Spain has brands that identify its activity and point to the high value of its products and services, with an important recognition worldwide since the transition to democracy – as in the case of the Monarchy –, or a strong tourist brand, which it continues to build, and which many consider to be the meaning behind the ‘Spain’ brand itself.

But, is that a limiting factor? Does Spain depend excessively on its relationship with the sun, bricks and holidays? Are all the foreign multinational industries and companies prepared to associate their brand with the idea of Spain, as some fashion brands have already done? Is it difficult for Spain to combine different industries in the mixture that makes up the entire country brand?

Also, the King’s personal brand and those of other important personalities in their own field (sport, business, arts or politics) contribute to define the idea that citizens from other countries have of Spain when thinking about visiting or buying (tourists), investing (analysts) or studying (students), working and living (professionals) in that European country.

An idea made up of many voices, but also many faces, according to Miguel Otero, Managing Director of the Renowned Spanish Brands Forum, as also certified by the honorary ambassadors of the ‘Spain’ brand, accredited to this association – which includes the main Spanish brands located abroad –, with the objective of publicly recognizing individuals, companies and institutions that have contributed most, in their lifetime, to the strengthening of Spain’s international reputation. Indeed, the British weekly magazine “The Economist” published a cover story and an article some time ago dedicated to analyze this point: “A country of many faces,” stated the magazine, stripping the different facets which, together, make up Spain’s reputation abroad, accepting and assuming that placing a country under a singe differential concept is extremely difficult.

Different images, one reputationThe term Spain does not mean the same when asking European students what this country represents to them when choosing it as a good place to study an MBA, or an Erasmus course, as when

Can Spain use the strength of the brands owned by its successfully internationalized companies to build up and improve its own country brand at an especially difficult time of crisis? What are the levers that must be used to achieve this, with which industries and under what premises must the foundations for a project named ‘Spain’ be laid?

Strategy DocumentsI11/2011

How to rebuild the Spain´s reputation using Spanish company brands abroad

Brand

Insights

Document prepared by Corporate Excellence with reference to, among other sources, the interventions of Miguel Otero (Managing Director of the Renowned Spanish Brands Forum) and Juan Pablo Merino (Director of Corporate Marketing and Brand at FCC and Professor at the ESIC Business & Marketing School) during the conference “How to build a country brand” organized by ESIC Business School in Madrid in October 2011.

Insights 2

How to rebuild the ‘Spain’ brand using Spanish company brands abroad

‘Personal brands

contribute to define the idea

that others have when they think

about visiting, buying,

investing, studying, living or

working in a country.’

asking international analysts who must decide whether to recommend investing in Spain or not, or Latin American consumers when they have to value services on offer and work with a Spanish company present in their country.

“The party is over,” read another cover story published by the principal economic magazine in the world – only a few months after the previous article mentioned – at the start of the current economic and financial crisis and with a clear reference to an idea of Spain based on chaos, overindulgence and constant entertainment.

For the overall image of the country also plays an important and decisive role when attracting resources and obtaining results. Spain as a brand is made up of its different parts, its industrial, personal or business brands, but Spain is also what it is as a whole, as an umbrella brand.

Precisely at a time like this it is more difficult to achieve the relevance of a brand such as Spain’s, even after intensifying communication campaigns or prioritizing efforts to inform about the positive aspects that work and improve in the context of Spanish society, despite other aspects that do not.

Spain’s reputation has fallen in the last years among the citizens of the more industrialized economies, especially Argentina, France and Germany, but continues to be relatively good in other countries, despite the downturn. Spain has a good reputation profile in some so-called ‘soft’ attributes (friendliness, kindness, lifestyle, leisure and entertainment), but in so-called ‘hard’ attributes (innovation, competitiveness, productivity and quality), Spain shows important weaknesses that must be corrected.

This collection of different images of Spain that make up the global reputation of the country is formed as a function of varying dimensions, varying aspects such as economic, political, social or technological.

Dimensions which, in turn, are supported by agents that fill them with content, such as regional administrations, business schools, the Armed Forces or large corporations, to name a few.

The dimensions and images are perfectly interconnected with each other, building the architecture of the Spain brand and resulting in its reputation. In Miguel Otero’s view, the question is not centered so much on which industries support these dimensions, but which personal brands (entrepreneurs) and which company brands (innovative) actually do.

