Brand Brasil: a Comparative Analysis of the Brazil Country Image in the United

Brand Brasil: A Comparative Analysis of the Brazil Country Image in

the United States and Brazil

A thesis presented to

the faculty of

the Center for International Studies of Ohio University

In partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the degree

Masters of Arts

Iara Mara Fonseca Leão

June 2012

This thesis titled

Brand Brasil: A Comparative Analysis of the Brazil Country Image in

the United States and Brazil

IARA MARA FONSECA LEÃO

has been approved for

the Center for International Studies by

______

Yong Wang

Assistant Professor of Marketing

______

José Delgado Costa

Director, Latin American Studies

______

Daniel Weiner

Executive Director, Center for International Studies

ABSTRACT

FONSECA LEÃO, IARA M., M.A., June 2012, Latin American Studies

Brand Brasil: A Comparative Analysis Of The Brazil Country Image In The United

States and Brazil (115 pp.)

Director of Thesis: Yong Wang

In the past decades, countries have been adopting the trend of creating their own

Nation Brand and to manage them as commercial brands, establishing their brand identities and brand strategies, resulting in their brand image. The focus of this thesis was to analyze how Brand Brazil is perceived in the United States and Brazil, by business people. Brazil developed, officially, its Brand Brazil in early 2000’s, and by 2003 there was already an Agency, called APEX-Brasil, designated to manage and promote the image of Brazil abroad. APEX-Brasil, currently, supports 81 sectors of Brazil’s economy, supports over 10,000 Brazilian companies and has promoted Brand Brazil in over 3,000 presentations worldwide for audiences of entrepreneurs, investors and trend-setters. For this thesis, an extended focus group study, with instrument containing qualitative and quantitative written questions in English and Portuguese was conducted. With the results was possible to set patterns and make comparisons between the perception from North-

Americans and Brazilians. This thesis also presents recommendations to expand the promotion of Brazil for the United States market.

Approved: ______

Yong Wang

Assistant Professor of Marketing

In loving memory of my mother, Carminha.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to show my gratitude to my family, especially parents Ivens and

Carminha, and my brother Ivens for supporting me, unconditionally, in this journey.

Thank you for motivating me to pursue my goal, which over time also became your goal.

I would like to thank my mother for the numerous messages of support during difficult moments, and especially for worrying about my academic accomplishment even on her deathbed. The return to the United States and the conclusion of this degree would not have been possible if, once again, I did not have the support from my father and brother.

It is a pleasure to thank the members of my committee, Dr. Wang, Dr. Axinn and

Dr. Barr-Melej, without whom this thesis would not have been held. Your help, guidance and orientation were crucial to me. To my advisor Dr. Wang, who assisted me in this research and spent countless hours meeting with me to discuss my thesis, reading and revising my work. To Dr. Axinn who has been helping me since the beginning of this journey at Ohio University. Whose guidance did not remain only in the academic environment and became my friend and mentor. To Dr. Barr-Melej, who is my example of a great professor, and who promptly accepted my invitation to be in my committee.

I would like to thank my coordinator Dr. Delgado, for constant assisting me throughout this journey. To Professor Gabriela Castaneda, my friend, who since my first weeks at the university has helped me to improve my academic writing and for the pleasant conversations. To the loving memory of Dr. William Day, whom I kindly called

"Guigui" and who was very enthusiastic about the topic of my thesis.

To all of my friends in Brazil and to my new friends, who I met during this journey, and helped me when I needed the most, especially when I was homesick.

To Centro Universitário UNA, especially Professors Cristiane Serpa and

Frederico Martini, for giving me the opportunity to attend graduate school at Ohio

University and for believing in me. To Ohio University and the Center for International

Studies for making possible to me to pursue my master's degree.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract ...... 3 Dedication ...... 4 Acknowledgments...... 5 List of Tables ...... 9 List of Figures ...... 10 Chapter 1: Introduction ...... 11 Chapter 2: Literature Review ...... 15 2.1 Brand ...... 15 2.2 Nation Brand ...... 23 2.3 Brazil ...... 39 2.4 Brand Brazil ...... 49 Chapter 3: Methodology ...... 62 Chapter 4: Research Results ...... 69 4.1 General Perceptions of Brazil ...... 69 4.2 Statements on Brand Brazil ...... 76 4.3 Positive and Negative Perceptions of Brazil ...... 78 4.4 Personality Traits Dimensions ...... 80 4.5 Familiarity with Brazil ...... 83 Chapter 5: Discussion ...... 88 5.1 Discussion ...... 88 5.2 Limitations ...... 92 5.3 Recommendations ...... 93 5.4 Future Researches ...... 95 References ...... 96 Appendices ...... 102 Appendix 1 - Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval ...... 102 Appendix 2 - Institutional Review Board (IRB) Amendment Approval ...... 103 Appendix 3 - Focus Group Study Questions In English ...... 104

Appendix 4 - Focus Group Study Questions In Portuguese ...... 110

LIST OF TABLES

Table

1. The GFK Nation Brands Index - Overall Top Ten Rank ...... 36 2. The Country Brand Index 2011-2012 ...... 39 3. Comparisons Between Brazil And The United States ...... 41 4. Brazilian Trade Balance 2010/2011...... 44 5. Brazil In The World - Production And Exports Of Selected Products ...... 45 6. Major Countries For Brazilian Exports...... 46 7. Major Supplier Countries To Brazil ...... 47 8. Brazilian Exports To the United States ...... 48 9. Demographic Characteristics Of Participants ...... 66 10. Elements Of Brand Brazil As Perceived By North-Americans and Brazilians ...... 71 11. Themes Discussed on Question Number Two ...... 73 12. Stereotypes Mentioned by United States Respondents ...... 75 13. Rated Statements on Brand Brazil ...... 77 14. Personality Trait: Sincerity ...... 81 15. Personality Trait: Excitement ...... 81 16. Personality Trait: Competence ...... 82 17. Personality Trait: Ruggedness ...... 82 18. Personality Trait: Sophistication ...... 82 19. Brazilian Companies and Products ...... 84

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure

1. The Nation Brand Hexagon ...... 35 2 The Country Brand Index Pentagon ...... 38 3. The APEX-Brasil’s Units In Brazil ...... 58 4 The APEX-Brasil’s Units Around the World ...... 59

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

The practice of considering a country as a brand has become a trend, being adopted by many different countries worldwide. Brazil has adhered to this approach since early 2000s, coining and managing the Brand Brazil campaign ever since (Furlan in

Caixeta, Netz and Galuppo, 2006). The image people have of the Brand Brazil may not match reality precisely, and also it may be dissonant to the image which the Brazilian

Government would like it to be. These misleading perceptions of a country can generate a negative image for a nation. As a consequence of this, a country may face difficulty in establishing its product image and gaining its share of the international market (Anholt,

1998).

Brands are usually adopted by enterprises when they want the public to relate to a product/service and at the same time they want consumers to be aware of who is offering the items. Brands can also be a tool for creating differentiation from the competitors and to enhance the value of goods that are offered (Tavares, 1998). By using their brands, companies expect to create credibility among consumers and potential consumers, as well as creating a tool to help customers remember about the company and its product.

Moreover, a brand is able to create a relationship between clients and goods or services.

While the companies produce the goods, consumers buy the brand (Aaker, 2007). As the products cannot speak for themselves, it is the brand that gives meaning to the products and speaks for them (Tavares, 1998).

The concepts above have primarily been adopted by enterprises; however, countries started to invest in brands to promote their own national images, as the way

12 countries are perceived might impact their international trade, foreign investment and tourism. Therefore, many countries use the substantial identity they have, and most of the time they combine these characteristics with the goods they produce, in order to promote their Nation-Brand (Castelo Branco, 2010). The image people have of a country may affect the outcome people are expecting. For instance, when it comes to cars, the German ones are expected to have the best engineering, the Swedish cars to be safe and ecological, the French ones to have an elegant design, the Japanese cars to be economical and efficient, and the Italian ones to be stylish and romantic (Anholt, 1998).

The correlation between country image and product image does not need to be compared only among the same products. The characteristics nations have can be turned into part of the profiles of these countries, and automatically the products that are expected from that region will be related to those perceived characteristics. The Brazilian traits that have been traditionally perceived are: the music and dancing (including samba and Carnival), ecology, beaches, sports and adventure. These features relate to a young public and as a result, products that can combine these features and are aimed at younger consumers are more likely to be expected to be produced in Brazil (Anholt, 1998).

Brazil is a developing economy. Along with Russia, India and China Brazil is considered part of the “BRIC” - the four largest developing economies in the world. The

BRIC countries represent approximately one third of the world’s population and therefore hold the largest labor force in the planet. These countries are considered influential in global affairs and economics (Country Brand Index, 2012). In addition, Brazil and the

United States have been business partners and the bilateral trade between them has a major impact on their economies. In 2011, Brazil exported goods worth US$25,805

13 million to the United States, and imported goods worth US$33,963 million from the U.S.

The exports encompassed different sectors of Brazilian economy, from commodities to high-finished products (MDIC, 2012). Therefore, the decision to analyze managers from the United States is due to key role bi-lateral business relationships play in both economies.

Considering this foundation, the focus of this study is to identify the image which business people in the United States perceive of Brazil, and to compare the result with the image the Brazilian Government aims to promote and identify possible discrepancies. An additional goal of this thesis is to identify the image that Brazilian business people have of Brand Brazil and compare those images with the images held by business people in the

United States – again looking for similarities and differences among them. Based on the fact that perception is a relative and subjective reality (CB - Consumer Behavior, 2009), and that perceptions can be affected by selective attention and exposure to the information and stimuli, it is likely that the images North-Americans have of Brazil may not be as precise as Brazilians would like for it to be (CB - Consumer Behavior, 2009).

This thesis is divided in five chapters: introduction, literature review, methodology, research results, and discussion, limitations and conclusion. The literature review will cover the definitions of Brand, Nation-Brand, the image of Brazil and the efforts the Brazilian government is making to promote the ‘Nation Brand Brazil.’ These definitions will guide the reader in understanding the pillar concept of Nation Brand and how it applies to the reality of Brazil. The methodology chapter will contain an explanation of how the research was conducted, and then the research results will be presented. Finally, the discussion will present a comparison of the findings with the

14 literature presented. Also within this chapter there will be a discussion of the limitations of the study and recommendations for the management of ‘Brand Brazil’ will be made, along with suggestions for further research.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

The literature review aims to cover the basic concepts in order for one to understand the study of ‘Nation Brand’, and more specifically, to decode the image of

Brazil in order to understand the image that has been perpetuated and the changes required to improve this image. The literature review is the basis for the analysis of the results and further development of the objective of this study. This chapter is divided in four sections. The first section presents an explanation of the basic concepts of ‘brand’, from a marketing perspective. The second section focuses on the core topic of this study - the ‘Nation Brand.’ The third section clarifies some basic information about Brazil, based on historical and geographic data related to Brazil’s economic development. Finally, the fourth section discusses ‘Brand Brazil’, the characteristics of this brand and the actions done by the government in order to promote the image of the country.

2.1. Brand

A brand is traditionally used as a tool to distinguish a company from its competitors (Tavares, 1998). In order for a brand to be acknowledged by consumers, it must not only be recognized as part of a product category, but also, it must have some visibility, credibility and perceived quality (Aaker, 2007). What will differentiate a brand is a characteristic, a component, a service that creates a key factor to an offer where there is a significant brand to consumers and that deserves a long term management (Aaker,

2007). A brand represents a value that has been promised, and encourages beliefs,

16 emotions and behaviors. It has its own personality; and shows its messages through its consumers (Kotler and Gertner, 2004).

According to a nation-brand specialist, Simon Anholt (video, 2011), in this field of marketing there are two words that are often mistakenly used - ‘communication’ and

‘brand.’ To Anholt (video, 2011), these words must be carefully used, as they can carry different meanings but they have often been used as if they were synonyms. For instance, the word ‘communication’ is commonly mentioned when one wants to refer to either information provision, advertising or propaganda. To avoid the misleading use of these terms Anholt (video, 2011) clarified their meanings.

- Information provision: this can only happen when there is a demand for

information. Only works when people seek and/or request knowledge on a

matter which they need to be informed. Under those circumstances,

information provision is mandatory. This is also the opportunity one has to be

listening to, because when the information is provided, but there is no demand

for it, people are more likely to not be interested and therefore this could be a

waste of resources.

- Advertising: it will only work under two conditions; when there is a product or

service to be offered, and when possible consumers are identified. According

to Anholt (video, 2011), “advertising is about selling and it works like

Information Provision, when you have the permission of the recipient to do it.”

- Propaganda: it is the strategy used when one wants to change people’s opinion

because it is in dissonance with what one wants. However, one does not have

the consent to do so. Propaganda only works under two circumstances: when

one has unchallengeable authority and when one has total control over all the

communication channels that will reach his audience. The media currently

available make the strategy of Propaganda difficult to execute.

Regarding the misleading use of the word ‘Brand’, Anholt (video, 2011) clarifies the meaning of the word, by dividing it in three different topics. They are as follows:

- Brand Image: is the idea someone has of your product; it is someone else’s

perception of it. Since it is the perceptions others have, it is not controllable,

and people can have a positive or negative image of your brand. People might

even have some prejudice towards a brand and have it their whole lives. This

image, however, is not determined by the perception one individual has of a

brand, but the image most people have, how the brand is commonly perceived.

As Anholt (video, 2011) states, “each consumer will have a slightly different

view of your brand, your product, your country, depending on their personal

experiences, their culture, their nationality, their level of prosperity.”

- Brand Identity: is how your product will look. This you can actually control.

Brand Identity concerns the parts of a brand that is controllable, such as the

logo, slogans, and packages. However, just making these changes will not

result in a change of the Brand Image.

- Brand Purpose: is the idea of gathering people towards the same goal.

Everyone working knowing what the company/brand purposes are and

strategies are based on that matter.

In order to facilitate the understanding of Brand and its branches, the subcategories of brand will be discussed in the following subsections.

Brand Identity - Dinnie (2008) defines identity as what something really is, while image is how something is perceived. According to Aaker (1996), it is mandatory to have a well-defined ‘brand identity’ that will guide the entity through different management programs. In addition, the identity must be clear and it should create value or ‘brand equity’, and the basis for a ‘brand relationship’ (Aaker, 1996). Along the lines of Simon Anholt, Aaker (1996) defines ‘brand identity’ as something that needs to be meaningful to the company and that allows it to be distinguished from its competitors.

Moreover, it is imperative for the company to have the core of the ‘brand identity’ well- established, or else the firm will not appear to have solidity. It is also important to consider the future identity of the brand, where the brand is going to, or else, in the long term, the effort spent to build the brand will not help guide the company in future decision making (Aaker, 1996).

