Kinship branding: A concept of holism ... - Brand Architectphilippemihailovich.com/documents/KinshipBrandingJ... · strapline or advertising campaign (EIG, 2005). For most developing

development has been the growth inawareness of nation branding — how anation can itself become a brand unitingits citizens and attracting foreigninvestment or tourism and exports.Countries and companies are taking oneach other’s roles and the most urgentproblems are faced by small new nations,

INTRODUCTIONWith globalisation markets are becomingmore integrated. Firms are increasinglyexpanding their geographic scope ofoperations, setting up or acquiringcompanies and brands across borders, orentering into alliances across nationalboundaries. A relatively recent

� Palgrave Macmillan Ltd 1744–0696/06 $30.00 Vol. 2, 3, 229–247 Place Branding 229

Kinship branding: A concept ofholism and evolution for thenation brandReceived (in revised form): 24th April, 2006

Philippe Mihailovichis responsible for brand management modules at the ESLSCA Graduate School of Business MBA Program. He has extensiveexperience in international marketing, and lectures on transnational brand management, luxury brands and place branding. Hehas previously worked on leading FMCG and niche luxury brands, primarily in London, Paris and New York. As a consultanthe is involved in conceptualising, creating or reviving brands, modifying brand DNA and designing strategic brand architecturefor products from personal care through to media, airlines and, most recently, countries. For many of his insights he draws onhis original degree in social anthropology and industrial psychology.

Abstract Branding is finally understood to play a critical role in the national andinternational success not only of firms but also of countries. Unlike the brand of a firm,a place brand is not created to be sold or to increase in value on the stock market.Altruistic goals such as sustainable, long-term employment and prosperity are primaryobjectives. A coherent place brand architecture is fundamental to an emerging nation’sgrowth strategy as it provides a structure for forging powerful alliances and driving thecountry’s overall development strategy. This paper examines the extent to which nationscan learn from successful companies and countries, and outlines the critical successfactors providing foundations for a successful place brand strategy. It considers thecase of repositioning a damaged nation brand, and emphasises the importance ofbranding through all aspects of a place — its commodities, citizens, industry and evenregions beyond its borders — through culture and all forms of cluster and kinshipalliances. It seeks to suggest an approach that could help developing countries to maketheir mark on the world map so as to compete with vigour and confidence. It alsohighlights the potential threat of new forms of colonialism that could possibly be posedthrough foreign direct investment by global brands, and suggests instances wherenation branding and even the simplistic strapline approach to nation branding couldbackfire.

Keywords: nation branding, place brand, kinship branding, holistic branding, clusterbranding, rebranding, brand colonialism, brand architecture, brand DNA, sustainability

Philippe MihailovichESLSCA MBA ProgramsThe ESLSCA GraduateSchool of Business5 Rue Carrier Belleuse75015 ParisFrance

E-mail:[email protected]

different facets: public diplomacy,tourism, exports and foreign directinvestment (FDI). It is about usingstrategic branding to position andpromote a country’s products, cultureand attractiveness for FDI and tourism.

Modern branding specialists believethat what has been learned in advancedsocieties about creating value throughbranding can and should be transferred toless-developed nations in order toimprove the lives of populations (Anholtand van Gelder, 2005). The central roleof branding in defining a firm’s identityand its position in international marketsshows that it is critical to develop aninternational brand architecture. Thisimplies identifying the different levels ofbranding within a place, the number ofbrands at each level and also theirgeographic and product market scope.The most critical element in thisstructure is the number of levels,corporate, house/product brand, theirelasticity and how these are used inconjunction with each other.

Since the publication of MichaelPorter’s (1990) book ‘The CompetitiveAdvantage of Nations’, clusters — localconcentrations of horizontally orvertically linked firms specialising inrelated lines of business together withsupporting organisations (OECD, 2006)— have grasped the imagination both ofpolicy makers and entrepreneurs. Clusterbuilding is now among the mostimportant economic developmentactivities in OECD countries andbeyond. The branding of such clusters isoften clumsy and badly structured, as ittends simply to slap generic brand nameson a group of firms sharing the sameindustry within a nation-state, such asSerbian Apparel, with little thought, ifany, given to the architecture of thebrand.

The objective of this paper is toexamine certain current perspectives,

little known except by their immediateneighbours (Olins, 1999).

Place branding is relevant becauseconsumers and investors continue to relyheavily on country images in makingtheir economic decisions. Effective placebranding not only serves to reinforcepositive images but also helps fightnegative ones by shaping new imagesand associations. Branding has become acentral tool in country competitiveness,where having a bad reputation or noneat all seriously affects a country’s abilityto compete. Thus effective countrybranding can give a competitiveadvantage in world markets and open upmany opportunities for developingcountries (de Vincente, 2004).

Very few new countries haveestablished clear, let alone positive,brands where they are known foranything other than war (Olins, 1999).Countries need to do whatever they canto upgrade and ‘upbrand’ such images,ensuring that they become and remain asfair, true, complete and useful to theiraims as the marketplace is prepared toaccept. That is the nature of the contest(Anholt, 2005). As competition increases,nations need to develop distinctivebrands: they need to be different, whichmeans investing in more than just a logo,strapline or advertising campaign (EIG,2005). For most developing countries theprimary goal is likely to be employment,essentially rural employment. As such,nation branding should not simply focuson country image but should develop anholistic and sustainable brand architectureuplifting not only itself but also itssurroundings.

Marketing a country is not entirelynew; in fact, numerous countries havetraditionally promoted their image fortourism. But the current process ofglobalisation has underlined the need forcountries to brand themselves — in anintegrated manner — in at least four

230 Place Branding Vol. 2, 3, 229–247 � Palgrave Macmillan Ltd 1744–0696/06 $30.00

Mihailovich

‘starlight effect’, an image in people’sminds which is based on thestill-resonating memory of long-pastevents. Germany has recovered from itsSecond World War image and SouthAfrica has managed to rebrand itself as amodern advanced democracy followingits heinous apartheid legacy. The lattermiracle was partly due to the Truth andReconciliation Commission, NelsonMandela, visible political change — evenvisible by skin colour — and a verywell-integrated branding campaignstarting from the bottom up. In the caseof South Africa, every South African,including their very influential diaspora,was called upon to act. As the countrywas historically an artificially dividednation, a new nationalism has emergedto create unity and the ‘Proud to beSouth African’ slogan does not causealarm in the outside world.

