Countries As Brands
For the past five years, FutureBrand has rallied around the idea that countries have the potential to become some of the world’s strongest brands, rivaling Nike, Sony and IBM. We have documented how well-branded countries can better promote economic value and export products; attract inbound investment, tourists and talent; redress stereotypes or clichés and build competitive advantage. All this remains true. We also see new and innovative ways countries are promoting themselves: using global sports to showcase a nation, creating strong and groundbreaking environmental policies and approaches, electing powerful leaders who inspire global goodwill and creating icons of culture and the arts.
These are important considerations because there are some who say that marketing alone cannot build a country brand―that a strong nation brand requires a solid foundation of infrastructure, a stable economy and a secure government. While this is true to some extent, we have certainly all witnessed the powerful role marketing can play in advancing a nation, from its capacity to shift perceptions or introduce a new country to the world to its ability to communicate a destination’s focus or superior export.
Country branding offers many benefits:
- Provides the glue among political, social and economic pillars
- Defines how a country’s own citizens and the world perceive it
- Balances substance and form―perception and reality
- Enhances a nation’s ability to achieve its objectives across foreign policy, FDI, trade, tourism, etc.
- Creates a seamless connection between the country’s strategic intent, its marketing and its experience
- Delivers a unifying platform that builds synergy, allowing for cross-promotion and alignment across the public and private sectors