Country Promotion and Image Building Process

1. Country Promotion and Image Building Process Bipul Chatterjee

2. What is it? • Strategic marketing to promote a country’s image • The need for countries to brand themselves on four different dimensions: tourism, public diplomacy, exports and foreign direct investment • Three important things to remember: • State branding is no longer a choice but a necessity • No longer a function to be performed by the state or individual companies but to be an integrated efforts by all interested stakeholders • Soft power

3. How relevant? • Consumers and investors rely heavily on country images to make their economic decisions. • Effective state branding not only serves to re-impose positive images but also helps to fight negative ones • A major factor of competitiveness in world markets

4. Country Image vs. Country Identity • Country image is a mental picture of a country – beliefs and impressions people hold about places. • Country identity is what a country believes it is.

5. Four Dimensions of State Branding • Tourism: Mass marketing approaches by government and industry associations • Public diplomacy: Range of interactions on the part of a government with not only its counterparts but primarily with non-governmental individuals and organisations aimed at furthering its image and reputation through mutual understanding. • Export: Promotional activities carried out by exporters with government and industry associations acting as facilitators • Investment: Personal selling nature rather than mass marketing

6. Public Diplomacy • How a country manages its reputation abroad • Three dimensions of public diplomacy: • Communication on day-to-day issues – aligning traditional diplomacy with the news cycle • Strategic communication – managing overall perception of a country • Developing lasting relationships with key individuals through various means

7. Recommendations for Public Diplomacy • Governments should engage with mass audiences not through embassies on the ground but working through foreign correspondents in capitals • Governments need to change the tone of public diplomacy, so that it is less about winning arguments and more about engagement • Public diplomacy should be focused on the countries that are more relevant to a country’s interests • Conspicuous government involvement in public diplomacy can be counter-productive; working through third parties (NGOs, diasporas) is more likely to build trust

8. Doing Business in India