By contrast, Serbia, with most in theWestern world having little or noknowledge of the country, its people orits heritage, still evokes the word ‘war’(Tomic and Mihailovic, 2005). To manyit was unheard of while still a statewithin the Federal Republic ofYugoslavia. A further step associates itwith Milosevic, the Hague and warcrimes. It is unheard of for countries toprosecute newspapers for libel ascompanies may do, and rogue-nationcitizens have to live with their personalreputations tarnished as a result of actionstaken or not taken by their governments.Fair or unfair, Serbia represents one ofthe greatest challenges for any ‘place’branding expert, and any image-onlycampaign to restore its reputation todayis likely to be viewed negatively asnationalism re-emerging as sheerpropaganda. Serbia would thus need anapproach different from South Africa’s inorder to modify its existing DNA.

For most brands, the core of theirbrand DNA begins with one product. In

including strategic options and theunderlying drivers, within place branding.Key branding models and tools fromindustry are borrowed as relevant toolsfor the purposes of place branding.Strategic branding options aresimplistically explained so that civilservants or ‘cluster creators’ with littleknowledge of branding may develop aclear set of guidelines for the sustainabledevelopment and evolution of their placebrands. The development of strongkinship alliances is strongly advocated.

PLACE BRAND DNAIf a place brand’s heritage is of negativeattributes, the terms ‘rebranding’ orrepositioning apply. It has to build itsDNA from scratch, but how? Where aplace’s heritage is not known it may beconsidered as ‘unbranded’, ie withoutknown reputation or therefore image. Insuch instances a totally new DNA can beconstructed — ideally one based onreality. The brand architect can target anopen consumer mind within which aconstructed identity is then established toprovide a unique positioning for theplace. Conversely, a name that comeswith a very negative top-of-mind imagecan be seen to have a DNA that willclearly have to be modified in some wayor another. Here is where the greatestchallenge lies — the extent to whichthese places can be repositioned asopposed to simply renaming them.Renaming can, however, be consideredas the quickest option, eg the nameZimbabwe represents a post-colonialRhodesia.

Almost no marketing or branding textprovides guidelines on rescuing damagedbrands. This is because companies caneasily discontinue or rename damagedbrands. A nation cannot always take thiseasy option. Countries commonly sufferfrom what Anholt (2003) calls the


Kinship branding

of Paris with every product and everyadvert. Clearly, though, the heritage ofParis or France does not add value toany French company planning to launcha pasta or pizza unless a touch of Frenchgourmet cuisine is added. The corebrand of France has many attributesallowing it to stretch across categories,those of elegance and sophistication inparticular. France has primarily exportedits culture, and it is this that provides thecountry with its greatest guarantee ofsustainable employment.

BRAND STRETCHINGKapferer (2004) outlines the theoreticalroots to core brand models and refers tothe core as the ‘kernel’, consisting of‘traits judged by more than 70% to benecessary to the brand definition.Eventually, innovations introduce newperipheral attributes, which may beincorporated into the kernel at somepoint in time. This is how brands evolvethrough time, how innovations have animpact on identity. This is key tobranding and to modifying a brandDNA. He adds that ‘far from seeking tocapitalise on its past — and thus torepeat itself — the brand should surprise,and promote change’.

It is the element of surprise that tendsto generate free publicity and has longbeen the major critical success factor ofthe French luxury houses — whatdesigner Galliano aims to do for Dior onthe catwalks of every Paris FashionWeek. The same tool is essential forplace branding — from the Ice Hotel inJukkasjdarv to the excitement of afast-changing Shanghai. All brands needto keep moving, keep building theirstories. As witnessed with Virgin, everynew story sows the seeds of new legacy.A place brand develops in just this way.Japan had no fashion designer heritage tostart with, but today has a whole stable

the case of Coca–Cola the true core canbe seen as one distinct flavour. Thisfocus on taste prevents the brand fromstretching into categories where theCoke taste is not wanted, such as freshorange juice. In contrast, Virgin can besaid to have created its DNA throughbrand extensions. The brand is inconstant evolution: having started as arecord label it now offers space flights.As the reputation of a place is primarilyderived from the activities of its citizens,it could be considered to embodyinfinite elasticity. Its DNA is createdorganically, like a crystal that grows andgrows, although less solid. Its core willalways be under threat from challengers.

The extent to which Paris has cededsome ground in fashion dominance toNew York, Milan, Tokyo and London isrecognised. It has to keep reinforcing thisaspect. Witness the extent to whichFrance has ceded ground to New Worldwines in foreign markets, and observe asimilar trend in fragrance, lingerie andeven their pre-Second World Warlanguage dominance of Europe. Theextent to which the USA ceded itstechnological ground to Japan and Korea,not to mention in the motor industry, isacknowledged. What of the industriesthe great British Empire used todominate? No brand is invincible. Nopositioning is invincible. How do Pepsiand Coke feel about Red Bull? Howdoes Sony feel about the iPod? Inpeople’s minds Paris remains the heart offashion, fragrance and perhaps even ofromance. Its Eiffel Tower is seen tosymbolise and embody all of thoseproperties.

L’Oreal, by adding the name Paris toits brand name, has effectivelyco-branded itself with all of theseassociations, thereby enabling its brand tostretch into almost any personal carecategory for which Paris is known. Forits own part, L’Oreal adds to the image


Mihailovich

considers what business a brand’sbelievers would accept finding it in (asreflected in Figure 1). It is here that thelife of a brand can become infinite.

The same principles apply to placebranding. Once Paris had establisheditself as the fashion capital of the world,it was clearly not too difficult to do thesame with fragrance. Thanks to a trendstarted by Worth and Coco Chanel, Parismanaged to take the spotlight off Grasse,France’s traditional fragrance heritageplace, and become the perfume capital ofthe world.

To plot the elasticity potential of abrand based on its DNA, abrand-stretching matrix is proposed (seeFigure 2). The model uses beauty brandsto illustrate how the principles may applyto place branding.

The brand-stretching matrix is inreality a simple model that can be usedto test how far a brand’s reputation hasstretched in the consumer’s mind. It isperhaps more useful as a tool forexamining the extent to which the DNAof a brand may have to be adjusted inorder to make a line extension fit, iewhich seeds have to be sown or whichattributes need modification to providethe right conditions for such a seed togrow.

One can see how, due to Wella’shair-care heritage as well as itsconsistency in reinforcing its hair-onlypositioning, the house brand cannotreadily stretch into aligned areas such asskin care or fragrance with muchcredibility. Its German origins do nothelp either. Neither does the name of itshome town, Darmstadt. L’Oreal, on theother hand, though with its roots in haircare, not only has ‘Frenchness’ built intoits name, but with the additionalco-branding to the Paris place name —L’Oreal, Paris — can in fact expand intoalmost any personal care category it likes,thanks to the reputation embodied in the

of powerful designer brands. Beginningwith each individual, the key is to startsowing the right seeds.

