Romanias National Brand- Promotion versus Perception

CCG 9TH

Semester 2013/2014-Internship Portfolio

Supervisor: Peter Wilgaard Larsen

Student: Cristea Andra Mihaela

First Response Paper-Introduction

According to Peter van Ham, the practice of branding has invaded all aspects of public and

private life. People no longer regard themselves as mere human beings, but as brands, being

advised to behave and position themselves as companies. Furthermore, territorial entities like

cities, regions and countries have started being branded like companies and products. In a similar

way to the corporate brand, territorial branding is perceived as a value generator in the

relationship between territorial entities and individuals, under the precept that states need to

justify their existence and to reconquer the hearts and minds of the people, both at a national and

international level (van Ham, 2002:3). Thus, the concept of nation branding has emerged.

Naturally, when discussing about branding, the question that follows, is what makes a brand?

According to the definition provided by American Marketing Association a brand is a name,

term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them, which is intended to identify the goods or

services of one seller or a group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors. A

brand is more than just a name; it is a complex bundle of images, meanings, associations and

experiences in the minds of people (Fan, 2010:98).

In his book, Building strong brands, Aaker provides an even more complex definition,

envisioning brands as a multidimensional mixture of functional, emotional, strategic and

relational components intended to collectively generate a unique set of associations in the

publics mind (Aaker, 1996:68).

Even though studies on the effect of a countrys image have been performed before, nation

branding is a relatively new area. Generally a nation refers to a large group of people that share

features like race or language, while a country means an area that is being occupied by a nation.

Although nation and country are concepts frequently used interchangeably in the literature, a

subtle distinction between nation brand/image and country brand/ image should exist. Therefore,

the concept of nation brand or country equity introduces the nation as a whole, its aim being to

create a clear, simple, differentiating idea built around emotional qualities which can be

symbolized both verbally and visually and understood by diverse audiences in a variety of

situations. To work effectively, nation branding must embrace political, cultural, business and

sport activities(Fan, 2006:6).

Opinions on what nation branding is differ. Thus, scholars interpretations have been divided

into several levels. At level A, the simplest way is to treat a nations brand as a visual symbol, a

slogan or a strapline. At level B, it is an umbrella brand encompassing many sector brands, like

tourism or exports. Level C, refers to a countrys image, reputation and positioning, while level

D aims to build and sustain a nations competitiveness. Finally, level E uses nation branding as a

tool in developing and maintaining a nations soft power and level F links it to national identity

(Fan, 2010:100).

It is clear that there are differences between a commercial product and nation branding, because

products can be discontinued, modified, relaunched, repositioned or improved. Nations or places,

on the other hand, do not have these options, since they do not have tangible attributes. The only

benefits are emotional. A nation brand is not owned, it has no natural monopoly on the exact

qualities it wishes to promote and the nation has no control of its image, facilitating outside third

parties to use this image for their own advantage (Fan, 2006:7-8). A nation brand encompasses a

wide variety of factors and associations like: Place-geography, tourist attractions; Natural

resources, local products; People- race, ethnic groups; History; Culture; Language; Political

and economic system; Social institutions; Infrastructure; Famous persons; Picture or

image(Fan, 2006:7)

In an attempt to summarize some of the major purposes and focuses of nation branding, the main

ideas would look somewhat as it follows:

- To recreate national identities (Olins, 1999)

- To augment the competitiveness (Anholt, 2007, Lee, 2009)

- To promote economic and political interests both at home and internationally (Rendon,

2003, Szondi, 2007)

- To alter or improve a nations image or reputation (Gudjonsson, 2005, Fan, 2006)

To sum up, nation branding concerns the image and reputation that a nation enjoys in the world,

image and reputation both being components of a symmetrical communications process

between the nation (self) and its international stakeholders (others). Thus, a nations image is a

dynamic perception of a specific area of national distinction, whereas nations reputation is a

particular type of feedback received by the nation from the outside world, concerning the

credibility of the nations identity claims (Fan, 2010:100).

Image and reputation are thus becoming important parts of a states strategic equity, since just

like branded products, branded states depend on trust and customer satisfaction. It is important,

how a state makes use of its history, geography and ethnic motifs to construct its own distinct

image. Still, some analysts argued the fact that a states image is irrelevant and that only

economic, political and strategic calculations determine how acceptance at an international level.

