A country is a brand by itself as much as its peoples are. Only, some countries smartened up earlier and bruced up their brand images. Once a country becomes well known for a particular quality of goods, say, the product as well as the very name of the country works together very well and thus, the products becomes synonymous with success.

As Randall Frost, author of ‘The Globalization of Trade’ says, “as the country promotes its brands, the brands will promote the country.”

He goes on to analyse whether the branding of a country works. For instance, it has worked very well with countries such as Germany (associated with precision engineering), Japan (manufacturing excellence), Brazil (coffee paradise) etc.

According to him, some nations develop a national brand in a kind of controlled or formalized way, but with others it happens almost spontaneously. Besides being brands, countries can also be products, particularly when they serve as tourist destinations or factory sites.

“If you look at what is happening in India today, and the perceptions around India, none of these are controlled. India has emerged in the last five years in terms of perceptions in a quite different way from the way it was perceived ten or fifteen years ago. It was spirituality and poverty, and now it’s software; it’s highly educated people. And in some countries, Indian clothing — textiles and fabrics, are fashionable.… None of this is managed.

It’s all spontaneous,” he writes on his website. In principle, it is a country’s citizens who stand to gain the most from a successful nation branding campaign. Just as corporate branding campaigns can raise the morale and sense of purpose of a company’s employees, national branding campaigns can provide a country with a common sense of purpose and national pride, he adds.