A recent coinage within international relations, “nation branding” designates the process of highlighting a country’s positive characteristics for promotional purposes, using techniques similar to those employed in marketing and public relations. Nation Branding in Modern History takes an innovative approach to illuminating this contested concept, drawing on fascinating case studies in the United States, China, Poland, Suriname, and many other countries, from the nineteenth century to the present. It supplements these empirical contributions with a series of historiographical essays and analyses of key primary documents, making for a rich and multivalent investigation into the nexus of cultural marketing, self-representation, and political power.

Nation Branding: Concepts, Issues, Practice was the ground-breaking first textbook to provide an overview of this recently established but fast-growing practice, in which the principles of brand management are applied to countries rather than companies. Many governments have invested in nation branding in order to strengthen their country's influence, improve its reputation, or boost tourism, trade and investment. This new edition has been comprehensively revised and its influential original framework modified to reflect the very latest changes to this still-developing field. It remains an accessible blend of theory and practice rich with international examples and contributions. Updates to this edition: New international cases of countries as diverse as China, United Arab Emirates, Ghana, Cuba, India, Great Britain and many more; New contributions from distinguished scholars, diplomats and businesspeople providing a range of case studies, practitioner insights and academic perspectives; New Companion Website to support the book featuring instructor aids such as PowerPoint presentations for each chapter and an instructor manual; This much-anticipated update to an influential book is an essential introduction to nation branding for students and policy makers.

What happens to the nation when it is reconceived as a brand? How does nation branding change the terms of politics and culture in a globalized world? Branding the Nation offers a unique critical perspective on the power of brands to affect how we think about space, value and identity.

This book investigates the political implications of country promotion through practices of ‘nation-branding’ by drawing on contemporary examples from the sports, urban development and higher education sector in Kazakhstan and Qatar. Nation-branding has emerged as a central practice of international politics, where it is commonly understood as a vain, superficial selling technique with little political salience. Drawing on shared insights from practice theory and constructivist notions of nationalism, identity and power, this book challenges this reading and instead argues that nation-branding is neither neutral nor primarily economically motivated, but inherently politicised and tied to the legitimation of current political regimes. The starting point for the analysis is a range of everyday practices and sites long ignored by international relations scholars. In particular, the book traces how the political leadership in Kazakhstan and Qatar have used participation in the international sports circuit, spectacular urban development, and the construction of ‘world-class’ universities to first produce and then stabilize new ideas about their state. Providing a new analytical perspective on nation-branding, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of Middle Eastern and Central Asian studies, International Relations, and Cultural and Political Geography.

Nation Branding: Concepts, Issues, Practice is a comprehensive and exciting text that demonstrates why nations are embracing the principles of brand management. It clearly explains how the concepts and techniques of branding can be adapted to the context of nations- as opposed to the more usual context of products, services, or companies. Concepts grounded in the brand management literature such as brand identity, brand image, brand positioning, and brand equity, are transposed to the domain of nation branding and supported by country case insights that provide vivid illustrations of nation branding in practice. Nation branding is a means by which more and more nations are attempting to compete on the global stage. Current practice in nation branding is examined and future horizons traced. The book provides: * The first overview of its kind on nation branding * A blend of academic theory and real world practice in an accessible, readable fashion * A clear and detailed adaptation of existing brand theory to the emerging domain of nation branding * An original conceptual framework and models for nation branding * A rich range of international examples and over 20 contributions by leading experts from around the world Country case insights on nation branding strategies currently being utilized by nations such as Japan, Egypt, Brazil, Switzerland, Iceland, and Russia Clearly and coherently structured, the book is an essential introduction to nation branding for both students and policymakers and will be an essential text for those interested in this fast growing area.

Branding is a profoundly geographical type of commodification process. Many things become commodities that are compared and valuated on markets around the globe. Places such as cities or regions, countries and nations attempt to acquire visibility through branding. Geographical imaginations are evoked to brand goods and places as commodities in order to show or create connections and add value. Yet, not all that is branded was originally intended and created for markets. This volume aims to broaden current understanding of branding through a series of contributions from geography, history, political studies, cultural, and media studies, offering insight into how ordinary places, objects and practices become commodities through branding. In so doing, the contributions also show how nation, place and product as targets of branding can be seen as intertwined. To discuss these forms of branding, book chapters refer to states, cities, holiday destinations, food malls, movies, dances, post stamps and other items that serve as brands and/or are branded. The book will be of interest to students and scholars in geography, sociology, history, cultural studies and business studies who would like to gain an understanding of the intricate and surprising ways in which things, places, and cultural practices become brands.

