The Branding of Nations

Companies, products, universities, museums, municipalities and individuals brand themselves. Why not nations? After all, they have more at stake then almost any other entity – tourism, exports, foreign direct investment, industry formation/focus, immigration, satisfied citizenry, national heritage and support of domestic and foreign policy, to name a few.

Some countries or regions that have attempted to brand themselves include the UK, USA, Brazil, Mexico, Costa Rica, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Ireland, Scotland, Singapore, Portugal, Spain, Thailand and Dubai.

Branding nations is an extraordinarily complex task. The stakeholders are legion (politicians, businesses, industries, citizens, etc.) as are the potential target audiences (tourists, immigrants, business and political leaders, etc.). It is extremely difficult to control a nation’s image because of all of factors that can influence that image. Because so many factors contribute to that image and because brand building is such a long term process, it is also very difficult to measure the effectiveness of even a very well funded re-branding campaign. Read more here.