Brand theory suggests that if a brandstretches beyond its peripheral traits itruns the risk of introducing somethingthat could be considered ‘out of thebrand’ (Kapferer, 2004) or not fitting(Aaker, 1991) and representing a highrisk most often leading to failure. Virginis one of the few companies that hastaken such risks and has mostlysucceeded (Mihailovic, 1995). It could beargued that Virgin now has two cores,one music and the other travel. Virgin’sfounder, Richard Branson has built hisbrand extensions from the brand concept— but had it not been for thepersonality of the man himself, it isdoubtful that the airline would havesucceeded. Considering that a placebrand is made up of many people —perhaps many potential Bransons — eachwith the ability to create at least onenew core within the place, there shouldbe no limit to the seeds that can beplanted in the brand’s core. Clearly,however, the success of one seed rubs offon others, primarily those in closerproximity to the core of that seed. InFrance, for instance, mustard made inDijon has made the place famous. Dijoncould most likely add value to a similarkind of product, such as mayonnaise.Fashion designers have added value toParis via fashion, fragrances and otherluxury goods. Every successful launchalters the DNA of France, creating newcores, new seeds that can grow andstretch as far as consumers will acceptthem. As culture tends to stretch thefurthest, it should be branded whereverpossible, just as Italians have done withespresso — and coffee is not cultivatedin Italy!

Whereas firms traditionally consideredline extensions on the basis of the line ofbusiness they are in, the brand architect


Kinship branding

time. It is here that political leaders oftenhave the greatest role to play.Zimbabwe’s current low reputation dueto President Robert Mugabe’s presentpolicies lies in stark contrast to theimproved reputation of South Africa,very much due to world respect forformer President Nelson Mandela —himself an icon, a nation brand. On suchgrounds one could argue that the SerbianRepublic’s new democratic PresidentBoris Tadic should consider becoming astar in his own right, as Mandela did. Hecould surprise the world with some hugegesture.

Although politicians have an importantrole to play, it is recognised that everysingle individual from a place can havean important influence on the DNA ofthe place, as they will always beconsidered ambassadors of the place atone point or another. It is here that adamaged place brand hurts citizens ofthat place most, eg the embarrassmentfelt by white South Africans abroadduring the apartheid era and Serbs

name Paris. Dior, an essentially fashioncouture house, has little credibility withwhich to enter into the hair-care market.Should it wish to do so, it may well firsthave to open a beauty salon or spaconcept as a peripheral step, then, at alater point, introduce hair-care andcolour products with a fashion edge tothem.

For place brands the issues are thesame. France is not known for itsfriendliness to tourists or for muchentrepreneurial flair. The UK has neverhad a reputation for its cuisine, and yettoday is fast gaining a reputation for thebest culinary diversity in Europe. Japan,with its high prices and significantlanguage differences, is not a populartourist destination. People’s image of aplace is formed by encounters with everyperson or aspect linked to that place:immigrants, music, art, food, restaurants,travel, history and so on, newspaper andother media reports, feedback fromtravellers and now blogs.

All these attributes may change over


Mihailovich

Figure 1: What business will your customer accept your BRAND to be in?

core

HIGH LOW

HIGH

LOW

BRAND STRETCHING MODELBrand ‘fit’ Perceptions

Wh

at B

usi

nes

s is

yo

ur

CO

MP

AN

Y in

?

CUSTOMER PERCEPTION:association with brand

COMPANYPERCEPTION:proximity to

core

borders. The prosperity of a nation’sneighbours should be considered to be asimportant as the prosperity of itsinhabitants, simply because wealthspreads. Ideally place branding can becreated in alliance with a nation’sneighbours — in a form of kinshipalliance — with a single focus on a clearattribute- or product-linked positioningmessage for the geographical place, suchas ‘Fair trade Balkan berries are theworld’s best’ or even a regional stamplike ‘Balkanica Organica’ (Mihailovic,2006) which could eventually symboliseand represent the highest-quality organicfood region of the world, just as theFrench use their AOC symbol(Appellations d’Origine Controlee).

The beauty of place branding is that itis often easier to promote a region oreven a city with a single-minded messagethan an entire country. Prague is no

abroad during the Milosevic era. Brandslinked to a nation too often risk boycottfor actions undertaken by thenation-state, eg Israel.

It might be suggested, then, thatbrands not dependent on place oftenstand a better chance of contributingmore, in financial terms, to that place,but this does not seem to be the case forChampagne. Regional branding such asChampagne, or greater regional brandingsuch as caviar from the Caspian, mightbe seen to act as much more powerfulforces than any nation brand. Ageographical region exists forever.Mountains and rivers are permanent. Thesuccessful branding of a region couldresult in the creation of long-termsustainable employment. A country, andeven a nation, rarely remains the sameforever. As such, place brand architecturemust, in essence, look beyond national


Kinship branding

Figure 2: How far has your brand is reputation stretched — in the consumer is mind?

WELLA

BRAND STRETCHING MATRIX

Example A: Beauty House Brands and Product Brands

Example B: Place Brands

Hair

care

Hair

styling

L’OREAL

NIVEA

FRANCE

JAPAN

SPAIN

U.K

Hair

colourDeo Fragr.

Make-

Up

Skin

care

Bath &

showerMen’s

Fashion PerfumeLuxury CuisineEntrepr

eneursExports

Hospita

lityTourism

Work

Force

branding today still offer little strategicadvice in this regard.

Kapferer (2004) and Keller (2003) tendto offer brand categorisations which maybe useful for brand valuation purposes —snapshots of a brand’s positioning strategyat a single point in time — but whichare not designed for use as strategicmodels in brand development. Not manybrands start out from day one decidingto be a corporate umbrella brand,corporate source brand, corporateendorsing brand, ‘maker’s mark’, sourcebrand, range brand, line brand orproduct brand and then just stay thereforever. A more strategic and actionablemodel that allows brand strategies toevolve over time is the ‘brand-bondingspectrum’ (Figure 3) which serves as auseful tool in helping brand strategistsunderstand the strategic dynamics arisingout of different relationships betweenhouse and product brands (Mihailovicand de Chernatony, 1994).

From a structural point of view, placebranding faces the same strategic choicesfirm’s face, except that the architecture ismore complex and multifaceted. UsingFigures 1–3 as a basis, examplespertaining to place branding will beillustrated.

