nation branding
When Rafidah Abd Rahim traveled to Japan from Singapore last year, the recent college graduate was relieved to find a goodly number of lifestyle offerings for Muslim travelers, such as halal food—that is, fare that complies with Islamic dietary guidelines—and easily available prayer rooms.
The Israeli government believes it is locked in an epic struggle to save Israel from the growing movement calling for an international boycott. Benjamin Netanyahu warns that Israel must “rebrand” itself to avoid pariah status. Ordinary Israelis are therefore being conscripted into an army of spin doctors in a campaign termed “hasbara”.
The World Expo embodies nation branding in vivid ways. The fundamental goal of nation branding is to achieve differentiation and resonance in the field of national representations. National pavilions, a centerpiece of the World Expo, are branded spaces designed to craft a positive, distinctive identity about a country. They are hence a platform for nations to engage in public diplomacy.
This new article by three U.K. sports scholars evaluates and assesses how and why governments are leveraging sports mega-events, including the 2012 London Olympics; the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Brazil; and the forthcoming 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, to bolster their nation-brand and foreign policy strategies.
“Luxembourg is famous for two things: its steel industry and its rose cultivation industry.”
This was how an Italian tourist guide from the 1930s summarised the Luxembourg economy.
Pierre Gramegna, the Minister of Finance highlighted this quaint observation in a recent speech to illustrate the difficulties the country faces in its on-going nation-branding exercise.
Not only does little Luxembourg face difficulties getting its voice heard, but the message it wants to communicate keeps changing.
MUMBAI: WPP, Lazard and Richard Attias & Associates (a WPP affiliate) have formed a joint initiative to create nation branding programs through the organization of international economic conferences. This initiative brings together Lazard, the leader in financial advisory to governments, WPP, the leader in communications services, and its affiliate Richard Attias & Associates, a strategic communications and nation branding consultancy.
With the Luxembourg nation branding project fully underway, a panel discussion on Thursday evening showed that while the project is a chance for the country to define its own image, many questions remain yet to be answered. Hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Luxembourg, the nation branding event saw Tom Theves of the Economy Ministry give an update on the process so far, which has involved a survey, workshops and an online forum open to everyone to help define the values that Luxembourg wants to portray. First