“Colombia is passion":has nation branding worked for Colombia?

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear about Colombia? Let me guess, Pablo Escobar, cocaine, FARC, civil war, kidnapping etc... It seems that negative associations about Colombia are never ending. Although, it has to be recognised that to a certain extent Colombia’s bad image is justified due to the cocaine- driven internal conflict. It is also true the Colombian government has attempted determinedly to improve its image abroad. As a result, Colombia since 2005 embarked on an active nation-branding effort called Colombia is passion; this campaign aims essentially to change negative perceptions of Colombia by building a positive image, which in turn will generate trust among foreign audiences, thereby having a positive impact on tourism and foreign investment (Proexport Colombia, 2009).

Colombia is passion was devised by Colombia’s export, tourism, and investment promotion agency (Proexport) and David Lightle, an American international marketing consultant. Mr Lightle argues Colombia is being successful on the difficult task of building its image abroad and nation branding is benefiting the country. He points out though, that one of the main reasons of the campaign success is due to the improvement in security and in socio-economic development in the country. David Lightle completely agree with Simon Anholt in that nation branding strategies will not work if a country does not take fundamental changes and reform their societies (Moffett, 2008).

Nonetheless, Simon Anholt still associates Colombia with drugs and violence whenever he hears the name of the country. Although, Mr Anholt does agree that the improvements in Colombian’s internal affairs may lead the country to consolidate a more positive image abroad in the future (Dickinson, 2009). Zaharna argues that Colombia is passion has been a success for Colombia, mostly because the campaign “has a strong domestic stakeholder engagement”. Soon after the campaign was launched many organizations including public and private enterprises joined, they started introducing the campaign logo and slogan into their products. Moreover, Colombia is passion has become a source of pride and national identity for Colombian citizens. This has led to Colombians voluntarily improving the services they offer in areas where they are engaged with foreign publics (tourism and business). The success then, lies in the fact the domestic support has made the campaign more viable and credible; this is represented in the dramatic increase in foreign investment and tourism (Zaharna, 2011).

It could be argued that perceptions of countries are very important, bad associations with a country have a profound negative impact on exports, tourism, and investment. Therefore, countries are increasingly aware of nation branding and want to make a difference with their positive reputation in the global market. It is difficult to establish how much Colombia is passion has influenced the influx of foreign tourists and investment in the last couple of years in Colombia (Markessinis, 2009), nor is it clear whether the campaign has worked in the benefit of the country. However, what seems clear is that Colombia’s slight improvement in image would not have been possible if there had not been a dramatic improvement in Colombian’ domestic affairs.

References

Dickinson, E. (2009, February 19). Memo to Iraq, from Colombia. Retrieved March 22, 2011, from Foreign Policy: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/02/18/memo_to_iraq_from_colombia

Markessinis, A. (2009). Colombia is passion. Retrieved March 23, 2011, from Nation Branding: http://nation-branding.info/2009/03/14/anholt-quoted-on-colombia-and-iraq-nation-brands/

Moffett, M. (2008, October 27). Branding Colombia with passion. Retrieved March 21, 2011, from The Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122506768261770669.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Proexport Colombia. (2009). Colombia is passion. Retrieved March 22, 2011, from Proexport Colombia: http://www.colombia.travel/en/international-tourist/colombia/colombia-is-passion

Zaharna, R. (2011, March). Relational Spheres and the Primacy of Domestic and Diaspora Publics in Global Public Diplomacy. Retrieved March 22, 2011, from http://weblearn.londonmet.ac.uk/webct/urw/lc1318399270031.tp1318399298031/RelativeResourceManager/sfsid/1342803440021