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Nation branding refers to the strategic management of a country’s image to ensure that it is a fair, balanced, and useful reflection of the country itself. A strong nation brand is fundamental to its diplomacy, economy, and the well-being of its inhabitants, among other elements. To monitor the degree of this strength, different international indexes are periodically created and published. This entry focuses on introducing the concept of nation branding, and on describing the methodologies and latest results of the rankings that are currently considered most relevant in both academia and industry. These rankings are divided into two categories, namely, general nation branding indexes (Nation Brands Index, Future Brand Country Index, RepCore Nations, Good Country Index, Best Countries ranking) and field-specific nation branding indexes (Global Soft Power Index, Country Brand Ranking Tourism Edition, Country Brand Ranking Trade Edition, World Economic Outlook, Better Life Index).
nation branding
indexes
soft power
image
reputation
communication
public relations
The external perception of a nation has become a critical factor for its economic, social, political, and cultural development, particularly in an increasingly globalized world where interdependence among different territories is significantly growing. Countries, whether consciously or unconsciously, fight to enhance the well-being of their inhabitants and attract tourism, commerce, talent, residents, and investment. As Simon Anholt [1] argues, becoming a brand is not merely an option but an essential and unavoidable necessity.
Since Anholt himself coined the term nation brand in 1996 [2]; the concept has evolved over time, with numerous authors contributing to the field. Fan [3] (p. 98) stated that place brands are formed by the sum of all the perceptions that international stakeholders have of that place in their minds. Aronczyk [4] (p. 16) defined place branding as the result of the interpenetration of public and commercial sector interests, aimed at communicating national priorities to external and internal audiences for various purposes. Zenker and Braun [5] (p. 275) considered it “a network of associations in the place consumers’ mind based on the visual, verbal, and behavioral expression of a place and its stakeholders”.
These associations differ in their influence within the network and in their importance for the attitudes and behaviors of place consumers. Boisen, Terlouw, Groote, and Couwenberg [6] (p. 7) introduced the concepts of image and reputation to the discussion by explaining that the image of a territory is directly related to how that territory is perceived. Corbacho, Míguez, and Valderrama [7] highlighted the importance of the country brand as a distinctive seal of recognizable quality, which should be carried with pride by those who are considered ambassadors of it, in a broad sense, given that a recognized and strong country brand benefits those who form or contribute to it. More recent articles have upheld theories that are largely similar to the original ones regarding the concept’s background, such as the work by Vasist and Krishnam [8], which states that “in a highly competitive global market, a nation’s image is vital to its perception and helps countries compete to attract tourists, investors, and customers” (p. 12).
The 3-Gap Model, created by Robert Govers and Frank Go [9], can be used as a guide for the practical application of these theories to actual geographic or political entities. This system is based on the idea of using place brand management as a tool to bridge the gap between perception and reality; it aims to find the elements that influence the way in which the image of a place is formed in the minds of its audiences, highlighting the errors to be avoided and how to bridge these gaps [9][10]. The first of these gaps, focused on strategy, occurs when the projected image does not reflect the reality of the place, but its unique characteristics could be used as a competitive advantage. In this case, efforts should focus on finding both an adequate offer of products to be communicated and a coherent way of communicating them. When this is not achieved, the gap between the identities of the territories and the images they project grows. The second gap, based on performance, appears when the expectations of consumers/visitors differ from their experience (always with respect to a territory). In this case, even if the projected image is adequate and aligns with the identity of the territory, the staging and results may fail, causing disappointment. The third gap focuses on satisfaction. In this case, the staging may be correct, but the image that the consumer/visitor has of a territory is previously influenced by other aspects. It is often a question of cultural perspectives, which form expectations that do not correspond to the reality of the country. In this case, the effort should be focused on conveying an adequate image of the country. In order to discover how to bridge these gaps, the existing perceptions of the territories must be analyzed and measured, which leads us to the following section of this entry, which focuses on the indexes.
References
- Anholt, S. Some important distinctions in place branding. Place Brand. 2005, 1, 116–121.
- Anholt, S. Making a brand travel. J. Brand Manag. 1996, 3, 357–364.
- Fan, Y. Branding the nation: Towards a better understanding. Place Brand. Public Dipl. 2010, 6, 97–103.
- Aronczyk, M. Branding the Nation: The Global Business of National Identity; Oxford University Press: New York, NY, USA, 2013.
- Zenker, S.; Braun, E. Questioning a “one size fits all” city brand: Developing a branded house strategy for place brand management. J. Place Manag. Dev. 2017, 10, 270–287.
- Boisen, M.; Terlouw, K.; Groote, P.; Couwenberg, O. Reframing place promotion, place marketing, and place branding—Moving beyond conceptual confusion. Cities 2018, 80, 4–11.
- Corbacho-Valencia, J.; Míguez-González, M.; Valderrama-Santomé, M. Percepción interna y externa de la imagen de la marca España: Análisis de métodos de evaluación. Sphera Publica 2014, 2, 82–99.
- Vasist, P.N.; Krishnan, S. Country branding in post-truth Era: A configural narrative. J. Destin. Mark. Manag. 2024, 32, 100854.
- Govers, R.; Go, F.M. Place Branding: Glocal, Virtual and Physical Identities, Constructed, Imagined and Experienced; Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke, UK, 2009.
- Govers, R. Virtual Tourism Destination Image: Glocal Identities Constructed, Perceived and Experienced; Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM): Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2005.
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