Usually, a country brand is not focused, resulting in unsuccessful place branding. It is possible to successfully raise your national identity to the level of an attractive brand. Building a country brand is an investment, with strong positive returns. This book will guide you along the path to building a successful brand.

By taking corporate marketing concepts and applying it to countries, “nation branding” is a way for these regions to enhance their reputations and project a desired image for international recognition. New modes of publicity and marketing geared towards geographic location fall into this category, leading nation branding to have vast benefits for the economics and societies of countries. New marketing strategies have emerged and are being adopted to consequently brand countries with this purpose of economic growth. By studying these emerging strategies and methods, nations can best develop a desired brand and reputation to foster growth and prosperity. The Handbook of Research on Future Policies and Strategies for Nation Branding discusses how exactly nation branding works to benefit the function and mission of these nations along with showing how nation branding can be used as a strategic asset for the redesign of economic, political, and social characteristics of a country. The chapters outline the given situation of nations and the nature and implications of the brand that is required, measure branding inference, and propose future steps for nation branding. This book is a critical reference source for brand managers, tourism professionals, marketers, advertisers, government officials, travel agencies, academicians, researchers, and students working in the fields of international relations, economics, social sciences, business studies, marketing, and entrepreneurship.

Combining the perspectives of 18 international scholars from Europe and the United States with a critical discussion of the role of culture in international relations, this volume introduces recent trends in the study of Culture and International History. It systematically explores the cultural dimension of international history, mapping existing approaches and conceptual lenses for the study of cultural factors and thus hopes to sharpen the awareness for the cultural approach to international history among both American and non-American scholars. The first part provides a methodological introduction, explores the cultural underpinnings of foreign policy, and the role of culture in international affairs by reviewing the historiography and examining the meaning of the word culture in the context of foreign relations. In the second part, contributors analyze culture as a tool of foreign policy. They demonstrate how culture was instrumentalized for diplomatic goals and purposes in different historical periods and world regions. The essays in the third part expand the state-centered view and retrace informal cultural relations among nations and peoples. This exploration of non-state cultural interaction focuses on the role of science, art, religion, and tourism. The fourth part collects the findings and arguments of part one, two, and three to define a roadmap for further scholarly inquiry. A group of" commentators" survey the preceding essays, place them into a larger research context, and address the question "Where do we go from here?" The last and fifth part presents a selection of primary sources along with individual comments highlighting a new genre of resources scholars interested in culture and international relations can consult.

Branding, says James Twitchell, is nothing more than commercial storytelling; brands are the stories that are associated with products. (For example, the special taste of Evian, says Twitchell, is in the brand, not the water.) Branding has become so successful, so ubiquitous that even institutions that we thought were above branding, antithetical to branding, have succumbed. Such cultural institutions as religion, higher education, and the art world have learned to love Madison Avenue or lose market share. Of course, most ministers, university presidents, and museum directors will insist that branding has nothing to do with them, but as Twitchell brilliantly demonstrates in this witty, insightful examination of three of our most important cultural institutions, wherever supply exceeds demand branding follows. The rise of the megachurch epitomizes branding in religion. From its inception the megachurch was designed not to compete with other churches but to bring in the "unchurched," especially men, worshippers who might otherwise be home watching television or strolling through the mall on a Sunday morning. The megachurches have been phenomenally popular, none more so than Willow Creek Community Church, just south of Chicago, one of the oldest megachurches, which Twitchell analyzes in Branded Nation. Colleges and universities have embraced branding as they have grown more alike. Especially among the top schools in the country, the student bodies, the faculties, often even the campuses themselves are practically interchangeable. What distinguishes each school is the story it tells about itself. Now every institution of higher learning has its image organizers, its brand managers, usually in the admissions or development offices, whose job it is to make their institution seem different from all the rest. Even museums, with their multimillion-dollar Monets, have seen the advantages of branding. The blockbuster exhibitions often put familiar paintings in a new context, that is, they provide a new narrative, branding the art. Museums keep expanding their stores, placing them not just near the entrance on the ground floor but throughout the museum, in the galleries themselves. Some museums, such as the Guggenheim, even franchise themselves, turning the institution itself into a brand. In short, high culture is beginning to look more and more like the rest of our culture. In perhaps his most subversive observation, Twitchell doesn't condemn the branding of cultural institutions. On the contrary, he believes that branding may be invigorating our high culture, bringing it to new audiences, making it a more integral part of our lives. Not since Bobos in Paradise has there been such a trenchant, provocative analysis of our world.