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Home >> Africa >> Nigeria & Niger Country Branding And The Nigeria Image Project As A Case Study Uche Nworah - 5/24/2005 Branding as we know it has traditionally only been associated with products and services, global companies and corporations and their marketing communications agencies have continued to create and use branding as a distinguishing and strategic competitive factor in the market place, and also in the battle for consumers. Brands such as Coca-Cola, Mercedes, Nike, Microsoft, Harvard, Guinness, Ford etc are beneficiaries of strong and strategic brand building efforts, this may therefore account for the brand leadership positions of these companies globally. While searching for relevant literature in the field of country branding, I noticed that there are not a lot of specialised textbooks and resources in the discipline, much of the available literature in country branding is still largely and loosely embedded in traditional marketing, management and branding textbooks, including series of articles on the discipline written by marketing and branding practitioners, these could be found in mainline marketing and branding journals and also online at www.brandchannel.com, the acclaimed home of branding maintained by Interbrand, the leading global branding firm. One of the reasons for lack of readily available resources in the field could be found in the comments made by Wally Olins (1999), according to him; The popular assumption is that national branding is a novel concept. In another paper Branding the Nation - the historical perspectives, Olins warns countries of the risks of ignoring Nation branding and predicts that country branding will become normal practice in the coming decades. According to him, the lack of interest and belief in country branding by some sceptics is only as a result of snobbery, ignorance and semantics. I will work from a definition of what brand and branding means and then attempt a definition of country branding. Much of the definitions of branding, if any that exists focuses directly and more on explaining what brand means. Nilson (2000) writes that a brand is really just a symbol with tremendous potential, and that this symbol can be expressed in many different ways. This is particularly true as such symbols such as the Nike swoosh, the Mercedes star and the McDonalds' golden arches come to mind. The brand symbol can also become a distinctive feature from other competing brands, according to Cowking & Hankinson (1996); A brand is simply a product or service which can be distinguished from its competitors. According to John Murphy in Hart & Murphy ed. (1998), such distinguishing aspects and brand features could be tangible and intangible. With products, such tangible and intangible values are easily identifiable by the consumers, as they can feel, touch, sample and judge the product before purchasing, however this becomes a bit difficult with services, which the consumers can only judge after experiencing or based on their prior knowledge and information about the service, a decision process which can be aided by a strong brand identity. With countries, the decision making process is even more difficult because the objectives and costs are different, whereas a consumer could easily afford to spend a pound or dollar on a product without much considerations and with potentially less consequences as a result of dissatisfaction, it is not so simple with companies wishing to invest in a country or with tourists wishing to go on holidays in the country. Both the companies and the holidaymakers are influenced by a lot of other factors; this is because of the huge sums of money involved. For holidaymakers this will run into thousands of dollars or pounds, they will also consider the relative safety of the social and political environment of the country. For companies, the figure becomes even higher, often running into hundreds of millions of dollars or pounds, at the back of the minds of such potential investors will be the security of their investments as well as the rate of return on such investments compared to the rates of return on investment in other competing countries, the investors decisions will also invariably be influenced by the political, social and economic stability of the country in question. This view is shared by Randall Frost (2004) who wrote that …There's no arguing that the image we have of another country says a lot about how we view it as a tourist destination, a place to invest or a source of consumer goods. If brands are therefore the tangible and intangible attributes of a product, service or country comprising the brand names, logo, colour, values, customer service levels, price, packaging etc, Branding therefore is the continuos and strategic process involved in the creating and managing of all these associated brand elements and components. I will therefore define Branding as the marketing and management process that gives a product, service, organisation, or personality a unique identity and image such that it is easily and positively identifiable and distinct from the competition. Compared to products and services branding, country branding is the process whereby a country actively seeks to create a unique and competitive identity for itself, with the aim of positioning the country internally and internationally as a good destination for trade, tourism and investments. In this regard, countries such as South Africa, Wales, Spain, Colombia, Ireland have succeeded in attracting FDIs and tourists to their countries as a result of carefully managed country branding programmes. With the rising trend of globalisation and the breaking down of international barriers of trade, competition for consumers and inward investments, also known as Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) are getting more intense amongst the countries of the world. Charles Brymer of Interbrand, in his paper Branding A Country (2003) writes that countries will compete daily with neighbors or block regions for tourism, inward investment and export sales, There's only so much business that can go around. Those countries that start with an unknown or poor reputation will be limited or marginalized. They can not easily boost their