As part of the V Encuentro Imagen de Chile, we talked with country branding experts Larissa Perdomo, brand manager of Uruguay, and Todd Babiak, CEO of Brand Tasmanian. For them, credibility, political stability and culture are important elements that add value and attract investors.
Source: Diario Financiero
This Thursday the Fundación Imagen de Chile held its 2023 meeting at the Gabriela Mistral Cultural Center. Representatives from the public and private sectors, as well as marketing and communications specialists, among others, gathered to exchange ideas and learnings on a key topic: how to strengthen the country brand, a fundamental asset for nations.
For Rossana Dresdner, executive director of FICH, strengthening a positive international assessment has a direct impact on economic development.
"Our image is not only based on the quality of our wines, copper or the incredible beauty of our landscapes. Today Chile stands out in the world for its commitment to sustainability, gender equality and diversity. These are values that define us as an increasingly egalitarian, fair and reliable country, which attracts more and better investments".
Larissa Perdomo, one of the guest speakers at the V FICH Meeting, can attest to this. The manager of Marca Uruguay, with more than 20 years of experience in building her country's image, says that the brand emerged in 2002, in the midst of the worst economic crisis in the Southern Cone. brand emerged in 2002, in the midst of the worst economic crisis in the Southern Cone.
"Despite having been conceived as a country brand, out of necessity we started using it as a tourist brand and prioritized foreign exchange earnings. Then, with the support of the United Nations and the IDB, we conducted research on country perception and, with this, we established a starting point through a project financed with international cooperation, to later become part of the national budget. Today, after 20 years, our exports have diversified their markets, Foreign Direct Investment rates have increased, as well as the number of countries that invest in Uruguay. The number of tourists and residents has also increased.
-A few years ago Brand Finance Nations valued the Uruguay brand at 10 billion dollars. How do you estimate this calculation?
-Today, according to the latest measurement of 2022, we exceed 50 billion dollars... The calculation is quite complex; many variables are involved, but what has been most important in the strong increase in brand value has been the country's credibility, political stability, respect for laws and trade agreements, as well as our seriousness in fulfilling our obligations.
-So, what are the key pillars on which a country's image must be built in order to be attractive to the world?
-Reliability, quality, originality and sustainability. These are the values that, in fact, the new licensee companies under LSQA international certification represent Uruguay in international markets.
The story of Todd Babiak, CEO of the Tasmania brand, is about building value from within. An entrepreneur and a renowned writer, the Canadian was at the FICH meeting as an expert in place branding. place branding expert, collaborative work and storytelling. Today, Brand Tasmanian is an organization that promotes and inspires its inhabitants, through more than 500,000 members, to generate an economic, social and cultural benefit for one of the states of the continent.
-What strengths must a location display to build a valuable brand?
-I have always said that culture is the engine; it's something unique, something that sets you apart, and the more different you are, the better. Of course, it helps to be a positive and hopeful people, but even that is not a prerequisite for success. It requires a simple way of telling your story that turns out to be a true expression of who you are, and what you can offer to others and to the world.
-In that sense, What have been the main challenges in building Brand Tasmania?
-Disunity was and remains the biggest challenge. When we set out on our research, we understood that our job was not going to be about a new logo or a slogan. What we had to do, and continue to do, was to tell the Tasmanian story to Tasmanians and help them extract as much value from it as possible. It's an inside-out, bottom-up strategy, and it takes longer to implement than a traditional, top-down brand rollout. But if your exporters, your tour operators, your universities, your talent attraction teams and your investment managers sing the same song, in their own words, our people and our customers will begin to understand. They will feel something. That's why we use storytelling. As much as we like to tell ourselves otherwise, most of our decisions are based on emotions.
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