Modern culture and contemporary lifestyle are products of long years’ accumulations, changes and development of previous civilizations, which have impacted the life of a nation. Different countries have different contemporary cultures because they have a different past. That fact also necessitates different approaches to the present and future. How tourism experts should approach country branding based on cultural heritage?
The most obvious approach is what I call the “contemplative” phase in country branding based on cultural heritage. It is focused on the historical heritage of a country as the main appeal of the brand. It is contemplative, because the cultural heritage is used as an exhibit, an artifact piece in a display case – beautiful, meaningful, and very pleasant to observe. It lacks although a very important element – the interaction between the cultural heritage and the tourist experience. For this type of
branding a country really needs a unique and impressive, often times monumental set of historical buildings or artifacts that geographically can be found only in that country.
Successful examples, although not always included in the positioning message of the country, are Egypt with focus on its pyramids, Romania with its Dracula branding and Georgia with its claim “Europe Started Here”. The downside of this approach is that, unless very large masses are impressed by the past achievements of a country, the contemplative phase in the branding just informs and doesn’t contribute too much to the brand. Potential visitors are driven by the phrase “why should I go there?” and the rich history doesn’t do them any good if there is not enjoyment of the trip and the thrill of discovering new horizons. That is why France, Italy, Greece and Israel, countries that follow Egypt in the top ranking of the Country Brand Index 2008 of places known for its historical heritage, don’t focus ONLY on history.
The second approach I call “the discovery” phase. The cultural heritage is woven into a mystic ethos waiting to be discovered. This type of branding is also very forward looking because it offers enormous possibilities for branding based on “creative tourism” – the visitor taking part in culture creation, and participating in the local life of the nation. These brands are much more successful because they imply an interaction between the country’s cultural heritage and its visitors. Examples: Armenia with its positioning as the “Noah’s Road”, and Croatia’s “The Mediterranean as it Once Was”. The downside of this brand promise is the credibility of the brand, because at this phase what is sold is not a “product” of centuries and millennia, which can be seen and touched, but a dream, a feeling.
The third and the most successful brand strategy for a country should be based on cultural heritage as a consequence of long-time cultural accumulations resulting in a clearly different and authentic travel experience. I call this the “emotional experience” phase. It is the phase when the contemplation and discovery of the cultural heritage is transferred into “a gut feeling” about the country brand. China showed the success of this approach at the opening ceremony of the Olympic games, which gave it first place in the Country Brand Index as the most impressive brand of 2008.
The "emotional experience" strategy is also the most difficult to be applied to emerging destinations for cultural tourism, since their history is less known to the general public, which poses a problem for the brand awareness. It also has the same problem as “discovery” branding. The “dream” about the cultural experience and the feeling of it could be totally different than the reality, since it is more difficult to “deliver” on a emotional brand than on a rational one. Once again, the winner here is Croatia since its positioning line implies a nostalgic emotion. And Croatia delivers on it. The new France branding “Rendez-Vous in France” bets on the emotional connection with the visitors. The image of France as a romantic destination, the culture of courtship and elegance, which the new brand implies, also creates an “immediate” need to visit the country. Since it is a new branding (October 2008), we don’t know how it will work. I hope that it will, specially with French speaking people who know the multiple possibilities of the “Rendez-vous” notion.
From the survey I am conducting online (please go and participate), more than 28% of the people who haven’t been in Bulgaria say that they have some knowledge of the Bulgarian cultural heritage, the Bulgarian traditions, arts and crafts and the Bulgarian lifestyle. Almost the same percentage of people (32%) say that if they travel to Bulgaria they will go to cultural heritage sites, visit museums and attend an event of traditional Bulgarian culture, arts and crafts. From the ones who have been already in the country, nearly 55% know about the Bulgarian cultural heritage (34%), Bulgarian traditions, arts and crafts and the Bulgarian lifestyle, probably because 17% of the visitors have being visiting cultural heritage sites, 11% were visiting museums and 9 % attending an event or visiting centers for traditional culture, arts and crafts.
So, apparently, Bulgaria is branding itself as a country rich in cultural heritage. True. For internal branding among its citizens, that’s true – almost everybody can name the 7 UNESCO cultural heritage sites, most of the people know that the country ranks 3rd in Europe in cultural heritage monuments (40,000) and the over patriotic pride of its millennia old history is used for all purposes – from politics to education to excuses for today’s mistakes.
False. Outside of the country although, Bulgaria is branded as modern, “Open doors, open hearts” country. The fiasco of this positioning campaign has been analyzed, discussed and … no further action has been taken.
The tourism authorities in Bulgaria cannot understand that the foreigners who visit Bulgaria highly appreciate the culture of street festivity, Epicurean lifestyle and enjoyment of life, in spite of difficult economic conditions. And while Thracian gold treasures, Neolithic villages preserved until now a day, medieval fortresses and prehistoric caves, solar temples and painted churches, are pretty impressive, in the end of the day the visitor is more touched by the everyday culture of the Bulgarians. For the tourists is “obvious” that Dionysus still lives in a wine venerating modern culture, a dancing-in-the-streets mystic Kukeri parades, the Nestinari dances on fire, the Grammy winning folklore music, known from the legendary times of Orpheus preserved until today, and the old “witchcraft” of herbal cures, offered in all spas in the country. It is not history or cultural heritage, it is part of the everyday life of a nation created on the crossroads of civilizations. My point: to brand Bulgaria’s cultural heritage, we don’t have to show monuments only – we have to show how it relates to the today culture, which is a direct consequence of millennia old understanding of life as mystery and enjoyment in the same time.
My advice to Bulgaria, instead of “Open Doors to Open Hearts”, is to just say “The soul and spirit of Europe” and it will be true. That will imply the hospitality, the millennia old history (Plato defined the Thracians as the most spiritual people in the classic world), the traditional culture of life celebration and deep mystic soul, which continues to be the “face” of the nation today.
I would give the same advice to Georgia (the country). Instead trying to prove that is the starting point of the European civilization (a false premise), I would emphasize the brand on celebration – its wines, its choruses, its famous wedding ceremonies and poetry-like table toasts. This is its contribution to Europe, not the 1.7 million-years old bone of a proto-human. This is what enchants every visitor and every person who meets a Georgian outside of the country. Positioning line for Georgia? “Come and celebrate with us!” That, of course, if they choose another president, who is not so trigger-happy.
As for Greece, “The True Experience” is so generic, and so faceless, that I would advise the Greek tourism authorities to go back to the drawing board (or the brainstorming session) and come up with something more focused on the fact that their country created a balanced perfection of classic religion, architecture and lifestyle, which everyone can enjoy still today. Just to read “Zorba the Greek” will be more useful for them than hiring a branding company to “marry” the rich cultural heritage with a very charming tourism offer.
And so on… Everybody is welcome to suggest their positioning lines for their countries, or for countries they have visited. I will be very happy to publish them – that’s the beauty of the blogs – we can comment on them.
Acknowledgment
Ms. RINA PLAPLER, one of the authors of the Country Brand Index helped me to see differently some of the aspects of country branding by answering a question on the country branding group on Linkedin.com.
The Bulgarian National Radio gave me the kind permission to use the Nestinari image on my blog.
