Place branding is a strategy focused on developing and managing an attractive and competitive identity for a territory (city, region or country). Its objective is to improve the perception of the place, attract tourism, investment and talent, promote exports, enhance the country's influence in multilateral scenarios, as well as strengthen the sense of belonging of its inhabitants. This territorial promotion is based on a long-term strategy, whose basis is a distinctive, unifying and credible narrative.
In this context, during his visit to Chile, the world expert, Robert Govers, analyzed the work of the Fundación Imagen de Chile and answered the question "Does Chile have a world-class country brand?" in meetings with stakeholders in Santiago, Valdivia and Rancagua. The Dutch writer and university professor is a senior partner at Anholt & Co, an international consulting firm that has advised more than 70 countries on branding and reputation issues.
In total, it was almost a week where Govers visited the Metropolitan Region, Los Ríos and O'Higgins. All the events had a high public presence, with the participation of authorities, unions, Made By Chilenas licensees and members of the Fundación Imagen de Chile, among them, the executive director, Rossana Dresdner.
"Chile has shown how building a country brand works".
Govers highlighted the work being done in Chile in this area, which is reflected in the Anholt Nation Brands Index (NBI) 2024, where it jumped from 41st to 38th place compared to the 2023 measurement.
"The NBI is a measurement of 50 countries and their performance in terms of name recognition and reputation. Chile has room for improvement, but it is also among the 10 countries with the fastest growing reputation," said the place branding expert.
According to Govers, it is important to consider that branding is a long-term effort: "Fundación Imagen de Chile has been in existence for 15 years and is among the few entities with such a solid and clearly successful track record. Building a country brand is a very arduous and long-term task," he said.
A country image that is built by all of us
Another of the strengths of Marca Chile's management, according to Govers, is the cross-cutting and collaborative work between the different actors that contribute to building the country's image. He emphasized that the Foundation "has done an excellent job in bringing together all the key actors. It is one of the few examples that has really shown the world how the construction of a country brand works".
"What makes us most satisfied is that Robert highlighted above all the tremendous collaborative and cross-cutting work we are doing with more than 60 institutions today. The country' s image is everyone's responsibility and in Chile we are assuming it. And I think that is our greatest achievement. We have strongly promoted this collaborative strategy and today we are proud of the results achieved," said the executive director of the Fundación Imagen de Chile, Rossana Dresdner.
The Undersecretary of Tourism, Verónica Pardo, added that "the work done by Imagen de Chile with Prochile, with the Undersecretary of Tourism, with Sernatur, with the different exporting associations and the studies carried out to see how the Chile Brand has advanced, we realize that it is indeed a world-class brand".
The general director of ProChile, Ignacio Fernández, pointed out that for exports "the country's image is fundamental to reach international markets. And for this, this collaborative work is very important, the public-private work and between the different areas of the public sector. Because when you reach international markets you arrive as an ambassador of the country. This is opening up markets for us worldwide and it is a value that we must maintain in Chile".
Work in regions
The expert Robert Govers together with the team of Imagen de Chile, toured other regions of the country, specifically Los Ríos and O'Higgins to explain the importance of a solid and consistent country image, aware that the identity of a country is diverse but at the same time unifying.
In the case of Los Ríos, the setting was the Hotel Puerta del Sol, where more than 40 people listened to the talk by the founder and president of the International Place Branding Association. A relevant topic for the region, since for some time they have been working together with the Fundación Imagen de Chile in the construction of their regional brand.
"I would like to thank the effort that has been made to have an expert in country brands, in the possibility of projecting our work in the region of Los Ríos twinned with Marca Chile and with the global experience that he has. Each region has its own identity, its own history, its own memory, and its own human resources that are projected in its own identity. In this sense, the construction of all the regions strengthens the image of Chile", says the governor of Los Ríos, Luis Cuvertino.
Just one day after visiting Los Ríos, it was the turn of the O'Higgins Region, specifically in the Casa Silva Winery, approximately 140 kilometers from Santiago. At the event, authorities and licensees of Made By Chileans listened to Govers' talk, where they resolved their doubts and exchanged experiences.
Darío García, Seremi of Economy, Development and Tourism of the Region, said that Robert Govers "invites us to the challenge that beyond the brand, the logo, what matters is the content and the collective construction of this brand over time. It has been very inspiring and I think it is also a recognition of the work that the O'Higgins Region has been doing for many years to position itself not only as a tourist destination, but also as a region that is an ambassador because we have great attributes that distinguish Chile".
This region, as well as Los Ríos, is working hand in hand with Fundación Imagen de Chile to strengthen its regional brand called"Región de O'Higgins, Lo Natural es Venir". In this sense, the objective of this cooperation is that, through the strengthening of the area's brand, the image of the country will also be enhanced.
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