Branding Nations -- II

In my article ‘Branding Nations’ I had underlined the fact that building a country’s image is like building a brand. Brands are created when there is a balance in perceptions and reality about a product, resulting in a favourable, or at the least a balanced image. In the case of country branding the product is the country which includes the people i.e. the civil society, the government (including its institutions) and the private sector. For country branding to be successful there is a need to engage these three major stakeholders and ensure that their efforts towards national image building are coordinated and send out the desired message.

In Pakistan, we continue to approach national image building in disorganized and reactive manner. That is one of the reasons that there exists a huge gap in the perception of Pakistan and the reality of the country. To succeed globally we have to be objective, to accurately see Pakistan as others see us. It is our geographical location that makes us strategically important to the major powers. Otherwise, as a nation we have to sadly appreciate that we do not mean a great deal to other people. While we can make the best use of the opportunity provided by the war on terrorism to bolster our image, we also have to be creative to make ordinary facts striking and memorable. We must focus on identifying how we want the world to think and feel about Pakistan – create a Pakistani Brand.

We must aim to paint a future vision where Pakistan is associated with positive values, where our warmth and welcoming, and not kidnapping and harassment is what tourists go home and talk about, where we are seen as tolerant people who treat everyone with dignity and respect. Where our ethnic diversity is not seen as a negative factor but as something that makes us so interesting and open to diverse opportunities.

To achieve the aim of creating a positive Pakistani Brand there is need for a dynamic agency that can conceive, coordinate and monitor the brand building effort at the national and international level between all the role-players. The structure of this organisation should reflect the participation of the three major stakeholders at all stages.

This organisation’s mission should be to correct the perceptions about the country and to establish a brand for Pakistan which besides helping achieve our diplomatic objectives also provides us the necessary advantage in terms of increasing trade and investment and promoting tourism. These three areas have tremendous potential for job creation. It should coordinate the national image building efforts of the government and the private sector. One of its main tasks will be to build national support for the brand within Pakistan itself.

Its mandate should be extensive and cover an all encompassing approach to the marketing of Pakistani Brand. It should aim to deliver one image of Pakistan through a clear and co-coordinated effort. It should also have a strategy to respond to the negative and approach the press proactively rather than reactively.

The organisation should be able to constantly seize new and creative opportunities within the country and at the international level to promote Pakistan. It should encourage patriotism and national pride. Marketing Pakistan internationally is futile without the support of the Pakistani people. It is extremely important to motivate our people and provide them with positive information about the country’s successes. We are prone to running down our country. This trend has to be reverse. Every person should be encouraged to start to actively promote the country, talking it up instead of talking it down, and to ensure that they know how important their individual role is in this effort.

The role of media in building a positive Pakistani Brand is pivotal. A major undertaking of this organisation should be to approach the media for support in terms of creating balance and context in the news, ensuring that stories about ordinary Pakistanis doing extraordinary things are profiled. This is the most important part of the campaign as the real stories that emanate from Pakistan should be told with a simple honesty that builds credibility. The media must be asked to help build a better, positive Pakistan and to use the power it wields carefully in this regard. The media should also be asked to encourage people to reflect on what they can be proud of as country and as people. The organisation must develop themes in this regard and encourage the media to use them.

The organisation should make sure that it performs at its peak when the eyes of the world are focused on us. To this end major sporting and cultural events should be hosted in the country. A country which has done this successfully is Spain. Once called a basket case, Spain utilised the Barcelona Olympics to improve its image. A coordinated image building effort by its institutions has ensured that despite troubles with Basque separatists, Spain’s image is not that of an unsafe country and it continues to host international events, besides remaining a major tourist attraction.

On the other hand western governments repeatedly caution their citizens against visiting Pakistan based on threats posted on the web and unauthenticated news reports. This is a reflection of the international community’s perception about our internal security situation. Notwithstanding the politicisng of the issue, the publicity of the military operation in Wana has helped counter the view at the international level that Pakistan has not been doing enough in the war on terrorism. It will in the long run also help improve international perceptions about Pakistan’s determination to improve its internal security.

This image building exercise cannot be undertaken overnight. It has to be a sustained projection over a prolonged period. The organisation created to do so should be given the resources and the time to conceive, execute, coordinate and monitor this gigantic undertaking.