Martin Roll (2008) defines ‘brand identity’ as “the strategic character that guides the company and customers (p.100).” To Roll (2008), ‘brand identity’ can be analyzed from both internal and external perspectives. From the internal perspective, the identity will guide strategic management of the brand that will include the communication, the extension of the brand or a specific line, brand architecture, and decisions regarding associations and partnerships. From the external perspective, the identity will provide customers an objective notion of what the brand represents, its core, promises and personality. Therefore, the ‘brand identity’ helps guide the company through its corporate strategies, as well as helping to shape the connection between customers and the company (Roll, 2008).

Brand Personality - According to Aaker (1996), ‘brand personality’ can be considered as a vehicle to help customers express their own personality. Also, in the same way one’s personality will influence the relationship with someone else, the ‘brand personality’ will affect how people will relate to the brand. Furthermore, Aaker (1996) defines ‘brand personality’ as “the set of human characteristics associated with a given brand. Thus it includes such characteristics as gender, age, and socioeconomic class, as well as such classic human personality traits as warmth, concern and sentimentality

(p.141).” As stated by Aaker (1996), it is possible to describe a brand according to three categories, they are: demographics, lifestyle or human personal traits. For the demographics, the age, gender, social class and race and taken in consideration. As for lifestyle the subcategories are activities, interests and opinions. The human personality traits include characteristics such as extroversion, agreeableness and dependability

(Aaker, 1996). In addition, “the brand personality construct can help brand strategists by enriching their understanding of people’s perceptions of an attitude toward the brand, contributing to a differentiating brand identity, guiding the communication effort, and creating brand equity (Aaker, 1996, p.150).”

As mentioned by Aaker (1996), almost everything that can be related to the brand can affect its personality. That would include the characteristics of the products from the brand’s portfolio, or even the product class or the product’s attributes. In addition to these points, there are characteristics that can affect the brand personality, but they are not directly related to the product, these would be: the advertising style, country of origin, company image, CEO identification and celebrity endorsements. Furthermore, there are

20 four other characteristics that, although they are not product-related, still have a major impact on the ‘brand identity’, they are:

- User Imagery: can be based on the target audience or the typical user (those people who already use the brand) or idealized users;

- Sponsorship: the events a company sponsors, considering the kind of event and main

target, will affect the personality of the brand;

- Age: the time of existence of a company will influence its personality; and

- Symbol: it influences ‘brand personality’ as it can be controlled by the company and is

capable of creating strong associations (Aaker, 1996).

Brand Strategy - According to Aaker (1996), ‘brand strategy’ creates “a business that resonates with customers, that avoids competitor strengths and exploits their weakness, and that exploits its own strengths and neutralizes its weakness (p.190).”

When managing a brand, one must be concerned not only about the current scenario of the brand and plans to solve possible problems, but one must also be concerned to create assets for the future of the brand. In other words, one must create strategies for the brand; it can be about the brand identity specification, the class of the product, the role of the brand for a company’s brand portfolio, or the investment that will be necessary. One can also to try to identify some key elements that might result in uncertainty and will impact on the brand strategy. In order to cover the strategic brand analysis, three perspectives must be considered by those who are managing the brand. These perspectives are:

- Customer Analysis: This will take into consideration the customers’ trends, their

motivations, the structure of the market segmentation and the unmet needs;

- Competitor Analysis: When analyzing this perspective one should watch especially for

the brand image, the market position, the strengths and vulnerabilities of the

competitors; and,

- Self-Analysis: This third perspective will allow the company to analyze its own image

at the moment, the strengths and weakness of the brand, the heritage of the brand, the

benefits the brand is providing the customers and the brand identity too (Aaker, 1996).

In addition to these perspectives, the relationship people have with the brand should be taken into consideration. For instance, Aaker and Biel (1993) defined, ‘brand relationship’ as the interaction between consumers and brands, how customers perceive the attitude and how they create and interpret the message the brand shows. Like relationships between people, it might be a good or a bad relationship (Aaker and Biel,

1993). The interaction customers have with brands is similar to an interaction with another human being. Just as an interaction with another person, those who have the chance to approach, or in the case of a brand, those who have access to the products or services, will be more likely to identify the personality traits better or more accurately

(Aaker, 1996).

When it comes to ‘brand strategies’ plans, the brand promotion should be considered; that will consequently lead to the awareness of the brand. According to Aaker

(1996), creating ‘brand awareness’ among consumers is likely to make the presence of a specific brand in people’s mind stronger. Awareness can be measured and it is often done by measuring how well consumers remember the brand. There are four categories: ‘top of mind’ - the first brand customers remember; ‘dominant’ - when it is the only brand people can remember; ‘recognition’ - consumers recognize that they have been exposed to the

22 brand before; and, ‘recall’ - the brands one can remember when only one class of product is mentioned. Awareness reflects both knowledge of the brand and the salience of a brand’s presence in the customer’s mind (Aaker, 1996).

The ‘brand strategy’ however, must have more than an established goal and advertisement, it is imperative to offer good quality products/services to customers. The

‘perceived quality’ is usually the core of what consumers buy; it is the decisive factor of the impact of ‘brand identity’ (Aaker, 1996). For Aaker (1996), “even when the brand identity is defined by functional benefits, most studies will show that perceptions about those benefits are closely related to perceived quality (p.19).” When the perceptions people have of the quality of a brand increases, then other elements of perception of that brand also increase (Aaker, 1996).

Brand Equity - As defined by Aaker (1996), ‘brand equity’ is “a set of assets

(and liabilities) linked to a brand’s name and a symbol that adds to (or subtracts from) the value provided by a product or a service to a firm and/or that firm’s customers (p.7-8).”

In order to manage brand equity, it is necessary to invest in and promote those assets the company has to offer, and thus creating value will happen in different ways, since each company has its own traits and goals. However, when managing brand equity, the company must be alert that some of the changes in logos, symbols or any other features might change some of the assets (Aaker, 1996). Björn (2010, p.279) and Dinnie (2008) define ‘brand equity’ as the value of the brand, and this value is what will make premium customers willing to pay more for a branded product instead of some unbranded item. For

Björn (2010, p.279) and Dinnie (2008), the decision to add value to a brand must come from the brand’s owner. When measuring the brand’s value, it is imperative for the

23 company to consider two perspectives on the brand equity: 1) the customer’s perception and behavior and, 2) the financial perspective.

2.2. Nation-Brand

The expression ‘Nation Brand’ was coined and first studied by the researcher

Simon Anholt in 1996. His first publication about this topic was in The Journal of Brand

Management in 1998: the article ‘Nation-Brands of the Twenty-First Century.’ What

Anholt was proposing with his research was that the reputation of countries - and consequently their cities - could be compared to the ‘brand image’ of companies and products, therefore a good reputation would be relevant for the progress, prosperity and management of those locations (Anholt, 2011a). Over the years, the meaning of ‘Nation

Brand’ has become the subject of new research, but in most situations, the expression has been misrepresented and used as ‘Nation Branding.’ Although the difference between both expressions might not be clear and the word branding seems indifferent, for Anholt these terms carry totally different meanings. The expression ‘Nation Branding’ evokes the idea that simply by advertising a country’s image can be changed, or as Anholt said;

“‘Nation branding,’ a dangerously misleading phrase which seems

to contain a promise that the images of countries can be directly

manipulated using the techniques of commercial marketing

communications” (Anholt, 2011a, p.6).

Despite the fact that the use of ‘Nation Branding’ is in disagreement with what was proposed by Anholt, this is the expression frequently used in different publications

(Anholt, 2011a). In his latest works, Anholt has been reinforcing the meaning of ‘Brand’

24 and ‘Nation Brand’ and the difference between these terms and ‘Branding’ (Anholt,

2011a; Anholt, 2011b; Anholt, 2008). For Anholt, from a commerce-based perspective,

‘Brand’ can mean a design identity, such as logo, packaging, etc.; or the culture of the company behind the brand; or even the reputation of companies and brands for consumers. In reality, Anholt says that he is not even sure of what ‘Branding’ means

(Anholt, 2011a), or if it even exists (Anholt, 2011b). He says the most common mistake is to consider ‘Branding’ as a set of techniques to build and enhance a product’s brand image (Anholt, 2011b).

One of Anholt’s main arguments against the use of ‘Branding’ is that if this word is related to some marketing communication tools, when it comes to the image of a country it is not effective. In Anholt’s words, “countries are judged by what they do, not by what they say, as they have always been; yet the notion that a country can simply advertise its way into a better reputation has proved to be a pernicious and surprisingly resilient one (p.6)” (Anholt, 2011a). According to Anholt (2011a; 2011b; 2008), people have tried to use brands such as Nike to explain and to justify the use of the word

‘Branding.’ For that, one might use the most common statement, such as the following one: “Nike’s fantastic brand image is the result of fantastic branding” (Anholt, 2011b).

Anholt responds by explaining that the reason why Nike has a good ‘brand image’ is because it delivers quality products to its customers. Furthermore, if companies like Nike are perceived as having a good ‘brand image’ it is because they sustain that image by producing quality items/services, by having something concrete and not only relying on advertisements (Anholt, 2011a; Anholt, 2008).

The following definitions are extracted from academic journals, books and lectures - these last ones given by Simon Anholt. In order to make clear what ‘Nation

Brand’ is, it is relevant to make a distinction between that and ‘National Brand.’ This last one refers to the brands from a country, to the products or services produced there, to whatever is produced in that country and commercialized (Fan, 2010). Now, ‘Nation

Brand’ is the brand that countries have, and involves the ‘brand identity’ of that nation, as well as the ‘brand image’, which in this case will mean the idea foreigners will have of a certain country (Fan, 2010). The image of a country is formed by a set of attributes, consisting of beliefs, ideas and opinions of others about the place. In order for a country to have a strong image, it must be attractive and, at the same time, it should represent the true characteristics of the place (Kotler, 2003).

The ‘brand identity’ of a country may encompass the history of that place, the territory, sports, icons, folklore, landscapes, culture, economics and so on. In addition to that, the ‘Nation Brand’ will result from the mix of multi-dimensional components. These components are unique to each country, and create an exclusive culture, which can be considered as a differentiating factor. These factors will also generate identification between a country and its target audience. In comparison to companies and the creation of their own brands, nations have the advantage of already having a history and a culture, which means they already have their own identity, so it is not necessary to create one

(Dinnie, 2008; Giraldi & Carvalho, 2009; Verlegh, Althuijzen e Vroegh 1999). Just as it happens with the image of any brand, “a ‘Nation Brand’ image may also decay over time”

(Dinnie, p2008, p.48). If that eventually happens, then it will be necessary to establish programs to renew the image of the brand (Dinnie, 2008).

It is relevant to say that even though countries have different attributes that can generate the ‘Nation Brand’, the ‘brand image’ cannot encompass all possible traits; there are some characteristics that will prevail. Gathering all possible elements that one country has and using them all to establish its ‘Nation Brand’ is impractical. The potential consumers of a ‘Nation Brand’, such as tourists, investors, students and workers will not be interested in receiving a tremendous amount of information about different aspects of a country. That would be one of the mistakes listed by Simon Anholt when he explained how crucial information provision is, that the information should be delivered only when there is a demand for it. Otherwise it will be a meaningless attempt to promote the ‘brand’

(Dinnie, 2008; Anholt, 2011b).

Images stimulate and influence consumers’ purchase decisions (Parameswaran &

Pisharodi, 1994; Percy 1993; Zaichkowsky & Vipat 1993). “A variety of images (e.g., those associated with advertisements, symbols, logos, stores, brands, and corporations) can enhance or diminish a marketing or advertising manager's ability to cope with competition (Parameswaran & Pisharodi, 1994, p. 43).” Many researchers

(Parameswaran & Pisharodi 1994; Dobni and Zinkhan 1990; Johnson and Zinkhan 1990;

Villanova, Zinkhan, and Hyman 1990; Hite and Bollizzi 1985; Lindquist 1974-75; and

Gardner and Levy 1955) agree that there are relevant considerations regarding images, whether for a brand, a company, a product or service. According to Parameswaran &

Pisharodi:

- “Images play an important role in influencing the way the public responds to

brands, products, services, stores, promotion, and organizations;

- Human behavior is guided by individual’s images of their environment;

- An augmented product has not only a physical nature, but also a social and

psychological one, and hence the sets of feelings, ideas, and attitudes that

consumers have about products ("their image") are crucial to purchase choice;

- Image is a vital concept for marketing managers; and,

- The effectiveness of image variables depends on the precise definition and

delineation of their various components and the appropriateness and accuracy

with which they are measured” (Parameswaran & Pisharodi, 1994, p. 43).

Chao & Grupta (1995) and Giraldi & Carvalho (2009) state that the way consumers will perceive products or brands will impact their final purchase decision when shopping. As one attributes certain characteristics to a nation, the products that will be derived from that nation will be judged the same way as the nation. Therefore, countries’ stereotypes will be formed, and they can be divided in three dimensions: the socioeconomic structure, culture and geography. The socioeconomic structure is the pattern of interrelationships of the elements of a social system, such as development, wealth, political power, industrialization and prestige. The geographic dimension encompasses climate perceptions, landscapes and environmental aspects. Finally, the cultural dimension refers to the way members of a certain group differ from members of other groups (Verlegh, Althuijzen e Vroegh 1999; Giraldi & Carvalho, 2009).

Anholt (1998) gives several examples of how characteristics strongly associated with one country can be used even in foreign countries - by local businesses or through exported goods - to attract customers who can relate to those traits. For instance, fashion labels and cars are quite often associated with specific places of origin. In the clothing industry, stylish items are expected to be from Italy, the chic ones are expected to be from

France, daring anti-fashion clothes are expected to be from England, street wear is more accepted from the United States, while Germany and Scandinavia are acknowledge to produce weather-proof clothes. The comparison is simple; basically one would recognize weather-proof coats to have better quality if they are from a Scandinavian country, than if the provenance is a tropical nation (Anholt, 1998).

Certain brands are so linked to their country of origin that one becomes an association of the other. This correlation is created and, to some extent, the qualities one perceives in the brand are also the traits one will associate to the place of origin.

Germany is strongly associated with its developed technology and by association, products from Germany are often expected to have good quality and high technology.

Cars can be used as example to how the characteristics of a country are the same ones consumers expect products from those countries to have. German cars are expected to possess engineering excellence; Swedish cars are perceived as safe and ecological;

French cars are expected to have chic design, Japanese cars are perceived as economical and efficient, while Italian cars are expected to have sporty style (Anholt, 1998).

In fact, there are some cars, designed by non-Italian companies use Italian words as their names. Some Japanese cars are called Stanza, Piazza, Cuore (which mean ‘room’,

‘square’ and ‘heart’ in Italian, respectively). Also, some German cars use Italian names:

Vento, Lupo, Corsa, which mean ‘wind’, ‘wolf’ and ‘race’, respectively. This effect also happens to other products in different market segments.

The reason for the use of a foreign word as a name can be attributed to the image that the country evokes in people and also the ease of pronunciation. Each country carries an image that influences the features of their ‘nation brand image’ (Anholt, 1998).

