Andrea Mandel-Campbell author of "Why Mexicans don't drink Molson" writes about Canada’s brand image, and how the country can learn off countries such as New Zealand and Australia. With its widely acclaimed performance in the current economic turmoil, Canada can build over this “safe haven” image strategically to attract business and talent into a stable and prosperous economic environment – becoming something more than a National Geographic country reputed only for its majestic landscapes and wild animal life. Canada can become the Switzerland of America – social stability, economic prosperity and banking resilience beyond idyllic landscape.

It took months of cajoling by government bureaucrats, but in September New Zealand’s prime minister finally got what he was after: a spot on the Late Show with David Letterman. With drums rolling, a grinning John Key reeled off the “Top 10 Reasons to Visit New Zealand.” Included on the list: an offer to be picked up at the airport by the prime minister himself. It was typical Letterman humour, but Key went along, happy to showcase his country to millions of American viewers. He even tweeted about the experience after the show.

A remote island nation, population four million, New Zealand has in many ways set the gold standard in the highly competitive world of country branding. The Kiwis have not shied away from bold thinking to strengthen their international profile, and it’s high time Canada got over its golly-gee attitude and attachment to 1950s float planes and did the same.

Canada has probably never had a better opportunity to burnish its brand. The country’s stock has skyrocketed as a result of the global financial crisis and resulting worldwide recession. One of the few countries that did not have to bail out its financial sector, Canada has shot to the top of several global indexes.

In 2008, the World Economic Forum named our financial system the soundest in the world, while Forbes magazine ranked Canada the third-best country in which to do business, up four spots from the previous year. With corporate taxes coming down and the country flush with oil, uranium and natural gas, the place that everyone conveniently forgot is suddenly being looked to as a model for how to do things right. American media stars even want to know what we think — CNBC host Maria Bartiromo recently interviewed Prime Minister Stephen Harper for his take on global oil demand and the end of the recession.

“Canada is seen as phenomenally innovative, phenomenally creative, it’s got some great tech companies now and obviously it’s going to be a power in terms of natural resources, and I think it’s time Canada starts to embrace some of those things rather than quietly keeping them to itself,” says Jonah Bloom, editor of Advertising Age. But if Canada is going to capitalize, the country desperately needs to up its game. “We seem to have defaulted to the National Geographic approach,” says Tyler Brûlé, the Canadian head of London-based creative agency Winkreative. “I think there is a sexier and more alluring way to do it.”

Australia is a country very similar to Canada, with its Commonwealth heritage and rich natural resources. But it is aggressively pushing the boundaries of its brand. It mesmerized the world earlier this year with its global search to fill the “Best Job in the World,” a caretaker paid US$105,000 to live on an island paradise and blog about it. Some 34,000 people applied from dozens of countries.

The land Down Under followed up in August, announcing a $20-million campaign to revamp its international image that includes not just tourism, but spotlights the country’s creativity and products. “The Australians recognize they’ve got to be more than Crocodile Dundee and koala bears,” says Alan Middleton, assistant marketing professor at York University’s Schulich School of Business.

To his credit — and the chagrin of some Canadian media — Harper has been popping up all over U.S. television, eager to expound on the wonders of the Canadian economy to anyone who’ll listen. The PM is taking his job as the country’s No. 1 salesman seriously, but building up brand equity takes more than talk and a few ads, says Middleton. You’ve got to have a strategic plan, and back it up with policies and serious cash. In short, you’ve got to actually “do something,” he says.

New Zealand is doing just that. Using the exposure afforded the country as home to the Lord of Rings movie trilogy, it has not only stepped up tourism promotion but parlayed the technologies used in the making of the film to promote its tech sector abroad. Most important, as Prime Minister Key’s stint on Letterman shows, the country is willing to take chances.

Can Canada do that? In many ways, it’s drifted into its current star status by dint of the falling fortunes of others. Those fortunes are bound to rise again, and the scramble for tourism dollars, foreign investment and skilled labour will be ever more intense. Canada is not exactly known as a hotbed of radical risk takers. But this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and we will sorely regret letting it pass us by.

As Harper told a New York crowd in September: “Canada’s management of its economy and its financial system is a success story of which we can be justifiably proud and on which we can build.” The PM’s got a Twitter account. Now if only he can get on Letterman.

Article by Andrea Mandel-Campbell

Canada Brand for Food and Agriculture

Canada is an export dependent country and is the 5th largest exporter in the world. In 2008, Canada exported over $32 billion worth of food and agriculture around the world. The Canadian Government is investing $32 million for five years until March 2014 in the Canada Brand initiative to put the maple leaf brand on top quality products that Canadian farmers grow. The Canada Brand International Initiative is an industry-government led initiative formulated to assist Canadian exporters to leverage recognition of food/agriculture products in key international markets and differentiate themselves among global competitors. If this initiative is successful, Canadian food and agriculture will be instinctively perceived by citizens of other countries as a product that will meet or exceed their expectations in quality. Canada already has a good reputation on the international arena, and therefore, this initiative is designed to rub off some of that brand power on Canadian exports. The elements of the brand strategy are captured in a new branding handbook, “Quality is in our Nature: A Guide to Building and Managing the Canada Brand for Food and Agriculture”, that contains the brand architecture, key messages, a graphics and style section and other information to help strategically brand Canada as a supplier of safe, high quality products. This along with other tools and examples of ‘how to’ is available for qualified users who sign user agreements. In order to preserve the value of the Canada brand, the graphics and photos can only be used for products that are originally grown or harvested in Canada, and products produced elsewhere using Canadian input. Some examples of of great food products associated with their country are: Swiss chocolate, Colombian coffee, New Zealand lamb, and even our good old Canadian beef.

