The Politics of Image and Nation Branding in Postcommunist Countries. Branding Policies in Romania

Abstract

Branding represents a prominent topic of the media today and people tend to understand it as being equivalent to advertising, graphic design, promotion, public relations or propaganda, but the concept has many other meanings when applied in the context of images or representations of a country. The article sustains that for postcommunist countries, besides the real necessity to conceive and develop new policies to ensure their economic growth, there is the necessity to elaborate new policies meant to define powerful nation-brands to promote their image on the international market. After the fall of communism, the process of nation branding has gained great popularity in Eastern-European countries becoming a focus of attention for their governments. In the past decade, these countries have engaged in branding campaigns which have been more or less successful.