Giraldi & Carvalho (2009) and Zhang (1997) agree with Schooler’s (1965) findings that the ‘country of origin’ will affect the way one perceives products and one’s consumption decisions. Schooler (1965) was the first author to publish an article analyzing if the origin of a product would affect a consumer’s purchase decision.

According to Schooler’s (1965) findings, people had different reactions to identical products whose descriptions would differ only in the place of origin, the “made in” on the label. That would confirm the theory that the ‘country of origin’ will change consumer’s perception of the products (Giraldi & Carvalho, 2009). ‘Country of Origin’ (COO) image concerns the public opinion about the quality of some products and services from other countries. The ‘Country of Origin Effect’ is related to the influence that the information about a country will have on consumers’ attitudes and behavior towards a foreign product or brand Wang & Lamb (1983); Agbonifoh & Elimimian (1999) and Giraldi & Carvalho

(2009). ‘Country of Origin’ can be used as a hint to product quality and performance when one is not aware of more specific product features. This happens because consumers are not very familiar with foreign products, as they are with the local ones

(Parameswaran & Pisharodi, 1994; Bilkey 1993; Han and Terpstra 1988; Huber and

McCann 1982; Olson 1977).

For several researchers, Wang & Lamb (1983); Agbonifoh & Elimimian (1999) and Giraldi & Carvalho (2009), the ‘Country of Origin Effect’ can make it more difficult for products to enter new markets in different countries, as the bad images possible customers might have about a country may also be associated with the quality of the product. According to Dinnie (2008), there are other factors that can impact the way one perceives the image of a country, for instance, if one has had a personal experience in the

30 country, such as working there, visiting, and living. Also, various pre-existing stereotypes about a country, the performance of its national sports teams, recent political events, and the image of the country as portrayed in films, television and other kinds of media can all play a role in how its products are perceived. These factors can be crucial in determining the preferences of consumers and they can also be an important source of ‘brand equity.’

In sum, these elements create the image one will associate with each country (Dinnie,

2008, Giraldi & Carvalho, 2009; Verlegh, Althuijzen & Vroegh 1999).

Regarding the ‘Country of Origin Effect’, not only will the country itself affect consumers positively or negatively, but also, the kind of product, the image of brands and their products will influence perceptions. Each region will have its own identity and will create respective brands, which will extol the countries strengths, seeking international visibility and dissemination of the highlighted features, even if in some cases they have to adapt to market requirements. Places that have export-oriented industries tend to benefit from the effects generated by sales to foreign markets. Such benefits include job creation and increased purchasing power. To succeed with export promotion, one must begin with a survey of exporters who are active. Then, one must identify the companies and industries that do not export, but have the potential to do so. The export promotion agencies should encourage companies to export, and they can do so by sharing information, or by being brokers, facilitators, trainers and advisers, financiers, entertainers, defining the target audience, promoters, creators of facilities and developers of new technologies (Cateora & Graham 2001; Kotler et al, 2005).

For Anholt (1998), there are two kinds of brands, the private ones - created by companies, and the public ones - they portray the popular culture in a commercial matter.

The State is responsible for promoting its own ‘Nation Brand.’ Many products are associated to their country of origin and the characteristics of nations strongly influence how the product will be seen and received in another country. It will influence even the volume of exports. The products which are typically "national" are already accepted and expected and, for one those that do not fit this pattern or tradition, using symbols referring to the stereotype of the country can be something favorable. Brands can be responsible for the way a country is perceived and vice-versa. On most occasions, brands tend to use typical elements from other countries in order to gain greater acceptance from consumers (Anholt, 1998).

Countries either have well known attributes that can become a reference for their brand, or they may have different characteristics that need to be defined in order form them to be associated with the nation. The measures to be adopted by countries can enhance traits that are favorable or define its image. These actions should aim to improve the acceptance of goods from the country and attract investment and promote tourism

(Anholt, 1998).

Since the images of countries have become more important, nations are working to create ‘brand awareness’ in order to attract tourism, to stimulate domestic investment and to increase exports. Unbranded nations face difficulty in drawing attention to their economic and political situations. This might represent a problem since the image and reputation are attributes of the nation’s brand. The image of a country is the set of beliefs that consist of descriptions, inferences and information (Dinnie, 2008; Martin & Eroglu,

1993).

In order for brands to succeed it is imperative that they deliver what has been promised, and the use of strong traits facilitates this because it makes it possible for consumers to know what to expect, and if the brand traits are real it is more likely that the promise will be delivered. The best way to change the image of a country is by investing in the development of new ideas, products, policies, services, companies, laws, infrastructure, arts and science. When some innovations are true and represent the country’s true positioning on the matter, then people will probably start changing their opinion about that nation. In order for the image of a country to change, it is necessary to have more than advertising. Real deeds are necessary. Simply saying why one country is good in everything will not change someone’s opinion about the reputation of the nation

(Dinnie, 2008).

For Anholt (2011b), “countries are judged by what they do, not what they say about themselves.” If nations want to promote their brand and show the world a more accurate image, there are a few things that must be taken into account by whoever is managing the ‘Nation Brand.’ First of all, countries will need strategies and the way that they will be able to do so is by making sure of who they are, the relevance of each country for the world, what is the country’s role in the global scenario. Substance is another imperative condition for the national image. If countries want to be and mean something, then there must be something substantial, concrete and not only promises.

Finally, the main condition is to have real deeds, policies, actions. There should be some creativity in the way countries are ruled, not only on the advertisement level (Anholt,

2011b).

Simon Anholt, who is known for conducting research on ‘Nation Brand,’ has developed a survey that analyzes the image of countries; it is called GFK Anholt Nation

Brands Index. This study is conducted in partnership between Anholt and the marketing research company GFK Roper Custom Research. For the study, interviewers ask more than 40 questions about the image of 50 countries to 20,000 people in 20 countries worldwide. The Index is an analytical ranking of the ‘Nation Brands’ of those 50 countries. The people interviewed are requested to answer questions on six topics: tourism, exports, governance, investment and immigration, culture and heritage, and people. There are separate ranks for each of these topics and then there is the final one that encompasses all the six features (www.gfkamerica.com, 2012; www.simonanholt.com, 2012). Each of the components of ‘Nation Brand’ is analyzed as follows:

Exports: in this item, the ‘country of origin’ is analyzed. The main focus here is to evaluate if the ‘country of origin’ of a product is so relevant for consumers that will increase or decrease the acceptance of people to buy it. Also, people are asked about the power of the country regarding science, technology and creativity.

Governance: here the public opinion is measured focusing on the countries’ competence, the honesty of those governing the country, the respect for citizens’ rights and fair treatment of them, the countries’ policies regarding peace and international security, environment protection, and the reduction of world poverty. The respondents also choose an adjective that can best describe the governance within each country.

Culture and Heritage: the focus of the analysis for this topic is to measure the perception of a country’s ethnicity, contemporary cultural influences in music, movies, arts and literature, as well as the excellence of the country in sports.

Population: the warmth of the population is measured taking into account whether respondents would feel welcome when they visit the country that is being analyzed.

Countries are also measured by the population on a personal level - if the respondents would like to have a close friend, coming from that country - and human resources on a professional level, i.e., whether respondents would be interested in hiring a well-qualified person in that country. The respondents are asked to choose an adjective from a list presented to them, to describe the predominant image they have of the population of each country analyzed.

Tourism: for this topic countries are analyzed in three areas: natural beauty, historic buildings and monuments, and the liveliness of the city and its urban attractions.

Respondents are also asked if they would like to visit the country if money was not important, and which adjectives they would use to summarize the visit, such as romantic, stressful, spiritual and so on.

Investment and Immigration: in this topic, research analyzes the country’s ability to attract talent and investment. Respondents are asked to consider whether they would be interested in studying, working and living in that country, as well as to give an opinion on the economic prospects of that nation, equal opportunities and the perception that they have of the country’s quality of life. The economic and business conditions in the countries - stagnation, decline in growth - are the last questions (www.gfkamerica.com,

2012; www.simonanholt.com, 2012).

Figure 1: The Nation Brand Hexagon (Anholt, 2012). Source: The Nation Brands Index

(Anholt, 2012).

The current Nation Brands Index shows that in the general ranking, the United

States ranks first, followed by Germany and the United Kingdom, respectively. The top ten countries on the list are developed countries; the first developing country ranked is

Brazil, as the 20th among 50 countries (www.gfkamerica.com, 2012). The latest top ten for Nation Brands Index is as follows:

Table 1: The GFK Nation Brands Index - Overall Top Ten Rank

GFK Anholt Nation Brands Index

The Overall Top Ten Rank

2011 2010

1 United States United States

2 Germany Germany

3 United Kingdom France

4 France United Kingdom

5 Japan Japan

6 Canada Canada

7 Italy Italy

8 Australia Switzerland

9 Switzerland Australia

10 Sweden Sweden

Source: 2011 and 2010 Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index

Since 2005, another research company, Future Brand, has also been developing a ranking to analyze the images of countries - the Country Brand Index. For Future Brand’s

2011-2012 study, people were interviewed regarding their opinion about 113 countries in five dimensions: value system; quality of life; good for business; heritage & culture; and tourism. The nations ranked the highest in the Country Brand Index are the ones capable of working and achieving good results on different dimensions, especially the ones that will impact life, business and travel. The nations ranked at the bottom of the list have the

37 weakest brands and do not have recognizable profiles in the dimensions. The top ten countries on the 2011-2012 Country Brand Index are the shown on the following chart.

(Future Brand, www.futurebrand.com, 2012). The Country Brand Index’s dimensions are:

Value System: This is the essence of Country Brand, it is the foundation of Brand building, and it is the pillar to other dimensions as well. If a nation’s Value System is weak, then the country’s performance in other dimensions will be affected. The Value

System investigates Political Freedom, Tolerance, Stable Legal Environment, Freedom of

Speech and Environmental Friendliness.

Quality of Life: This is the broadest dimension of the Country Brand Index and it represents how capable the country is to offer employment, affordable and comfortable housing, an accessible and competitive education and overall security to its citizens.

Quality of Life will encompass the following attributes; Job Opportunity, Most Like To

Live In, Standard of Living, Safety, Healthcare System, and Education System.

Good for Business: This dimension analyzes the elements that lead to a stronger and more attractive business environment. Good for Business encompasses Regulatory

Environment, Skilled Force, Advanced Technology and Investment Climate.

Heritage and Culture: This is a supporting dimension that will be a result of the nation’s ability to transmit its cultural assets, such as language, history, art and cultural attractions. The attributes analyzed for this dimensions are History, Art and Culture,

Natural Beauty, and Authenticity.

Tourism: this dimension will take into consideration the economy, the media and entertainment. The economy, in this sense, is analyzed in terms of the competence to offer accessible, affordable options for travelers - whether on vacations or on business

38 visits. The currency of a country, its exchange rate and infrastructure are relevant points of influence. Tourism can be affected also by the media’s coverage of economic and political issues. Also, the entertainment industry can influence tourism depending on how a nation is portrayed. The tourism dimension is one of the main elements that will significantly impact a country’s ranking, just as the economy will (Future Brand, www.futurebrand.com, 2012).

Figure 2: The Country Brand Index Pentagon. Source: Future Brand - Country Brand

Index 2011-2012 (www.futurebrand.com, 2012)

Table 2: The Country Brand Index 2011-2012.

Country Brand Index 2011-2012

1 Canada

2 Switzerland

3 New Zealand

4 Japan

5 Australia

6 United States

7 Sweden

8 Finland

9 France

10 Italy

Source: Future Brand - Country Brand Index 2011-2012 (www.futurebrand.com, 2012).

2.3. Brazil

In April 1500 a Portuguese maritime expedition, under the control of Pedro

Álvares Cabral, landed at the northeast region of South America, discovering what would later be Brazil. As the Portuguese were exploring Brazil, the explorers ended up finding some trees, the wood of which produced a fine dye. Later this wood was called pau- brasil. The indigenous people taught the Portuguese how to extract the dye, in order to use it. At that time, the demand for textiles and dyes was increasing, and the Portuguese decided to harvest the brazilwood, or pau-brasil. Consequently, they started the

40 brazilwood trade, the first economic cycle of the Brazilian economy (Fausto, 1999;

Meade, 2004).

By the first half of the 16th century, the European settlers took some crops from

Asia and Africa to the New World. Among the crops brought to the Americas there were lemons, rice, bananas, coconuts and sugar. This last one, however, became relatively important in the New World, and specifically in Brazil. For the next three centuries the production of sugar and the slave system (the settlers used slave labor to crop sugar) played a central role in Brazil’s economy, politics and culture (Meade, 2004).

Simultaneously to the sugarcane cycle in Brazil, the cattle grazing started in different areas of the country. The following cycles were the gold and diamond ones, placing Brazil as one of the largest producers of those items in the world (Machado &

Figuerôa, 2001). The next cycle of Brazil’s economy was coffee production. The rubber cycle came by the end of the 19th century, in the Amazon region. After the rubber boom, the Brazilian economy became a diversified one, especially due to the industrialization process that occurred in the 20th century (Machado & Figuerôa, 2001).

Brazil is located in the eastern side of South America, by the Atlantic Ocean. The total area of the country corresponds to 8,5km², and it boarders all countries in South

America, with the exception of Ecuador and Chile. Brazil has approximately 203 million people, and 67% of this total corresponds to the population between 15-64 years of age.

The population growth rate in Brazil is 1.134% and the life expectance is 72.53 years.

The urban population in Brazil corresponds to 87% of the total population, and the major cities are the following: Sao Paulo (19.96 million people), Rio de Janeiro (11.83 million people), Belo Horizonte (5.73 million people), Porto Alegre (4 million people) and

Brasilia (3.78 million people). The capital of Brazil is Brasilia and, for the first time, the person who is running the country is a woman, President Dilma Rousseff. Nowadays,

Brazil is the 8th largest economy in the world, sustaining a GDP (Gross Domestic

Product) of over 2 trillion dollars (The World Factbook, www.cia.gov, 2012). Table 3 shows a comparison between Brazil and the United States.

Table 3: Comparisons between Brazil and the United States.

