Toward Brand Serbia Slobodan Pesic American Public University boban@pesic

Toward Brand SerbiaToward Brand Serbia

Slobodan Pesic Slobodan Pesic American Public UniversityAmerican Public University

[email protected]

The International Diaspora Youth Leadership Conference 2010 Toronto, Canada, March 20, 2010

Panel: Breaking Through the Success Barrier: Media, Art, and Sport and

the Image of Serbia in the Global Context

“It is not just sufficient to be a good neighbor, one must also be a good ancestor” Simon Anholt

Thomas Theorem: “If people define situations as real, they (situations) are real in their consequences” Robert K. Merton

National Culture System Balance (Slobodan Pesic) Necessary condition for stable identity Requires positive Value Transplant Ratio (VTR) between national culture’s Value Exports and Value Imports

Slobodan Pesic, "Toward Brand Serbia," The International Diaspora Youth Leadership Conference 2010, March 20, 2010, Toronto, Canada

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Key Concepts and variables

• Uncertainty• Hierarchies: Power projections, power distribution, power

sharing• Nation-state(s)/Strategic Culture/Security Dilemma• Bargaining• Balancing• Communication including Signal/Noise management and C3I

Sovereignty/Governance• Education/Knowledge-Sharing• (Competitive) Identity/Nation Branding• Lack of Wisdom


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The persisting (though not eternal) socially transmitted ideas, attitudes, traditions, habits of mind, and preferred methods of operation

Specific to a particularly geographically based security community that has had a necessarily unique historical experience

Dimensions of a strategic culture include the geopolitical setting, military history, international relationships, political culture and ideology, the nature of civil-military relations and military technology (Lord, 2000)

Strategic culture and national style that failed to meet objective tests of adequacy imposed by external security environments (polities) would lead inevitably to the political, if not always physical, demise of the nation


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• Foundational elements• Formative phases in the development of a given strategic culture• Comprise basic beliefs regarding the use of force • Beliefs are semi-permanent • Contribute to the construction of a national identity • Highly resilient to change

• Security policy standpoints• Core values promotion through policy channels• Set preferences for policy choices

• Regulatory practices• Apply the substance of the foundational elements to the external environment• Provide channels of meaning and application• Less resilient to change


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• Who or what defines Serbia’s culture?

• What are Serbia’s core values?• Have Serbia’s existing institutions been the optimal framework for

Serbia strategic culture and Serbia’s nation-branding?• How does Serbia (1) develop hypotheses to test historical

propositions (“consequentiality of history”); (2) predict future, and social-experiment, to arrive at the predicted future; (3) without threatening others?

• How should Serbia manage “Kosovo”? How should Serbia manage

Republika Srpska?

• What is Serbia’s Competitive Identity?• Can Serbia restore its strategic culture’s Value System Balance?


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Branding

• A process of designing, planning and communicating the name and the identity, in order to build or manage the reputation

• Core aspects of the brand are (1) brand identity (core meaning), (2) brand image (reputation = broadcast of trust), (3) brand purpose (the power of the shared goals) and (4) brand equity (asset value of reputation) (Anholt, 2007)

• Distillation

• Art of extracting the concentrated essence of something complex, so that its complexity can always be extracted back out of the distillate, but it remains portable and easily memorable

• The distillate is the common thread, the genetic constant, which underlies the basic commonality between the different part of the brand (Anholt, 2005)

• Nation Branding bridges advanced brand theory and statecraftSlobodan Pesic, "Toward Brand Serbia," The International Diaspora Youth Leadership Conference 2010, March 20, 2010, Toronto, Canada

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• Nation Branding - synthesis of public and private sector theory and practice

• Public diplomacy - modern state management of its reputation abroad

• Public diplomacy - useless unless it has some power to affect the background reputation of the country whose policies it attempts to represent (Anholt)

• Since background reputation can only be altered by policies, not by communication, the critical success for public diplomacy is whether its connection to policy making is one-way or two-way (“market feedback”) (Anholt)


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Nation Branding & Public DiplomacyNation Branding & Public Diplomacy

National Identity Country-of-Origin

Academic discipline:

Political geography; international relations; political science; cultural anthropology; social psychology; political philosophy; international law; sociology; history

Academic discipline: Marketing

Consumer behaviour; Advertising and promotional management; Brand management; Export marketing

Globalization: homogenization of markets and increasing sense of national identity