Simplistically, the brand-bondingspectrum (BBS) outlines differentpermutations that might exist in abrand-bonded relationship. It is suggestedthat the BBS be used as a primary toolin the formation and planning of allbrand strategies and policies. The BBSwas developed as a necessary toolresulting out of the 1990s’ trend towardsbranding corporate identity with a viewto adding value to brand equity. Theinteraction taking place once thesebrands have been bonded, and therelationship they enter into, can addreciprocal values forming their sumequity in the consumer’s mind, thusenhancing their competitive edge

doubt more of a destination than theCzech Republic itself. Visitors to NewYork, London and Paris are normallyheaded for those cities only, not thecountries they are in. Hotel groups andother property investors perhaps thinkmuch the same way. The key is to focuson the ‘carrots’ and not on the nationalpride. It is here where many of the newcluster brands in the CEE region can beseen to be making major errors —Serbian Apparel, for instance. Nationalpride should develop organically out ofpositive results. Conversely, if the nameof the city carries negative connotations,as do Belfast and Johannesburg currently,one can focus on the country, the regionor another town first — the city with aproblematic image being dealt with later.This paper will argue that many newnation branding strategies have been illadvised.

PLACE BRAND ARCHITECTUREAs markets such as in the EU becomemore interlinked and integrated,companies and countries have needed toidentify opportunities for strengtheningbrand architecture by improvedcoordination and harmonisation of theirbrands across borders. Before the adventof the EU relatively little attention waspaid to the question of brand structureor brand architecture, but these are nowthe very basis for creating or recreatingbrand DNA.

In international markets an importantissue for a firm is whether to use thesame brand name in different countries,thus leveraging brand strength acrossboundaries, or maintain local brandsresponding to local customer preferences.A related issue is the level of branding toemphasise corporate/house orproduct-level brands or somecombination of both. Though this is afundamental issue, leading texts on


Mihailovich

xxxland!’ are used for nation branding.This may work for small holiday placesbut is unlikely to help generate FDI,employment and so on for complexhistorical countries with more to offer.

Brands in Zone 2 of the spectrum aresub-brand names subordinate to the HBproviding the umbrella for the PB, egVirgin Atlantic/Virgin Megastore,EasyJet/EasyMobile, Nivea Creme/NiveaVisage. Where brands in Zones 1 and 2lose value is that sub-brands have novalue without the mother brand andcannot be easily divested — Easyjetcannot sell off Jet as a brand on its own.Although this does not apply to placebrands, it is clear that if a product brandremains generic it is totally dependent onthe parent brand and loses all chance fora more specific positioning. The strategyhas worked extremely well for many, egSwiss banks, Swiss cheese, Swiss watches,

(Mihailovic and de Chernatony, 1994).It should be clearly outlined from the

start that a company name is notnecessarily a brand name. Most often it issimply a trading name. Brands in Zone 1of the spectrum represent a situationwhere the house brand (HB) is the onlybrand name emphasised and the productor service is differentiated by a simpledescriptor such as a colour or cataloguenumber eg Samsung E500 mobile phone.In this instance the HB loses theopportunity to develop a distinctpositioning and identity for its productbrands (PBs). It can be viewed as afamily name, an embodiment of familyreputation. In a Zone 1 situation, thechildren have no names! The placebranding equivalent is hard to findbecause places usually have names, butthe same effect is seen when simplisticstraplines like ‘Chill out, you’re in


Kinship branding

Figure 3: Strategic considerations for brand architecture

BRAND-BONDING SPECTRUMStrategic Consideratio ns for Brand Ar chit ecture

Zone 1: To tal Relia nce on HB

Zone 2: Umbrella HB

Zone 3: Balanced Recip rocit y between HB and PB

Zone 4: HB Endorses PB

Zone 5: Independent PB

HOUSE BRAND (HB )

PRODUCT BRAND (PB)

Place Brandexamples

vice versa, thus putting the HB in anendorsement situation. Kit Kat(ex-Rowntree’s, now Nestle-owned) is afine example. Co-branding, such asBarclaycard Visa, could be said to fit inthis category equally well, as one brandmerely acts as an endorsement for theother. New York, London, Paris andTokyo can all be said to be in thissituation for commercial brandingpurposes, as can David Beckham forEngland. More interesting is the extentto which regions can and should playthis role, eg Champagne in France orcaviar from the Caspian.

Zone 5 brands represent totallyautonomous PBs with no intentional linkto the HB. No reciprocity of brandequity is expected. Many brands begintheir lives in this way but evolveperceptually into Zone 2 umbrella HBs,as have Nivea and Dove. This strategyworks well for risky PBs which mightharm the HB if something went wrong,eg cigarettes, and Dasani water from theCoca–Cola Company. CocaCola itselforiginated in this way but then becamethe corporate name as well. To whatextent can this apply to place branding?Disneyland/Disney World, Club Med,even MacDonald’s and Starbucks serve asdestination points wherever they may belocated. They may be recognised asnation brands but do not trade on theirnational origins.

IS IT ABOUT BRANDING A NATION?To what extent should place branding benation-based? It makes sense if and whenthe nation brand has value to add to acustomer offer, which is the case withmany destination brands. But placebranding should not be seen as theOlympic Games on a largersocio-political scale. If the best organicproduce in Europe is produced in theentire Balkan region, surely it makes

the Swiss Alps etc, but does not workfor fashion, eg Serbian Apparel, becausedesigner brand names cannot bemarketed under the same banner ashigh-street factory names.

Zone 3 offers an excellent wayforward for businesses and place brands.Both HBs and PBs in this zone areconsidered to possess a uniqueindependent positioning and value inrelatively equal proportion, eg StudioLine from L’Oreal, Elseve/Elvive fromL’Oreal. The PB branding alwayscommunicates the HB as the source.Each advert for a PB adds value to theHB. When L’Oreal acquires a PB, say inChina, it can immediately add its HB tothe PB as a way of introducing the HBto loyal customers of the PB, and thenintroduce its entire range of PBs intothat country. For place branders thiswould mean advertising a precisedestination point (PB) eg Prague, and indoing so simultaneously feed some valueinto the name Czech Republic. Anentire portfolio of strong PBs continuallyfeeding values back to the HB provides avery forceful representation of the HB,especially in instances where the HB hasfocused on building its reputation inrelevant product categories, as hasL’Oreal in cosmetics and toiletries.

One can imagine the extent to whichpeople, products, specific places andevents might add value to thepositioning of the HB, eg the Coted’Azure, Bordeaux and Cannes forFrance, the Louvre and Eiffel Tower forParis, each adding its own particularvalue to the HB. This PB/HBrelationship can apply at many levels, forinstance the named raspberry (PB) fromthe named place (HB), or sports starfrom club/team, match in stadium, townin country — are all place brandingopportunities.