BRAZIL UNITED STATES

5th Largest Country In The World 3rd Largest Country In The World Total Area: 8,5km² Total Area: 9,826,675km² Coastline: 19,924km (Atlantic & Pacific Coastline (Atlantic Ocean): 7,491km Oceans) Natural Resources: Coal, Copper, Lead, Natural Resources: Bauxite, Gold, Iron Molybdenum, Phosphates, Uranium, Ore, Manganese, Nickel, Phosphates, Bauxite, Gold, Iron, Mercury, Nickel, Platinum, Tin, Uranium, Petroleum, Potash, Silver, Tungsten, Zinc, Petroleum, Hydropower, Timber Natural Gas, Timber Natural Hazards: tsunamis; volcanoes; earthquake activity around Pacific Basin; Natural Hazards: Recurring Droughts, hurricanes along the Atlantic and Gulf of Floods Mexico coasts; tornadoes in the And Occasional Frost In The South Midwest and Southeast; forest fires in the west; flooding; permafrost in northern Alaska Population: 203,429,773 (5th Largest Population: 313,232,044 (3rd Largest Population In The World) Population In The World) Literacy: 88.6% Of The Population Literacy: 99% Education Expenditure: 5.08% Of GDP Education Expenditure: 5.5% Of GDP Independency: September 7th 1822 Independency: July 4th 1776 GDP: US$2.284 Trillion (2011) GDP: US$15.04 Trillion (2011) 8th Largest Economy In The World 2nd Largest Economy In The World

Table 3 (continued)

BRAZIL UNITED STATES

GDP Per Capita: US$11,600 GDP Per Capita: US$48,100 Labor Force: 104,3 Million (6th Largest In Labor Force: 153.4 Million (4th Largest In The World) The World) Unemployment Rate: 6.1% (2011) Unemployment Rate: 9,1% (2011) Population Below Poverty Line: 26% Population Below Poverty Line: 15.1% (2008) (2011) Budget Budget Revenues:$1.005 trillion Revenues:$2.264 trillion Expenditures: $930.9 billion (2011) Expenditures: $3.604 trillion (2011) Taxes and other revenues: 39.9% of GDP Taxes and other revenues: 15% of GDP Public Debt: 54.4% of GDP (46th in the Public Debt: 69.4% of GDP (30th in the world) world) Inflation Rate (consumers prices): 6.9% Inflation Rate (consumers prices): 3% Agriculture Products: Coffee, Soybeans, Agriculture Products: Wheat, Corn, Other Wheat, Rice, Fruits, Vegetables, Corn, Grains, Fruits, Vegetables, Cotton, Beef, Sugarcane, Cotton, Cocoa, Citrus, Beef, Pork, Poultry, Dairy Products, Fish Pork, Chicken, Dairy Products, Fish Industries: High-Technology Innovator, Industries: Textiles, Shoes, Chemicals, Second Largest Industrial Output In The Cement, Lumber, Iron Ore, Tin, Steel, World; Petroleum, Steel, Motor Vehicles, Mining, Aircraft, Motor Vehicles and Aerospace, Telecommunications, Parts, Other Machinery and Equipment Chemicals, Electronics, Food Processing, Consumer Goods, Lumber, Mining Telephones - Mobile Cellular: 202.944 Telephones - Mobile Cellular: 279 Million Million (6th Largest In The World) (3rd Largest In The World) Internet Users: 75.982 Million (2009) (4th Internet Users: 245 Million (2009) - 2nd Largest In The World) Largest In The World Source: The CIA Factbook, (www.cia.gov, 2012).

Brazil is an emerging market economy that, just as other developing countries, is an increasingly important actor in the global economy. Along with Russia, China and

India, Brazil constitutes the BRIC (an acronym with the initials of the countries), and these nations represent the four largest developing economies, among which Brazil is

43 considered to be the rising star (Jensen & Larsen, 2004; Country Brand Index, 2012).

According to Georgieva (2004), the BRIC countries hold the biggest labor force in the world, the influence they have on global policy is expanding, as well as their geopolitical relevance in the world (Georgieva, www.worldbank.org, 2004).

In order to calculate socioeconomic development rates in Brazil, one institute is responsible for this study and it is called Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística

(Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics - IBGE). IBGE conducts the survey that evaluates those rates, which is called Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílio

(National Survey by Household Sampling - PNAD). This is an annual publication that, since 1967, has analyzed the general characteristics of the population, such as education, work, income, and housing (IBGE, n.d.a.). When it comes to measuring the inequality of income distribution in Brazil, the PNAD has different ways to do that, according to the focus of the survey. When the target is the market and the analysis of jobs and employment/unemployment rates, PNAD studies the income of all economically active people. If the focus is on the standard of living, the approach used is to analyze the household income per capita (Hoffman, 2000).

Brazil is gaining its share of the international market, and the United States has been one of the main business partners. In Brazil, the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC) is responsible for publishing reports for Brazil’s Balance of

Trade. In 2011, Brazil’s trade flow was registered as US$482.3 billion, compared to

US$383.7 billion in 2010. Brazil’s trade surplus in 2011 reached US$29.8 billion; meanwhile in 2010 this figure was US$ 20.1 billion (MDIC/SECEX, 2012). According to

MDIC/SECEX (2012), in 2011 the United States imported US$25.8 million from Brazil,

44 ranking as the second largest importer, after China, which imported approximately

US$44 million. The United States remains the major supplier for Brazil, exporting

US$33.962 million, followed by China, which exported US$32.788, and Argentina at

US$16.906 (MDIC/SECEX, 2012).

Table 4: Brazilian Trade Balance 2010/2011

Brazilian Trade Balance 2010/2011 US$ Millions

2011 2010 ∆% 2011/10

Exports 256.040 201.915 268

Imports 226.243 181.768 245

Surplus 29.797 20.147 479

Trade Flow 482.283 383.684 257 Source: SECEX/MDIC, 2012.

Table 5: Brazil’s World Ranking - Production and Exports of Selected Products 2011

Brazil’s World Ranking - Production and Exports of Selected Products 2011

Products Production Exports Sugar 1º 1º Coffee 1º 1º Orange Juice 1º 1º Ethanol 2º 1º Beef 2º 1º Tobacco 2º 1º Soy Beans 2º 2º Leather and Fur 2º 4º Chicken Meat 3º 1º Iron Ore 3º 2º Shoes 3º 6º Soybean Oil 4º 2º Soybeans Residue 4º 2º Maize 4º 3º Airplanes 4º 4º Pork Meat 4º 4º Cotton 5º 5º Cars 5º 12º Aluminum 7º 6º Steel 9º 13º Source: MDIC; EMBRAER; ABICALÇADOS; ANFAVEA; ACICB; GTIS; IISI;

RFA; USDA; OICA; U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, 2011.

Table 6: Major Countries for Brazilian Exports

Major Countries for Brazilian Exports US$ Millions - 2011

Value

1 - China 44.315

2 - United States 25.805

3 - Argentina 22.709

4 - Netherlands 13.640

5 - Japan 9.473

6 - Germany 9.039

7 - Italy 5.441

8 - Chile 5.418

9 - United Kingdom 5.230

10 - Spain 4.706 Source: SECEX/MDIC, 2012.

Table 7: Major Supplier Countries to Brazil

Major Supplier Countries to Brazil US$ Millions - 2011

Value

1 - United States 33.963

2 - China 32.788

3 - Argentina 16.906

4 - Germany 15.213

5 - South Korea 10.097

6 - Nigeria 8.386

7 - Japan 7.872

8 - Italy 6.222

9 - India 6.081

10 - France 5. 462 Source: SECEX/MDIC, 2012.

Table 8: Brazilian Exports to the United States

Brazilian Exports To The United States (Top Ten Most Exported Products)

2012 (Jan/Mar) 2011 (Jan/Mar) Rel. Var.

Value Part. Value Part. 12/11 Product US$ F.O.B. % US$ F.O.B. % Jan/Mar

Crude Oil 1,909,722.442 83.86 906,432,739 18.43 110.69

Other Semi-Manufactured Iron 520,203,875 7.50 186,305,732 3.79 179.22 Products

Coffee Not Roasted, Not 287,430,019 4.14 368,756,521 7.50 -22.05 Decaffeinated, In Grains

Gross Cast Iron Not Alloyed, weighting

Chemical pulp wood. Of non- 172,228,610 2.48 205,412,306 4.18 -16.15 coniferous, soda / sulphate

Other Aircraft / Air Vehicles, 155,447,855 2.24 62,515,689 1.27 148.65 Weight>15000kg, empty

Other Worked Granite, And Its 107,616,383 1.55 84,683,983 1.72 27.08 Articles Made Therewith

Semi-Finished products, of 107,586,807 1.55 39,547,470 0.80 172.04 other alloy steel

Undenatured ethyl alcohol with 95,195,515 1.37 ------water content <= 1% Vol

Other Levies 91,418,825 1.32 47,034,922 0.96 94.36 Source: MDIC, 2012.

2.4. Brand Brazil

Brazil is a country that has many characteristics that shape its ‘brand image’, but it took Brazil a long time to understand that and to manage the “Brazil Brand.” As Anholt said on his first publication about ‘Nation Brand’ in 1998, “Brand Brazil is strongly biased towards youth market: samba, carnival, music, dancing, gaiety, ecology, sex, beaches, sport and adventure” (Anholt, 1998, p. 402). These are some of the traits Brazil is recognized for, although they are part of a cliché. What Brazil needed at the time when

Anholt made such affirmation was ‘brand management’ – to promote the traits Brazil wants to be known for. Also, brand management would help the national commercial brands to take advantage of Brazil’s ‘nation image’ and use that for their products

(Anholt, 1998).

As countries promote their own Nation-Brand they are able to present their best features and often avoid presenting more negatives aspects. The focus should be on features that might be attractive to investors, tourists and to improve demand for their goods in foreign markets. Brazil has been doing this promotion, mainly through the

Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (APEX-Brasil) and the Brazilian

Tourism Institute (EMBRATUR). APEX-Brasil’s goals are to encourage Brazilian exportation worldwide, as well as to help and support small and medium sized enterprises to export and to achieve a high product quality to compete with goods from other countries. Meanwhile, EMBRATUR promotes tourism in Brazil, also by using the characteristics of the country (Anholt1998; Furlan in Caixeta, Netz and Galuppo, 2006;

Ministry of Tourism, 2012, APEX-Brasil, 2012).

In order to manage the Brand Brazil, in 2003 APEX-Brasil was designed as the agency responsible to do so. APEX-Brasil is directed towards the promotion of Brazil and its products around the world. The work of APEX-Brasil allowed Brazil to diversify its commercials partners, as well as strengthen its relations with traditional partners. For each area of the Brazilian economy in which APEX-Brasil is involved, several projects have been developed. Moreover, since the formal creation of the Brand Brazil, APEX-

Brasil has been working proactively to advertise Brazilian companies, with promotional campaigns and international partnerships. (Furlan in Caixeta, Netz and Galuppo, 2006;

APEX-Brasil, 2012).

According to Furlan (2006), in the early 2000s, the president at the time in Brazil,

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, developed a plan to increase Brazilian exports. The core of this program was the improvement of the quality of national products, so they could compete firstly in the national market and later internationally, to increase the volume of Brazilian exports, as well as to add value to these products. In order for the plan to be executed, there was the need to have an organism manage the program, which needed to be at the same time autonomous and linked, at an operational level, to the government. For that,

APEX-Brasil was the chosen organization (Furlan in Caixeta, Netz and Galuppo, 2006;

APEX-Brasil, 2012).

At the time, APEX-Brasil only existed as a branch of the Brazilian Service to

Support Micro and Small Enterprises (SEBRAE) and then it received the autonomy that was necessary to starts its activities. APEX-Brasil focused on promoting Brazilian companies worldwide, as well as promoting Brand Brazil. The work developed by

APEX-Brasil allowed Brazilian companies to create new business relationships with

51 countries like China, Russia, India and several in the Middle East; also it strengthened bilateral trade with some traditional partners, like the Unites States and Latin American countries. Brazil also sought new markets, looking for chances to enlarge its presence in the international market (Furlan in Caixeta, Netz and Galuppo, 2006).

APEX-Brasil’s headquarters is located in Brasília and it has ten other units in different parts of Brazil. The agency also keeps units abroad in order to provide local support to exporters. The units are located in the United States, Cuba, Belgium, Russia,

Angola, Dubai and China. APEX-Brasil helps all size companies on any export stage, but it focuses on working with small and medium sized firms. “APEX-Brasil provides services of Information, Building Export Capacity, Trade Promotion, Positioning and

Image, and Support to Internationalization. APEX-Brasil organizes a wide range of trade promotion activities in partnership with sector organizations, by means of the Sector

Projects” (APEX-Brasil, 2012). APEX-Brasil will also help with trade missions, business rounds, even helping Brazilian companies to participate in international fairs, with visits of foreign buyers and trend-setters to learn about Brazil’s business culture and productive structure (APEX-Brasil, 2012).

APEX-Brasil currently supports 81 sectors of Brazil’s economy, in six categories: food and beverages, fashion, technology and health care, housing and civil construction, entertainment and services, and machinery and equipment. APEX-Brasil is currently supporting more than 10,000 Brazilian companies, and in recent years has promoted

Brand Brazil in over 3,000 presentations abroad for audiences of entrepreneurs, investors and trend-setters. The agency also supports Brazilian exporters through different units, called Business Support Centers, located in key global markets. These support centers

52 help Brazilian exporters deal with issues that are common in the internationalization process. The centers help companies with taxing and credit issues, logistics, the customization of projects and they also help entrepreneurs to enter markets in different areas. In 2009, the share of APEX-Brasil in exports represented 16.82% of the total of products exported (APEX-Brasil, 2012).

In order to attract direct investment to Brazil, there is an Investments Unit, whose aim is to identify opportunities, by promoting strategic events and by providing support to foreign investors to analyze the Brazilian market. The projects developed by APEX-

Brasil have been successful and today the agency has become, internationally, a model for how to attract foreign and direct investment. Essentially, APEX-Brasil will attract and support productive capital, which consequently, may bring new technologies to Brazil, raising the volume of foreign exchange and exports. With respect to international affairs,

APEX-Brasil “coordinates major world forums such as the Brazil-U.S. CEO Forum, the

Brazil-UK Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO), the Brazil-Mexico Forum, the Brazil-India Forum, among others” (APEX-Brasil, 2012).

In order for APEX-Brasil to accomplish the work it was designed for, the agency has different branches, or units, that take care of specific activities. The units are as follows:

Project Unit: this branch is responsible for the analysis, monitoring and follow up of exports promoting projects. The aim is to increase Brazilian exports, to diversify the economic sectors, looking for a more active business setting that increases income and offers new jobs.

Imaging and Market Access Unit: this one is responsible for the creation of new businesses and the administration of Brazil's image. It aims to improve the positioning of

Brazilian products abroad and facilitates the access of Brazilian companies to potential new markets. To this end, events, such as fairs, are held and the agency can provide a variety of opportunities for participating companies.

Business Center Unit: this unit is responsible for controlling the operations of facilities and business centers abroad. By doing so it seeks to facilitate the access of Brazilian products to foreign markets and reduce the costs of storing the items. The Business

Centers are relevant in what concerns the logistics for small and medium sized companies.

These units help reducing the distance between production and final consumer, also allowing a reduction in final prices of goods, increasing their competitiveness.

Investment Unit: the goal for this branch is to attract direct foreign investments, which are aimed at industrial and service sectors and their representatives that maintain partnerships with APEX.

Commercial Intelligence Unit: it aims to identify potential markets and customers for

Brazilian products, seeks to assist exporters on issues such as, average price, purchase volume, trends, transport logistics and distribution, competition and tariff barriers and non-tariff barriers. In order to finish this analysis, specialized consultants in target markets are hired.

