Nation Branding

Alanood A. AlSharhan
July 5th, 2017
 Table of Contents

1. Introduction
3
2. Literature Review

2.1 Defining branding

2.2 What is a 'nation'?
2.3 Place branding vs. nation branding 3–8
2.4 Public diplomacy
2.5 Nation branding
2.6 Impact of nation branding

3. Implications for managers and conclusions

8–9
4. References
9 – 12
5. Appendix
12 – 13

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 Nation Branding
1. Introduction

The world we live in has always been at war; whether it is literal wars held between
countries, or events such as the World Cup or the Olympics. Nations are always competing in
one way or another; and now there is a different battle held. Countries are now racing to be
pioneers in select industries; they want investors and tourists. This is being done by a concept
called ‘nation branding’, and through it, countries are setting goals and targets for
themselves. Although nations are branding themselves in whichever way they see
themselves, it is mostly done by public relations experts hired by governments (Widler,
2007); but are the citizens themselves believing in the brand that the country is portraying?

2. Literature Review

A literature review is a critical and thorough analysis on a particular subject, where it provides
a summary and classification on that topic; literature reviews are written in order to identify
gaps in the research, detect patterns, or recognise conflicting evidences (Saunders, et al.,
2009). This literature review is divided into four sections which discuss what branding is, what
defines a nation, the misconception between place and nation branding; and finally, a
thorough analysis of the aspects of nation branding.

Figure 1: Literature review overview (Author’s adaptation)

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 2.1 Defining branding

The American Marketing Association (2017) defines a brand as a symbol, name, or term that
aides in distinguishing its’ product or organisation from its competitors in the marketplace. A
brand can also be seen as the image or perception that individuals have of a certain product
or organisation; it is not just physical attributes, but emotional ones as well (McKenna, 1991)
[See Appendix 1 for brand essence]. According to Kotler and Keller (2011), branding is
“endowing products and services with the power of a brand”. Branding follows a framework
of 12 different classifications: logos, legal instrument, company, shorthand, risk reducer,
identity system, image in the consumer’s mind, value system, personality, relationship, added
value, and as an evolving entity (Chernatony and Riley, 1998).

Having a brand helps in giving the product or service an identity that makes it easily
distinguishable in the market; having a consistent brand will cause loyal followers to that
brand because they are able to directly recognize it from its’ competitors (Burke, 1994).
When firms invest in their own branding and identity, they create more awareness for their
brand, brand awareness is the probability that the brand is familiar with consumers, and it is
the degree of consumer association (Wood, 2000). On the other hand, if a service or product
experiences downfalls, that will be associated with the brand, and if that happen in the
marketplace, high investment is required to remedy it. (Prinz, 1994)

2.2 What is a 'nation'?

There is often a misconception about what is classified as a nation; a country or state are
synonymous because both of those terms apply to an entity that is politically self-governed.
Whereas, a nation, constitutes as a group of individuals that do not have sovereignty but
share the same culture (Roberts, 2013). Rasmussen (2001) states that elements that shape
nations are not constant, there are several standard characteristics that are possessed by
nations, which are: Nations have bonds that are spiritual, psychological, and emotional; and
they can subsist without it being a fixed region; they are also not created, but are instead an
outcome of evolution [See Appendix 2 for bonds that create a nation-state].
2.3 Place branding vs. nation branding

Place and nation branding are often seen as the same concept, but they are not synonymous.
Place branding has an outward focus, whereas it emphasises the attractive attributes related

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to a company or an investment. It also serves to support both the export and tourism
industries (Anholt, 2010) [See Appendix 3 for place branding strategy]. However, nation
branding has an inward focus, where it sees branding from a cultural perspective, and is
usually planned to reconstitute a nation (Kaneva, 2011).

In order to create a successful place brand, brand managers have to reduce the gap that is
between the image that the place has, and the identity they want, so to compose the desired
result, the place must have a certain ‘feel’ to it, and be a good place to visit, invest in, work
at, or do business in. A place with a strong brand has loyal stakeholders, is dependable
against expectations, and provides value for its stakeholders (Mueller and Schade, 2012).

2.4 Public diplomacy

Much like place branding, there is also misconception about the notion of public diplomacy
and if it is related to nation branding. Public diplomacy is often a government attempt to
communicate directly with businesses, academics, citizens, and non-profit organisations to
promote national interest. Public diplomacy aims at impacting foreign relations with other
countries, remedy misconceptions about their country, promote mutual understanding and
influence perceptions of foreigners (Dasgupta, 2011).

