Reykjavík Grapevine - 13.04.2007, Blaðsíða 8

14_REYKJAVÍK_GRAPEVINE_ISSUE 04_007_ARTICLE/BRANDING
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It may sound like a bit of a con; but nation
branding is a very serious business these days
– and Iceland is finding out the hard way.
Simon Anholt is the founder of the Anholt
Nation Brands Index – a survey that ranks
countries according to global perception,
that is, the strength of the nation’s brand.
Conducted quarterly in 35 countries, plus
one or more guest countries, the survey
asks people to rank each of the participating
countries according to their opinions of
the country’s exports, governance, culture,
heritage, people and tourism.
“Today, every country, every region and
every city has to compete with every other
country, region and city on the planet: for
customers, for visitors, for business, for
talented people, for investment, for attention,
for respect,” Anholt states on his website,
where he makes a very strong case for
effective nation branding.
Iceland was one of three guest countries in
the NBI survey for the last quarter of 2006 and
finished 19th overall. Iceland’s position in the
top half of the table seems very encouraging,
but it is considerably lower than some of the
countries Iceland most readily identifies itself
with: the Scandinavian countries, the USA,
Canada and the UK. Iceland’s near neighbours
in the list are: Belgium, Portugal, Brazil and
Russia.
Iceland’s performance in the survey is best
described as inconsistent – as it was ranked
overall as high as sixth (by Norway) and as
low as 33rd (by India). On individual questions
across all 35 countries, Iceland reached as high
as 11th for being responsible on international
peace and security, but was ranked a lowly
35th on built and historical heritage.
“What most surprised me in the survey was
Iceland’s low score on culture and heritage,”
says Frosti Ólafsson, an economist with the
Iceland Chamber of Commerce. “When I
think of culture and heritage in Iceland, it is
obvious that we have a long standing and
strong culture and heritage, but we have
failed to inform others properly about that.”
Dóra Magnúsdóttir, Marketing Manager
for Visit Reykjavík – the city’s tourist board –
explains that she was not really disappointed
or surprised by the results per se, saying: “I
was actually a bit surprised by how many
people were surprised by the outcome.”
Both experts largely agree on the cause of
Iceland’s inconsistent results: a weak national
brand. “We like to think that we are at the
centre of the universe – and I’m not saying that
in a bad way,” says Frosti Ólafsson. “We feel
that we have significance in the whole outer
spectrum. Therefore it might be surprising
that we are low compared to other western
countries in the survey – but what seems to be
the reason for this is not that we have a bad
image or a bad reputation, but because we
don’t have a reputation at all.”
The report itself states as much, saying:
“The NBI suggests that the more we know
about a country, the more we are prepared
to forgive it its transgressions and admire
its strengths and achievements. In contrast,
countries that are not well known are not
usually viewed very positively. Iceland, for
example, may be one of the world’s richest
nations per capita, has a uniquely beautiful
natural landscape, a rich and ancient culture,
and is successful in many other ways, but few
people know enough about it to see it in
positive brand terms.”
Having digested the results, we might ask
whether the report is useful at all. Should we
trust the varied opinions of a few thousand
people from 35 countries, when there are
people with a high regard for Iceland scattered
all over the world? Ultimately, the survey
may be more useful for larger nations than
for smaller ones, about which people may
not even have formed strong opinions. This
would seem to be confirmed by the fact that
countries that are culturally and geographically
distant tended to rank Iceland lowest, whereas
cultural and physical distance did not seem to
alter the scoring of big nations, such as France
and the United States.
On the other hand, there must be no sour
grapes here – after all, 25,500 people were
asked the same questions about 38 countries.
Whether you think Iceland did better or worse
than expected, you have to accept the result
and you also have to accept the fairness of the
survey, even if you doubt its overall worth. The
question experts are asking now is: “what do
we do with this?”
Their question is a valid one because
opinions are so very fickle. “Image is
something that is hard to define, since it is
something that is a matter of perception or
sense – not something you can accurately
measure,” says Ólafsson. In order to improve
Iceland’s showing, the talk centres on ‘focus’
and ‘clarity’. “The single most important thing
is co-operation between the state, the city and
the business sector,” Magnúsdóttir explains.
“Our problem is first and foremost lack of
image, and that is why I think it is important to
put forward one united brand. But of course,
it is a difficult task and has to be done in the
right way,” says Magnúsdóttir.
“We have to research the qualities of Iceland
and do it systematically. We can’t just think
of a slogan, start using it and say, “Yeah, let’s
see if everyone else agrees!”
Assuming that it is possible to create an
exciting, universally agreed brand image for
Iceland, what should we then do with it? “You
would never go on an advertising campaign
or something of that sort,” Ólafsson assures.
“It’s similar to a culture. Take a corporation
as an example: if it has a strong culture, then
that sets it apart from other corporations and
becomes a competitive advantage. And there
are certainly similarities between corporations
and countries. We want Iceland’s culture and
character to become known through our
actions and build up a competitive identity in
the world.”
After cataloguing and refining the
country’s strengths and characteristics, the
task is to force this positive image upon
the global public without resorting to such
obvious methods as advertising campaigns.
This may seem a bit whimsical and perhaps
even pointless, but attracting foreign
investment and foreign tourists is in fact one
of the most important challenges facing the
entire Icelandic economy.
Dóra Magnúsdóttir believes that the most
effective tool in this field is word-of-mouth:
the stories (positive and negative) visitors
tell their friends back home about their visit
to Iceland. After all, we tend to believe our
friends more than we believe the newspapers.
The word-of-mouth method is not only the
most effective branding device, but also
the one all visitors and residents are directly
responsible for – whether we like it or not.
Iceland™: Now 10% off!
Text by Alex Elliott
“We like to think that we are at the centre of
the universe – and I’m not saying that in a bad
way” – Frosti Ólafsson
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