February 2010: The View From CPD

Nation Branding as a field of practice and study has enjoyed enormous attention in the past decade as countries have attempted to burnish their self-presentation to the world and jostled to improve their standing in the Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index. Since 2005, Palgrave Macmillan has published an important journal edited by Simon Anholt and entitled Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, which is dedicated to the practice of applying brand strategy to the development of cities, regions and countries. And websites, social networks and blogs devoted to the topic abound (see: The Association for Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Nation Branding, East West Communications, Brand Horizons).

As part of its PDiN news aggregation service, the USC Center on Public Diplomacy collects and tags countless articles and op-eds on nation branding each week and we are pleased to present a closer look at some of these headlines in this issue of PDiN Monitor. Engaging this month‘s theme is Jian “Jay” Wang who provides a concise overview of this ever-evolving field with a particular emphasis on some of the breaking stories this month. Naomi Leight and Paul Rockower pick up on one particular strand of Wang‘s piece and delve further into Israel‘s newly launched program of “brand ambassadors,” presenting all sides of the argument for this controversial move by the Israeli government. In Katharine Keith‘s piece, the United States‘ ostensible negligence of its brand management is addressed. Finally, our PDiN Extras section focuses on developments in Science Diplomacy during the month of February, when at least two dozen relevant stories were tracked in our Science Diplomacy Monitor.

Thank you for making PDiN Monitor your one-stop-shop for public diplomacy news. As always, we welcome your feedback at cpd@usc.edu.