Nation Branding in the XXI century – A Conceptual Approach

In a more and more globalized world, countries must make high efforts to differentiate between them and to create a competitive advantage. Given the economic development at present, no country can afford to remain isolated from the world economy and should make consistent efforts to adapt quickly. The market became almost homogenous and that’s why nations must explore every niche they find. But in order to be successful they need to make those niches relevant to the consumers. And one of the ways to do this is through nation branding. The aim of this paper is to analyze the steps which led to nation branding and to explain the concept by making a review of one of the most important authors who studied this phenomenon. What is nation branding? How this concept appeared and why countries should brand themselves instead of allowing the stereotypes to define them completely are the questions that this article tries to answer.