| Summary: | Nation branding is an emerging and contested discourse at the convergence of diverse fields such as business management, tourism, social and political sciences. Sport mega-events have previously been associated with some degree of brand-related benefits for the host nation. However, there have been no studies that have clearly revealed these opportunities or investigated their impact on the development of brand equity for a nation. Furthermore, no studies have examined the inherent characteristics of a sport mega-event that create such opportunities. The contemporary emphasis on the ability of sport mega-events to deliver legacies also raised the question of how nation branding benefits can be sustained post an event. While sport mega-event leveraging studies have begun to emerge, none of these has focused on the manner in which brand stakeholders can leverage and sustain nation branding opportunities specifically. This study therefore aimed to identify the strategic branding opportunities created by a sport mega-event for a host nation and to indicate how brand stakeholders could leverage and sustain these opportunities. The study used a mixed methods, sequential, qualitative-dominant status design (quan → QUAL). The case of South Africa and the 2010 FIFA World Cup was selected as the study context, as it represented an emerging nation that specifically stated its aim of using the sport mega-event to develop its brand. In order to assess brand image perceptions and the degree to which these were impacted by the mega-event, a quantitative study investigated international visitors’ nation brand perceptions during the event (n=561). Informed by the results, a qualitative study was designed to elicit the experiences, lessons and insights of selected, definitive nation brand stakeholders and experts (n=27), with whom in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted, two to three years post the event. This study clearly identifies the strategic manner in which a sport mega-event creates equity for a nation brand. Furthermore, it reveals the inherent characteristics of a sport mega-event that create such opportunities. It also challenges the conceptualisation of legacy, rather promoting the strategic activities of stakeholders in order to sustain event benefits. The findings will assist policy makers and stakeholders to leverage the opportunities created by an event more effectively and make more informed policy decisions regarding the bidding and hosting of events.
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