eThesis - School of Business electronic theses

During the past decades the world has changed as a result of globalization. In the globalized world countries, regions and cities are increasingly competing with each other of resources, attention, reputation and spend. Countries have started to look at the disciplines of the marketplace in order to increase their competitiveness. Country branding is concerning more and more countries, but it is a rather new field of research and there are still only few case examples of successful country branding processes. This raises the question of how country brands are planned and managed in a successful way. The aim of this thesis is to study how country brand planning process has been managed in Norway in a process which was initiated in 2007. The results increase the understanding of country branding planning and management processes, and give some ideas for further research.

This study is a case study in which qualitative research methods were utilized. Data was collected by semi-structured interviews of key participants of the planning process. In addition, documentary data such as press releases, memos and other material on websites, as well as political reports and research reports was utilized.

Based on the case study it is concluded that the country brand planning process in Norway followed the main steps of the process suggested in the literature. The results indicate that the branding process is based on an open process in which wide political support was secured. The organization responsible of planning had a wide representation from different sectors of the society. The current brand image could have been researched more thoroughly, but the studies gave a good picture of the image Norway has among external audiences. Based on the study it can be claimed that the new brand identity is based on the key strengths and values of Norway, but the identity could have been enriched with more intangible features to make the communication easier. The focus countries for branding efforts were chosen based on Norway's foreign policy interests. The implementation was planned thoroughly on the higher levels of brand architecture with help of pilot projects, but the lower levels of brand architecture could have been more involved in the process.