Do you know something about Luxembourg most people don't? Or maybe you have a specific angle on a well-known Luxembourgish subject, place or activity? If so, then Luxembourg's Economy Ministry is hoping to recruit you as a "guide for one day" as part of its latest nation-branding effort. The guided tours that will be offered through this initiative will start from June 23 and can range from local life, night life, shopping, history, Luxembourgish markets, cafés and gastronomy to leisure and sports.

The symbolic gesture of picking São Paulo for the grand opening of Japan House hints at the value attributed by Japan to its strategic global partnership with Brasília. [...] unless Tokyo and Brasília decide to go for a thorough re-evaluation of the terms upon which their dysfunctional bilateral cooperation was structured over time, and think of innovative ways to carry it through in the future, Japan House will be of little help in making the ties that unite the two countries even bolder.

There are no I  [❤]  North Korea bumper stickers, no shot glasses with North Korean city names. But imagine a reality where the 69-year-old totalitarian state was a free and open country that welcomed tourists to frolic in its streets. This improbable reverie inspired the Swedish design agency Snask to create a ready-to-use nation brand identity kit, complete with a new North Korean flag brandishing a message of love.

Ahead of youth month, Brand South Africa has partnered with the Sunday Times Generation Next to host this year’s youth marketing conference. The conference looks at youth brand preference and consumer behavior and explores how the youth can drive growth in local brands. This partnership is in line with Brand South Africa’s domestic objective of promoting and championing programmes that enhance the Nation Brand. 

Tourism is a key foreign exchange earner in East Africa. Rwanda, which is still heavily dependent on foreign aid after the 1994 genocide tore the nation apart, has been seeking to boost the sector. Tourism generated $404 million from 1.3 visitors in 2016, and revenues are expected to climb 14 percent to 460 million in 2017.

Ryomyong St is the third prestige project in as many years in the North Korean capital, and by far the largest, said to have nearly 5,000 apartments, which according to authorities will be distributed free to deserving citizens. Its name translates as “illumination” and the official KCNA news agency described it as “an icon of modern street architecture and a fairyland representing the era of the Workers’ Party”.

Much has been made of Japan’s recent turn away from pacifism and growing military muscle, but Tokyo is also extending its global reach in more subtle ways. Japan is especially serious about increasing its soft power, the ability to win over global partners with cultural and diplomatic affinity rather than coercion and sheer heft.