But, if the situation would be so straightforward, political life would be extremely predictable

and transparent, especially since the traditional diplomacy of yesterday is now in the past. Future

politicians will have to train themselves in brand asset management, their tasks consisting of

finding a brand niche for their state, assuring customer satisfaction and creating brand loyalty

(van Ham, 2001: 4-6).

Moving on with the discussion, it appears that nations are making increasing efforts to hone

their country brand in order to fulfil three major objectives: to attract tourists, to boost their

exports and to stimulate inward investment. A further objective is talent attraction, countries

competing in attracting higher education students and skilled workers. Nation branding can also

increase currency stability, help restore international credibility and investor confidence, increase

international political influence, stimulate international political partnership. Another objective,

especially for the East European countries, like Romania, might also be to distance themselves

from the old economic and political system that existed before transition. A further incentive for

countries to make use of branding lies in the capacity of its techniques to create differentiation.

For example, in the tourism sector, most destinations make almost identical claims of their

beautiful scenery, therefore the need to find a niche and to differentiate from others is acute

(Dinnie, 2008: 11-22)

It should also be mentioned that nations need to acknowledge the fact that the brand-building

process requires long-term commitment over the years, dominated by values that define the

behavioral characteristics of a population, rather than aiming for a short-term advertising

campaign, whose effects may be ephemeral. Making explicit what values and experiences the

brand has, could entail the collective involvement of the key stakeholders. These stakeholders

might include representatives from government, commerce, NGOs, tourism and the media

(Dinnie, 2008: 11-17).

Since nation branding involves promoting a nations image to an international audience, it

encounters a number of challenges. First, national identity is a difficult concept to pin down, thus

the brands image, tending to be complex and nebulous. Second, the biggest challenge is how to

communicate a single image to different audiences in different parts of the world. Thirdly, the

time dimension has to be taken into consideration, a lot of stereotypes and cultural associations

regarding a nation, having their roots in centuries of history. Therefore, an understanding from

the behalf of the consumers existing perception of the nation becomes vital, their assessment

being based on the following factors: education, personal experience, the depiction of the

country through media channels, stereotypes etc. (Fan, 2006:9-11).

Along these lines, in can be inferred that branding experts have become persuaded that nation

branding can turn into a synthesis between brand management, public diplomacy, investment,

export promotion and tourism. Nation Branding campaigns are meant to enhance the cultural

stability of a nation, to ameliorate social integration and cohesion by advancing national

confidence, and to bring together local and national interests (Varga, 2013:829).

In what was expounded so far, tourism serves as one of the most important aspects of the whole

nation branding process, implicitly leading to place branding as an adjuvant. Location branding

is also required to make a countrys image function. Moreover, globalization and the

harmonizing effect of European integration have put pressure on locations to develop, manage

and put an advantage on their brand equity (van Ham, 2002:254).

Through touristic promotion the projection of a political, national self-image or political identity

is intended, especially when it comes to former socialist countries from Eastern Europe, where a

key component of political transformations over the past decade has been the construction of a

new identity and projecting it to the wider world (Light, 2001: 1054). Furthermore, Light

believes that the representation of local cultures is a political act, nations encouraging domestic

tourism in order to promote nation-building and national identity. By doing so, tourism can

become a significant of a states foreign policy and international relations, raising the

international profile and prestige (Light, 2007:747).

Taking into consideration all the above and the organization in which I have performed my

internship, the Embassy of Romania in the Federal Republic of Germany, this portfolio aims to

make use of the expounded theory and to correlate it with some of the tasks that I was assigned

to during the traineeship, in order to perform a small research (due to the limited internship

period and limited number of pages) on Romanias national brand.

In the three months that I was an intern with the Embassy, the main activities were press related,

thus enabling me to have access to the German press and its writings regarding Romania.

Therefore, the portfolios focus will be on drafting an image that Romania has in the German

society based on the German press and to compare it to the image that Romania is trying to

construct for itself at an international level through its recent nation branding and tourism

campaign, Explore the Carpathian Garden. By implementing the research design, a small

pattern of values, which Romania promotes will be drafted, in order to compare it with another

one based on a couple of articles from German newspapers, which I was assigned to review.