Align meanings, identify originsAnother of the elements to bear in mind in this case is the dissociation between the origin of many

successful brands in the world and the image of the ‘Spain’ brand itself. In fact, most brands have as their distinguishing DNA a series of attributes (sociable, sensual, glamour, kind and fashionable) that do not entirely correspond with the genetic code of the ‘Spain’ brand.

Brands of international renown such as Zara, San Miguel, NH or Torres are not sufficiently associated with Spain by many consumers and opinion leaders throughout the world.

For that reason, it is necessary to create synergies between these brands and the ‘Spain’ brand, as well as with the personal brands of so many professionals that act as true ambassadors of the country, overcoming the traditional difficulties with collaboration that Spaniards have, even with projects overseas.

It is therefore necessary to ask oneself, as stated by Juan Pablo Merino, Director of Corporate Marketing and Brand at FCC (a company specializing in community services, infrastructure construction and energy production) what can Spanish corporate brands do to help the Spain brand and to be very clear about why the country wants to be known and recognized.

There is a direct relationship between global market share and the number of renowned brands belonging to each country. Brands and their names directly influence the perception of competitiveness in a country (locomotive effect) because large companies that become international drag their suppliers from the country of origin – as a locomotive drags a carriage.

What is the value of the Spain brand?Globalization is challenging the commercial and emotional reach that brands have. Increasingly, brands are values, as Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, stated, and they are also becoming an area of strategic development within organizations.

‘Glocal’, the combination of a global positioning and a local angle, is a challenge for brands, also for

Source: Simmonsgd, 2011

Spain Brand Committee

AmbassadorsSpain Brand Project

Insights 3

How to rebuild the ‘Spain’ brand using Spanish company brands abroad

‘Spain’s reputation

has deteriorated

in recent years

among citizens of the more

indus-trialized

economies, but

continues to be

relatively good in

other countries.’

roadmap, a specific strategy and a clear leadership, compared to a more tactical and artificial vision, more focused on opening up markets, selling and generating income in the short term, without thinking about the continuity and sustainability of the business in the long term.

Conclusion: A brand of many brandsTo achieve the reconstruction of the ‘Spain’ brand abroad, apart from improving the country’s reputation by changing its internal reality, it is necessary to align the prestige and renown that international Spanish companies have, as well as their professionals of all types, with the prestige and renown of the country itself, creating synergies and transferring meanings and values between both.

But for this to happen, it is also necessary to improve the ‘Spain’ brand. Only then will it be possible to recover its own reputation, damaged in recent years by the economic crisis, as well as improving its ‘harder’ aspects related with quality, innovation and productivity, in which Spain still has ground to cover.

country brands such as Spain, but this task requires the search of new positionings, new territories and the development of intangibles.

Brands are currently a key strategic asset for the international competitiveness of companies and countries such as Spain.

The lack of a strong brand represents a greater disadvantage than any technical, commercial, administrative or economic barrier would in whichever industry, dimension or territory.

Spanish companies contribute to strengthen the leadership and innovative image of Spain, to the extent that they also lead high profile industries and territories and key issues in globalization, as is the management of water, energy or infrastructure.

However, because of this, the competitive position of the Spain brand is difficult to sustain, as it is based on an exhausted growth model focused on the real estate and domestic consumer industries, unless it backs a competitive supply of goods and services on an international level that incorporates innovation, creativity and knowledge into the management of the brand thereby attaining success on a global scale, activating talent and an entrepreneurial spirit and coordinating initiatives from the public and private sectors in order to achieve excellence.

But in order to do all this, brands and companies also need to be proactive when defining a stable

Source: Renowned Spanish Brands Forum, 2007

The 20 most internationally well-known Spanish brands

0 % 10 % 20 % 30 % 40 % 50 % 60 % 70 % 80 % 90 %

Zara

Banco Santander

Mango

Real Madrid CF

Seat

Telefónica

BBVA

FC Barcelona

Sol Meliá

Iberia

Endesa

Iberdrola

Repsol

Freixenet

Torres

Porcelanosa

Roca

NH Hoteles

Carbonel

Borges

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