Branding Romania

Five years have passed since the first attempt to build a national brand concept was made. Since then there have been several such projects and significant amounts of money have been spent.

First was the EUR 6 million album entitled “The Eternal and fascinating Romania,” followed by the USD 1.7 million project “Romania – always surprising” from 2004.

A brand business doesn’t come cheap

It seems that Romania is doomed in finding the right solution for building a country definition and lacks badly regarding a positive approach of country advertising and PR.

Lately, the only visible and audible reactions involving Romanians abroad generated in the local and regional media concerned some Romanian immigrants committing crimes in Italy or the former foreign minister Adrian Cioroianu’s gaffes in terms of communication rigors when it comes to address foreign officials.

Unfortunately these issues built a really unfortunate “brand- awareness’ and makes you wonder, is bad PR always prevailing over good PR or Romania really lacks in managing the issues of its own positive or negative image poles outside.

Should it be a misfortune, a lack in the implication of local authorities, is that Romania can’t find the right communicators or the right projects, because, it seems that money exits.

And as Dr. Shashi Tharoor, the official candidate of India for the succession to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2006 used to say “a brand business doesn’t come cheap,” it’s not the money the project managers should address in their endeavors in building a country branding project, but the reliable liaisons and consolidated development strategies with different partners from public and private sector and keeping a daily agenda for this branding project.

For example, in February, The Romanian Government approved a EUR 2 million worth budget for putting up a tourism brand for Romania, while other state funds will provide EUR 9 million for promoting Romania tourism destinations in Spain in Italy, as there are the major hot points where Romania developed a ruined country image.

How to exist when you don’t have a name, how to be called when they don’t know your name?

Romania’s branding should start from finding a name which doesn’t necessary has to be a slogan, you already have the country name to speak for itself. International Advertising Association Romania (IAA), a Romanian branch of the international group was just offered the world’s highest prize at Washington, as recognition of its performances globally.

Maybe it’s another Romanian institution winning a world’s prize, maybe specific domains where Romanians stand out are drops of water in a very bitter glass and as Felix Tataru, the president of IAA Romania was saying, branding is an individual work. When teamwork kept on failing, the country brand should be built from each Romanian individual brand representing the country inside and abroad.

Besides, there are problems already knows as, lack of specialists, a political class with no reaction. “I got sure that a project regarding country branding is known as high as it can be in the country, talking with Tariceanu, with Basescu, with Geoana. They said the project was interesting and that’s it,” said Tataru. Members of IAA plan to promote the project of building this country a brand as it should be to private sector, to investors, to companies, to anyone ” which feels something,” said Tataru.

And they started a membership program called “the coalition of country branding”. The only worry would be, according to Simona Minculescu, presidential counselor within International relations department with 17 years experience in diplomacy, that this project to start stunning and die dramatic, following the same pattern of the others before. “In Romania, we have this problem. If you want to kill an idea, you have to create a commission,” Minculescu said. Liviu Ion, communicating for Automobile Dacia said that branding is creating as we speak, involuntary.

With Dacia brand and Bit Defender brand, products which generated also brand-awareness abroad, Romania also means oil from Petrom and Rompetrol, household and office products as Altex, Domo, RTC, or money as BCR. But unfortunately, if these brands are recognized in business environment, they don’t usually speak about Romanians as a brand outside.

Bogdan Manea, the advertising man which let behind 10 years of Saatchi&Saatchi and crated its own advertising agency Brightness, voices that “a brand is not a good to belong to the creator, but to the one that use it and receive it”

Either ways, Romania didn’t create a national brand, and sadly, spread involuntary a bad image used now by others – Italian politicians using generously the Romanians immigrants scandals in their political campaigns.

How to cook a country brand in 6 steps

As Romanians are being called “the Indians of Europe” when it comes to human resources and labor costs, the real Indians seem they succeeded in building a country brand. With TATA motors recently acquiring Jaguar and Land Rovers brands and entering on the premium segment in cars industry, with the worries that this will mean the death of these brands also in terms of uniqueness, India succeeded in putting the country on the map for a long time actually.

Shashi Tharoor saw 6 rules in building a brand. First one must figure what are the country first positive characteristics (as India is exotic, spicy…). Then the main characteristics must be anchored in reality, otherwise as the lie has short legs, sooner or later the reality will ruin the image built with efforts ( India did not lied).

The third step is to accept that the international community can undermine the brand struggling to pop up – (sure fact when watching and hearing prime time news about Romanians abroad) – Shashi Tharoor refers also to the institutions, the organizations which are not creating a brand. (Romanians for sure can not be proud of their political messengers abroad).

And what is more interesting, a brand is being built with the Government support and in the same time, in spite of the Government. (the first part of the rule is fiction in Romania, as branding is always an interesting fact with no feedback and implication whatsoever). And as the brand is almost boiling, Shashi Tharoor adds some Indian spices referring to money, as brand is an expensive exercise. This problem could be easily solved with private money, as IAA intends through the new branding campaign.

The country branding business starts for the forth time with optimism but this time balanced by some skeptic but no in denial specialists in advertising, foreign affairs, Government and private companies. But as much as some would cover with shining wrapping materials an empty box, the emptiness would prevail, since at the bottom of a business lays the quality of people involved which see in that business an individual image selling exercise.

by Magda Purice; via: business-review.ro