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Nation Branding and National Identity in Romania

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Nation Branding and National Identity in Romania Nation Branding and National Identity in Romania -An analysis of the ’Discover The Place Where You Feel Reborn’ campaign- Master Thesis Author: Andra-Mihaela Cristea Supervisor: John Hird M.A. Culture, Communication and Globalization February, 2015 Abstract The following thesis want to explore the concept of national identity in relation to the nation brand in Romania. The main focus will be placed on the national brand ’Explore the Carpathian Garden’, with an accent of the latest communications campaign, ”Discover the place where you feel reborn”. Released in June 2014, so far the campaign consists of 3 TV commercials, aired on 6 main national channels; print advertising in local newspapers; and a couple of YouTube videos, which at a first glance seem to be designed for an international audience. However, for this research only the three commercials will be taken into account, since being broadcasted, people are more inclined to be aware of them. Moreover, the target audience so far has been Romanians. The language in which they are narrated is Romanian and no information about them being presented to foreigners is available. Ergo, what this research aims to do is to identify whether a connection between these commercials and the Romanian national identity exists. I have opted for this theme bearing in mind that the campaign belongs to the ’Explore the Carpathian Garden’ brand, a brand whose logo and message were rejected by the Romanian population when they were released to the public in 2010. Hence, I wanted to see if people’s perception about the brand has changed over time, and if these new commercials are better than previous attempts, if they manage to capture the core essence of the national identity. Another reason for choosing this topic comes from the element of novelty. The campaign I am referring to, is still running and will end on August 2015. In order to do so, I looked into the concept of national identity and tried to identify the elements that belong to the Romanian one. By doing so, I had to understand how national identity was shaped in time, being cognizant of all the transition periods Romania has gone through. A special focus was placed on the communist period and its impact on the national identity. But identifying elements that aggregate national identity, did not suffice, if Romanians did not identify them as well. Hence, for the research to be conducted, I have implemented a series of mix approaches, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. To gather data I made use of a qualitative inspired questionnaire and of in-depth interviews. 2 The methodological approach was supported by the theoretical framework, in which concepts such as nation branding and national identity were expanded and clarified. Last but not least, the analysis section tried to combine all the obtained data, so that an answer and a solution to the identified problem to be found and propoused. 3 Table of Contents Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................6 Problem Formulation....................................................................................................................................7 Methodology.................................................................................................................................................8 Philosophical considerations ....................................................................................................................8 Epistemology.............................................................................................................................................8 Paradigm.................................................................................................................................................10 The Hermeneutic Cycle...........................................................................................................................12 Research design ......................................................................................................................................14 A qualitative “inspired” questionnaire ...................................................................................................17 Semi-structured interviews.....................................................................................................................18 Data generation and sampling................................................................................................................20 Theoretical Framework...............................................................................................................................23 Nation Branding......................................................................................................................................23 The Nation Brand Hexagon.....................................................................................................................30 Criticism of nation branding ...................................................................................................................31 Brand identity and Brand image.............................................................................................................33 Nation Branding in Central and Eastern European Countries ................................................................34 National Identity .....................................................................................................................................36 Links between nation branding and national identity............................................................................38 Romanian National Identity....................................................................................................................39 A description of national identity in Romania ........................................................................................43 Nation Branding in Romania...................................................................................................................46 Brief History of the Branding Campaigns in Romania.............................................................................47 Analysis and Discussion...............................................................................................................................52 Questionnaire analysis................................................................................................................................54 Interview analysis....................................................................................................................................69 Discussion................................................................................................................................................79 Limitations ..............................................................................................................................................81 Conclusions .............................................................................................................................................81 Further research .....................................................................................................................................82 4 Bibliography:...............................................................................................................................................83 Annexes.......................................................................................................................................................91 5 Introduction Although a relatively new subject (Fan, 2010), in an intensively globalized world, nation branding is starting to be employed by countries all over the globe. Even though opinions on the matter might differ nation brands exist. Summarizing a couple of these opinions, it would seem that the outcomes of branding the nation would include: to remold national identities, to promote the interests of economic and political nature or to alter, improve or enhance a reputation or image that a nation has (Fan, 2010). Seemingly, in the actual global environment, countries compete to devise sources of competitive advantages just like companies do. Therefore, it would appear that brands have become fundamental tools that can help countries differentiate one from another (Gertner and Kotler, 2002). The main goal of implementing nation branding strategies is to increase the awareness and recognition amongst potential tourists, to create a positive image and a strong brand and brand identity for the destination (Cretu, 2011). Moreover, through efforts that national tourism offices put into this goal, a particular national self-image or political identity is intended (Light, 2001). Consequently, the tourism industry is highly implicated in the construction and reproduction of identities at a number of scales. It is a component of identity-building at the national level. Such particular issues have relevance especially for former socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, where political transformations have brought along the need of constructing new identities and to project these newly found identities to the wider world (Light, 2001). Hence, in order for a nation’s brand to be successful, it has to be congruent with the national identity, but at the same time it must be kept in mind that a national past and a national territory are
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