Celebrating Brand Canada

The winter Olympics is massive international event that is broadcasted globally and is a primary source of experiences. The Olympics promote tourism, business development opportunities, place of origin, nation building, and a chance to make history by hosting a great event. Even if the Games lose money, the intangible aspect of being associated with a legacy like the Olympics is immeasurable.

As the global credit crunch takes its toll on international tourist arrivals, with some destinations such as India reporting that inbound traffic has declined by almost 20%, it has become critical to shift gears in attracting visitors to our shores and intensify the marketing efforts for 2010 Vancouver Olympics. At the forefront of global contenders for best-leveraged-event, are the 2000 Olympics hosted by Sydney, which then IOC President, Juan Antonio Samaranch, declared “the best ever”, and Australia’s Olympic tourism strategy has been hailed by industry experts as a role model for future host cities. It was the IOC’s director of marketing, Michael Payne, who suggested that “Australia is the first Olympic host nation to take full advantage of the Games to vigorously pursue tourism for the benefit of the whole country. It’s something we’ve never seen taken to this level before, and it’s a model that we would like to see carried forward to future Olympic Games in Athens and beyond.”On the heels of the Sydney closing ceremony, the Managing Director of the Australia Tourist Commission (ATC), John Morse, stated that the Games changed forever the way the world sees Australia and that the country’s international tourism brand had been advanced by 10 years.

The success of Australia’s tourism branding campaign was reflected in the steady rise of Brand Australia in the Nation Brand Index over a period of five years. Says Simon Anholt, the author of the NBI: “What this tells us is that much of the world has an appetite for things Australian. Now is the time for Australia to be producing great Australian-branded products, culture, events, services, ideas, and media as fast as it possibly can. Anything that reflects, promotes and sustains those essential and admired Australian values will sell.”

On the contrary, hosting the 2008 Olympics appears to have done little for brand China. According to a recent poll carried out by GlobeScan for BBC World Service, global attitudes towards China are worsening. China’s positive ratings have fallen six points over the year - to 39%. “Our poll results suggest that China has much to learn about winning hearts and minds in the world,” said GlobeScan chairman Doug Miller. “It seems that a successful Olympic Games has not been enough to offset other concerns that people have.” This is despite spending more than US$400m on the lavish opening ceremony and scooping up the biggest medal tally of all nations participating in the 2008 Olympics.
Other than Australia, China did not use the Olympics to proactively promote inbound tourism, but rather focused on sanitizing the event and using it as a platform to demonstrate her logistical and organizational prowess. As a result, the nation brand index notes that “tourism appeal in China is lagging. People are showing no increase in their desire to visit China, despite the undoubted fascination of its historical heritage.

If there is one lesson from previous hosts, that sets a memorable event apart from an average one, it is Anholt’s conclusion of branding sporting events: “The event gives the country permission to make one single, clear, striking point about itself; and if the only point it manages is its ability to run an event competently, or that it has money to burn on new facilities and lavish opening ceremonies, then by the time the next host takes over - or even sooner - the world will have forgotten that the event ever took place.”

This is a pivotal opportunity for Canada to shine and show the world what we're all about and unleash her true potential. Cities across the globe compete for the chance to host international events like this, and now that we finally got one, we as a whole nation need to utilize it as a means to help bolster our boring,warm and fuzzy image to a more exciting, innovative and dynamic one that will drive the nation to be a global force to reckon with. It would be unfortunate if the same old dull and outdated images of Canada are re-inforced, like the mounties, igloos, moose's, bacon, etc. Rather showoff our cool diversity, creativity, arts, innovation, inventions, leaders etc. It's crucial that Canada collectively recognizes more useful and modern images to ingrain into the minds of foreign audiences inorder to gain real respect and a better competitive identity on the global stage. Such symbols may be Canadian inventions which no one know that we even invented: the game basketball, the fictional character Superman, Blackberry, Canada Arm, Insulin, the Telephone, the Light bulb, world class comedians, and etc. The symbols are excellent to showcase that Canada is a land of ideas and that it is the ideal place to do business.
From the tourism standpoint, the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) is up to very good. It has realized that the winter games provide unprecedented opportunities to showcase Canada to the world. They will be leveraging the media exposure afforded by the winter games, the CTC will work with its partners to differentiate Canada’s tourism brand and compel the world to explore Canada. Over 3.5 billion viewers will have their eyes trained on Vancouver,British Columbia and Canada, giving Canada an opportunity to position itself as a must-see destination.
The Government of Canada has allocated $26 million dollars for the CTC to execute their strategy to accelerate the awareness of Canada’s tourism brand and add depth and dimension to Canada’s image as a tourism destination. By promoting unique tourism images and stories, the CTC will build a bold new tourism personality for Canada and update perceptions of Canada as an exciting, modern and vibrant tourism destination. If all goes well just like Australia's experience, Canada's brand will be advanced by a decade after the games. Perhaps this is Canada’s ticket for overtaking the UK, Germany, France, Japan, Italy, and the USA, as the top national brand globally.

Looking back through history, international events are coveted by their host countries to promote their nations’ brands. The Olympics had successfully repositioned Greece and Spain as attractive nations. And the 1933 Chicago Expo is regarded as a marker for the US recovery from the recession. Also read my blog about how Germany radically transformed their image in just 30 days during the 2006 FIFA. Now its Canada's turn.

Below are some videos on the upcoming 2010 winter games, enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh3W7mtl6iQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQ0t5pdSME8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBpgASKC8kE&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGUnZsXW9Sw&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqdmVfzTMQY&feature=related