commercial success. Brymer's remarks ring true particularly in the developing countries especially Nigeria, the self styled giant of Africa, with an estimated population of over 200 million people and also a privileged position as the 6th largest producer and exporter of crude oil in the world. Such large abundance of human and material resources in the country have been variously described as a curse by certain commentators, their reason being that the proceeds from the sales of the natural resources only sponsors the corrupt and lavish lifestyles of successive regimes in the country, these regimes have consistently failed to invest such proceeds back into the country, and have also failed to improve existing social systems and infrastructures, factors necessary to attract foreign investors. Also in 2004, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) at a public forum in Lagos Nigeria concluded that Nigeria's poor external image is denying it much needed foreign investment (FDI) to accelerate its economic growth. According to the 2004 UNCTAD report, FDI flow to Nigeria was 1.2 billion dollars in 2003 and 1.3 billion in 2002. A pittance for such a country with huge potentials and prospects Nigeria is also bogged down by it's image as one of the most corrupt nations in the world, According to the 2004 Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index, Nigeria still ranks as the 3rd most corrupt country in the world in a survey of 146 countries, coming only ahead of Haiti (the most corrupt country) and Bangladesh (the 2nd most corrupt country). Nigeria's current position is only a slight improvement from its previous positions as the 2nd most corrupt and the most corrupt country in the world in 2003 and 2002 respectively. According to Peter Eigen, The Chairman of Transparency International … "Corruption robs countries of their potentials… Corruption in large-scale public projects is a daunting obstacle to sustainable development, and results in a major loss of public funds needed for education, health care and poverty alleviation, both in developed and developing countries". Nigeria's other problems have also been identified as bribery and corruption, unemployment, poor infrastructural development, over dependence in the oil sector for federal income and revenue, poor work ethics, increasing citizens dissatisfaction and disaffection with the government, political structures and politicians, corporate and large scale organisational irresponsibility, inadequate funding of the educational, health and other key sectors, neglect of the agricultural and other non-oil productive/manufacturing sectors, continued manufacture of poor quality, fake and substandard goods and services, over dependence on imported goods, poorly regulated capital and financial market, tribal, ethnic and religious squabbles, homelessness, poverty and hunger, poor maintenance culture, poor planning, lack of security and disregard for human life and property, armed and pen robbery and others. It is therefore as a result of the realisation of the negative effects of these issues on Nigeria as a potential investment country that made the government of Nigeria to launch the Nigeria Image Project in July 2004. Nigeria's Minister of Information, Chief Chukwuemeka Chikelu described the project as both informational and orientational in nature, involving both the media, advertising and public relations practitioners. Not only Nigeria, other countries of the world have also realised the importance of country branding. Mark Leonard of Demos, in the book Britain TM (1997) writes on the need for Britain to rebrand itself, according to him …the main reason why this needs to be done is that a gulf has opened up between the reality of Britain as a highly creative and diverse society and the perception around the world that Britain remains a backward-looking island immersed in its heritage. In a related remark, Wally Olins (ibid.20) writes that …countries which have thought most about branding issues have been those, like Britain, with some kind of traditional position, influence and reputation which they seek to change or improve. This analogy best describes countries such as Nigeria and the other developing nations who are still grappling with a myriad of issues, which pose threats to their abilities to attract foreign direct investments (FDI). There seems therefore to be a growing global trend of the use of traditional marketing and branding techniques to brand countries. There are however some who may not agree to such methods. William Drenttel in his article My Country Is Not A Brand (2004) writes that … even nations have become brands… The symbol for a country should not be created by branding experts, when the vocabulary of a nation's foreign policy is the vocabulary of branding, then it is, in fact, selling Uncle Ben's Rice. This transaction, with the vocabulary of the supermarket counter, is not how I envision my country (America) speaking to the rest of the world. However, I think that for countries to compete effectively in the global market, and also be able to attract FDI, they may have to employ branding and marketing techniques. While this is easier said than done, it also does not guarantee complete success if the other variables and factors are not in place, most especially the right enabling environment. A wholesale adoption of branding and marketing principles in the country branding process should be viewed with caution, because according to Wally Olins of the branding consultancy, Saffron, despite the similarities between product and place brands…The idea of a nation as a brand - as Kellog's Corn flakes is a brand - is a very big mistake. Olins here is also emphasising on caution and care in the application of traditional branding principles to country branding. To conclude this section on the need for country branding, I will quote Peter van Ham as cited in Rob Ferguson's article Brand-name Government in the October 2001 Knowledge Marketing Watch Newsletter … a state just like a company, requires a strong brand. To rise above the cluttered political landscape, a state must be able to define and promote its vision. While arguing on the need for Canada to rebrand itself, Ferguson writes that … No state wants to be anonymous. The