Marketing, Media & Development
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PHOTO: “A GAME OF THRONES BOARD” BY FRANÇOIS PHILIPP / FLICKR
compared to countries from the same region like Ecuador or Peru. They are doing a lot right, according to the expert José Filipe Torres, because they have been working not only on branding, but on a whole marketing campaign as well. The last governments have also made strategic alliances and worked steadily on diplomatic issues. For example, the abolishment of visa requirements in more than 10 countries during the last 5 years and the upcoming free-tourism in the Schengen area, recently approved by the EU.
When nations become brands. The fight for being the “dream place” requires money, work and strategical movements.
The Borders are not on the Ground Although it sounds impressive for a country to have a high-ranked brand, one thing is clear: to develop and promote a nation brand is expensive. Furthermore, its effectiveness is not easy to measure in a short-term period. By Claudia García “Nation branding is not a logo, slogan or advertisement. Such things are even not necessary if you have a central idea of what you want to link when promoting a country”, says José Filipe Torres, CEO of Bloom Consulting, a Spanish based nation branding strategy firm. Contrary to this expert’s advice, governments from different nations spend millions of US dollars every year creating campaigns to launch their countries onto the world market - each one aiming to become the place everyone wants to be. Just one thing is clear: a robust budget is required.
To brand or not to brand? A study conducted by the company Futurebrand shows that countries with a brand have a competitive advantage over those which do not. For example, 91% of people would recommend a branded country while just 73% would do it if the country does not have a clear brand. This could make a difference in terms of tourism industry profits, but it should not be limited just to this area. In this regard, Torres says that though positive perceptions about a country might be a good sign, these figures are not enough to evaluate the effectiveness of a nation branding strategy. In fact, such a strategy must bring returns in terms of both economic and social growth, otherwise the money should, rather, be dedicated to improving internal issues instead of focusing on what outsiders might think. He also points out that one single brand may not serve to attract tourists, investors and students at the same time. Strong countries like Germany, whose brand is ranked in the 3rd place in the global Country Brand Index 2014, can not only afford such strategies but also wait patiently for the results. In the end, Germany does not need formally to be branded in order to be directly linked to positive perceptions. Its economically and socially stable
a fancy trend? It works, but the main recommendation is always to work on the inner issues of the country before starting a campaign, says Torres. It not only facilitates the process of branding, but also helps in gaining and keeping the trust of investors and tourists. Evaluation must be the top-priority of these strategies and should be supported by clear numbers in investment, tourism, employment or GDP growth.
ed wearing big hats and moustaches and many imagine that all Brazilian men are playing soccer without shoes in a dusty field. Even though none of these images describe the reality of those countries, at least they are a first step when associating a country to a brand. But sometimes, such clichés can become an obstacle which is hard to overcome when trying to brand a country. Such is the case of countries with a dark past, like Colombia.
Even though many experts recognize that nation branding strategies bring positive results when they are well performed, the cost-benefit relation could still be problematic. Despite these conflicting views, most experts agree that the best ally of nation branding is the media. Producing “good news” is definitely the main Ecuador was the first country to advertise in strategy to improve the image of a the Super Bowl. The commercial cost around country in the world’s mind. 4 million US dolars
In the 1990’s, Pablo Escobar was the most renowned Colombian “celebrity” and his story was well-known all around the world. Cocaine, mafia and war, were immediately associated with the country and therefore to its people. Many tourists crossed out Colombia as a possible vacation destination because of its reputation and investors thought it was not a suitable place for business as well.
situation speaks for itself. But the case of developing countries is completely different. They do need to put their names out into the world market and become a destination for tourists and investors, but the process to create a nation brand and to design a global advertising campaign requires huge amounts of money and comes with a high risk of failure.
For example, the nation branding campaign “All You Need is Ecuador,” cost around 19 million US dollars. Additionally, the campaign was launched during the Super Bowl, the most expensive advertisement platform in the world, and its central jingle is based on the catchy and recognizable song “All You Need is Love” from The Beatles; the rights alone for the song cost 1.3 million US dollars for only one year of use. Juan Pablo Morán, Ecuadorian marketing specialist, considers that the song was a right decision because of the positive global impact that it has. But it didn’t take long for harsh criticism to arise. Many were outraged not only because of the ambitious expenses and the high American influence on the campaign, but also because they believed that Ecuador should have been focused on the infrastructure of the country, as well as internal economic and social development, rather than branding its name with utopian advantages.
(Un?)Useful strategies What is the purpose of branding a country? Does it really help or is it just
For example, Germany’s image imAfter two decades of Escobar’s era, proved after hosting the FIFA World Colombia has been trying to recover Cup in 2006, not only for the foreignfrom a hard period, not only interers but also among nally, but also in Germans. These issues. It “The World Cup in 2006 foreign “good news” stratis a journey made egies have also had deep effects on Ger- even more difficult worked for other many: after more than due to the negacountries like South tive image that the Korea, which be- 60 years Germans could country had, said show their flag with a José Pablo Arango, came more visible to the eyes of the national pride that was Colombia’s Country world after holding Brand Manager, but the G-20 Summit in not linked to an extremist it is on a good way. 2010. Likewise, the nationalism. That is some- New characters like celebrities Shakira Juan Valthing that any campaign Shakira, and Lionel Messi déz and its coffee could reach” bring more attenmate “Conchita” or tion to their home James Rodríguez countries than any have brought the Peter Ruhenstroh-Bauer nation branding adattention of foreignPolitical Marketing Consultant vertisements. ers to the region. But the country needed a brand to let Not only brand. But the world know that beyond the negaRE-brand tives, there are plenty of good things happening in Colombia. All countries have been linked at some point to different clichés. Some think Therefore, since 2005, the country that in Spain everybody is having a developed a national brand which has “siesta” while the work waits to be been rising in the international rankdone. Mexicans are always representings, despite its modest budget when
“The problem is that the main idea of the campaign is missing, there are many good things but not all of them can be important at the same level,” says Torres. “It is on a good way but the country has still a very long way ahead.”
Step by step There is a long path to go through when working on a country brand. It is possible that countries with a well-established economy are already placed in a good position to produce nation branding strategies; however, there is still a lack of proper evaluation and work towards internal targets, as Peter Ruhenstroh-Bauer, an expert in political communication and marketing, explains. In Germany, for example, the campaign “Land of Ideas” has been intensely promoted abroad, but it is still not well-known by the citizens within Germany and therefore, they do not identify with it. “It is not enough to have a big wall with the slogan of the campaign in the Väterzentrum in Berlin. It helps, but it is necessary to keep in mind the objective and set clear indicators of success for each phase in and outside the country - to avoid unnecessary expenses,” says Ruhenstroh-Bauer. It seems that in the modern world it is a must to have a nation branding strategy. However, a nation might not be able to improve its reputation abroad if the investment in international country-advertising is higher than the internal investment on the country itself. . A country cannot lie about its landscapes, history or people’s characteristics, but it definitely must work on them until they are good enough to become aspects one can be proud of. “The most important thing is to avoid falling in the clichés like the beauty of the places and the kindness of the people. The challenge is to define ithe reason why this country should be chosen among others”, concludes Morán.