Country Branding

I've just read a very interesting book that sheds a great light on the public relations industry called The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR by Al Ries and his daughter, Laura Ries. Throughout the book the authors explain how advertising is dead these days because it has lost all credibility, and the only way to build a successful brand is through the use of PR. I thought the book held a very strong argument against the advertising industry, and the constant use of examples of advertising disasters and PR success stories helped further and strengthen their points. However, there is one chapter in particular that I found to be almost ridiculous, and this was the one on country branding. For those of you who followed my previous blog, you have read my entry on my discovery of country branding. This was a new idea for me and I was quite taken aback by it. I find it intriguing that a country must use PR to promote itself, although quite obvious because tourism is very important to countries, I found it bizarre the idea of country promoting and branding.
On this note, the chapter in this book that discussed this issue went way to far. They discuss the idea of changing the names of countries to make them more appealing for tourists to come visit. For example, The Ries' explain that Guatemala would be best suited as Guatemayan, because it is a country with a rich history of Mayan culture. Since Mayan ruins, they explain, are scattered over Belize, El Salvador, western Honduras and southern Mexico, tourists could be confused about which country actually was the centre of Mayan culture, and thus the name change to Guatemayan would avoid all confusion.
Another example was Peru. Peru is also lacking in tourists, despite the fact that it is home to one of the world's three top tourist destinations: Machu Picchu. The other two, for those who are wondering, are the Eiffel Tower and the Taj Mahal. The authors explain that Machu Picchu is located in the city of Cuzco. The say that this name is terrible and should basically be changed to Ciudad de las Incas, to help tourists understand the real significance of this city. The Ries' believe this is a great idea that will probably never be adopted by the Peruvian's for some reason or another, the reason never is explained.
Although I do believe that country branding is an important factor to help enrich a country with tourists, I think made it almost comical in this chapter. If they actually think that their explanations for the city of country name changes are valid, then I'm a little afraid in all honesty. They treat the countries like brands, and they are not! A name change may seem like a good idea in theory, but in practical use, I believe the Ries' have completely gone out of hand. All of their “country re-branding” ideas, by the way, were not accepted by the governments, and for good reason.
The Ries’ should stick to product branding, and forget about country branding forever.


Ries, Al and Laura Ries. The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR. HarperBusiness: 2002