Afterwards, the results will be compared in order to see if the values promoted through branding

have transcended internationally, and if the countrys image is perceived as it is promoted. The

values will be identified by using factors, like the ones described prior (geography, tourist

attractions, natural resources etc.)

The research question that emerges from this is: Considering that Romania is a former

communist country, frequently referred to as one of Europes poorest countries, and that it has

confronted itself with a period of transition, what outcome did the countrys branding campaign

have in the German written media. Is it perceived as a country changing towards better, or as a

former socialist country, still struggling with poverty, having problems in adapting to Western

mentality? Are there any common Romanian features that can be identified both nationally and

internationally?

Second Response Paper- Methodology

The research design that will be implemented for this portfolio, will be a comparative one, since

it entails studying two cases by using more or less identical methods. It embodies the logic of

comparison, according to which social phenomena can be better understood when they are

compared in relation to two or more contrasting cases or situations. Furthermore, Bryman

considers this design useful, particularly when individuals set out to examine particular issues in

two or more countries with the intention of comparing the way they manifest in different socio-

cultural settings, using the same research instruments. The purpose can be to seek explanations

for similarities or differences or to obtain a deeper understanding of social reality in different

contexts (Bryman, 2012:72).

Even though, the comparison is based on the same agent, in other words on the same country,

Romania, this type of research is best for the current situation, because it aims to focus on two

different sides of the problem, unlike the case study design, which entails only a detailed and

intensive analysis of a single case (Bryman, 2012: 66).

In regards to issues of validity, replicability and reliability, the comparative design is based on

two or more cross-sectional studies that were carried out more or less at the same point in time.

The key to such a design consists in the ability to allow the distinguishing characteristics of two

or more cases to act as a springboard for theoretical reflections about contrasting findings

(Bryman, 2012: 74-75).

Since the comparative design applies best in relation to a qualitative research strategy (Bryman,

2012:74), qualitative content analysis shall be used. This form of content analysis comprises a

searching-out of underlying themes in the materials being analyzed (Bryman, 2012:557).

Furthermore, the analysis is going to be focused on mass-media outputs. Such sources can be

examined so that their qualitative nature to be preserved. Typically, such analysis entails the

search for certain themes that appear in the sources (Bryman, 2012:552). As an example of how

qualitative content analysis has been done before, Bryman provides Beharells content analysis

of AIDS/HIV in the British press, which served as a detailed investigation of themes in media

representations of the risk of transmitting HIV through heterosexual relations (Bryman,

2012:552). The same author mentions the fact that previous qualitative content analyses and the

processes through which the themes were extracted were often not specified, the extracted

themes usually being illustrated with brief quotations (Bryman, 2012:557).

The first one who has outlined an approach was Altheide. He called it ethnographic content

analysis, which follows a recursive and reflexive movement between concept development-

sampling- data collection- data coding- data, and analysis-interpretation. The aim is to be

systematic and analytic but not rigid. Categories and variables initially guide the study, but

others are allowed and expected to emerge during the study, including an orientation to

constant discovery and constant comparison of relevant situations, settings, styles, images,

meanings and nuances (Altheide, 1996:16 in Bryman, 2012:559). Thus, ECA employs some

categorizations, but only in the beginning providing great potential for refining those categories

and even generating new ones. In addition, it also emphasizes the context of the documents

(Bryman, 2012: 559).

Altheide sets the following steps as mandatory for the researcher: generate a research question;

become familiar with the context within which the documents were/are generated; become

familiar with a small number of documents; generate some categories that will guide the

collection of data and draft a schedule for collecting the data in terms of the generated

categories; test the schedule by using it for collecting data from a number of documents; revise

the schedule and select further cases to sharpen it up (Bryman, 2012: 559).

The data that is going to be used is of secondary nature. The data collection, which, according to

Bryman is the gathering of data obtained from the sample, which helps to provide an answer to

the research questions (Bryman, 2012, p. 14) will enable the analysis.