Zone 4 brands represent PBs whichtend to feed more value to the HB than


Mihailovich

TOWARDS A BRANDARCHITECTUREThis paper proposes an architecturalstructure which crosses borders, as dofirms where necessary, and entails all thealliances necessary to achieving a nation’sultimate objectives — which should atleast be employment for all. The veryexistence of a British Commonwealth orEU is an admission by powerful nationsthat it is too costly and ineffective to tryto do everything alone. Yet nationbranding pundits tend to overlook this.Place branding needs to have themobility to transcend borders asefficiently as the web.

Returning to the issue of Serbia, forone thing it can be seen as a relativelyunbranded country. If war is the onlyattribute associated with it, then it maysimply be a matter of bringing otherattributes to the fore, although thatshould not be the priority. The priorityshould be a simultaneous realisation ofthe objectives set for the key areas:public diplomacy, tourism, exports(including culture) and FDI, withemployment as the ultimate motivation(Anholt and van Gelder, 2005).

The country’s new democraticgovernment has made great strides in thisdirection, but could make them morenewsworthy with the creation of aregional Truth and ReconciliationCommission. It has created powerful freetrade alliances with its traditionalrelatives, Russia and other traditional kin.It might consider widening its ‘family’ byforging alliances with fast-growingcountries such as Turkey, India, Chinaand other non-EU or former communistcountries in order to make itself a fiercecompetitor able to fend off the EUbrands prior to joining.

Serbia’s strategic geographic position asthe centre of Europe might bemaximised to its full advantage, exceptthat Poland already advertises its

more sense to brand the Balkans underone, single relevant positioning — suchas a ‘100% pure Balkanica Organica’label meaning the highest-quality, tastiest,purest, pollutant-free organic produce inthe world — rather than for each Balkanstate to rush out with national sloganmessages such as ‘soul of Europe’, ‘spiritof the nation’ or ‘centre of new Europe’etc in order to compete with each otheron image. Together they might producea message with which no EU countrycan compete. They could combine allthe strengths they share, going into theEU with very powerful brands and acombined promotional budget, theprosperity of the Balkan region as awhole working to the ultimate benefit ofall. But will they be prepared to sharemarketing budgets?

Place branding needs to accommodateprimary, secondary and tertiary industries,every place and region and every personwith a vested interest in them. Each hasa role to play in attracting investment,employment, visitors, export trade,goodwill, trust, reputation, etc. It isendless. ‘The best model forimplementing a nation brand is probablycloser to Al Qaeda than Josef Stalin: aloose network of semi-independentgroups, each planning and carrying outits own activities and communicationsand inspired by a commonly held beliefin some simple, powerful mission’(Anholt, 2005). Why should thisnetwork stop at a nation’s borders? Theinternet knows no borders. Friendshipand kinship know no borders. Dilutingtheir strength into separate, nation-brandstrengths, the Balkan states makethemselves vulnerable to stronger EUstates which will not hesitate to swallowthem up at the earliest opportunity. Theymay soon find themselves living under anew form of brand colonialism, with alltheir major brands and land owned byforeign firms.


Kinship branding

form strong kinship brands. The brandingstructure could have HBs within HBswithin HBs. Every ‘place’, from smallvillages up to regions broader thannations, can be branded. Every keyindividual, from key politicians tobusinessmen to filmmakers to sports starsto musicians, artists or ‘bloggers’, can bebranded. They are all potential keyambassadors. All need to be absorbedinto a kinship system that benefits theentire family.

BOTTOM-UP BRANDINGA nation-state needs to go beyondcreating a single positioning easilyidentifiable by a simple slogan — atop-down strategy. It has to go beyondcreating a cosmetic national identity, andcreate a real collective consciousness withgenuine integrity. It must transcendnational borders wherever possible. Inorder to survive and prosper it must bedriven by the need of each individuallinked to the place. This implies thatcooperatives of shared vested interestsacross borders could be clustered into asingle positioning, one mega-brand percluster wherever possible. Evencommercial brands should seek greateralliances, mergers or acquisitions to create‘power brands’. Family, lineage and clanlinks can also play a major role. Theimportant and influential diaspora shouldbe mobilised, as should special interestgroups, from bird watchers togay-friendly organisations. There shouldbe alliances of sporting bodies, touristorganisations, cultural sites, leisurelocations and places of worship. Abottom-up strategy leads to the creationof a multifaceted DNA.

There can never be too many alliances,only too few, and this force should bepowerful enough to allow small non-EUcountries to penetrate deep into the heartof the ‘developed world’ using their

positioning as ‘the heart of Europe’. The‘Heathrow of the CEE’ could be better.FDI is a key priority, but how to attractit? Being the geographic centre of theSouth East Europe Free Trade Zone is agreat magnet for investors, but manysuch investors may leave just as quicklyif better offers crop up elsewhere. The‘centre of a SEE Fair Trade Zone’ maybe a stronger message.

Its agricultural commodities such asraspberries and other fruit exports arebeing marketed as ‘Serbian Fruits’, butraspberries could benefit more if precisenames and locations were branded, ieVilumet raspberries from Arilje, — likeGranny Smith apples from the Cape —as well as being clustered together bynatural geographic region beyond thenational borders, eg as ‘Balkan organicberries’ which all countries in thealliance might then promote for thebetterment of the entire region.

The idea of regional is not new. Withthe support and advice of USAID in theform of expert assistance in management,financial operations, marketing, businessadministration and introduction of newtechnologies and new equipment, otherclusters have already been formed(USAID, 2004) in Serbia in vegetableprocessing, furniture production andgarments. But these tend to beindependent enterprises branded bynation, such as ‘Serbian Apparel’. Suchdescriptive branding tends to tie thecluster to ‘the place’ as well as to dilutethe strength of individual brands withinthe cluster. Will this raise the image ofthe place, or will it deter customersbiased against it? Perhaps anon-nation-based name to positioncluster brands against competitors such asH&M and Zara could be more effective.

Using classical branding tools, everyalliance at every level in primary,secondary and tertiary industries could beclustered under various umbrella HBs to


Mihailovich

greater EU. It may share Americantourists with other EU countries but ithas its own identity and uniquedestinations. Clearly it is morecost-effective for EU countries topromote the EU together and theirnational specificities separately. The samelogic should apply to ‘new places’. Oncethe complexities of the architecture ofcluster alliances is decided, the restshould follow easily. For instance,Beaujolais advertising is co-funded byFrance, Italy and the EU, whereas theFrench tourist arm, Maison de la France,promotes the French Alps specifically toattract winter tourists from the USA, anddivert them from Paris.

