Nation Branding - Dissertation Example

A nation is a large group of people that speak the same language and has the same race. A country is different than the nation, a country is a space that is inhabited by the nation or part of it i.e. the nation’s population may be bigger and reside in other countries as well. There is a difference between nation brand/image and country image. There are various terms in the literature i.e. terms that are product related, national level and cultural focus. The image of product country related to the product brand.

The nation brand deals with the nation and the product-country image is part of the country image.(Kleppe, 2002). Nation branding is both theory and practice. Its basic goal is to measure, create and at the same time the reputation of the various countries. It is very strongly related to place branding although it is not the same. Place branding entails nation branding, city and region branding. Simon Anholt is the creator of the term “place branding”, he first used it in 2002 although the term can be seen in the works of other authors like Philip Kotler etc.

It refers to any tourist place or a city and a country and to the competition that the particular place faces for tourists as well as another resource. It is part of Public Relations and it is actually a strategic part of it since it supports the view that a change in the public image is ongoing and it requires a strategic plan whereas the change of logo or slogan is not good enough. Place and nation branding are based on the basics of brand management. Brand management is actually a number of marketing tools for products, product lines or brands.

Its main purpose is to increase the value of the products as it is perceived by the customer. In Marketing, the brand is considered as a promise to the customer, a promise of quality so that the customers will continue to purchase the product in the future. It is believed that a strong brand can increase sales and the producer can charge a higher price. Nation branding borrows certain principles from brand management. The difference is that these principles are not applied in products but in countries.

The goal is to create and protect the country's international reputations. The image of the country is important in order to be successful worldwide. In many cases the image of the country is more important than the products that the country sells. Many countries practice Nation branding. Even the poorer countries are interested in it since it is believed that it can create better and more favorable conditions for commerce, tourism, foreign investment and political relations with other countries.

Many countries are also interested in talent attraction i.e. attracting high qualified students. In addition to these, Temporal (http:// www.asia-inc.com/index.phparticleID=2083) suggests that nation branding "