Yesterday afternoon I gave a presentation in Tokyo at the Japanese Institute of Global Communications. My topic was ‘Japanese and Chinese nation branding: Key issues and contrasting strategies’. I looked at the contrasting strategies adopted by the two countries in terms of Japan following a nation branding approach focused mainly on innovation and design, whereas China appears to be placing more emphasis upon a public diplomacy approach focused for example on the promotion of Chinese culture through the establishment of the international network of Confucius Institutes. Although this perspective is obviously a simplification of each country’s strategy, I think it is intriguing to see how the two countries are reacting in quite different ways to the nation branding challenges they both face.

In the audience was a representative from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who pointed out that a programme for Japanese public diplomacy has just been initiated, so it will be interesting to see what direction Japan takes in its future public diplomacy strategy.

To show how countries can act in a positive way to the profile-raising opportunities that come their way, I included a couple of slides in my presentation on ‘Baruto’, an Estonian sumo wrestler who has been successful in Japan. Back in Estonia, the Enterprise Estonia organisation has been alive to the unique opportunity that Baruto’s fame has provided as a means to raise the profile of Estonia within Japan. Baruto has been enlisted as a goodwill ambassador for Estonia in Japan. There is no way that Estonia would have the budget to pay for an advertising campaign to match the levels of awareness for Estonia that this one sporting personality has created.

Other countries - particularly, but not only, those with severely limited budgets - should look around and see where in the world there are prominent sporting figures that could be similarly enlisted as goodwill ambassadors. Such initiatives will become increasingly common as countries become more entrepreneurial in their nation branding efforts.  

On June 17 I was one of the invited speakers at a seminar on place branding that took place in the wonderful city of Lisbon. My presentation focused on how Spain has developed its nation branding through highlighting the successful performance of many Spanish export brands. The seminar was organised by Lisbon-based company Brandia Central, who did a great job in organising the seminar and attracting an enthusiastic audience keen to hear about the many different aspects of branding places.

It was a great pleasure for me not only to visit Lisbon again after an absence of 16 years, but also to meet and get to know the other invited speakers - David Gertner (Pace University,  Lubin School of Business); Joao Freire (Brandia Central); Bill Baker (Total Destination Management); Peggy Bendel (Development Counsellors International); and Miguel Otero (Leading Brands of Spain Forum). Each speaker had a different take on place branding and that made for a good, though-provoking set of presentations.

The seminar presentations have now been added to Brandia Central’s website, which you can find at http://brandiacentral.com/placebranding