Lowering of trade barriers between nations

Emergence of nation branding as countries turn to brand management techniques in order to compete

effectively on the world stage


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Nation-brand identityKey components:

History Language Territory Political regime Architecture Sport Literature Art

Religion Education system Icons Landscape Music Food & drink Folklore

Communicators of nation-brand identity

Branded exports Sporting achievements The diaspora Marketing communications

Brand ambassadors Cultural artefacts Govt foreign policy Tourism experience

Prominent personalities

Nation-brand imageAudiences:

Domestic consumers External consumers Domestic firms External firms Inward

investors Governments Media


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Nation-brandcampaigns

Behaviour ofcitizens

Exportbrands

Sportsperformances

Politics

Nationalstereotypes

Word ofmouth

Personalexperience

COUNTRYIMAGE

Government has unsustainable bureaucracy (26 Ministries) Policies are election-driven and externally conditioned Absorbed and distracted with its own “nationalism” Addressing and managing global stereotypes about Serbia Presence of political corruption and other types of corruption

Elite power struggles (fractured, destructive and disruptive politics)

Lack of strategic vision on the part of the country’s ruling elites How to brand a diverse nation? Serbia's social and institutional capacity


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Understand causes and consequences of Serbia’s Value System Imbalance

Reconstruct/Repair Serbian Identity• Harmonize/synchronize “old” (Serbia) and/with “new” Serbia• Harmonize and synchronize “East” and “West” within Serbia

Develop a different context for interaction between (strategic) culture and government

Change the nature and type of transactions between branches of government (legislative, executive, judicial)

Develop and experiment with models and policies for restoring Serbia’s Value System Imbalance


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A New Constitutional A New Constitutional Nation Branding-Enabled Model Nation Branding-Enabled Model (Pesic, 2005, 2007) (Pesic, 2005, 2007)

Head of State/Government

Nation Brand Manager

Public sector organizations

Private sector organizations

Citizens

Tourism boardInward investment

agency development agency

Trade associationsChambers of commerce

DiasporaNot-for-profit organizations


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Endorsed brands

Standalone brands

Umbrella brand Nation-brand

Tourism SportsTalent

attractionInward

investmentExports

RegionsCities

Landmarks

ProductsServices

Sector-specific

Skilled workers

University students

National teamsClubs

Cultural and political figures

Internal analysis needs continually to be conducted on a sectoral basis in order to:

• Identify existing capabilities• Evaluate the strength of these capabilities• Derive appropriate action points based on the nation-brand capability

analysis


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KEY SUCCESS FACTORS

NATION-BRAND CAPABILITY

Favourable residency criteria (for visa, passport,etc.)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Attractive lifestyle 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Opportunity for career Progression

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Reputation for higher Education

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

19Slobodan Pesic, "Toward Brand Serbia," The International Diaspora Youth Leadership Conference 2010, March 20, 2010, Toronto, Canada

KEY SUCCESSFACTORS


High quality brands 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Effective COO positioning1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Strategic development of target markets

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Innovation 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10


KEY SUCCESS FACTORS


Stable economic andpolitical environment

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Skilled workforce 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Streamlined administrative Procedures

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Infrastructure 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10


KEY SUCCESS FACTORS NATION-BRAND CAPABILITY

Customer service levels 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Safety 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Value for money 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Accessibility 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10


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Establish constitutional and/or legally mandated nation-branding

coordinating body (“interface”) “Nation-Brand Manager/Director”

Appointed by the President and confirmed by the legislature

Broad authority and scope (a widely respected expert, scientific, art, or sport figure

Identify nation-brand values

Develop nation branding literacy program at all educational levels

Develop Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC)

Establish and coordinate nation-brand touchpoints

Slobodan Pesic, "Toward Brand Serbia," The International Diaspora Youth Leadership Conference 2010, March 20, 2010, Toronto, Canada 23

Establish, educate and train “nation brand ambassadors”

Establish Nation days and global locations for nation days

Develop sonic nation branding

Promote “emphatic civilization” (Rifkin, 2009) though sustainable

development, ethical consumerism and eco-tourism

Include everyone

Narrow Serbia’s identity-image gap

Slobodan Pesic, "Toward Brand Serbia," The International Diaspora Youth Leadership Conference 2010, March 20, 2010, Toronto, Canada 24

Thank you!

Slobodan Pesic

American Public University

[email protected]


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Toward Brand Serbia Slobodan Pesic American Public University boban@pesic

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