anti-Americanism. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Financial Times/Prentice-Hall, 2004.
• KOTLER, Philip; Jatusripitak, Somkid; Maesincee, Suvit: The Marketing of Nations. A Strategic Approach To Building National Wealth. The Free Press, New York, 1997.

[edit] External links

• Simon Anholt Simon Anholt's home page
• Corporate Sector Role in Place Branding
• [1] USC Public Diplomacy site
• Nation Brands Index Anholt Nation Brands Index
• Placebrands.net A place branding consultancy
• Branding Greece: Greece as a Brand The non-governmental Greek project for national branding
• Nation-Branding.info Portal with nation branding news and articles
• Internal Branding The leading agency in internal branding