The data analysis will be thematic, one of the most common approaches to qualitative data

analysis. However, unlike other strategies such as grounded theory or critical discourse analysis,

the thematic analysis does not have an identifiable heritage and was not outlined in terms of a

distinctive cluster or techniques. Also, for some writers the theme is interconnected with the code

(Bryman, 2012: 578). Still, despite the fact that this approach is relatively new, it applies to the

research design, thus providing an answer for the research question. Due to the limited time and

space allocated to the analysis, identifying themes and comparing them, appears to be at hand.

When searching for themes, Ryan and Bernard recommended looking for:

repetitions: topics that recur again and again; indigenous typologies or categories: local

expressions that are either unfamiliar or are used in an unfamiliar way; metaphors and

analogies: the way in which participants represent their thoughts in term of metaphors or

analogies; transitions: the ways in which topics shift in transcripts and other materials;

similarities and differences: exploring how interviewees might discuss a topic in different ways

or differ from each other in certain ways or exploring whole texts like transcripts and asking

how they differ; linguistic connectors: examining the use of words like because or since, because

such terms point to causal connections in the minds of participants; missing data: reflecting on

what is not in the data by asking questions about what interviewees, for example, omit in their

answers to questions; theory-related material: using social scientific concepts as a springboard

for themes (Bryman, 2012: 580). Out of all these suggestions, in the process of analysis an

emphasis shall be placed on repetition, probably one of the most common criteria for

establishing a pattern. Repetition in this case will refer to recurrence within a data source, that

has relevance for the research question (Bryman, 2012:580).

Along these lines, the research will be divided in two sections, both based on qualitative content

analysis.

The first part will concentrate on several newspaper articles from the German newspaper

Deutsche Welle, that publishes not just in German, but in English as well. This journal was opted

for in order to avoid faulty translations from German to English. The articles I will be focusing

on, are chosen from the ones I was assigned to review during the three months I have worked

with the Embassy. Due to the limited number of pages, I have decided to choose only 6. Two for

each month of internship.

The second part will analyze three different TV spots that belong to Romanias most recent

branding and tourism campaign Explore the Carpathian Garden. This campaign was launched

in 2011 and it meant to change the way foreigners perceived this Balkan country.

Eventually, the results will be compared in order to provide an answer for the research question.

A list of values will be drawn as a tool to enable the observation and their recurrence will help in

discovering a theme.

These values will be based on nation branding components, that were presented in the first

response paper. A definition for each one of them shall be provided in the analysis part.

The fact that the entire research is subjective is acknowledged, since I, as the author of this

portfolio, assume the role of the coder, based on my work experience. Moreover, my opinion

cannot be confronted with others, therefore the criteria in evaluating this social research must be

based on trustworthiness, just like Licon and Guba suggested (Bryman, 2012:49).

The justification for opting selecting this type of research has its roots in the functions of the

organization I have worked in. The Embassy promotes Romanias interest at an international

level, therefore being part of the whole nation branding process.

Moreover, while I was an intern the two major events that the Embassy has organized were

cultural and tourism related. The first one was a conference centered on Transylvania and the

possibility for one of its biggest cities, Cluj, to become European Cultural Capital, while the

second was the reception hosted for the national day. During these events, the visitors (diplomats

and other guests) were provided mostly with tourism leaflets and brochures, meant to promote

Romanian culture and major tourism attractions. This is the motive I have chosen the tourism

campaign, also regarded as a branding campaign. Additionally, due to the fact that the only

access I have had to German perceptions towards Romanian culture and civilization was through

the media, my second reason explains itself as well.

Another ground for researching the nation brand was given by two more aspects. The first one is

that Romania is a transitional society. Even though two decades have passed since the fall of the

communist regime, it still does not seem that Romanian society has found its way towards

Western mentality and Europeanization. The second is also Europe related, because by the end of

2013 a lot of countries, including Germany, have started press campaigns against Romanians and

Bulgarians, generated by the elimination of work restrictions for citizens of these countries,

starting in January the 1st, 2014.

Third Response Paper-Analysis

This section will focus on analyzing the collected data by making use of the research design

described in the previous response paper. In consequence, two content analyses will be

performed using thematic analysis by repetition.