The difficulties lie in trying to drawup any simplistic model for placebranding based on the BBS due to thehighly complex, interwoven network ofalliances and relationships that need to beforged. The extent to which anation-state needs to play a central roleor risk being rendered relativelypowerless is obvious if it is unable tomotivate and drive the entire structurefrom bottom up to top down, sidewaysand in all ways possible. Applying thelogic of HB/PB, the nation brand willensure that even commodities and peopleare branded, just as their places of origin,eg Vilumet raspberries from Arilje, DavidBeckham from Britain.

To return to the example of Serbia,assuming it were to employ the Zone 3strategies used so successfully by L’Orealto speak of the great monasteries, villagesor natural curative spas in Serbia, or thehighly skilled English-speaking workforcein Serbia, the organic produce from theregion, the emergence of Serbia as theHollywood of Europe, with 24-hourBelgrade as the New York of Europe,bit by bit Serbia could build a holisticbrand forming a very precise picture ofthe place as such while helping thecountry bypass its Serbian war image.

music, cuisine and anything else that hasthe potential to transcend borders: theexport of culture, just as the Italians haveexported pasta, pizza and espresso. Notethe influence of Anglo-Saxon languageand music, French, Indian and Italiancuisine, chocolates from Belgium, watchesfrom Geneva. Here is where innovationand exoticism have a major role to play. A‘place’ needs more than fans, it needs‘brand evangelists’ — it needs kin andkinships.

As Quelch and Jocz (2005) rightlypoint out, ‘in the age of internet,24-hour-a-day news and easyinternational travel for the masses, it’sperhaps harder than ever for agovernment to control the informationflow that helps shape its national image’.Anyone with a ‘blog’ now potentiallyhas the power of a journalist. Theyshould all be key ambassadors. Aneffective brand architectural foundation isthe first step. Brick by brick, seed byseed, it must aim to provide the rightmomentum to ‘places’ by presenting acongruent positioning which fits reality.A slogan-led branding campaign withoutthis is likely to be bland and meaningless.France was not built on a slogan but ona shared ideology and value system.

For nation branding, ‘bottom up’implies ‘showcasing’ talented individualssuch as sports people, artists, authors,academics and politicians worldwide,Hollywood style. Imagine what valueHarry Potter books must have added tothe England brand. For investmentbranding, ‘bottom up’ means clusteringcommodities or people from village tonatural geographic region undermeaningful brand names and reputations.

Each nation may share a regionalkinship cluster brand at the base (Figure4), but building upwards to brands insecondary and tertiary industries oneclear positioning should emerge, as forexample in the case of France within the


Kinship branding

found that the first and almost only wordthat students associated with Serbia was‘war’. After researching the country onthe internet for a group project to‘rebrand’ Serbia, all came back withextremely positive views as well as astrong desire to visit or invest in thecountry (Tomic and Mihailovic, 2005). Itwas not advertising that led to a changeof image within a week, it wasknowledge. People need personal reasonsto take an interest. This is wherepromises and positioning play afundamental role. They must be focused.It also shows that the DNA of a placewith few associations, even if these arealready negative ones, can be modifiedover time — from a few days to a fewyears depending on the reasons for theoriginal damage and the strategyemployed to outweigh those perceptions— to inform and to engage.

KINSHIP BRANDING: THEBRANDING OF ALLIANCESPeople have become accustomed toconsidering brands in the same way aspersons. One speaks of brandpersonalities. The idea of positioningstems from the need to know what abrand stands for before one engages withit, just as with people. People arebecoming more familiar with the term‘parent brand’ referring to a HB, andseeking to create order out of chaos

The ‘what’s in it for me?’ question askedby potential investors, travellers andalliance partners will have been clearlyanswered. In contrast, a simple slogan forthe country could be interpreted asdistasteful nationalist propaganda,showing off or a desperate plea moreassociated with regular NGO fundraisingcampaigns.

A simple 30-second TV commercialon CNN (where all place brand advertstend to look the same as credit card,mobile phone and holiday resort ads)alone is unlikely to add much value tothe ‘place’. The country’s positioningshould be derived from a holisticaccumulation of single-minded ‘promises’coming from a plethora of ‘HBs’, fromclusters of commodities to investmentpackages to tourist attractions tocommercial brands. If every sportsperson, taxi driver, local B&B/pension,factory worker, shopkeeper, businessmanand politician, everyone, embodies thespirit and hospitality that Serbia is sowell known for, they will begin to ownthose attributes in the minds of the restof the world. True ownership of abrand’s attributes are built on reality, noton a barrage of 30-second TV adverts. Itis now widely recognised that in today’sworld buzz marketing is more effectivethan advertising.

A ‘dipstick’ research study undertakenamong international BBA and MBAstudents at two business schools in Paris


Mihailovich

Figure 4: Two countries sharing a common regional brand

= =

==

KINSHIP DIAGRAM

individual within a family. As with allfamilies, ages may differ, as dopersonalities, star signs and gender, butone can assume that all members supportthe great reputation of their family. Instating this, this paper is not advocatingnationalism. Instead it is advocating thecreation of brand families according tocommon interests or offers — kinshiprelationships that can grow, develop andevolve sustainably, adding value to thelives of their creators.

If high-quality raspberries can befound throughout the Balkans,considering that it is one strain or race ofraspberry surely it makes sense to clusterthem under one HB — a form ofcommodity nationalism. One is reunitingthe tribe of raspberries by strain, byblood link, by region. It is here thatnation-states should work together topromote the unique characteristics of thistribe of raspberries instead of ‘remainingenmeshed in a pattern of economicbehaviour that keeps them poor’ (Anholtand van Gelder, 2005). Shared budgetsbehind a common cause to begin with,after which additional differentiation cantake place to counter competition fromwithin.

Using the BBS as the backbone, thestarting point in the architecture, one hasa simple framework with which tobegin. Assuming the core is a central‘nation-state’ and the driver within it, itsgovernment, this government needs tooutline the critical alliances that arealready in place or that should be inplace at all levels, right down the line toparticular key individuals and across theline in terms of specific interest groups.Wherever possible these networks,clusters, lineages or clans should rallybehind a single positioning, forming aspecific kinship system of brand cells orkin that will contribute towards buildinga particular attribute in the DNA of acore place brand. Each brand cell or

people seem almost naturally to use theanalogy of family and family structures.As Ian Ryder (2005) has shown, thestudy of brands can be very muchlikened to the field of anthropology.Brand architecture can then be seen asthe creation of a sustainable brandedkinship system. Every culture hasdeveloped its own kinship system toprotect its young, provide a set ofconcepts relating to reproduction andgroup natural connections of communityinto states of relatedness or connectionby blood, marriage or adoption and soon.