goal, rather, is to have a brand that makes winning friends and influences easy…Building a compelling brand with deep, multi-faceted attributes requires a long-term, team - oriented commitment. It will require politicians and bureaucrats to understand how identity is developed, promoted, and maintained… I would now discuss the process of country branding and analyse to what extent it is being done professionally if the Nigerian government officials actually understand the process in the way suggested by Ferguson. From the traditional branding point of view, the brand building process is best represented by the Brandt and Johnson (1997) Brand Equity model as follows: Brand Equity builds awareness, familiarity, loyalty, image, personality, preference, associations and availability. And each of these also builds brand equity. According to Brandt & Johnson (ibid.) … Brand equity is the unique set of real and/or perceived distinctions attached to a brand by customers…. Brand equity lives only in the hearts and minds of customers. There are also several other models and descriptions of the product or service branding process, while they may differ in approach, a common thread of understanding runs through all of them, I have therefore condensed them into what I call the brand building matrix: 1. Experience - Customer Perceptions, Customer Service, Action of Sales & Delivery people, Brand evolution over years. 2. Quality - Tastes & levels of service, ingredients & raw materials used, product/service durability, guarantees and warrantees, cutting edge technology. 3. Identity: strong & visible, memorable names, logos & colours, sponsorships, packaging, shelf position & display, vehicle displays & branding, company uniforms. 4. Communication: PR & Advertising, letterheads, internet presence, news releases and sponsored articles, and other verbal and non-verbal communications. However, Brymer (2003) suggests that although the principles of branding apply equally to countries as they do to products and services, the methods may differ, according to him … Creating a branding program for a country demands an integration policy that most countries do not possess - the ability to act and speak in a coordinated and repetitive way about themes …are the most motivating and differentiating a country can make. His comments succinctly capture the challenges countries face in their branding efforts, Nigeria for instance has a highly bureaucratic government structure, there is large scale duplication of efforts in several government ministries, agencies and departments connected with the Image project, this makes coordination of the Nigeria Image Project problematic as several of these government departments all lay claim to being responsible for one or several aspects of the Project, there are countless spokespersons constantly releasing information to the media, such that it becomes difficult to have a central coordinating point, a strategy or war room of sorts. Whereas with corporations, Information is better managed by a unit of the business, also employees can easily be indoctrinated with selling the business' ideals and image, but this is almost impossible with countries, where reaching a consensus amongst the millions of its citizens is an impossible task. Nigeria's case is also made more difficult because of its multi-ethnic composition, the cultural, language and religious differences make any wholesale agreement impossible as the citizens still have primordial attachments to their immediate and core ethnic regions, long years of political and religious bickering between the 3 major ethnic groups (Yoruba, Hausa and the Igbos) have made reaching a national consensus in major issues (including the Image project) almost impossible. Brymer (Ibid.) has also listed the major steps in the country branding process: 1. The cooperation and involvement of representatives of governments, business, the arts, education and the media. This does not yet seem to be happening in Nigeria's case, because all the relevant stakeholders are still not singing with one voice. 2. Determining and carrying out an image perception audit both nationally and internationally. There wasn't any reported image audit carried out by the Nigerian government before the launching of the Image project. The government's decisions had been loosely based on the several negative media reports both locally and internationally. 3. Consultation with opinion leaders and carrying out of a country SWOT analysis. Again, the Nigerian government is managing the Image project top down, a large majority of the country's opinion leaders still have not heard of the project and do not believe in it. 4. Creating a strategy using known professional models. Most importantly, the Nigeria Image Project did not apply some of the Everett Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations principles and models, most importantly the involvement of the citizens in the project, through carefully crafted communication messages that will sell the image project first to the citizens, who would then sell the country to the outside world, this is a huge error on the part of the government because it should have tried to sell the image project to the millions of Nigerians in the Diaspora who are in better positions to represent Nigeria in their different countries of residence.. 5. Designing a program to make the strategy tangible through improvement programs and campaigns. So far, the only sign of any planned campaign has been the reports in the media which claim that the Nigerian government is planning to feature some Nigerians such as Akeem Olajuwon (ex - NBA star), Sade Adu (the grammy award winning artist), Oluchi Onweagba (the super model), Philip Emeagwali (the world renowned computer scientist), Jay-Jay Okocha (the Bolton wanderers football player), Emeka Anyaoku (former Commonwealth secretary - general) etc in series of testimonial advertisements in the international media. So far, this has not yet been done and the effectiveness of such testimonials is also doubtful. 6. Creating a system to link together the different organisations and departments that can be part of the brand. This is not the case with the Nigeria Image Project as a result of the problems of coordination I highlighted earlier. More so, the project is being perceived as 'another government white elephant project' and so has continued to create dissentments and cynicism amongst the citizens. 