In order to establish a theme and to analyze its recurrence in a piece of news and in the TV spots,

eight characteristics, described in the first response paper as components of a national brand, will

be pursued. These are:

-Place: referring to geography and tourism attractions

-Natural resources or local products

-People: referring to race or ethnic groups

-History: referring to culture and language

-Political and economical system

-Social institutions, including governmental

-Infrastructure

-Famous personalities

While analyzing the articles I will try and identify as many of these as possible and establish a

dominating theme. The articles were published during the three months of my internship, and

find themselves amongst the one the Embassy has chosen to review and resume and later on

send the acquired information to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania. Each and every one

of these articles was used either in press reviews that the ambassador approved daily, or in

Infogrames.

Consequently, the first article, called The Nightingale of the mulberry garden, is about a

famous Romanian figure, singer Maria Tanase. The predominant theme is history and a lot of

references are made to the culture, Her unique voice and campaign to fight the fascist regime

are remembered today(Deutsche Welle, 2013). Also there are some place references Maria

grew up in a rural suburb of Bucharest, where her parents ran a garden center; In the

decadent 1930s the Romanian capital was considered the Paris of the East; Other artists sang

songs from a particular region, but Tanase could sing melodies from across the country: from

Maramures in the North to Oltenia, from Transylvania to Wallachia; With her ability to make

those songs her own, Maria Tanase bestowed a national identity on her torn country, say music

experts (Deutsche Welle, 2013).

From what was cited, it can be inferred that in the first article subjected to analysis, three major

components are present: history, famous personalities and place promoting. This article

endorses Romanian folklore and authentic culture turned into heritage and history.

The second article, EU migrants no burden on welfare system centers on people and ethnic

groups and also on political and economical systems: German Interior Minister Hans-Peter

Friedrich warned earlier this week of a wave of poverty-stricken immigrants heading from

Romania and Bulgaria to Germany - in particular, migrants who are after the country's social

welfare funds; Along with British Home Secretary Theresa May and Austrian Interior

Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner, Friedrich called on the EU Commission to act against the

immigrants from the eastern Balkans (Deutsche Welle, 2013). It expresses worries about the

flux of immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria and the effects that this might have on the

German welfare system: "It just can't be the case that freedom of movement [in the EU] is being

so abused by people who are only changing countries to benefit from higher social assistance,"

said Friedrich at a meeting of EU interior ministers in Luxembourg (Deutsche Welle, 2013).

Social institutions are also mentioned: the municipalities are complaining that they have been

left to deal with these problems alone, and rightly so. And not just the most recent problems, but

also the existing problems" (Deutsche Welle, 2013). Romanians are described as social burden,

being thought that they flee their homeland for poverty reasons, invading Western countries, like

Germany, to take advantage from the system. From this article, the results are people and social

institutions. Despite the fact that there are institutions that are against this point of view, the

poverty factor makes a lot of official figures to ignore the fact that this country is a member of

the European Union, that has equal amounts of rights as the others.

Article number three German cities suffer from poor immigrant influx follows the same theme,

Romanian immigrants disturbing the smooth deployment of the social system that Germany has

worked so hard to construct: Major German cities like Berlin, Mannheim and Duisburg are

having to deal with large numbers of poor people from Romania and Bulgaria, the EU's two

poorest countries, who are moving into cheap sub-standard housing and receiving monthly child

benefit of 190 euros ($260) per child (Deutsche Welle, 2013). There are references to people

and ethnic groups, to places from Romania described as desperate conditions in their home

countries(Deutsche Welle, 2013). The fact that Roma minorities live in such desperate

conditions, might also be interpreted as an allusion to the bad infrastructure that Romania has.

All in all the general theme appears to be poverty, migration and its bad effects on the German

society.