Knowledge Management Unit: this unit’s mission is to contribute to the internationalization of Brazilian companies, by promoting the creation, maintenance, transfer, development and application of existing knowledge within the APEX-Brasil.

Customer Relations Unit: this branch is designed to maintain relationships between

APEX-Brasil and Brazilian companies that use their products and services at any stage, whether they are non-exporting firms or are already internationalized and have bases abroad.

Exporting Industrial Extension Project: This last unit is focused on problem solving and technical management and aimed at increasing the competitiveness, export culture and structure of businesses that are exporting from Brazil (APEX-Brasil, 2012).

APEX-Brasil advertises its campaigns and projects through the media, in newspapers (hardcopy and electronic versions), the events it promotes or participates in, the APEX-Brasil webpage and through social media. In social media APEX-Brasil is frequently sharing updates through Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. The agency also uses social media to share information or news regarding ‘Brand Brazil’, Brazilian companies or sectors, and business opportunities in the country or international repercussions of

Brazil’s business scene. APEX-Brasil also launched three main projects. They are 1)

Brasil Trade Project (the spelling of Brazil with the letter ‘S’ makes reference to the way the name of the country is spelled in Portuguese), 2) the Carnaval Project, and 3) the Indy

Race League (APEX-Brasil, 2012).

The Brasil Trade Project serves over 5,000 Brazilian companies and is focused on promoting Brazilian products through the fomenting of the actions of trading companies and commercial exporters. The project also works to establish a culture of regular exportation for micro and small companies. This program also aims to identify the obstacles that those companies might find when exporting and tries to find solutions. The project is based on three elements, the Institutional Actions that seek to strengthen

55 different sector and to identify barriers. The second pillar is Sectorial Actions; here the program will approach micro and small companies to trading companies and commercial exporters. Finally, the third element is the Promotion of Business; in this case business meetings will be arranged, both in Brazil and abroad, for trading companies and commercial exporters to meet international buyers. The intervention of the trading companies and commercial exporters has its advantages, as they can use their business relations, contacts, as well as their knowledge in logistics, finance and customs to help the small and micro companies (Brasil Trade, 2012).

The Carnaval Project or the Brazilian Carnaval - Business and Partnership Project uses one of the most famous Brazilian events to attract foreign buyers and investors to visit the country. This project consists of having foreign partners and possible partners in

Brazil to visit different regions of Brazil, during the most acclaimed festivity in the country. A key purpose is so they can have a sense of the diversity of Brazil, make connections and also enjoy Carnaval. Since its first edition in 2009 through its third edition in 2011, more than 400 people - including both Brazilians and foreign entrepreneurs and opinion-makers - have participated of this program. For 2012 approximately 250 people were expected. This project has received people from different sectors of the economy, they are: biotechnology, textiles, information technology, audiovisual production, footwear components, electrical and electronic materials, defense materials, power transmission towers, musical instruments, wines, fruits, cosmetics, crafts, and bakery equipment, in addition to the franchise sector among others (The

Carnaval Project, 2012). The president of APEX-Brasil - Maurício Borges, gave the following declaration about the Carnaval Project:

"Besides being an excellent opportunity to earn new customers for Brazilian

products and services, the Brazilian Carnaval - Business and Partnership Project is

very powerful as regards promoting Brazil's image abroad. We show a highly

qualified audience that in addition to a wonderful festival, Brazil has companies

of excellence, with a diversified and competitive production portfolio. I believe

the result of all these meetings will be very positive. The latest editions of the

Brazilian Carnaval - Business and Partnership Project have proven the importance

of this innovative trade promotion tool” (The Carnaval Project, 2012).

APEX-Brasil developed the Indy Race League, an innovative commercial trade platform that utilizes the environment of the most important category of the popular car race to promote Brand Brazil abroad. Those invited to participate in the events are

Brazilians entrepreneurs and foreign clients and potential clients. The event lasts three days; on the first day, guests are received at the airport and driven to the hotel in the city where the race is taking place, and the guests participate in a dinner with the drivers. On the second day, the guests are driven to the racetrack, where they can watch the race from exclusive rooms, there are guided tours during the day, and later the drivers are invited to join the participants of the project in the exclusive room. On the third day the guests are driven back to the airport (The Indy Race Project, 2012).

The Indy Race Project is a successful strategy used by APEX-Brasil to promote

Brazil, and it also helps to consolidate the image of Brazil as the world leader of clean and renewable energy. Since 2009 all the cars in the race are fueled with sugar cane- based ethanol that is produced in Brazil. The companies that are invited to this event generate business, and related revenues are increasing every year. In 2009, the estimated

57 value of Brazilian exports was US$340 million, in 2010 this figure was US$589 million and in 2011 US$897.6 million. The companies that can participate in the event are the ones doing business or the ones who have potential clients in the United States and

Canada. However, the companies must fit in the classification of exporter maturity as intermediate, experienced or internationalized export firms. The classification is decided by APEX-Brasil according to the volume and value of exports. The Indy Race Project allows participants to approach clients and possible clients, considering the informal environment, it enables dialogues between people. The Indy Race is also seen by APEX-

Brasil as an opportunity for Brazilian products to enter the North-American market, considering the popularity of the competition among the United States’ population (The

Indy Race Project, 2012).

APEX-Brasil has other projects besides the main ones mentioned previously. The latest news about APEX-Brasil’s projects is the partnership with the major liquor distributor in the United States - Southern Wine and Spirits. This partnership will enable

Brazilian wines to be commercialized in the United States, starting in Florida and New

York. Brazilian movies are being promoted at the Cannes Film Festival. Brazilian coffee has been promoted in the 13ª SIAL China – The Asian Food Marketplace. Another big agreement has been settled between APEX-Brasil and the Macy’s department store in the

United States. This partnership aims to facilitate the access of Brazilian products to

North-American consumers. With this partnership a new campaign by APEX-Brasil has been launched, it is called ‘Brasil: A Magical Journey.’ Through this campaign APEX-

Brasil expects to promote Brazilian fashion and design in the North-American market

(APEX-Brasil, 2012). Below are two Figures illustrating the current geographic reach of

APEX-Brasil.

Figure 3: The APEX-Brasil’s Units in Brazil. Source: APEX-Brasil,

www.apexbrasil.com.br 2012.

Figure 4: The APEX-Brasil’s Units Around the World . Source: APEX-Brasil,

www.apexbrasil.com.br 2012.

Brazil will host two of the most important sports event in the next several years.

In 2014 the country will host the World Cup and in 2016 the city of Rio de Janeiro will host the Olympics. For Anholt (Abar & Anholt, 2011), these events will expose Brazil to the world for several weeks and what people will see and experience will impact how they perceive the country. Contrary to what most people would think, just the fact of hosting the events will not improve Brazil’s Nation image. What will happen is that the public and the press will see the reality of the country and if they think that Brazil seems better than what they expected, then the image of Brazil could improve, even if temporarily. On the other hand, if what the foreign public sees is not as good as what they expected, the image of Brazil may decline and stay low (Abar & Anholt, 2011).

As mentioned before, the media and what has been shown from a country can impact how people will perceive that nation. There is one study done by a Brazilian journalist that focuses on how Brazil is portrayed, the stereotypes about the country, in the tourism section in The New York Times newspaper. The reason why the tourism section was chosen is because of the power it has to affect people’s opinion. When people are looking for a place to go on vacation and they are consulting a third party for suggestions, they may search for tourism news. Journalistic texts about tourism can either be persuasive or connotative, and can also bring a subtle advertisement (Future Brand,

2012; Paganotti, 2009; Jakobson, 1989).

According to Paganotti’s (2009) findings, there are three major regions that are frequently mentioned in The New York Times; Rio de Janeiro, the Amazon and the northeast region of Brazil (it is the area that corresponds to the coastline part of Brazil closest to the Equator line). The Brazilian scenarios that are usually represented are beaches/coast towns and the rain forest, these are the most often mentioned, but there are also records of articles about the country side, mountains and urban environment. The main destinations were Rio de Janeiro (52.38%), Salvador (14.29%), followed by São

Paulo, Petrópolis, Manaus, Marajó and Belém (4.76% each). Concerning the articles about the Amazon, most of them talked about how the region is a tropical paradise, exotic, with astonishing natural beauty, but also reinforcing the mythic side of it as well. Other articles talked about the people and their sense of humor, or how they behave around foreigners. The festivities are also mentioned, including carnival, music, beverages, and soccer. Paganotti (2009) noticed that in most cases, the tourism-related journalistic articles can be a mix of journalism and publicity, but in the end they keep propagating the

61 stereotypes, mostly because that is what readers are looking for, an image that will confirm their opinion about a country.

This study is designed to assess the degree to which the perceptions of managers in the United States and Brazil have been shaped to match the existing stereotypes and the extent to which APEX-Brasil may have influenced perceptions to stretch beyond those stereotypes to encompass a broader view of Brand Brazil.

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

The literature review covered some questions that are relevant to the understanding of the concepts of Nation-Brand, the image of Brazil and the efforts the

Brazilian government is doing to promote the ‘Nation Brand Brazil.’ Those questions encompassed the basic notions of what is brand and in which situations can be used. Also, the literature review discussed what ‘Nation Brand’ is and its applicability; as well as how the image of Brazil has been perceived, and most importantly, what Brazil is doing to promote its own ‘Nation Brand.’

For this study, primary and secondary data were used. There was an analysis of the data that already exists about ‘Nation Brand’ and Brand Brazil and, in addition to that, a survey was distributed to two focused groups of participants. This research was divided in two parts:

* Data Collection

In this step, the focus was on gathering information about Brand, Nation Brand, Brand

Brazil, image of Brazil and the answers of the surveys.

* Interpretation of results

After collecting all the information, the analysis of the data and comparison to the theory was made in order to answer the main question.

Since this research aimed to study the possible gap between the promoted image of Brazil and the perception of it by North-Americans; the survey was electronically sent to managers in both Brazil and the United States. The survey was sent to about 100 business people in the United States. In addition, the same survey was sent to a group of

100 Brazilian business people. The survey was designed to encompass both quantitative and qualitative questions. The whole survey consists of twenty questions, fourteen of them focused on the respondent’s perception of the image of Brazil and the other ones were demographic questions. Please see Appendix 3 for a copy of the survey in English and Appendix 4 for a copy of the survey in Portuguese.

The survey was developed in both English and Portuguese. All questions were literally translated. Those people who were invited to respond the survey were not pressured to answer it by any means, their choice to respond it was voluntary. The requirements to qualify to respond to the survey were that each respondent had to be 21 years of age or older, to have college education or professional experience in the following fields: Business Administration, International Trade Administration, Finance and Economics. The survey was conducted between February 2011 and December 2011.

In order to invite people who would fit the criteria and send them the electronic survey, college professors in the fields of Business Administration and International

Trade Administration, in Brazil and in the United States were contacted, and authorization to forward the survey to their students was requested. Also, colleagues and former employers of the researcher were also asked to participate, and some people invited their co-workers to respond the survey as well. The survey was sent through the website Qualtrics - an internet-based research company. All the responses were anonymous.

At total, there were seven qualitative questions, where respondents were requested to freely state their opinions about Brazil. The very first question asked respondents to describe with the five first words or sentences that would come to mind after hearing the

64 expression ‘Made in Brazil.’ The other questions asked respondents to describe their perception of Brazil, the positive and negative aspects of the country, to name Brazilian products/companies/industries. Respondents were also asked to make recommendations for people buying products from Brazil and to give advice to the government on how to promote Brazil’s image abroad. These questions focused mainly in showing how familiar people are with Brazil, its culture and its economy.

The quantitative questions encompassed Aaker’s (1997) five dimensions of

‘brand personality.’ These dimensions are: sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication and ruggedness. The focus on these questions was to analyze the ‘Country of Origin Effect’ regarding Brazil as the country of provenance. In order to build the quantitative questions, one question related to each one of the dimensions was created using the CETSACLE method. Each one of these questions had related personality traits for respondents to rate from 1 to 5 according to how precisely the traits describe Brazil; 1 would be the ‘not at all descriptive’ and 5 would be ‘extremely descriptive.’ For instance, when analyzing the competence dimension, respondents were asked to rate the extent to which the terms ‘reliable, secure, and successful’ describe their perception of Brazilian products.

There were other quantitative questions, also asking respondents to rate 21 statements regarding their perception of Brazil. For these questions the CETSCALE method was also used, and respondents had to rate how precise each single statement was from 1 - not descriptive to 5 - extremely descriptive. There were some phrases such as,

‘Brazil is a friendly country’, or ‘Brazilians are well educated’, or ‘Brazil is capable of achieving high technological standards.’ These specific questions were based on

Parameswaran & Pisharodi’s (1994) article on the Country of Origin Effect. In their study they conducted their research asking respondents their perception of a country and its products according to some statements they provided and separated in three groups. The first group was GCA- General Country Attributes, GPA - General Product Attributes and

SPA - Specific Product Attributes. In this study, Parameswaran & Pisharodi (1994) used some of Parameswaran and collaborators previous works to develop the statements. For the current research, the 21 statements that were adapted from Parameswaran & Pisharodi

(1994) were placed as a whole group, without dividing the statements in the GCA, GPA or SPA groups. The other quantitative question simply asked if the respondents perceived

Brazil’s image as positive or negative.

The demographic questions were basic. The questions encompassed the respondents’ age, sex, level of education, country of residence, occupation, familiarity with international trade, and how often they would travel abroad. The comparisons of the respondents from Brazil and United States in the demographic questions are as follows:

Table 9: Demographic Characteristics of Participants

Demographic Characteristics of Participants

United Brazil States

Characteristics N = 29 % N = 26 %

Age

<20 0 0% 0 0%

21-30 6 21% 16 67%

31-40 1 3% 4 17%

41-50 9 31% 2 8%

51-60 6 21% 1 4%

>60 7 24% 1 4%

Gender

Male 20 69% 13 54%

Female 9 31% 11 46%

Country of Residence

United States 27 - - Brazil - - 23

Table 9 (continued)

Education level

High School Graduate 0 0% 0 0%

Technical Degree 2 7% 0 0%

Bachelor’s Degree 16 55% 15 63%

Master’s Degree 11 38% 9 38%

Occupation

Student 1 3% 2 8% Business/ Management/Financial 18 62% 9 38% Operations Educational or Training 2 7% 2 8%

Arts, Entertainment or Sports 1 3% 0 0%

Healthcare or Social Services 0 0% 0 0%

Agriculture 0 0% 0 0%

Administrative 2 7% 7 29%

Production or Construction 1 3% 2 8% Services and All Other Occupation 4 14% 2 8%

Table 9 (continued)

Are you familiar with International Trade? Yes 16 55% 14 58%

Somewhat 10 34% 6 25%

No 3 10% 4 17%

How often do you travel abroad?