2.5 Nation branding

Throughout history, governments have always been involved in re-branding their nations; but
it was not known as the act of re-branding, because a brand has always been associated with
a product and was deemed as derogatory if used for countries (Olins, 2002). Nation branding
is also linked with the country of origin effect, though they are not the same but they have
similar attributes. Kalicharan (2014) states that the country of origin effect is the perception
of quality that a customer has when purchasing a product that is made in that specific
country; there are several elements that pertain to the country of origin effect and they are:
knowledge, stereotypes, ethnocentrism, and experience.

Nation branding is a notion where the concepts of branding are applied to nations, and the
nation is treated like a business endeavour (Wilder, 2007). Anholt (2010) presented the ideas
to governments that it was possible to brand states by using the same concepts that are
applied to businesses. In order for a nation to establish a brand identity, it should focus on its'

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core strengths of delivering quality services or products in a consistent manner over time, for
example, Switzerland with creating time pieces, Italy for its' fashion, and Germany for its'
vehicle strength (Jansen, 2008). In other words, a nation brand are the core characteristics
that make a country competitive, distinctive, and memorable (Kaneva and Popescu, 2011).

The nation brand index was developed by Simon Anholt, a British independent policy advisor,
in 2005 [See Appendix 4 for nation brand index for the year 2016]. The nation brand index
comprises of measuring a country’s reputation and image, and it is published each year to
track those international measurements (Dinnie, 2008). There are six dimensions that are
measured in the nation brand index, in no particular order. Firstly, culture and heritage,
which reveal how the global perception of that country’s literature, sports, music, film and
art are perceived. Secondly, both investment and immigration are analysed, where they
determine how much people are influenced to live, study, or invest in that country. Thirdly,
exports, which determine how foreigners see the products or services that come from that
country, this index is closely related to the ‘country of origin effect’. Fourthly, the people of
the country are looked at, where this index measures the people’s reputation for education,
friendliness, hostility, discrimination, and competence. Fifthly, the governance index
measures the citizen’s public opinion of the government and if they are competent in leading
the country towards success. Finally, the tourism index measures the number of tourists that
choose to vacation in that country (Dinnie, 2008).

Through a massive research that was undertaken, Lala, et al. (2009) report that there were
dimensions that were overlooked in the nation brand index. The dimensions are comprised of
previous literature and they are: economic conditions, which are the advancements in health
and finance (Han and Terpstra, 1988). The second dimension is conflict, where the
relationship with other countries are measured (Lee and Ganesh, 1999). The third dimension
is political structure, and it measures the government’s policies and the government
(Parameswaran and Pisharodi, 1994). Fourth, vocational training, which is how much a
country invests in its’ human resources (Maheswaran, 1994). Fifth, work culture, which is the
reliability, beliefs, values, and attitudes that workers have towards the work they are given
(Han and Terpstra, 1988). Sixth, environment, which is how much the government has
invested in protecting the environment and the efforts that are taken to protect it. The final

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dimension is labour, and it measures the conditions that workers have in a country (Lala, et
al., 2009)

2.6 Impact of nation branding

There is still much anticipated literature in the field of nation branding because not many
academics or scholars feel that it is effective, and that the concept of it seems overly
simplified when it comes to actually implementing branding theory into a real-life country
context. Gold and Ward (1994) believe that nation if used properly, nation branding will aide
in promoting certain pre-selected images of a location; It can also ensure favouritism to
certain selected target audiences (Bell, 2005). Gnoth (2002) also states that if a nation is
branded correctly, the country’s reputation will be reflected on both its’ products and
services, making them more desirable for prospective customers.

Nation branding can also be used as an essential and commanding political tool, especially for
smaller countries; it can strengthen their economic position so it will be possible for them to
compete against competitors (Volcic and Andrejevic, 2011). It is also seen as a positive
initiative to encourage some citizens of a country to be socially responsible and to always
strive for success (Anholt, 2010). Finally, nation branding aims to attract a presence within
the global community, it aides in bringing new investors, and promotes tourism (Stock, 2009).

On the other hand, there is literature that reports that nation branding is not effective;
nation branding should not be seen in a literal sense, but is a metaphor that can measure a
country’s tourism, governance, immigration, and exports (Graan, 2013). Browning (2015) also
reports that the term ‘branding’ should not be implemented on nations, because it is just a
way of disguising propaganda, and is a controlled form of antagonising citizens. Nation
branding cannot be successful if it is fully government controlled, governments should have
the citizens and stakeholders be involved in their decisions (Varga, 2013). Nation branding
also supports the notion that the brand created is an ‘image’ that governments want to see
and portray, and that it is a distorted version of reality. It perpetuates a certain standard of
living that robs any authenticity out of a country’s culture (Graan, 2013).

