MBS Marketing Association

I never thought much of a country as a brand.  Sure, one could put a catchy tag line to market the country as a destination, which would work to draw in some tourism dollars, but as a brand by itself?  How doesone brand something so large, so diverse and so intricately complex like a country?  With all these questions in mind, I walked into the Country Brand Index 2009 presentation by Erminio Putignano from FutureBrand, hosted by MBS Marketing Association, with a tinge of skepticism. 

The presentation opened with a picture of a gorilla wearinglipstick.  Strange, indeed, but then again, one might expect something creative like this from a marketing professional.  Coming back to the beautified primate, Erminio went so far as to agree with the skeptics ofcountry branding.  In short, he agreed, that if one were to splash marketing dollars to simply come up with a catchy tag line, jingle and everything else that goes with commercialized marketing to reap the benefits of the valuable tourism dollar, that would indeed be putting lipstick on a gorilla.

The real essence to country branding, Erminio argued, lay buried deep within the whole concept of branding.  This essence can be gently coaxed out by asking a series of questions, which Erminio confessed was a common conversation starter with his dining guests.  The first is whether you would like to visit the country as a holiday destination.  This is, basically, the pretty Gorilla.  The second is whether you would like to live in that country.  Now it gets a little bitdeeper, and a little bit more personal.  The million-dollar question to understanding country-branding, as it turns out, is to ask whether you would want to have this country as your nationality on your passport.

Country branding, as I understand it now, is about identity.  Its more than just how the country is seen by the world based its external visual representations, such as a tourism poster of a kangaroo hopping around in the outback.  It’s more internal, and deeply personal.  It is an accumulation of everything that makes up a country.  It’s the perceptionof whether a local stranger will help you carry your groceries (with no sleazy ulterior motives, of course).  It’s whether you need grease a few palms to get your business running.  It’s whether the end of the week on Friday means joining the mates at the pub at 530pm, or leaving the office just in timefor an early Saturday morning breakfast at Burger Kings.  Most importantly, it is how intimately youidentify with the country and the perceived lifestyle.  Does your lifestyle, personality and goals align with the brand of the country, so much so that you would become a citizen?  This, in my opinion, is country branding. 

Erminio’s relaxed presentation style and friendly demeanor allowed for a lot of discussion and debate. It was very encouraging that there was very active participation from the floor, with various thoughts and opinions being thrown around.  The session was even more intriguing, as the audience, true to typical MBS fashion, was a mix of people of different nationalities.  Thus, opinions about a certain country’s brand perception were a bit more personal and accurate, bordering on intimate and passionate.

At the end of the day, Erminio shared the various attributes that was used by FutureBrand to complete the country brand index.  These ranged from beaches, to business, toarts and culture.   Then, he shared some possible theories on why America made it to the number one spot this year, ahead of Canada and Australia (he attributed it to ‘Obama-ism’).  He also talked about where Australia lost some luster in the eyes of the world, for instance in terms of its local friendliness and its beaches, attributes which were always considered very ‘Aussie’.

All in all, it was a very engaging presentation, delivered by a captivating speaker.  It left me with a different personal opinion about country branding.  It also gave me a better understanding of how a country’s brand might actually affect me, the business world, the company I work with, and basically, everything in life.

Would I consider this to be putting lipstick on a gorilla?  That would really depend on the gorilla.

Get complete information about FutureBrand’s 2009 countrybrand index here: http://www.futurebrand.com/think/reports-studies/cbi/2009/overview/