It has been argued that each productplace brand should have a specific raisond’etre — just as one expects fromindividuals — a precise positioningwhich could interest a specific group ofpeople. Each is then in a position to addsomething to the cumulative value of thehouse place brand. The target marketwill add them up to see the wholepicture. People always do this withcountries anyway: they add up newsreports, travel ads, the restaurants theyhave experienced and nationals they havemet — their total experiences of theplace are summed up in their minds.People do not wait for an advertisingagency to do that for them. In fact, theylike to choose the aspects of a place thatinterest them and discard the bits ofinformation that do not. People haveinbuilt filters blocking ‘spam’ messagesthat do not interest them. Each messagemust be precise and relevant to thempersonally, which is why it is natural forpeople to trust word-of-mouthinformation above advertising. It is thepersonal recommendation that is trusted.

Because place branding is reallydealing with people, it is natural to workwith structures that people use in theirdaily lives too. One can easily understandkinship between people, and thereforebetween brands. Treat each brand as an


Kinship branding

LVMH (if France allows it) instead oftrying to develop its own luxury brandsfrom scratch. Whether brands are derivedas a result of organic creation, alliances,mergers or acquisitions, each will need tobe managed in its own particular way.Serbia’s prize-winning 100 per cent freshfruit juice brand, Next, has been boughtby Coca–Cola. If the brand wears aplace stamp of origin for its fruits, itshould still benefit the place andemployment within the place.

Nations aiming to enter the EUwould do well to encourage their localcompanies to build brands that cancross borders and dominate categoriesas quickly as possible so as to be in aposition of strength when the EUbrands arrive on their territories tocompete and acquire. Increased politicaland economic integration in many partsof the world has been a key factorstimulating the growth of internationalbranding. As governments remove tariffand non-tariff barriers for businesstransactions and trade with othercountries and people and informationmove easily across borders, the climatehas become more favourable to themarketing of transnational brands. Inessence this means that the time hascome for governments to do whateverthey can across the spectrum, toencourage the strengthening of brandingat every level, to both attack anddefend.

A key factor underlying the power ofinternational brands is increasedconsumer mobility. While global mediaprovide passive exposure to brands,increasing international travel andmovement of customers across nationalboundaries provides active exposure tobrands in different countries. Awarenessof the availability and high visibility ofan international brand in multiplecountries enhances its value toconsumers, and provides reassurance of

‘kin’ can be given the task of ‘brandmanager’ for the internal and externaldevelopment of that brand — building inboth the rational and the emotionalaspects of the brand, all the way up theline, through the line, across the line andback.

They are ‘cells’ and need to reproduceand multiply. As such, they should notbe developed without carefulengineering, because once they find aplace in the consumer’s mind theycannot easily be modified. They shouldall feed in an additional value requiredby the house place brand. Franceprovides an excellent example: from theChampagne or Bordeaux regions toCannes for film, Dijon for mustard andParis for romance amongst other things,most images tend to lead to a cumulativeperception of sophistication and elegance.

With a clear mandate, each of thesecells or kin knows what it has to do,with or without funding. Buzz marketingtechniques are going to play an essentialand central role in the communication ofthese brand attributes, and thecompetition is gaining momentum bythe day. A nation that is slow off themark will find itself at the back of theline. The world has entered an era offierce intellectual warfare of the mostcreative kind. Nationality, borders andpride should not hinder prosperity. Pridefollows employment.

Mergers and acquisitions too offermajor opportunities. Turkey, which hasmanufactured goods for the Germanbrand Grundig for decades, now ownsGrundig. To change the identity ofGrundig to that of Turkish brand forreasons of pride would be self-defeating.Due to the very fact that establishedbrands already have their uniqueuniverses and positioning, China with itscapacity to manufacture could find itselfenjoying faster success in the field ofluxury brands if it were to acquire


Mihailovich

differences between managing acorporation and managing a country, andoutlines the importance of creating thebest possible environment within thehome country for sustainable andprofitable global companies to launchthemselves and flourish, the necessity forbusinesses in or from these countries tocontribute to and benefit the widercommunity and the importance ofensuring that all brand ‘stories’throughout a place network are asethical, transparent and appealing aspossible.

Reputation is the key attribute for theDNA. Where countries like theex-communist bloc do themselves a greatdisservice is when they rush to privatiseproperty, previously confiscated fromtheir influential diaspora in the West,instead of returning it to the rightfulowners or compensating them for theirland. Without the restitution of propertyrights, even the best branding efforts inthe world may fail to attract legitimateinvestors. Once a country’s brand imagebegins to improve, a virtuous cyclecomes into play: the country promotesthe brands and the brands promote thecountry. The initiative has to be a major,nationwide, public-private partnership(Anholt, 2005).

Brand architecture is not a staticframework, but one that needs to bemonitored and modified continually. Themechanisms established for brand custodyhelp ensure that an individual brand ismanaged in a consistent fashion acrossmultiple countries. But given thedynamic nature of international marketsand the changing competitive realities,the structure needs to be reviewed, atleast annually. An international brandarchitecture audit should be performedand the entire portfolio of brands beexamined in terms of whether the overallbrand architecture requires modification(Douglas and Craig, 1999). The

its strength and reliability. Increasedexposure to and familiarity with new anddiverse products and the lifestyles andcultures in which they are embeddedalso generate greater receptivity toproducts of foreign origin or thoseperceived as ‘international’ rather thandomestic. All these factors help to createa climate more favourable tointernational brands. What is mostadvantageous to the smaller nations isthat the trend in the West for some timehas been towards niche and exoticbrands. Good national brands in a smallercountry should simply be modifiedwhere possible to appeal to those outsidetheir borders (Douglas and Craig, 1999).

There is nothing to stop anyone froma small country exporting its best retailbrand concepts, either. Starbucks andMcDonald’s are huge American brandambassadors. A good concept travels.Kinship systems have no borders.

