In today’s intensely competitive world, where access to capital, talent, ideas and consumers gets ever easier, countries’ ability to compete against each other for share of mind, share of income, share of talent and share of voice, is significantly determined by the power of their brand image. Unless a country “stands for” something special and different, there is little chance that this country will be able to compete successfully for any of the precious attention.
In this sense, it is argued that nation brand is not only about developing attractive places for tourists, foreign students, foreign direct investment (FDI), talented/skilful people and business transactions but also positioning a nation as a market leader in a certain category.
A country’s image sometimes can be linked to specific products. German – cars, Danish – furniture, French – wine, Italy – fabrics etc. these and many others are favourable product-class which are linked with their respective country image. Views of countries are formed not just by what a country says about itself, but by what it does, by its products, by what it looks like, by what people say about it and by the company it keeps.
According to Dinnie (2007), there are five objectives for nation branding. Nation brands itself to stimulate export growth, increase inbound tourism for tourism receipts, attract foreign investment into the nation, enhance political influence internationally and manage negative stereotypes. All of these play a role to the brand identity and brand image.
In the era of globalization, countries compete with each other for attention, respect and trust of potential consumers, investors, tourists, media and governments of other nations. A positive and strong nation brand provides a crucial competitive advantage in this international arena.
Nigeria’s marketing campaign has not been successful over the years because of poor brand packaging.
Tourism, the most visible aspect of the nation brand. Although tourism is one of the fastest growing sectors nowadays, there is a paucity of academic research on how branding theory can be applied to the tourism destination context in Nigeria.
We must seek to strategically create or re-enforce a defined purpose for the Nigerian brand so as to place our nation in a position to attract more foreign direct investment and also ensure global competitiveness.
Nigeria needs to consciously build a national brand that projects more of our positives as this has become imperative with the increasing competition among nations for foreign direct investments, capital destination, global, regional and sub-regional influence, as well as product and cultural export.
Countries have always been brands, in the truest sense of the word. Like any brand, nations have individual identities which are unique unto themselves, no two nations are alike. Based on their unique identities, many countries have been branding themselves deliberately and systematically for centuries, even if the respective vocabulary has only recently been adopted. Whereas the idea of branding nations is still questioned by most people, the notion of brand management for countries has been established as one of the key tools for attaining nation-wide competitiveness.
To some extent; vices such as corruption, poor leadership and infrastructure deficit have all combined to hamper the journey of Nigeria to becoming a viable nation brand.
As a nation, we need to have concerted efforts geared toward promoting conversations around what strengthens Nigeria, which are sellable to other parts of the world and these should be structured into a thematic campaign that is deliberately designed and targeted at foreign powers and investors.
Nigeria as a nation has over the years tried some branding projects which weren’t totally successful. The first was the Giant of Africa project, which was an unconscious proposition during the Yakubu Gowon era. It was an Afro-centric proposition which was more a derivative of Foreign Policy. The second was the Heart of Africa project which started during the second coming of Former President Obasanjo and was a conscious proposition, global in nature and more of a derivative of Economic and Investment Policy. The third was the Good People, Great Nation campaign which was initiated during the President Yar’Adua’s era as a national reorientation campaign to address observed negatives and get the world to see Nigeria differently.
The tourism sector, which is believed to be one of the most ‘tangible’ and manageable elements must effectively communicate the country’s selling-points as well as build and sustain equity through strategic reputation.
For Nigeria to be positioned as the next frontier market for business and investment, we must first seek the development, involvement and strengthening of the private sector, as the most successful nation of the world’s national positioning strategies are driven by public-private partnership.
Highlighting the significance of destination branding, Morgan and Pitchard (2000) argued that the battle for customers in the tourism industry will be fought not over price but over the hearts and minds and this indicates that branding will be the key to success.
Branding experts around the world have a general agreement that destinations can be branded in much the same way as consumer goods and services.
The internet has revolutionised the way humans interact and this is gradually changing the Nigerian narrative and we have such examples as the #IAMBRANDNIGERIA which seeks to promote the inspiring success stories of Nigerians who defied the odds to achieve success. There is a constant exchange, interactions, import and export of cultures in the digital space. Impressions are made and perceptions formed about our lifestyle; the power of the people now rests in their hands, on their smart phones.The major drivers of this revolution are digital natives, not tribal natives, the youths, who are willing to collaborate and fight for a common cause. They embody the Naija spirit, and can be veritable ambassadors for the repositioning of Nigeria in the global space.
Nigeria has an urgent need to search, identify and amplify its common purpose with a view to create a uniform and consistent narrative around the Nigerian brand.
For Nigeria to be truly successful in crafting a strategic positioning of our shared values we must amplify and not fabricate our stories and ideals in a manner that resonates with Nigerians and this is what the #IAMBRANDNIGERIA; a private sector drive initiative seeks to achieve. This would involve engaging stakeholders in the Nigerian enterprise.
Participation and conviction of the populace in the overall agenda of the country in manners where ideas are not just imposed on them but communicated as partners in progress is imperative.
Additionally, we must all seek to promote Nigeria in our own micro level to impart at a macro level.
Giving our nation a brand identity is considered not enough to be a market leader and have a strong positioning, we also need to create a deliberate and consistent purpose for the Nigerian brand.