Bolin and Stahlberg (2015) argue that nation branding has been looked at from a both a
political and marketing perspective, when instead, it should be seen and implemented within
media term as well; they have also been neglected in the literature. The media will play a

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significant role in branding a nation because they are specialised in the construction,
interpretation, and context of what governments want to be branded. Hurn (2017) claims
that nation branding is seen from a purely marketing perspective, whereas it aims to
promote loyalty by association, while not focusing on cultural branding. Cultural branding can
be applied to nations and is an opportunity for countries to innovate and have competitive
advantage (Smith and Speed, 2011).

3. Implications for managers and conclusions

Before deciding on a strategy, nation brand managers should treat the nation as a business;
and confirm that internally, the citizens are trusting what they are portraying through their
brand. Internal branding is often overlooked because nations want to attract investors or
tourists, but what about the people within that nation? There are three main audiences that
must be addressed, they are the individuals that are involved directly in the development of
the brand, the nation’s citizens, and the stakeholder organisations (Sartain, 2005).

For a nation brand to be implemented successfully, brand commitment from the three
audiences mentioned above must be levied; in order to generate brand commitment, there
are vital factors that have to be considered: leadership, communication, and brand-centred
human resources management (Burmann and Zeplin, 2005). Nation brand managers ought to
exercise their efforts into not turning their strategy into a propaganda tool to serve a
government’s particular agenda, but instead, consider the audiences within that nation.

Olins (1999) has comprised an effective branding program that governments can use as a
framework when deciding on launching and identity program: managers should start setting
up committees that have government, education, and media representatives. They should
follow up with gathering data, both qualitative and quantitative, to see how their country is
perceived oversees. After analysing the data, they have to develop a strategy from
professionals and use it as a base of operations. The strategy should also be planned visually,
such as creating a logo, tag line, etc. for people to recognise the country as soon as they see
it. Finally, the government should sustain the program and encourage businesses that are in
media, commerce, and education to live up to those expectations, and measure the outputs
of their initial strategy.

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There are traits that are perceived about nations that brand themselves and ones that do
not. The nations that are branded are seen as: progressive, authentic, peaceful, innovative,
and young. Whereas, unbranded nations are looked at as: old, political, divisive, traditional,
untrustworthy, and antagonistic (Aronczyk, 2013).

On a final note, with the rise of globalisation, many governments are opting for branding
their nations, and it is evolving phenomenon. Perhaps the biggest focus of all those
governments should be economy, because nation branding sees issues that go further than
national pride, a stable economy on the global scale will attract more than just tourists to
that nation but investment, outsourcing, human resources, and finances.

4. References

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https://www.ama.org/search/pages/results.aspx?k=brand. Last accessed 12th June 2017.

Anholt, S. (2010) Definitions of place branding – Working towards a resolution, Place

Branding and Public Diplomacy, 6, pp. 1 – 10.

Aronczyk, M. (2013) Branding the Nation: The Global Business of National Identity, New York:
Oxford University Press, p. 130.

Bell, C. (2005) Branding New Zealand: The national green-wash, British Review of New
Zealand Studies, 15, pp. 13 – 27.

Bolin, G. and Stahlberg, P. (2015) Mediating the Nation-State: Agency and the Media in
Nation-Branding Campaigns, International Journal of Communication, 9, pp. 3065 – 3083.

Browning, C. (2015) Nation branding, national self-esteem, and the constitution of

subjectivity in late modernity, Foreign Policy Analysis, 11, pp. 195 – 214.

Burke, B. (1994) Brand identity’s new math, Advertising Age, 65 (14), pp. 31 – 33.

Burmann, C. and Zeplin, S. (2005) Building brand commitment: A behavioural approach to

internal brand management, Journal of brand management, 12 (4), pp. 279 – 300.

Chernatony, L. and Riley, D. (1998) Modelling the components of a brand, European Journal
of Marketing, 32 (11), pp. 1074 – 1090.

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Dasgupta, A. (2011) Making public diplomacy work, Journal of International Communication,
17 (1), pp. 73 – 83.

Dinnie, K. (2008) Nation Branding: Concepts, Issues, Practice, Routledge: New York, pp. 65 –
68.

Gold, J. and Ward, B. (1994) Place promotion: The use of publicity and marketing to sell towns
and regions, John Wiley and Sons: Chichester, pp. 15 – 21.