The fourth articles Cuts loom for Romanias Enescu Festival is about culture, places and

political and economical system: Despite musical high points and a top-notch program, the

21st Enescu Festival in Bucharest ended this autumn with warnings. It will be up to the

Romanian politicians to save the financially threatened, but popular event (Deutsche Welle,

2013). This time the Romanian capital is described as a magical place, depicting another famous

Romanian person, composer and violinist George Enescu. However, it still envisions Romania as

a poor and corrupt country, since being one of Europe's poorest countries, Romania draws

heavily on taxpayer money to finance the expensive music showcase. The government is now

questioning its budget, where 90 percent of the funds come from taxpayer pockets (Deutsche

Welle, 2013). Even though cuts to the budget will have to be performed and the nature of this

event will have to be changed for money reasons, it still presents a positive aspect. It shows that

Romania has a cultural side as well, despite all the difficulties in the political and economical

system.

Articles five and six, Germany, Britain press for inner-EU migratory curbs and Experts reject

German migration fears, are also on the immigration theme. In the first one references to

political and economical system and people are made. It is mentioned that the conditions of

poverty from Bulgaria and Romania do not make these countries fitted for the Schengen area.

The second one, also based on people and ethnic groups is actually portraying the migration

process in a positive light, defending Romanians and Bulgarians: The desire to live a better life

in a different country is by no means objectionable, Andreas Pott says. Quite the contrary: "It

shows innovation potential; While there is widespread concern Bulgarian and Romanian

nationals might apply for social benefits in droves, experts don't expect that to happen. Recent

EU statistics actually paint a different picture: last year, only 9 percent of Romanians and

Bulgarians living in Germany drew social benefits; Demographic change and an ageing and

diminishing society make migration welcome and necessary at all times (Deutsche Welle,

2013).

From the articles in discussion a characterization of Romania as a poor third world country,

whose citizens and ethnic minorities are looking to take advantage on better developed societies

derives. The most recurrent theme in this particular German newspaper is the one about

migration and its consequences on the welfare system and on the working force. Culturally

speaking, some well known figures and events are presented, but then again the political and

economical system is blamed for their diminish. There is no big emphasis on what the country

has to offer tourism wise and mostly the infrastructure is described as poor developed, the living

conditions for some citizens being harsh and rigid.

For the second part of the analysis three TV spots will be put under the spotlight. These three

belong to the Discover the Carpathian Garden tourism campaign, launched on May 31th 2010.

The first one has a general theme, while the other two are based on culture and nature.

Some might argue that on the international scene Romania has almost no brand, no clearly

defined national interests, no centralized economic policy to inform the governments

relationship with other countries and no guiding theme for others to use in order to connect with

the country (Romania-Insider, 2013). Despite these beliefs, the Romanian Ministry of Regional

Development and Tourism has tried to create a positive image for the country by increasing

Romanias attractiveness in the international environment as a tourists and business destination

(ziaruldeiasi, 2013).

The first commercial, the general one provides an incursion in the Romanian scenery through

nature and architectural landscapes. While the images roll, words like: explore, adventure,

architecture, traditions, nature, mystical, authentic, experience and unique appear on the screen.

Out of the assigned branding components place, natural resources, history and culture can be

identified.

In the second spot, the one about culture, the idea remains the same. Landscapes with important

landmarks roll on the screen, this time the words explore, unique culture, welcoming, heritage

and authentic appearing. Apart from place, natural resources, history and culture, the people

component appears, indicating the fact that Romanians are friendly and welcoming people.

Last but not least, the commercial about nature based on the following words: explore, nature,

relaxing, pure and experience, makes place, and natural resources its identifiable branding

components.

All three spots are based on the same theme with a few minor differences. The main idea appears

to be that this is a country worth visiting and exploring due to its unique places filled with natural

resources, history and culture. They all end with the brands slogan Explore the Carpathian

Garden and the brands logo, a green leaf, representing the primordial nature motif, of freshness

and growth. It seems that the logos bright colors are a reminder of nature, sun and sea

(ziaruldeiasi, 2013).

As a preliminary conclusion, it can be deduced that there is a dissonance between how the Self is

presented and how the Others perceive the Self. In other words, the branding campaign portrays

the country in a manner that does not correspond to the international perception. While there is a

wish for a unique and authentic image of Romania filled with cultural heritage and history,

perfect for adventures in idyllic landscapes, it seems that the international environment is

focused on other aspects like poverty and ethnic groups. Therefore, social and political aspects

about the county overcome cultural and historical ones.