STRUCTURE: THE MANAGEMENTOF KINSHIP BRAND ALLIANCESWhatever positioning a country may aimto establish, a transparent, open andhonest government will be an essentialingredient. Governments should strive toassist all selected interest groups inestablishing the ‘kinship’ alliances ofcommon positioning and the structuresneeded for effective branding. They needto encourage, mobilise and monitor thesekinship brand groups periodically anddiplomatically ensure that the cumulativeholistic positioning the nation-statedesires is being achieved. It may evenrequire its own specific brandmanagement structure to get there: brandmanagers for commodities, categories,industries, towns, municipalities andregions, and even a chief branding officerto oversee national and transnationalbranding.

Anholt (2005) elaborates on the


Kinship branding

architecture across countries andcategories, defining the number of levelsand brands at each level. Of particularimportance is the relative emphasisplaced on kinship or clusters groupedunder HBs or PBs, which need to feedvalue to a parent brand such as thenation-state.

To focus on a top-down singlestrapline positioning may generate costeconomies and potential synergies for thenation-state’s efforts in internationalmarkets, but it could ultimately be to thedetriment of a more complex countrythat may need to succeed by attractingdifferent target markets simultaneously.Nation brand architects should carefullyconsider all branding options outlined inthe BBS. At the same time proceduresfor managing the custody of these brandshave to be established. These should beclearly understood and shared throughoutall levels of the ‘place’, leading to akinship/culture mentality that promotesthe growth of strong brands withoutundermining their strength throughinconsistencies that may arise betweenimage perception and actual reality.

A nation brand should not focus onlyon what lies within its borders. It needsto be integrated into the rest of theworld to the ultimate benefit of theplace. The Alps does this for France,Switzerland, Italy and Austria. A countrywith a damaged reputation can begin bymarketing place, people and commercialbrands other than just its nation brand.The less generic the better. Everycommodity, person, category or towncan act as a PB. Reputation is identifiedas the ultimate brand attribute, and aneducation in branding is suggested as thekey knowledge criterion. Cultural factorsmay play a primary role in determiningthe final branding approach adopted by aplace, but place brand ‘experts’ andpractitioners should beware of falling intoa pluralist philosophy — viewing a

investment needed to establish a ‘placebranding’ department is negligiblerelative to the rewards that suchcommitment should bring.

South Africa has successfullyimplemented such a system byestablishing the International MarketingCouncil of South Africa.

‘The IMC is made up of a board and anoperating unit. The IMC is currently funded100% by national treasury through GCIS(Government Communications and InformationSystems) however the plan is to broaden thesources of revenue in the long-term. Theboard consists of influential people in business,government and civil society. Its majorresponsibility is to make big decisions and toopen doors. Headed by a chairperson, it isaccountable to the minister in the presidencywith whom it meets once a year to sharelessons learned and achievements and to raiseissues that stand in the way from a marketingstandpoint.’ (Moremi, 2005)

The structure set up by Dubai also seemsto be working very well (Varughese,2005).

Whatever body is put in place, amajor role it will have to play, will bethat of educating and mobilising thenation. In essence, this implies thatacquiring a basic knowledge of brandingat all levels of ‘place management’ maynow be as important, if not more so,than acquiring a basic knowledge ofEnglish for the world as it is today.

CONCLUSIONThe central role of branding inestablishing a place’s identity and buildingits position in the global marketplaceamong customers, investors and otherstakeholders makes it increasinglyimperative for nation-states to establish aclear-cut international branding strategy.A key element of success is the framingof a holistic and consistent brand


Mihailovich

Prentice Hall, New Jersey.Mihailovic, P. (1995) ‘Time to scrap the rules:

Entering Virgin territory’, Journal of BrandManagement, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 22– 32.

Mihailovic, P. (2006) ‘Kinship branding: How it canapply to Serbia and its friends’, paper presented toBrandFair Conference, Belgrade, 4th March.

Mihailovic, P. and de Chernatony, L. (1994)‘Categorising brand strategies using thebrand-bonding spectrum’, Journal of BrandManagement, Vol. 1, No. 5, pp. 310–318.

Moremi, K. (2005) Personal e-mail to author.OECD (2006) ‘Local Economic and Employment

Development Business Clusters: PromotingEnterprise in Central and Eastern Europe’,OECD Employment, Vol. 2005, No. 12, April,pp. i–244.

Olins, W. (1999) ‘Trading Identities’, The ForeignPolicy Centre, London, UK.

Porter, M. (1990) ‘The Competitive Advantage ofNations’, The Free Press, New York, NY.

Quelch, J. and Jocz, K. (2005) ‘Opinion Piece:Positioning the nation-state’, Place Branding, Vol.1, No. 3, pp. 229–237.

Ryder, I. (2005) ‘Anthropology and the brand’ inInd, N. (ed.) ‘Beyond Branding’, Kogan Page,London, pp. 139–160.

Tomic, B. and Mihailovic, P. (2005) Research among55 international MBA students at the ESLSCAGraduate School of Business, Paris and the ParisGraduate School of Management (unpublished).

USAID (2004) ‘Can clusters cure the economy’s lackof competitiveness?’, available atwww.usaid.org.yu.

Varughese, S. (2005) ‘Dubai mirage?’, in‘Brandchannel.com’, available at www.brandchannel.com/features–profile.asp?prid=238.

nation brand as confined within its ownborders. Brand kinship knows noborders. It outlines the ultimate DNAstructure for the development ofsuccessful place brands. Like all brands,place brands are about relationships,beyond the customer. Lastingrelationships are built on trust, whichwill hopefully all lead to greateremployment, peace and prosperity for‘places’.

ReferencesAaker, D. A. (1991) ‘Managing Brand Equity’, The

Free Press, New York, NY.Anholt, S. (2003) ‘Brand New Justice’, Elsevier

Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford, UK, p. 129.Anholt, S. (2005) ‘Editorial’, Place Branding, Vol. 1,

No. 3, pp. 224–228.Anholt, S and van Gelder, S. (2005) ‘Branding for

good’, in Ind, N. (ed.) ‘Beyond Branding’, KoganPage, London, pp. 56–68.

de Vicente, J. (2004) ‘State branding in the 21stcentury’, MA thesis, Fletcher School. Douglas, S.P. and Craig, C. S. (1999), ‘International brandarchitecture: Development, drivers and design’,available at http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~sdouglas/rpubs/intbrand.html.

EIG (2005) ‘There is more to destination brandingthan meets the eye’, Issues, No. 13, p. 1.

Kapferer, J.-N. (2004) ‘The New Strategic BrandManagement’, Kogan Page, London, UK.

Keller, K. L. (2003) ‘Strategic Brand Management’,


Kinship branding

Kinship branding: A concept of holism ... - Brand Architectphilippemihailovich.com/documents/KinshipBrandingJ... · strapline or advertising campaign (EIG, 2005). For most developing

Documents