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Japan plays it cool

Last month, Tokyo dashed the Olympic hopes of Istanbul and Madrid by winning the right to host the 2020 Games. The victory was a significant confidence booster for Japan, recently troubled by economic problems and the aftermath of Fukushima. Even before Tokyo was announced as the winner, Japan had already been rebuilding its national brand….

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Curating the Swedish image

Last year Visit Sweden teamed up with the Swedish Institute to launch a Twitter campaign called Curators of Sweden. The aim was to present Sweden to the world via Twitter, in an attempt to democratise national speech, strengthen the nation’s image and hopefully increase tourism in the process. Sweden’s typical image is already associated with…

A shadow over Egypt

A shadow over Egypt

In 2006 a man called Sherif Sabri, a well-known and successful Arab music video producer, created a nation branding campaign for a country of nearly 80 million people. The campaign involved a television spot, featuring images of desert oases combined with mobile phones and mosques flashing across the screen. The central idea was interesting in…

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In search of place branding geographies

By Eduardo Oliveira What do Aalborg, Singapore, New York, Amsterdam and Antwerp have in common? Does anything link Macedonia, Slovenia, Colombia, Malaysia and Namibia? Of course, they are all places. But they are also known as places that have engaged with the place branding process, or at least, ones that communicate their unique strengths using…

Ivory tower

Ivory tower

Aiming, so it seems, to repel foreign tourists from our shores, the UK Home Office today announced a new pilot bond scheme for ‘high-risk’ visitors. Tourists and businesspeople from six countries: India, Pakistan, Ghana, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Sri Lanka, will be affected. The scheme requires visitors from these countries to pay a £3,000 refundable visa…