Finland has it all?

Nation branding was listed among year’s most notable ideas in 2005 by NY Times Magazine. Even though handling national reputation isn’t revolutionary idea, a global phenomenon has existed in recent years. (Kaneva 2009.) And yes, Finns have jumped on the wagon. Let’s get the right mood for this topic with a song:



A group working with Finland’s nation brand was formed in 2008. Three main tasks were to determine Finland’s identity, examine strengths and weaknesses, and make strong points even stronger.

Michael Kunczik (2003) believes in a simple wisdom: country’s image cultivation begins at home. This part seems to be done quite properly in Finland. Human rights, democracy and free press are self-evident. In 2009 OECD reported Finland to be one of the happiest nations in the world. But is this picture delivered to international audiences?

In 2009 outsiders didn’t see the same but ranked Finland 18th out of 50 nations in Anholt-GfK Roper Nations Brands Index international survey. It seems to be quite hard for a small country to compete at least in the amount of publicity. Some countries just have a central position in the news*.  
*USA, GB, Russia, France & Germany according to Kim and Barnett (Kunczik 2003, 411)

But is there a light at the end of the tunnel? Newsweek reported Finland to be the world's best country in 2010. Early results of Country Brand Index study 2010, evaluating nations, puts Finland to 8th place.

I don't know how much to trust these studies… But isn’t it nice to sometimes forget critics and enjoy the good news? At least they tell part of the truth! :D It would be great if putting effort on national PR would show results.

P.S. I wonder if Nokia’s struggles will affect Finland’s nation brand since the connection is quite strong…

Sources:

Kaneva, N. (2009). Nations as Brands: Towards an Agenda for Research and Critique. Conference Papers - International Communication Association; 2009 Annual Meeting, p. 1-29 [referred: 14.11.2010]. In EBSCO Academic Search Elite.

Kunczik, M. (2003). Transnational public relations by foreign governments. In K. Sriramesh & D. Vercic (Editors), Handbook of global public relations (pp. 399-424). Mahwah:
Lawrence Erlbaum.

http://nation-branding.info

www.newsweek.com/content/newsweek/2010/08/15/interactive-infographic-of-the-worlds-best-countries.html

www.futurebrand.com/news/