Country as a Brand: Taiwan-based example

• Main Authors: Lahvinovich Yuliya, 尤莉雅
• Other Authors: Heng-Chiang Huang
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2007
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/83075250314465807461

碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 國際企業學研究所 === 95 === Branding has become one of the most powerful tools in the marketing strategy. A brand is the symbolic embodiment of all the information connected with a product or service and it usually includes a name, logo, and other visual elements such as images or symbols. People still use brands as a cue in their purchasing decisions. More and more often the term branding is used in connection to countries, which like companies compete with each other and try to brand themselves using marketing and advertising tools to attract tourists, investors, talented specialists, businessmen, and create a fair and favorable image in the eyes of the world. Therefore in order to attract resources and “customers” to the country, political leaders and government in cooperation with private sector and citizens should create a State Brand to show the unique and attractive features of their nation. The main drive of this process is globalization. As the world becomes more and more globalized with open markets, free capital movement and transparent borders, countries, which do not want to be blended together, make efforts to differentiate themselves from others by creating a State Brand with unique core message and composition. The field of country branding research is still in its infancy and has no common theoretical base, definition and strategy. Moreover, country branding is already happening and impossible to ignore. This all makes this topic relevant for further research and investigation. Present Thesis research tries to investigate various aspects of Country brand construct and bridge theory and practice, work out possible definition for Country branding, work out the Strategic Marketing branding strategy and analyze Taiwan as an example trying to apply Strategic Marketing branding strategy. Finally give some recommendations and policy implications, as well as give some directions for future research. The author will present the case analysis of Taiwan in terms of country branding and promotion. Author will try to apply Country Branding Strategy to Taiwan, using the following methodology – presenting and analyzing the current image of Taiwan and general impression and international public opinion, all being a part of a country image audit; later, author will present the analysis of current promotional campaigns of various organizations and across all six dimensions of a country brand construct – tourism, export promotion, investment promotion, governance, people and public diplomacy, culture and heritage; finally, logo and slogan will be analysed and some suggestions to the leading authorities will be given. The main results obtained – 1) country images are important extrinsic clues in product evaluations that customers tourists, investors, companies, immigrants, diplomats, venture capitalists, talented professionals, foreign consumers and many others make in their decisions; 2) countries, same as products and companies need promotion to show its peculiarities and uniqueness, making the rest of the world aware of its achievements, culture and other significant national characteristics; 3) according to the analysis and presented Taiwan branding initiatives, we can clearly see, that the promotion of Taiwan is done mostly in terms of Destination Branding and Export Brands promotion, which creates a disproportionate image and does not show all of the unique sides of its Brand, such as peoples’ characteristics, unique combination of traditional cultural heritage and modern culture; 4) Taiwan therefore needs a consistent and coordinated campaign under the leadership of government and private sector to create an umbrella state brand.