However, if Lights point of view is to be considered, in presenting itself in the way that it

wants to be seen by Others, a country can make a statement to those others of who we are and

how we want you to see us (Light, 2001:1055). Besides, when developing a brand through

which to attract tourists a country will seek to stress its own particular character and

uniqueness and portray itself in a way that flatters and reinforces national identity (Light,

2001: 1055). Therefore, promotional strategies, that might include ethnic identity, rural

landscapes, culture, national heritage and history will take place (Light, 2001:1056).

Romania remains a good illustration of a country who has managed to create two different

national identity representations. The first one, the Western position, aims to bring European

influences into the countrys development and to reinforce the idea that it is a part of the

European mainstream. The second, the Eastern position, stresses how important native or

indigenous Romanian values still are, being more hostile towards change and towards Europe

(Light, 2001:1057).

For Romania the rural tourism that it focuses on allows the country to acknowledge its pre-

socialist past, along with rural landscapes and lifestyles perpetuated to this present day. By doing

so, it grants it the possibility to concentrate on its strengths, deflecting the attention from

structural problems that the political and social system is having (Light, 2001:1058). This might

be a reason why in the branding campaign is described as a unique but rural and archaic place.

Another reason for why the country is not perceived as it intends to be might lie in the fact that

the communist regime did not have time to be entirely erased. Instead, it was replaced with a

new convenient one. In other words, the end of communism did not open a new debate on

national identity, but took the lid off of one that had been boiling underneath (Kaneva,

Popescu, 2011:195).

The fact that the general symbolism of the spots is more or less generic, listing some of the

countrys touristic assets plus the juxtaposition between tradition, heritage and adventure and

new, capture the tension between a national identity that struggles between past and present. The

past one is determined by pre-communist history, while the present one by the capitalist

modernity, transforming Romania into a crossroad, a meeting place between East and West

(Kaneva, Popescu, 2011:200).

According to Kaneva and Popescu, two university professors who have performed a similar

study on past nation branding campaigns for Romania and Bulgaria, it appears that these two

countries are lost in time, vacillating between an idyllic, folkloric, pre-modern past and a glitzy,

luxurious, modern future. In that sense, history has been evacuated from the national identity

narratives in commercials and replaced by a gallery of commodities heritage sites (Kaneva,

Popescu, 2011:201).

Thusly, a paradox emerges. On one hand, there is the nation brand meant to build a new and

unique identity for Romania, but on the other hand it is being undermined by a lack of internal

consensus. As a consequence, the narratives of the brand are built on what it is believed that the

West wants to see, creating the sense of split identity, the consciousness of a perpetual

differentiation between an image of oneself one projects outwards and presents as object of the

tourist gaze and another true self, mostly characterized by being different, not identical with

what is being projected (Kaneva, Popescu, 2011:202).

This precise point of view might explain why as long as there is an internal disagreement in the

Romanian systems, the German media chooses to put more emphasis on the negative aspects of

the society, rather than promoting the positive ones as well. It may be inferred that the branding

campaigns are unsuccessful, therefore, not believable, since the reality does not match the

description.

Moreover, when it comes to national self-definition or redefinition and to provide the national

identity with a new sense it may be useful to focus on developing participatory political

solutions. Also, nation branding should consider involving a wider range of participants from

various social sectors in a democratic dialogue, not just to be assigned to and abandoned in the

hands of branding and marketing experts (Kaneva, Popescu, 2011:203). Moreover, it is important

to be aware of the fact that by subsuming national symbols into a totalizing discourse of

commodification and consumption, nation branding contributes to the depoliticization of

national redefinition after communism and severely limits the range of national subjectivities

that post-communism countries can imagine for themselves (Kaneva, Popescu, 2011:203).

Conclusions

As a conclusion, after looking at both sides, the promotion and the perception, it can be stated

that Romania still has a lot of work to do when it comes to its national brand. Despite the fact

that more than two decades have passed since the fall of the communist regime, it appears that

this country is still in transition and it is still searching for her path towards West. The effects of

the fall, like poverty, slow development and political dissensions are still visible and despite all

the efforts, these are the ones in focus. Based on the articles analyzed the perceived image of the

country does not match the one that it was intended to be perceived by the public.

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