Never 3 10% 3 13%

Rarely 4 14% 5 21%

Occasionally 17 59% 10 42%

Frequently 5 17% 6 25%

CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH RESULTS

This Research Results chapter reports the findings of this research according to the survey’s responses. The results presented in this chapter encompass the responses of the United States business people and Brazilian business people. This chapter is divided in five sections that cluster the questions according to different evaluations of the perception of Brand Brazil.

4.1. General Perceptions of Brazil

The first question of the survey was a qualitative one that sought to get an overview of what one thinks when one hears “Made in Brazil”, which associations they could create. The respondents were asked to list five words or phrases to describe their thoughts. In order to clarify possible doubts, some examples were given: “when you hear

“Made in France”, you might think of fashion, wine, or elegance. When you hear “Made in Japan”, you might think of high quality, technology or reliability. When you hear

“Made in China”, you might think of toys, low quality or inexpensive merchandise.” The responses varied from natural resources, to agriculture products, to industrialized ones, including also, corruption and bureaucracy, quality and economic growth and opportunities.

For this specific question there were 125 elements identified by the 28 United

States business people who responded, and 114 characteristics identified by the 24 respondents who were Brazilian business people. Considering a mean for this question, the average respondent in Brazil was able to identify 4.75 characteristics, meanwhile the

70 average respondent in the United States identified 4.46 characteristics. That means, respondents from Brazil were able to, proportionally, identify more characteristics.

There were some identical responses from both United States residents and

Brazilian residents. In those cases the characteristics identified were the clichés ones that have been perpetuating the image of Brazil throughout the years. Among the characteristics mentioned, there were the agricultural products, such as coffee and cattle; the exotic factor that still nourishes people’s idea of what Brazil is like; the nature, including the rain forest, beaches (even beach apparel and bikinis) and energy.

In the responses there were some contrasting characteristics. For instance, while

U.S. managers perceive ‘Made in Brazil’ as something cheap, Brazilians perceived it as expensive. U.S. managers described low technology and Brazilians high technology.

Tables 10 and 11 exemplify the elements identified by respondents from both countries:

Table 10: Elements of Brand Brazil As Perceived by North-American and Brazilians

Groups United States Brazil

Coffee Cachaça / Havaianas / Coffee

Carnival / Exotic / Colorful Joy Most Frequent Quality: Low, Medium, Average, Quality: Doubtful, Low, Questionable Reasonable, Average, Good

Soccer

Second Inexpensive Corruption Most Frequent Fun / Beaches Tropical / Carnival

Leather / Shoes / Fashion Agribusiness / Art craft

Third Most Aircraft / Airplanes Tourism Frequent Portuguese / Soccer / Food Party / Exotic / Creative

Rain Forest / Natural Resources Nature / Natural

Orange Juice / Beef / Swim Suits / Beach Apparel / Mineral Wood Products / Beach Apparel / Products / Cattle / Agricultural Bananas / Health and Beauty Products Products / Green Products / / Sisal / Large Agriculture and Metals Wine / Airplane Mentioned Exports Once Medical Research / Self- Ethanol / Emerging Industrial Base / Sufficient in Petroleum / Imported / Energy Independence / Medicine / Technology / Growing Economy Local Investment / Clean Energy

Table 10 (continued)

Groups United States Brazil

Summer / Women / Music / Energetic / Loud / Women / Spiritual / Sensuality / Attractive / Lively / Rio / Latin / Ethnic Items / Colorful / Simple / Casual / Ethnic Food / Sexy / Adventurous / Fun / Bikinis / Humanization / Party-Fiesta / Yellow and Green / Popularity / Culture / Beauty / Pelé / Music-Samba / Laughter / Pride / Smelly / Sophisticated Brazil or Brasil / Beer / Artistic / / Dance / Artistic / Homemade Healthy / Authentic / Homemade / / National / Samba / Receptive Dynamic / Versatile / Young and Up / Friendly / Politics / Lifting / Friendly / Cultural Rich Philanthropy

High Crime / Traffic / High Poverty Disorder / Political Corruption Levels / Child Labor / Poor / Cheap / Troubled Negotiation / Lack Labor / Under Marketed / Unfair of Commitment / Delay on Income Distribution / Giant Deliver / Taxes / Costs / Bureaucracy Bureaucracy

Cheap / High End Products / Durable High Price / Cost Effective Goods /

Opportunity / Distinctive / Originality / Regionalism / Progressive Reliability / Expensive

Same as Mexico References / Not Made in the USA / Nothing Comes to Mind

Not Sustainable Forestry

Question number two, in an essay format, asked respondents to describe their general perceptions of Brazil, inviting them to discuss politics, economy, trade, or sports.

From the United States business people’s responses, almost half mentioned the stereotypes, which still influence the image of Brazil; the remaining comments varied from Brazil’s economic growth and potentiality to grow, to different factors, such as

73 politics, corruption, economic differences, language and the size of the country. Among the Brazilian business people, over half of the respondents discussed Brazil’s economic growth and the potential to grow more. The remaining responses mentioned socioeconomic issues in Brazil, such as poverty, crime, lack of planning, the need to invest in infrastructure, and the need to cease corruption.

Table 11: Themes Discussed on Question Number Two

Themes of United States Brazil Discussion

Jungle / Beach / Sunshine / Fun / Warm Happy People / Energetic / Colorful / Violent / Loud / Soccer / Pelé / South American Country / Exotic / Culture / Sports / Music / Ethnic / Good Food / Drinks / Socialization / Cheerful / Passionate Culture / Rio / Mix of Races / Fun / Perceptions Based Caribbean Type of Ambiance / Creativity / Innovation / on Stereotypes Content / Wild Untamed Olympics / World Cup / Country / Poverty / Slums / Happy People / Natural Vacation / Basketball / Free Resources / Water Spirited / Amazon / Volleyball / Spiritual / Family Environment / Portuguese / High Cultural Diversity / Focus on self / Focus on Beauty

No Earthquakes / No Perceptions Based Rain Forest / Undeveloped Hurricanes / Amazon / on Nature Forest Nature Preservation

Perceptions Based Do not know much about Brazil

on Ignorance / Never visited Brazil

Table 11 (continued)

Themes of United States Brazil Discussion

Consistent Politics / Freedom of Speech / Trade / Growth Opportunity / Growing Economy / Emerging Country / Growing Promotion of Brazil’s Manufacturing Auto Industry / Nation Brand / Potentiality Fast Growing / Great Place to to Compete with Strong Do Business / Investment Economies / Democratic / Opportunities / Strong Economy Perceptions Based Potential to Be One of The / Fast Developing / Young on Economic Issues World’s Greatest Leaders / Professional Population / Strong Economy / Low Government Support to Small Unemployment Rate / Oil / Business and Entrepreneurship / Higher Salaries / Life High Technology Products / Quality Improving / Critical Sophisticated Manufacturing Resources for Medical Sectors / Sugar Base Energy Researches / GDP Growth / Soy

Sporadic Violence / Unsafe Government Not Concerned Cities / Dangerous / Growing About Relevant Issues / Disparity Between Social Corruption / High Taxes / Classes /Politics not Stable / Lack of Investments in Expensive Credit / Corruption / Infrastructure / Traffic / Negative Perceptions Poverty / Long Way to Become Instability / Violence / an Economic Hegemony / Slums / Drugs / Need to Bureaucracy / Not Many Invest in Education, Brazilian Products in The Healthcare, Transportation United States / Not Much Press and Airports in the United States

No Wars / No Retaliations to Geopolitical Immigrants / Tolerance to

Perceptions Different Beliefs and Ethnicity

Demographic Large Population / Large Cities / Young Country Perceptions Urban Centers / Large Country

The responses, from both countries, for questions number one and two were similar, differing only in the number respondents mentioning the same characteristics.

Mangers from both the United States and Brazil mentioned the stereotypes of Brazil, but it was done by a larger proportion of U.S. managers. The responses show that the stereotype of Brazil still prevails when it comes to the first impressions of the country.

Both in the United States and in Brazil business people acknowledge that there are other elements to be added to this image, whether is the growing economy, the technological research, or in contrast, the corruption or disorder. The main stereotypical words United

States managers used to discuss Brazil are represented in the following table.

Table 12: Stereotypes Mentioned by United States Respondents

Stereotypes Mentioned by United States Respondents

Vibrant Exotic Loud Sunshine Dance

Colorful Rain Forrest Good Drinks Dangerous

Violence Fun Soccer Passionate

Sports Warm Happy People Jungle Spiritual

Free Spirited Slums/Favelas Energetic

Rio de Janeiro Wild Life Ethnic Good Food

Caribbean Type Ambiance Amazon Beautiful Women

Beach Poverty Focus on Beauty Pelé

4.2. Statements on Brand Brazil

The third question of the survey was quantitative and respondents were asked to rate 21 statements about Brazil. For that, a CETSCALE was created and respondents would rate each sentence from 1 to 5 according to how much they agreed with it. Number one meant ‘strongly disagree,’ number two ‘ disagree,’ number three ‘neutral,’ number four ‘agree,’ and number five ‘strongly agree.’ The purpose of this question was to identify how precisely statements about Brazil, its population and economy would match the respondents’ perception. The questions and the means from each group of respondents are as follows:

Table 13: Rated Statements on Brand Brazil

UNITED BRAZIL STATEMENTS STATES MEAN MEAN Brazil is rich in cultural heritage. 4.41 4.58 Brazil is a friendly country. 3.76 4.42 Brazil can be considered as an artistic and creative country. 3.68 4.46 Brazil is capable of achieving high technological standards. 3.57 3.83 Brazil is a country of hard-working people. 3.33 3.96 Brazilian products are sold in many countries. 3.25 3.83 The workforce in Brazil has technical education. 3.21 2.67 Brazil is economically developed. 3.15 3.48 Brazilian people have technical skills. 3.14 3.58 Brazilian products are overall excellent. 3.14 3.13 Brazilians are well-educated. 3.07 2.29 Brazil is a politically free country. 3.07 3.67 Regarding international affairs, Brazil is an active actor. 3.04 3.54 It is difficult to find spares for Brazilian products. 3.04 2.46 Brazilian products have high quality. 3.00 3.33 Brazilian products are cheaply put together. 3.00 2.21 Brazilian products are long lasting and do not need constant 2.89 3.38 repairs. Brazilian products are easily available in/for foreign 2.79 2.96 countries. Brazil is known for its industrial products. 2.71 2.38 Brazil has high standard of living. 2.59 2.38 “Made in Brazil” means unreasonably expensive and 2.00 1.96 luxurious.

The means for these statements are remarkably similar across the two groups of respondents. The statements with the highest means for the United States respondents show some similarity in their means. Respondents from both Brazil and the United States consider Brazil a friendly, artistic and creative country. Regarding education in Brazil, respondents from the United States have a tendency toward a positive response, while

Brazilians do not consider the quality good enough. There is a similar finding with regard to technical education. Brazilians see themselves as hard-working people, and although some United States respondents might agree with that, most of their responses were marked as neutral. When it comes to Brazil as a country capable of achieving high technological standards, United States business people were predominantly neutral about it, but some respondents acknowledge the potentiality. The majority of the Brazilian respondents agree that it is a possibility for Brazil.

The general neutrality of the responses given by the United States respondents shows their unfamiliarity with Brazil. If they had negative images about the country they could have rated the questions negatively, however, they rated almost three fourths of the statements, mainly, as neutral. Also, there is a slight difference between how Brazilians see their country and their national products compared to the United States business people.

4.3. Positive and Negative Perceptions of Brazil

The fourth question asked respondents to identify positive aspects of Brazil

“Made in Brazil,” while question number five asked about the negative aspects. Both questions were in essay form. From the 29 United States business people who answered

79 the survey, 25 responded to this question. For the Brazilians, all the 24 business people who answered the survey commented on this question. From the United States respondents, over one fourth claimed they did not have information about Brazil and could not answer the question, or they had a notion of what Brazil can produce, but still were not sure. Over one fourth of the United States respondents mentioned the economic growth, the potentiality of the country, the quality and price of Brazilian goods. The remaining respondents - slightly less than half of them - cited the stereotypes, the answers were: natural, authentic, fun, Rio, Carnival, beach, and women.

For Brazilian business people, the positive aspects of the country and its ‘Nation

Brand’ can be divided in three groups: ease of life, quality and economic factors. In the ease of life group, respondents acknowledge as positive Brazil’s originality, creativity, beauty, culture and joy. When it comes to quality, Brazilian business people consider the national products to have good quality and they expect continuous improvement of

Brazilian goods. Also, they acknowledge that Brazilian quality standards are high and that helps in leveraging the consumption of local goods. For the economic factors they mentioned the industrial base, agriculture, entrepreneurship, easy maintenance.

Considering the negative aspects, most of the United States business people are so unfamiliar with Brazil that they could not cite any negative aspects, they only mentioned that they did not see many Brazilian products, they did not know any Brazilian brand name. The respondents who could list negative aspects mentioned the quality of products, as well as crime, poverty and safety.

Brazilian business people perceive as negative aspects for the country or its image some infrastructure problems, such as means of transportation and roads being poorly

80 maintained – both factors that may cause delay in the delivery of goods. For Brazilians, the educational system needs to be improved, including providing young people with professional skills. Issues like corruption, crime and poverty denigrate the image of the country, as they mentioned. Another point that was mentioned was that the image of

Brazil is often portrayed to attract tourists, by promoting stereotypes, instead of also promoting Brazilian products, industries and brands.

For question number six, when asked if overall, they perceived the image of

Brazil as positive or negative, the majority of the responses from both countries was positive. However, there is a discrepancy between the results. From the 24 Brazilian business people who responded the question, 23 people said that Brazil’s image is positive. For the United States respondents this proportion changes; from the 28 respondents, 22 said that Brazil has a positive image, and 6 said the image was negative.

4.4. Personality Traits Dimensions

The seventh to the eleventh questions discussed the personality traits that can be perceived about brands, according to Aaker’s (1997) brand personality traits. The personality traits are sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication and ruggedness, and each question focused on one of the personality traits. For questions number seven to number eleven of the survey, the CETSCALE was used, requesting respondents to rate the features from 1 (not at all descriptive) to 5 (extremely descriptive). The next five tables show the elements of personality trait rated by business people in the United States and Brazil, and the respective means to those elements.