7. Letting actions count. Although the Nigerian government has carried out some political and economic reforms, these may still not be enough to restore the confidence and faith of both its citizens and the potential investors, as the facts on the ground still leaves much to be desired. Wally Olins (Ibid.) also proposes a 7 point country-building plan, which partially agrees with Brymer's classification. They are: 1. Setting up a working party made up of representatives of government, industry, the arts, education and the media. 2. Image perception audit 3. Consultation with opinion leaders 4. Creating a central idea or theme on which the strategy is based. The Nigeria Image project currently has no central or core theme. 5. Develop ways of articulating the central idea visually. It may seem that since the euphoria that greeted the launching of the project in July 2004, not much has been done again, nor has there been any visible media campaign both at the national and international level from the project coordinators. 6. Synchronising message themes to suit particular audiences. As I said previously no form of such messages have been seen nor heard in the media. 7. Create a liaison system through the working party to launch and sustain the programme. As regards the Nigeria Image project, the launching part appears to have gone on successfully but it is in the project sustenance that there appears to be difficulties. There have been speculations that the project which received an initial government contribution of about $5 million dollars may be discontinued if there is a regime change in the 2007 elections. It should also be said that the task of rebranding a country in order to attract foreign investors is never left at the hands of branding and marketing professionals only. It is also important for the leaders in the country to embark on public and economic diplomacy. In this regard, Nigeria's President, Olusegun Obasanjo appears to be doing very well, although the results of his global junketing are yet to materialise in Nigeria, the president has been widely criticised over his penchant for travelling around the world usually with a large retinue of aides at the expense of the tax payers, In his quest to attract foreign investors and also to re-integrate Nigeria into the global community, after years in the cold as a pariah caused by the economic policies and the human rights violations of past military juntas. The president has also inaugurated an International Investment Advisory Council, headed by Baroness Lynda Chalker, the former United Kingdom Minister for Overseas Development. Writing to support economic and public diplomacy as practised by the United States of America, Diana B. Grant (2002) quoting from the United States State Department website defines public diplomacy as …the practice of engaging, informing and influencing key international audiences in order to advance the interests and security of the United States. This definition should also apply to every country of the world that actually wishes to promote itself to the world for political and economic reasons. I have tried in this paper to review some related literature in the growing area of country branding, the benefits to countries as well as the steps for creating a country branding program have also been discussed. I have also tried to use the Nigeria Image Project as a case study, and to highlight good and bad practice. It must be said however, that putting all these steps into practice, and hiring professional branding experts to manage such a program may still not guarantee that the country will attract investors, nor will the country experience the desired image change. This is because of the existence of other extenuating factors in the environment; these factors may include global economic downturn as experienced by most countries even with the most impeccable country image after the 9/11 incident in America. Also, the market forces of demand and supply of global capital play a major role in determining where investors take their money to, this is coupled with the actions of other competing countries, because in international business investments, there are no sentiments, investors will only seek for maximum yields and return on their investments as well as security of their investments which only a politically and economically stable country may guarantee. Bell, J (2001) Doing Your Research Project. Buckingham: Open University Press Brandt, M & Johnson, G (1997) PowerBranding. San Francisco: International Data Group. Beristain, S. (2004) Does Your Brand Register Abroad? http://www.brandchannel.com/features_effect.asp?pf_id=243 retrieved 15/02/05 Brymer, C. (2003) Branding A Country. http://www.brandchannel.com Retrieved 16/02/05 Clifton, R. ed. (2003) Brands and Branding. London: Profile Books Coyler, E. (2005) Beer Brands and Homelands http://www.brandchannel.com/start1.asp?fa_id=250 Retrieved 15/02/05 Coyler, E. (2005) Anti-Globalization: Are You Serious? http://www.brandchannel.com/print_page.asp?ar_id=249§ion=main Retrieved 15/02/05 Chernatony, d. E & Mcdonald H.B.M (1997) Creating Powerful Brands.Oxford: Butterworth-Heineman Drenttel, W (2004) My Country Is Not A Brand. http://www.designobserver.com/archives/000232.html Retrieved 10/02/05 FG Unveils Strategies to shine Nigeria's image http://www.nigeriafirst.org/printer_2688.shtml Retrieved 22/10/2004 Ferguson, R (2001) Brand-name Government. http://www.knowledgemarketinggroup.com/pages_print/oct2001_printable.htm Retrieved 15/02/05 Frost, R (2004) Mapping a Country's Future. http://www.brandchannel.com/features_effect.asp?pf_id=206 Retrieved 15/02/05 Gant, B.D (2002) How are we doing? Tracking Country image in the information age. http://dgrc.org/dgo2004/disc/posters/monposters/ph_gant.pdf Retrieved 15/02/05 Hankinson, G & Cowking, P (1996) The Reality of Global Brands.Berkshire: McGraw-Hill Hankinson, G & Cowking, P (1993) Branding in Action. Berkshire: McGraw-Hill. Hart, C (2003) Doing a Literature Review.London: Sage Publications Hart, S & Murphy, J ed. (1998) Brands. 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