SIMON ANHOLT is the father of nation branding. Public diplomacy deals with the influence of public attitudes on the formation and execution of foreign policies. It encompasses dimensions of international relations beyond traditional diplomacy; the cultivation by governments of public opinion in other countries; the interaction of private groups and interests in one country with another; the reporting of foreign affairs and its impact on policy; communication between those whose job is communication, as diplomats and foreign correspondents; and the process of intercultural communications.Public diplomacys evolution can be divided into three stages which changed the international political climate. The first era stretched over three decades in which American and western political and other culture values norm were spread throughout the Eastern Europe. Second era started with the collapse of Berlin wall when due to the decrease of resources and effort used in the US public diplomacy resulted in the decline of US public diplomacy worldwide. The third stage started with collapse of world trade center in 2001. Each phase changed and shaped the public diplomacy definition, concept and practice worldwide. And though public diplomacy lacks a universally accepted definition, yet the concept of it has become ubiquitous. It is often rooted in conflicts and causes tensions between states and other actors. Though for nation branding, a peacefull political environment is necessary, this is not the case with public diplomacy.According to OLENS, Kunczik and others, countries have always branded and rebranded in the course of history, hence its not a novel concept, just a new term for image cultivation and image management. Its difficult to trace the origin of nation branding as image promotion. Worlds fair is a long standing tools for nation branding. Another tool can be found from the example of Lithuania which to earn American support and official recognition for their independence approached an American Public deplomacy Guru Edward Berneys in 1919 who launched an aggressive and extensive campaign about its language-its origin, culture, clothes, music, sports, arranging concerts for music lovers etc. which now come under nation branding as well as public deplomacy.Nation branding has been emerging from country of origin studies, from interdisciplinary literature on nations identity which results in homogenization of market worldwide. And nation branding is a much broader concept than destination branding.

International Communication

MarketingDiscipline Nation Branding

International RelationsPublic Diplomacy

Nation branding- applying branding and communication technique to promote a nations behavior, identity, attitude, image. Though a bit similar to place branding but actually distinctively different from it. As govt. is the main initiator.Nation branding and national brandtwo different conceptAccording to Simon Anholt, nation brand is successful when it is lived by the citizen who are the mouthpiece and the receipent of the message. There is distinction between nation as a state, nation as a country, nation as people. Nation is a group of people with common identity, history and destiny, while state is a set of institutions, dispositions and territory which enables the govt. to exist and change, and country refers to geographic territory, location where a specific culture is produced--- mainly this is place branding.Public deplomacy can be conceptualized in multiple dimensionsdomestic or foreign, degree of tension between states, direction of communicationone way verses two way etc. it traditionally means govt. communication aimed at foreign nations to change the perception of public. This public of public diplomacy can refers to domestic public in two ways1. Engaging approach- input from domestic citizens for foreign policy 2. Explaining approach- explaining foreign policy and diplomacy to domestic citizensThe explaining approach, sometimes in some country is called public affairs where the govt. explain and justify the policy to the domestic populace after it has been issued (America). Canada is the best example of Engaging approach. The earlier objectives of public diplomacy were to influence the general public of the target nation and get these general public to pressure their own govt. for the policy. But now, influencing the public opinion to create a receptive environment for foreign policy goals and promote national interest has become its ultimate objective. Fredirick (nothing mentioned abt this fella) positions public diplomacy as a way for low intensity colflict resolution and according to him public relation communication is not practiced but in a certain degree of conflict (war and peace model). So public diplomacys dimensions are1. Condition- relationship between the communicating and target country: war and peace continuum.2. Objective of communication- from persuasion (one way communication) to relation building (two way). Symmetrical PD is one where both the countries has equal chance to influence the communications outcome (EU countries).3. Power- soft vs. hard power (control the outcome of communication, the amount of resources one country has on its disposal for getting a favorable outcome)4. Time- short term medium term or long term affect The way a govt. contextualize its definition, influence its practices of public diplomacy.UKObjective- to engage and inform individual and organizations overseas in order to influence understanding of and influence for UK to help achieve govt. long term and medium goals.

Sometimes, public diplomacy boils down to creating, projecting and promoting a positive image of a country then it mashes with nation branding. And though nation branding is washy enough term to translate into other language, public diplomacy is hard to translate and most of the time it got translated as cultural promotion.EU is the best example of 21st century public diplomacy. Actors and targetsDirect and direct involvement, support, and control are core of many PD programs but govt. is not always the official face or sole activist in PD campaigns as non- state actors are also increasing in this area. Govt. role of communicating with foreign publics is crucial and the objective can change from promoting country to promoting govt. Govt. involvement connects the concepts of PD[footnoteRef:1] with that of NB[footnoteRef:2]. As govt. is often the initiator and coordinator of NB. The trend is, in PD, the role of govt. is fast decreasing and instead it is falling on the shoulders of non state actors, NGOs and other more creditable actors whereas, NB practitioners call for govt. involvement to achieve co-ordination and a holistic approach. 2008 Edelman Trustbarometer global surveys found that NGOs and businesses are more trusted than messages from media and govt. NB is often outsourced to marketing afgencies or branding gurus who advise on country branding, core idea, design value as well as producing a national brand book. NB considers botgh the domestic and foreign citizens with equal important targets. [1: Public diplomacy] [2: Nation branding]

Branding targets mass passive audience in the target nation whereas PD targets well defined publics (cultural, political elites, opiniop leaders atc.) who are interested in foreign news and policies. NB is more public than PD which is Elite-oriented. Conceptual CoverageBranding has borrowed terminology from international relations and PD- trade war of ideas, targeted audience, brand ambassadors. Terminology from marketing and branding is also entering into International relations. According to Van Ham- PD is disappearing nad Identity Politics is taking its place. Five possible relationships between NB and PD are:

1. NB and PD- two entirely different conceptsDuring the 1990s, following the end of cold war Europe and western part were undergoing various political change- from communism to democracy etc. and at that time many countries undertook both NB and PD activities but with no synergy between them. And some countries do not differentiate between the two concepts at all.Comparison between PD and NB 2. Public policy is part of nation brandingLewis descrives PD as the branding thechnique of politician. Benefits of adopting brand oriented approach of PD are- PD becomes more strategic Integrate communication aimed at foreign audience Improvement of Public diplomats communication skills and competencies. Increase the competitiveness of nations in the globalizing world Bring creativity Visualize PD Generating media coverage for the country More audience to target bring under media coverage as NB usually have a vast audience than PD Providing input and feedback of PDs programs through market researchAnholts Brand hexagons six points represent six natural channels of communication through which the countries communicate with the world are tourism, culture, policy, investment, recruitment, people where the core of the hexagon is competitive identity- synthesis of BM with public diplomacy and with tourism, trade, investment, export promotion. According to Aholt, diplomacy has been promoted from the subset of nation branding to a more significant position while the concept of branding and competition has extrapolated to cities and regions. But how PD applies to regions and cities is still unclear.Drawbacks of adopting this approach are- Push towards a ROI[footnoteRef:3] thinking [3: Return on investment]

Encourage short term impacts from NB Require more financial and human resource Beware of negative branding Divide rather than unite a nation where citizens may disagree about the initatives3. Nation branding as part of public policyLimited to academic literature but some govt. still use it. Nation branding is considered as an instrument of public diplomacy. According to P. Van ham, place branding belongs to the school of constructive International relation because it offeres the states to construct their own image, role and identity. He used branding, image marketing an public relations interchangeably though these terms has dirrerent concepts and definition. Benefits are- Rely upon and tap into the network of embassies Embassies can focus on the one dimension of country branding by taking into the account of target people Bring stability to the branding (govt. staffs dont change) Corrects the effect of negative branding of other partiesLeonard et.all. Identified three dimensionsof PD; political, economic, cultural/societal. Any govt. at one point of time remains engaged in one or three of these dimensions and conduct brand diplomacybrand as channels to transmit national identities to consumers relating to the country-of origins effect. Hungaricum club initiative- example of product and corporation can conduct diplomacy. Hungarian companies founded the club with an aim to promote Hungarian way of culture and thus achieving a place in EU. Drawbacks- Other govt. can misunderstood it and view as propaganda NB initiatives can get lost in the red tape and bureaucracy of govt. NB can become the victim of domestic political fight Domestic political fight can lead to a lack of continuity when new govt. comes Sometimes NB backfires.4. Distinct but overlappingBoth have common grounds but also distinctive features. Advocated by prof. Melissan. According to him, they have distict approached but come down to rather similar activities but NB requires greater effort, is much more holistic and ambitious than PD which focuses on modest achievement. Image creating, identity, culture and values can be the common factor of the both terms.

Both the concepts are defined as communication. so instead of using communication (for PD) and image creation (for NB) the common term should be relationship building for both the concept. So if relationship building was considered as the central paradigm of both PD and NB, it can be considered as the central concept upon which the two concepts can be further integrated. Kathy Fitzpatric proposed relationship management as a general theory of PD and concludes that relational paradigm of PD would unify different PD function under one overarching concept and would have a physical dimension for how to engage in PD. Network should occupy a central position in both PD and NB. There are three types of network. Physical network which is used as a means for transporting of goods, people and information. Institutional or organizational network binds together economic and political entities whereas societal and cultural network unit individuals and convey impulses. Hankinson identified four streams of thought in branding- Communicators- about product differentiation and visual elements Perceptual entities- appeals to peoples senses, reason and emotions Value enhancers-regarded as corporate assets Relationship- between personnel and consumer. Hankinson believed tourist destination brand as perceptual entities dominate the destinayion marketing literature followed by destination communicators. NB hasnt been conceptualized as relationship but if it were, it would benefit from it a great deal. NB = PDNB has so many things common with the traditional concept of PD which conceptualized the two as the same. Some scholars view NB and PD as propaganda of govt. or post modern mutation of PD, a fad. Branding and its host discipline are suffering from lack of trust by consumers now a days. People now simply distrust marketing messages. Sheth and Sisodia believes that NB can acntually increase marketings reputation. PD has much more positive connotation and is a more creditable tool than NB though somepoeple use PD and propaganda interchangeably. ProfessionalizationExtent to which something can be considered as profession. Most common attributes of professions are A body of knowledge and techniques applied to work. Training and cours of study to mastrer the knowledge and skill Self governing professional body Professional norms than regulate the practice Certain social status and recognitionBoth NB and PD has an evolving body of knowledge. Though NBs concepts are still under the discipline of marketing, and though there are courses on PD but not on NB yet, various NB and marketing gurus and other professionals are working to launch NB courses in universities. Also various conferences are happening on both PD and NB helping the conceptualization process of both.Training is vital for public diplomacy as many public diplomatsare from the background of IR and Politics but lack a trong and persuasive communication skill. Some barriers to training are lack of humnan and financial resources, attitude towards training, adequate communication infrastructure. Training in NB is lagging behind than that of PD. The only training is provided by Simon Anholt in the form of nation branding master class. Another trand is the marketization of PD where various advocates of PD are springing up and working with the govt. for profit.