Andrew Potter (whose tremendous book Rebel Sell I mention here repeatedly) interviews Carleton University professor and nation-branding expert Nicolas Papadopoulos about why "people trust Canadians, no matter whom you ask:" (via)
[Potter] So what are the keys to successful place branding at the national level?
[Papadopoulos] The few that do show signs of some success tend to be those who try to focus more on what we might call the "core competencies." In study after study after study that we have done in the last 25 years or so, and in practically every other study done by anybody else who has tried to measure the image of Canada, one thing comes out loud and clear -- and this is the image of trustworthiness. People trust Canadians, no matter whom you ask, no matter where. That is a core competence. When I say they trust us, we score at the top of any other nation anywhere.
Most interesting to me is the discussion about "core competences" versus attempting to graft some type of identity onto a place. Mainly, that the latter always falls short, much as a designer, planner, or marketer may wish otherwise:
[Papadopoulos] That goes back to something you said before: when they invented "Cool Britannia," nobody asked the Brits, "Do you feel cool?" It was some central unit that decided, "Gee, this is cool. Let's do it." There are so many others that have failed this way.
[Potter] That's interesting, because it strikes me that if you're trying to sell yourself or your country or your place to others on a certain brand proposition, you can't separate that out from how the people see themselves and understand their own identity. So to get back to Canada for a second, we like it when people say they see Canadians as friendly and trustworthy and what-have-you, but the flip side is Canada, the country that has an ongoing identity crisis.
Below: The Millennium Dome, perhaps one of the most widely-known architectural outcomes of of Tony Blair's Cool Brittania. (via)
Sidenote: Cool Britannia is coming back again.
(Much, much) earlier. Also, here, here, and here too, to name a few.
Hey -- thanks for the props. I enjoyed doing the interview with Nic, but one small correction. The formatting of the intvw on the OC website doesn't properly identify who is speaking, and in the second Q/A you quote above, the order of speaking should be reversed. The good professor was the one who mentioned Cool Britannia; then I followed up with a question about Canada's identity crisis.
Great blog.
Posted by: andrew potter | 04/12/2008 at 18:20
Hi Andrew--
Anytime! Many thanks for the note, and the clarification as well. All fixed.
Posted by: Chris | 04/12/2008 at 20:35