Table 14: Personality Trait: Sincerity

Elements United States Mean Brazil Mean

Cheerful 3.71 4.42

Friendly 3.63 4.38

Family-Oriented 3.25 3.21

Original 3.38 3.71

Down-to-Earth 2.92 2.88

Wholesome 2.87 3.25

Honest 2.71 2.79

Table 15: Personality Trait: Excitement

Elements United States Mean Brazil Mean

Exciting 3.86 3.63

Spirited 3.83 4.17

Young 3.82 3.83

Trendy 3.70 3.46

Daring 3.57 3.38

Unique 3.48 3.54

Imaginative 3.26 3.67

Contemporary 3.14 3.50

Up-To-Date 3.04 3.38

Table 16: Personality Trait: Competence

Elements United States Mean Brazil Mean

Intelligent 3.30 3.29

Hard Working 3.22 2.92

Successful 3.09 3.08

Reliable 2.78 3.04

Technical 2.78 2.83

Leader 2.70 2.58

Secure 2.52 2.88

Table 17: Personality Trait: Ruggedness

Elements United States Mean Brazil Mean

Outdoorsy 3.22 2.83

Rugged 3.13 3.13

Tough 2.87 2.92

Table 18: Personality Trait: Sophistication

Elements United States Mean Brazil Mean

Glamorous 3.32 2.71

Charming 3.30 3.54

Upper Class 2.96 2.75

4.5. Familiarity with Brazil

Question number twelve asked respondents to name, in an open-ended question,

Brazilian products, companies or industries that are competitive internationally. For the

United States business people, three respondents could not name any Brazilian product, company or industry. Also, six respondents listed Brazilian aircraft company, naming

EMBRAER, and Brazilian airlines. The other items mentioned were: agricultural products - mainly coffee; banking; clothes and shoes; commodities in general, such as mining, gas and oil; and some media companies. Some people responded oil, others petroleum, or Petro Brazil, and Petrobras (which is the name for the Brazilian energy company). Also, respondents mentioned multinational companies that have manufacturing plants in Brazil, such as Volkswagen, General Motors and Ford.

For Brazilians, the competitive industries are: commodities, mining, steel, fashion, food, sports, entertainment, petroleum, arts, aircraft, liquor, art craft, cosmetics and civil construction. To be more specific, Brazilians cited the national liquor called cachaça; some agricultural products, such as coffee, sugar, soy, corn; cattle and chickens. A chocolate company called Garoto was mentioned, as well as the food company Sadia, and a beer and soft drink company called AMBEV and its traditionally Brazilian soft drink called Guaraná Antarctica. For Brazilians, the national fashion industry is also competitive abroad, mainly the bikinis and the brand of sandals called Havaianas.

Brazilian art also received some recognition, whether through music, dance or art craft.

The steel industry, the mining industry, natural resources, ethanol and tourism were also listed. Some big companies were mentioned, such as EMBRAER - aircraft; Natura - cosmetics; Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD) - mining; Gerdau and USIMINAS -

84 steel; and Petrobras - petroleum. The following table illustrates the answers given by respondents in Brazil and the United States.

Table 19: Brazilian Companies and Products

Sectors of the Brazilian United States Brazil Economy

Telecommunication / Safra Entertainment Industry / / Grupo Abril / TAM / Itaú Entertainment and Services Arts / Sports / Music / / Bradesco / O Globo / Dance / Tourism / Energy

Havaianas / Fashion Fashion / Beauty Industry / Bikinis / O Sandal / Clothing / Natura / Boticário

Garoto Chocolate / Coffee / Guaraná Antarctica / Cattle Food and Beverages Coffee / Beer / AMBEV / Sadia / Cachaça / Corn / AMBEV / Restaurants / Chicken / Sugar

Housing and Civil GAFISA Civil Construction Construction

EMBRAER / Military Machinery / Equipment / Hardware / Votorantim / Manufactures Industries Paper

Ethanol / Petrobras / Agriculture / CSN / Commodities / CVRD / / Soy / Agribusiness / Commodities Petroleum Steel Products Gerdau / Mining Industry / UIMINAS / Steel Industry / Natural Resources

The thirteenth question was also open-ended, and asked respondents which piece of advice they would give to clients, or friends, or family when they are deciding about buying Brazilian products or services. Most of the United States respondents said that their advice would be to do research on the company and/or product before buying it.

Others said that in a retail situation they would tell people to buy and try it, but in a wholesale situation, the recommendation would be to seek legal orientation. Some responses contrasted with other. On one hand some answers showed that people in the

United States perceive Brazilian products to have low quality, and consequently the price should be lower than in the United States, Germany and Japan. On the other hand, other respondents saw Brazilian products as having good qualities, just as in the United States or Europe. Also, some of the respondents did not want to write their recommendation, as they think they do not know enough about the country to start with. Meanwhile, the main recommendation Brazilians made were to investigate the source of the product, and to certify that the product comes from the mentioned country.

Question number fourteen was also an open-ended essay-type question.

Respondents were asked to write their recommendations to the Brazilian government and to Brazilians, in order to promote the image of Brazil abroad. The majority of the responses from the United States business people recommended that Brazil should expose its ‘Nation Brand’ more, that marketing strategies should be pursued in order to promote Brand Brazil, so that foreigners can become more familiar with the country. As one of the respondents mentioned:

“Tell US people more about Brazil and how it has changed over the last several

decades. How open is the government to outside investment, what about import

duties and tariffs. How safe is the country and how are the people improving

themselves? We in the US know and hear very little about Brazil. Just old times

views and experiences to draw on”.

Other responses from the United States business people mentioned that Brazil should import technical expertise and should try to learn from companies that have already proved to be successful. For another respondent, the Brazilian government should “work with the private sector to identify a solid and simple message that can be used in all channels of communication”. Also, as a respondent said, Brazil should “stop fuelling corruption, lower imports, taxes and start incentivizing education.” Finally, other respondents did not have any recommendations, as they are not familiar with Brazil and its image.

The recommendations made by Brazilians also encompassed some marketing strategies in order to promote the image of the country abroad. However, other issues were discussed by Brazilians too. The respondents mentioned also about the structural changes they consider relevant in order to help improving the image of Brazil abroad. For instance, Brazil should continue to promote the country the way it has been, so that gradually people can start to see Brazil as more than an agricultural country. There should be a focus to improve the tourism industry, the infrastructure to have tourists, for instance, one of the respondents said: “Brazilians should be even more receptive in what concerns tourism, by improving their language skills, so that foreigners could feel more comfortable when visiting Brazil”. Education is also a major concern for the Brazilian respondents. They think Brazil should invest in education, in the healthcare system, and decimate crime rates. Another recommendation was to keep investing in the people and

87 the economy, so that over time foreigners will acknowledge Brazil for those features, instead of promoting the same things that will encourage the current stereotype of Brazil.

CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION

The present study researched how North-Americans and Brazilians perceive the

Brand Brazil and what the Brazilian Government is doing to promote its ‘Nation Brand.’

The premise for this research was that the image of Brazil that is promoted is not the same that is perceived. As results showed, this premise was confirmed to be true. There is a difference between the attributes of Brazil that have been promoted and how people perceive Brazil. Most of the respondents answered the questions based on the stereotypical image of Brazil; the majority of these answers were from the United States respondents, although Brazilians used stereotypes to describe the country as well.

5.1. Discussion

The results of the survey show three patterns of how business people in both the

United States and Brazil can describe Brazil. First pattern: Brazil is described according to stereotypes - joy, beach, soccer, cheerful, Carnival. Second pattern: when describing

Brazil, respondents also mentioned or commented about Brazil’s economy and industries: economic growth, oil, ethanol, EMBRAER. Third pattern: respondents could not describe

Brazil, as they mentioned, some of them have never been to Brazil nor have enough information to comment on the country’s image.

The majority of the United States respondents used the stereotypical attributes to describe the image of Brazil. There was emphasis on the hyper sexualized image of

Brazilian women, on the sunny beaches and Carnival, also on fun, coffee and soccer.

Some United States respondents were able to mention Brazil’s emerging industrial base,

89 ethanol, investment opportunities, oil and clean energy. Others showed concern for environmental issues, mentioning the Amazon, natural resources and the lax attitude from the Brazilian government to preserve nature. Some of the different aspects of the image of Brazil overlapped on the same responses. The remaining respondents from the United

States were ignorant about Brazil and said they could not answer the questions.

Brazilian business people who responded to the survey mentioned the stereotypical image of Brazil, when discussing the image of the country. Moreover, they were able to discuss more about other issues, such as the Brazilian economy and industries, the way Brazil is perceived abroad, and even socioeconomic and infrastructural issues. As one can imagine, Brazilians respondents, unlike some of the

United States respondents, were able to mention something about Brazil on each question, whether positive or negative. Based on the perception of United States business people and Brazilian business people, one can identify that there is a gap in how the image of

Brazil is perceived in the United States and Brazil. This finding reinforces the idea of perceptions being subjective and therefore different people will have different perceptions, as proposed by Babin and Harris (2009).

The findings from the analysis of the literature review, essentially from the section ‘Brazil’, show that most of the plans from APEX-Brasil to promote Brazil fall in a business-to-business context. That means that most of the projects developed by APEX-

Brasil focus on the integration of Brazilian entrepreneurs and foreign entrepreneurs and investors. The projects’ aim is to enhance the relationship between businesses. Some of them include in the target audience trend-setters, but the focus remains on businesses.

One can understand these projects and their audiences, by thinking about the mission of

APEX-Brasil: the promotion of Brazil and Brazilian exports, the improvement in quality for Brazilian products and the diversification of international markets. These goals are commonly targeted on the business-to-business context.

APEX-Brasil has also developed some business-to-consumer projects to focus on the relationship between businesses and consumers. This means that the focus will not be on a foreign company, but on the foreign consumer. The project ‘Brasil: A Magical

Journey’ in partnership with the Macy’s department store is an example of APEX-Brasil developing business-to-consumer plans. With this project people shopping at Macy’s will have access to Brazilian products, and with the promotion in the stores, customers will become aware that they can buy Brazilian products. This project allows the promotion of

Brazil and Brazilian products and makes the items accessible for consumers. With time this project can create awareness among United States public about Brazil.

The work APEX-Brasil has been developing enables Brazilian exporters to interact with clients, possible clients and investors in a business to business relation. In the case of this research, there are some elements that can be considered to promote

Brazilian products and brands. For instance, United States respondents described Brand

Brazil as outdoorsy, and this can be explained by Brazil being associated with nature, outdoors sports and activities. Since the public acknowledges these traits for Brand Brazil, then companies in related segments could take advantage of this recognition and try to enter or to expand their participation in the United States’ market. This could be an opportunity for companies that produce furniture for outdoor places, as patios, or specific footwear, apparel and accessories for outdoor activities.

The results showed some discrepancies in how business people in the United

States and Brazil perceive Brazil. For instance, on question number three respondents were invited to rate if they agreed that a statement about Brazil was true. One specific statement was about Brazilians being well educated and the mean rating for the United

States respondents was higher than the Brazilian respondents’ mean rating. Two observations can be made on this result. First, Brazilian respondents are judging from a perspective of former students in Brazil’s educational system. Meanwhile the United

States respondents are judging from an outsider’s perspective. Second, one should consider that the respondents from both the United States and Brazil were business professionals with a college degree, and that most of them had experience with international trade. Consequently, there is a possibility that some of the United States business people had had previous experience with some Brazilian business people. Also taking into account that Brazilian business people would speak in English while doing business with companies from/in the United States, it is likely that the Brazilian respondents have a higher education than the average. Then again, the perceptions are influenced by experiences, and if that is the experience United States respondents had, then it is understandable why they rated more highly than Brazilians respondents on this specific statement.

When it comes to high technological standards, Brazil is not commonly perceived by the United States business people as capable of developing such items. However, a minority acknowledge that Brazil is capable of developing technology for the extraction of petroleum in the Atlantic Ocean, and to create and assemble airplanes. EMBRAER was the most common company mentioned by the United States business people; perhaps

92 that happens due to the fact that the United States has imported several EMBRAER planes and some information is available on business media. By contrast, EMBRAER products are not advertised to the general public. For instance, some of the fleet of aircraft for domestic flights for American Airlines are from EMBRAER. During commercial flights, the flight attendants mention briefly that the aircraft is an EMBRAER, but there is no mention to country of origin. Also, in the safety instructions manual in those aircraft, the only mention of Brazil is in one sentence: “Final assembly of this aircraft was completely in Brazil.” There is no mention of Brazilian technology. One could justify that by the simple fact that people do not acknowledge Brazil as capable of developing the technology for and assembling aircrafts, passengers could be afraid of flying through that company and might not fly with the company again. Nonetheless,

Brazil is not being giving the credit for its high technological standards.

5.2. Limitations

The limitations for this thesis are related to three topics: Number of respondents, literature review on Nation Brand, and information about APEX-Brasil. This study had only 29 respondents from the United States and 26 respondents from Brazil. If there were at least one hundred responses from both the United States and Brazil, then some further analyses and comparisons could have been done. Therefore, it is suggested that future research on this topic should attempt to increase the number of respondents.

The literature on Nation Brand is limited, especially if one takes into account that this is a fairly recent field of research. As mentioned previously in this paper, the first

93 publication on Nation Brand is from 1998. With more literature available the literature review for this thesis could have been richer.

The third limitation was faced in gathering information about APEX-Brasil and its projects. The information available is mainly sourced from APEX-Brasil’s own webpages. If it were possible to gather more information about APEX-Brasil and even to interview a representative from the agency the literature on Brazil would be enhanced.

5.3. Recommendations

Contrary to Anholt’s theory, it is also important to promote a nation’s brand through marketing strategies, using communication methods. The work APEX-Brasil is doing is improving Brazil’s balance trade, but not yet the general public image of Brazil.

The promotion of Brazil is being done through substantial deeds, not only advertisement, as recommended by Anholt. However, there is a prevailing image of Brazil that has not been changed yet. The following recommendations are focused on what can be done to improve the outcomes from the promotion of Brand Brazil abroad.

- APEX-Brasil should continue to promote business-to-business partnerships. The work

APEX-Brasil is doing has been effective and should be maintained.

- APEX-Brasil should expand its business-to-consumer projects. By doing so more

people would have access to Brazilian products and would be aware of the product’s

country of origin.

- APEX-Brasil should manage to advertise Brand Brazil during Indy Races. Since

APEX-Brasil already has private events for the races if APEX-Brasil could expand the

project and also advertise to the general public, during commercials for instance, then

it could create awareness among more people about Brazil.

- APEX-Brasil should advertise Petrobras and Brazilian ethanol during Indy Race

commercials. Since APEX-Brasil and Petrobras are already sponsors for the races, and

also by the fact that all the cars are fueled with Brazilian ethanol, these deeds could be

advertised. It would be a way to show the United States public a little bit of Brazil’s

technology and quality standards.

- APEX-Brasil should display its webpages (including social media) in languages other

than Portuguese to enable more people to have information about Brazil. If the

information is provided in different languages, then more people would be able to read

it and to know more about Brazil and APEX-Brasil. The Ministry of Tourism’s

website, for instance, can be displayed in Portuguese, English, Spanish, French,

German and Italian.

- APEX-Brasil should advertise on Google and link the advertisement to key words

about Brazil. By simply googling ‘Brazil’ there is no mention to APEX-Brasil or to

Brazil’s industrial sector and to business. The first website linked is from Brazil’s

Ministry of Tourism and even the CIA Factbook link for Brazil is available. Usually,

the search recommendations Google gives are for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Brazilian hair

blowout, Brazilian steak houses, Brazilian bikini wax, Brazilian butt lift (exercises and

surgery) and how to date Brazilian women. If one just types the word Brazil into the

search engine and clicks on images, they will consist of Brazil’s maps and flags,

images of Rio, the national soccer team and semi-dressed women. This could be an

opportunity to promote APEX-Brasil’s webpage.

