Which nations are winning Olympic medals for branding?
Branding of nations
If we regard all the nations of the world as brands, it's obvious some of them have room for improvement, to put it mildly. A country like North Korea, for example, sends a message that its impossible to believe if you are outside the country's borders.
And, unbelievably, genuine diplomats from the world's 9th biggest country, Kazakhstan, ended up in a dispute with the fictitious character, Borat, from the film of the same name and they wanted the UK to ban Sacha Baron Cohen's parody. They clearly showed that they understood little of the concept of artistic freedom and presented themselves like a parody of an old Soviet state. Thanks to a clear-thinking press attaché at the embassy in Washington, Kazakhstan managed to actually turn the global attention towards Borat into something positive, according to Robert Saunders, an expert in "nation branding". So there is a lot that can affect a country's brand. Far too often, people do not have very many associations with all the countries in the world and, in this way, Switzerland is associated with mountains, clocks, banks and wealth while New Zealand is categorised under Maoris, nature and the filming of the Lord of the Rings, to put things very crudely. And Kazakhstan is judged on the basis of an English comedian's jokes.
Nations as a brand
Every year, FutureBrand presents what they call the Country Brand Index, where they relate to different countries in much the same way as they measure how different companies and products are regarded as brands. Their hypothesis is that nations can be understood as "the sum of the country's identity and reputation". And just as with other brands, our perception of countries' strengths and weaknesses will affect how we relate to them. Will we visit the country? Would we move there or lived there for a while? Would we invest there? Would we trade goods from there?
Prior to the 2014-15 market survey, FutureBrand wanted to test the hypothesis that not all nations qualify as "brands" but those that do have measurable competitive advantages. FutureBrand established that only 22 of the 75 countries put under the magnifying glass deserved the description "nation brand". "Nation Brands" have an above average widespread perception among those asked when it came to parameters such as status, experience, quality of life, values, business, culture and history.
And these are the results of the 2014-2015 Country Brand rankings:
01. Japan
02. Switzerland
03. Germany
04. Sweden
05. Canada
06. Norway
07. USA
08. Australia
09. Denmark
10. Austria
11. New Zealand
12. Great Britain
13. Finland
14. Singapore
15. Iceland
16. The Netherlands
17. France
18. Italy
19. The United Arab Emirates
20. South Korea
This is the first time Japan has had the yellow leader's jersey in this survey. Traditionally, the Nordic countries do very well, including Norway. But we are beaten by the Swedes here.
Big lifts, big promises
Every two years a gigantic global event takes place that is used by a number of nations to try to improve their global reputations: the Olympic Games. This year the Olympic Games are back. But they are not so much a question of games any longer if we are honest. The Olympics have become deadly serious and are an arena in which it is becoming more and more important to win. For the individual as well as for the nations taking part. And not least for the nation arranging the Olympics. For example, the calculations show that the total costs of the summer Olympics in Beijing in 2008 were approx. 44 billion dollars and the winter Olympics in Russian Sochi came to a total of 51 billion dollars. These are not sums of money a country throws around unless it believes it will get quite a lot in return on the investment. The survey for FutureBrand shows that awareness of a country can often be greatly increased in connection with major sporting events but that this does not necessary lead to a stronger nation brand.
Victory or defeat?
This year, it was the Brazilian metropolis of Rio de Janeiro that was the host and you could certainly say that they have been quite slow out of the starting blocks. Firstly, the Brazil of today is not quite the same country that was awarded the Olympics 7 years ago to cheering and dancing on the Copacabana Beach. The Governor of Rio declared what was a state of emergency as recently as in June this year and demanded crisis measures to avoid the total collapse of everything from security to health, transport, education and environmental protection. The Olympics, which were initially regarded as a symbol of hope, have gradually become referred to as a curse. The commentators are somewhat divided; some preaching that the Olympics has had a positive effect, some saying that now, when the Games no longer distract people, many Brazilians are left with the question: What do we do now?
Difficult to cheat your way to a reputation?
We only need to look at Russia to see that it is extremely important to do well in the Olympics. When one of the biggest countries in the world finds it expedient to cheat using doping on a great scale – possibly all the way up to government level – to get more medals in its sports bag, we understand that this athletic event means an incredible amount for the Russians. This particularly applies to the battle of the nations, i.e., the table showing which country gets most gold, silver and bronze medals in the Olympics. These statistics are clearly of great significance for the biggest countries on the planet. In the summer Olympics in London in 2012, the US won 46 gold medals, China 38 and Russia with its 24 medals was even beaten by the organising country, which won a full 29 medals of the greatest value. The battle of the nations for medals has gradually became of great importance for the media and most people, but the International Olympic Committee itself said this in a letter to its national committees in 1955: "We are concerned about articles in newspapers and magazines in various countries where the results of the Olympic Games are being used as a measurement of political and social conditions in the various countries. The Olympics is a competition between individuals and not between countries. If the latter becomes the case, this could lead to a catastrophe for the Olympics." And finally: "We trust you to do everything in your power to bring an end to the publication of such tables, which are entirely worthless."
Well, that was then and now now!
Some Olympic examples of national branding
When Lillehammer was awarded the winter Olympics in 1994, not many people foresaw the major changes this athletic event would mean to everything from investment and infrastructure to national self-image and international recognition. A lot of the things were done right in connection with the Lillehammer winter Olympics. Both the town and the country became incredibly much more visible in the public domain and we are still experiencing many of the results and consequences of these Olympics today. Even if we do not necessarily have very much nice to say about the old head of the IOC, Samaranch, we have taken on board his comments: "The best games ever".
The sprinter Kim Collins reached the Olympics 100-metre final in athletics and, together with his fast countrymen, he took the bronze in the 4x100 metres in the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Kim & co were running for the small island nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis and, for many people, this was probably the very first time they could put this tiny nation on the world map.
The world's most populous country, China, was not only pampered with a positive response in the media in connection with the Olympics in Beijing, but the impressive opening ceremony at the Bird's Nest stadium gave the Olympics a grandiose overture that, to a great extent, diverted people's attention away from pollution and poor visibility to Olympic games and sport.
It is 120 years since the first modern Olympic Games were organised in Athens, but, as yet, no African nation has organised the Olympics. South Africa has held a successful football World Cup and is, therefore, best placed when it comes to the first African Olympics. The African country that takes on this task will have enormous opportunities when it comes to national branding.
I'm with the Brand!
If you're a Norwegian sport enthusiast, you've had your olympic ups and downs. The ups primarily in winter, the downs mostly in summer. Suddenly and with no prior warning, you may become engrossed in curling or running boars, even though you so far in your life never had anything do with these somewhat peculiar forms of sport. Because, the truth is, a lot of people become very preoccupied with their countries when the Olympics are on. They develop into fervent fans and followers.
In Mission, we are passionate with identity in all its shapes and forms. We don't expect you to come running to us with a whole country in need of branding, but maybe you represent a company or an organisation that to a large extent has to conform to national preferences, considerations and guidelines?
In that case: Welcome, bienvenue, welcome!