Gnoth, J. (2002) Leveraging export brands through a tourism destination brand. Journal of
Brand Management, 9 (4/5), pp. 262 – 280.

Graan, A. (2013) Counterfeiting the Nation? Skopje 2014 and the Politics of Nation Branding
in Macedonia. Cultural Anthropology, 28 (1), pp. 161 – 179.

Han, C. and Terpstra, V. (1988) Country-of-origin effects for uni-national and bi-national
products. Journal of International Business Studies, 19 (2) pp. 235 – 255.

Hurn, B. (2017) The role of cultural diplomacy in nation branding, Industrial and Commercial
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Jansen, S. (2008) Designer nations: Neo-liberal nation branding — Brand Estonia. Social
Identities, 14 (1), pp. 121 – 142.

Lee, D. and Ganesh, G. (1999) Effects of partitioned country image in the context of brand
image and familiarity. International Marketing Review, 16 (1), pp. 18 – 39.

Kalicharan, H. (2014) The Effect and influence of country of origin on consumers’ perception
of product quality and purchasing intentions, International Business and Economics Research
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Kaneva, N. (2011) Nation branding: Toward an agenda of critical research, International

Journal of Communication, 5, pp. 117 – 141.

Kaneva, N. and Popescu, D. (2011) National Identity Lite: Nation Branding in post –
Communist Romania and Bulgaria’, International Journal of Cultural Studies, 14 (2), pp. 191 –
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Kotler, P. and Keller, K. (2011) Marketing Management. 14th edition, London: Prentice Hall.
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Lala, V., Allred, A. and Chakraborty, G. (2009) A Multidimensional scale for measuring country
image, Journal of International Consumer Marketing, 21, pp. 51 – 66.

Maheswaran, D. (1994) Country of origin as a stereotype: Effects of consumer expertise and

attribute strength on product evaluations. Journal of Consumer Research, 21 (9) pp. 354 –
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McKenna, R. (1991) Marketing is everything. Harvard Business Review, 69 (1), pp. 65 – 79.

Mueller, A. and Schade, M. (2012) Symbols and place identity: A semiotic approach to
internal place branding – case study Bremen (Germany), Journal of Place Management and
Development, 5 (1), pp. 81 – 92.

Olins, W. (1999). Trading Identities: Why countries and companies are taking on each other’s’
roles. London: Foreign Policy Centre, pp. 54 – 90.

Olins, W. (2002). Branding the nation — The historical context, Journal of Brand
Management, 9 (4), pp. 241 – 248.

Parameswaran, R. and Pisharodi, R. (1994) Facets of country of origin image: An empirical

assessment. Journal of Advertising, 23 (1) pp. 43 – 56.

Prinz, J. (1994) Extending your brand? Consider what's at stake, Brand week, 35 (14), pp. 17 –
19.

Rasmussen, P. (2001) "Nations" or "States" an Attempt at Definition, Available:

https://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/172-general/30341.html. Last
Accessed 12th June 2017.

Roberts, J. (2013) The History of the World, 6th Edition, London: Oxford University Press, pp.
54 – 76.

Sartain, L. (2005) Branding from the inside out at Yahoo!: HR’s role as brand builder, Human
Resource Management, 44 (1), pp. 89 – 93.

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Saunders, M.; Lewis, P.; Thornhill, A. (2009) Research Methods for Business Students, 5th
edition, England: Pearson Education Limited.

Smith, G. and Speed, R. (2011) Cultural branding and political marketing: An exploratory
analysis, Journal of Marketing Management, 27 (13/14), pp. 1304 – 1321.

Stock, F. (2009) Identity, Image and Brand: A Conceptual Framework, Place Branding

and Public Diplomacy, 5 (2), pp. 118 – 125.

Varga, S. (2013) The politics of nation branding: Collective identity and public sphere in the
neoliberal state, Philosophy and Social Criticism, 39 (8), pp. 825 – 845.

Volcic, Z. and Andrejevic, M. (2011) Nation branding in the era of commercial nationalism,
International Journal of Communication, 5, pp. 598 – 618.

Widler, J. (2007) Nation branding: With pride against prejudice, Place Branding and Public
Diplomacy, 3(2), pp. 144 – 150.

Wood, L. (2000) Brands and brand equity: definition and management, Management
Decision, 38 (9), pp. 662 – 669.

5. Appendix

Appendix 1: Brand essence diagram

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Appendix 2: Nation-state bonds

Appendix 3: Place branding strategy

Appendix 4: Nation brand index for the year 2016

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