- The Brazilian government should provide structural improvements in:

- Education

- Security

- Infrastructure

- Roads

- Airports

Most of Brazilian business people who responded to the survey mentioned that the above areas need to be improved. Especially considering that in the near future Brazil will hold two of the main sports even on the planet, the World Cup and the Olympics. If Brazil, by the time of these events, improves the conditions of the elements that denigrate the country’s reputation, then the foreign public will have the chance to see a different reality and their perception of Brazil would also improve. If substantial changes do not happen before the event, then it will only perpetuate the stereotype and negative references to

Brazil.

5.4. Future Research

For future research the improvement of the perception of the image of Brazil in the United States could be studied. With a larger number of respondents different theories could be analyzed. Research can be conducted on the image of Brazil only in the business-to-business context or only in the business-to-consumer context.

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APPENDICES

Appendix 1. Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval

103

Appendix 2. Institutional Review Board (IRB) Amendment Approval

104

Appendix 3. Focus Group Study Questions In English

Your opinion matters to us, please provide your true view points. This questionnaire is anonymous. Your responses, if you agree in participating, will be used for research purposes through Ohio University. If you have any questions regarding this study, please contact Iara Leão - [email protected] or [email protected], (1) 740 818-1410.

______

- What does “Made in Brazil” mean to you as a Brand? Please list 5 words or phrases. (For instance, when you hear “Made in France”, you might think of fashion, wine, or elegance. When you hear “Made in Japan”, you might think of high quality, technology or reliability. When you hear “Made in China”, you might think of toys, low quality or inexpensive merchandise.)

______

- Can you describe your general perception of Brazil? Feel free to talk about any aspect: Politics, Sports, Economy, Trade, and anything else you would like to share.

- According to the following statements, please rate your perception of Brazil and/or “Made in Brazil” on a 1-5 rating scale. (Please put an X in the appropriate box.)

Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Example Disagree Agree Chocolate is delicious. 1 2 3 x 5

Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Statements Disagree Agree Brazil is a friendly country. 1 2 3 4 5 Brazil can be considered as an artistic 1 2 3 4 5 and creative country.

105

Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Statements Disagree Agree Brazilians are well-educated. 1 2 3 4 5 Brazil is a country of hard-working 1 2 3 4 5 people. The workforce in Brazil has technical 1 2 3 4 5 education. Brazil is capable of achieving high 1 2 3 4 5 technological standards. Brazil has high standard of living. 1 2 3 4 5 Brazilian people have technical skills. 1 2 3 4 5 Brazil is a politically free country. 1 2 3 4 5 Brazil is economically developed. 1 2 3 4 5 Brazil is rich in cultural heritage. 1 2 3 4 5 Regarding international affairs, Brazil 1 2 3 4 5 is an active actor. “Made in Brazil” means unreasonably 1 2 3 4 5 expensive and luxurious. Brazil is known for its industrial 1 2 3 4 5 products. Brazilian products are sold in many 1 2 3 4 5 countries. Brazilian products are long lasting and 1 2 3 4 5 do not need constant repairs. Brazilian products have high quality. 1 2 3 4 5 Brazilian products are cheaply put 1 2 3 4 5 together. It is difficult to find spares for Brazilian 1 2 3 4 5 products. Brazilian products are easily available 1 2 3 4 5 in/for foreign countries. Brazilian products are overall excellent. 1 2 3 4 5

- What are the positive and negative aspects you perceive of Brazil and/or “Made in Brazil”? Please provide any words that come to mind:

Positive: ______

106

______

Negative: ______

______

- Overall, do you perceive Brazil as (please mark with an X your choice): ______Positive ______Negative

- When it comes to “Sincerity”, how would you evaluate the brand “Brazil”? Please rate each characteristic on a 1-5 rating scale. (Please put an X in the appropriate box.)

Very Extremely Not At All Hardly Descriptive Descriptive Descriptive Sincerity Descriptive Descriptive

Down-to-earth 1 2 3 4 5

Family-Oriented 1 2 3 4 5

Honest 1 2 3 4 5

Wholesome 1 2 3 4 5

Original 1 2 3 4 5

Cheerful 1 2 3 4 5

Friendly 1 2 3 4 5

- When it comes to “Excitement”, how would you evaluate the brand “Brazil”? Please rate each characteristic on a 1-5 rating scale. (Please put an X in the appropriate box.)

Very Extremely Not At All Hardly Descriptive Descriptive Descriptive Excitement Descriptive Descriptive

Daring 1 2 3 4 5

107

Very Extremely Not At All Hardly Descriptive Descriptive Descriptive Excitement Descriptive Descriptive

Trendy 1 2 3 4 5

Exciting 1 2 3 4 5

Spirited 1 2 3 4 5

Young 1 2 3 4 5

Imaginative 1 2 3 4 5

Unique 1 2 3 4 5

Up-to-date 1 2 3 4 5

Contemporary 1 2 3 4 5

- When it comes to “Competence”, how would you evaluate the brand “Brazil”? Please rate each characteristic on a 1-5 rating scale. (Please put an X in the appropriate box.)

Very Extremely Not At All Hardly Descriptive Descriptive Descriptive Competence Descriptive Descriptive

Reliable 1 2 3 4 5

Hard Working 1 2 3 4 5

Secure 1 2 3 4 5

Intelligent 1 2 3 4 5

Technical 1 2 3 4 5

Successful 1 2 3 4 5

Leader 1 2 3 4 5

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- When it comes to “Sophistication”, how would you evaluate the brand “Brazil”? Please rate each characteristic on a 1-5 rating scale. (Please put an X in the appropriate box.)

Very Extremely Not At All Hardly Descriptive Descriptive Descriptive Sophistication Descriptive Descriptive

Upper Class 1 2 3 4 5

Glamorous 1 2 3 4 5

Charming 1 2 3 4 5

- When it comes to “Ruggedness”, how would you evaluate the brand “Brazil”? Please rate each characteristic on a 1-5 rating scale. (Please put an X in the appropriate box.)

Very Extremely Not At All Hardly Descriptive Descriptive Descriptive Ruggedness Descriptive Descriptive

Outdoorsy 1 2 3 4 5

Tough 1 2 3 4 5

Rugged 1 2 3 4 5

- Which Brazilian products/companies/industries do you consider competitive internationally?

- What advice would you give to your clients/friends/family when they are deciding to buy Brazilian products/services?

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- What should Brazilians or/and the Brazilian Government do to promote the image of Brazil?

-Age: _____ <20 _____ 20-30 ____ 30-40 _____40-50 _____ 50-60 _____ >60 -Sex: _____ Male _____ Female -Country of residence: ______-Education level: ___High School ___ Associate ___Undergraduate ___Graduate -Occupation: ___Student ___Business/management/financial operations ____Educational or training ____Arts, entertainment or sports ____Healthcare or social services ____Agriculture ____Administrative ____Production or construction ___Services and all other occupations -Are you familiar with international business? ____Yes ____Somewhat ____No -How often do you travel abroad? ___Never ___Rarely ___Occasionally ___Frequently

Thank you for your participation!

Iara Leão

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Appendix 4. Focus Group Study Questions In Portuguese

A sua opinião é importante para nós, por favor forneça o seu verdadeiro ponto de vista. Este questionário é anônimo. As suas respostas, se o (a) sr. (a) concordar em participar, serão utilizadas para fins de pesquisa através da Ohio University. Se o (a) Sr. (a) tiver dúvidas sobre este estudo, por favor entre em contato com Iara Leão - [email protected] ou [email protected], (1) 740 818-1410.

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- O que “Feito no Brasil” significa para o (a) sr. (a) como uma marca? Por favor liste 5 palavras ou frases. (Por exemplo, quando o (a) sr. (a) ouve “Feito na França”, o (a) sr. (a) pode pensar em moda, vinho, ou elegância. Quando o (a) sr. (a) ouve “Feito no Japão”, o (a) sr. (a) pode pensar em alta qualidade, tecnologia, ou confiabilidade. Quando o (a) sr. (a) ouve “Feito na China”, o (a) sr. (a) pode pensar em brinquedos, baixa qualidade, ou mercadoria barata.)

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- O (a) sr. (a) poderia descrever a sua percepção geral sobre o Brasil? Sinta-se a vontade para escrever sobre qualquer assunto: Política, Esportes, Economia, Comércio e qualquer outro assunto que o (a) sr. (a) queira compartilhar.

3) De acordo com as afirmativas a seguir, classifique a sua percepção sobre o Brasil e/ou “Feito no Brasil” em uma escala de 1 a 5. (Por favor, marque com um X a sua resposta.)

Discordo Concordo Discordo Neutro Concordo Exemplo Plenamente Plenamente Chocolate é delicioso. 1 2 3 x 5

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Discordo Discordo Neutro Concordo Concordo Afirmativas Plenamen Plenamente te O Brasil é um país amigável. 1 2 3 4 5 O Brasil pode ser considerado como um 1 2 3 4 5 país artístico e criativo. Os brasileiros são bem instruídos. 1 2 3 4 5 O Brasil é um país de pessoas 1 2 3 4 5 trabalhadoras. A força de trabalho no Brasil tem ensino 1 2 3 4 5 técnico. O Brasil é capaz de atingir altos padrões 1 2 3 4 5 tecnológicos. O Brasil tem alto padrão de vida. 1 2 3 4 5 Os brasileiros tem habilidades técnicas. 1 2 3 4 5 O Brasil é um país politicamente livre. 1 2 3 4 5

O Brasil é economicamente desenvolvido. 1 2 3 4 5

O Brasil tem um patrimônio cultural rico. 1 2 3 4 5 Quanto à política internacional, o Brasil é 1 2 3 4 5 um participante ativo. “Feito no Brasil” significa 1 2 3 4 5 excessivamente caro e luxuoso. O Brasil é conhecido por seu produtos 1 2 3 4 5 industriais. Produtos brasileiros são vendidos em 1 2 3 4 5 muitos países. Produtos brasileiros são duradouros e não 1 2 3 4 5 precisam de reparos constantes. Produtos brasileiros tem alta qualidade. 1 2 3 4 5 Produtos brasileiros são motados com 1 2 3 4 5 baixa qualidade. É difícil encontrar peças de reposição 1 2 3 4 5 para produtos brasileiros. Produtos brasileiros estão facilmente 1 2 3 4 5 disponíveis em/para outros países. Produtos brasileiros, em geral, são 1 2 3 4 5 excelentes.

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- Quais são os aspectos positivos e negativos que o (a) sr. (a) percebe do Brasil e/ou “Feito no Brasil”? Por favor forneça quaisquer palavras que lhe venham a mente: Positivos:______

______

Negativos: ______

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- De maneira geral, o (a) sr. (a) percebe o Brasil como sendo (por favor marque com um X a sua resposta): ______Positivo ______Negativo

- Em se tratando de “Sinceridade”, como o (a) sr. (a) avalia a marca “Brasil”? Por favor classifique cada característica em um escala de 1 a 5. (Por favor, marque com um X a sua resposta.)

Extremame Pouco Muito Nada Descritivo Descritivo nte Sinceridade Descritivo Descritivo Descritivo Realista 1 2 3 4 5

Foco na família 1 2 3 4 5

Honesta 1 2 3 4 5

Saudável 1 2 3 4 5

Original 1 2 3 4 5

Alegre 1 2 3 4 5

Amigável 1 2 3 4 5

- Em se tratando de “Entusiasmo”, como o (a) sr. (a) avalia a marca “Brasil”? Por favor classifique cada característica em um escala de 1 a 5. (Por favor, marque com um X a sua resposta.)

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Extremame Pouco Muito Nada Descritivo Descritivo nte Entusiasmo Descritivo Descritivo Descritivo Ousada 1 2 3 4 5

Na moda 1 2 3 4 5

Emocionante 1 2 3 4 5

Animada 1 2 3 4 5

Jovem 1 2 3 4 5

Imaginativa 1 2 3 4 5

Única 1 2 3 4 5

Atualizada 1 2 3 4 5

Contemporânea 1 2 3 4 5

- Em se tratando de “Competência”, como o (a) sr. (a) avalia a marca “Brasil”? Por favor classifique cada característica em um escala de 1 a 5. (Por favor, marque com um X a sua resposta.)

Extremame Pouco Muito Nada Descritivo Descritivo nte Competência Descritivo Descritivo Descritivo Confiável 1 2 3 4 5

Laboriosa 1 2 3 4 5

Segura 1 2 3 4 5

Inteligente 1 2 3 4 5

Técnica 1 2 3 4 5

Bem-sucedida 1 2 3 4 5

Líder 1 2 3 4 5

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- Em se tratando de “Sofisticação”, como o (a) sr. (a) avalia a marca “Brasil”? Por favor classifique cada característica em um escala de 1 a 5. (Por favor, marque com um X a sua resposta.)

Muito Extremame Pouco Nada Descritivo Descritivo Descritivo nte Sofisticação Descritivo Descritivo Classe alta 1 2 3 4 5

Glamurosa 1 2 3 4 5

Charmosa 1 2 3 4 5

- Em se tratando de “Resistência”, como o (a) sr. (a) avalia a marca “Brasil”? Por favor classifique cada característica em um escala de 1 a 5. (Por favor, marque com um X a sua resposta.)

Extremame Pouco Muito Nada Descritivo Descritivo nte Resistência Descritivo Descritivo Descritivo Resistente 1 2 3 4 5 Resistente a ambientes 1 2 3 4 5 externos Rustíco 1 2 3 4 5

- Quais produtos/empresas/indústrias brasileiras o (a) sr. (a) considera competitivos internacionalmente?

- Quais conselhos o (a) sr. (a) daria para seus clientes/amigos/familiares quando eles optarem por adquirirem produtos/serviços brasileiros?

- O que os brasileiros e/ou o governo brasileiro deveriam fazer para promoverem a imagem do Brasil?

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-Idade: ____Menos de 20 anos ____20-30 anos ____30-40 anos ____40-50 anos ____50-60 anos ____Mais de 60 anos -Sexo: ______Masculino ______Feminino -País de residência: ______-Nível de Escolaridade: _____ Ensino Fundamental ____Ensino Médio ____Ensino profissionalizante _____Ensino Superior ____Pós-Graduação -Ocupação profissional: ____Estudante ____Gestão/Finanças/Economia ____Educação ____Artes, entreternimento ou esportes ____Saúde ou serviços sociais ____Agricultura ____Administração ____Produção ou construção ____Serviços e outras ocupações -O (a) sr. (a) está familiarizado com Comércio Exterior? ____Sim ____Um pouco ____Não -Com qual frequência o (a) sr. (a) viaja para o exterior? ____Nunca ____Raramente ____Ocasionalmente ____Frequentemente

Obrigada pela sua participação!

Iara Leão

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