Content area
Full Text
Simon Anholt Palgrave Macmillan, UK; 2007; 134pp; £25; hardback;
ISBN: 0 230 50028 5
Anyone who has taken an interest in nation branding over the past few years will be familiar with the work of Simon Anholt, whose latest book concisely summarises his thinking on the application of brand management techniques to the development of place brands. In a departure from some of his previous writings on the topic, Anholt now declares that he prefers the term 'competitive identity (CI)' to 'nation branding' because his approach 'has more to do with national identity and the politics and economics of competitiveness than with branding as it is usually understood'. Having thus clarified his stance, Anholt proceeds to describe his theory of CI through chapters focused on topics such as understanding national image; planning for CI; implementing CI and CI and development.
Drawing upon his extensive experience of advising countries around the world on how they may go about enhancing their national reputations, the author provides numerous useful insights into the challenges and pitfalls that lie in wait. One of the key deficiencies that Anholt identifies in many nations' approach to promoting their country's reputation is the fragmented, uncoordinated nature of the communications activity that countries often undertake. He notes that any one country will have a plethora of organisations all emitting communications about their country, and these communications are very often conflicting--for example, organisations sending out national messages include the country's tourism board, investment promotion agency, cultural institute, exporters' associations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as many non-governmental...