If Canada continues on the path it is following today, it's not unreasonable to think that this will be the Canadian century, the era in which the country comes into its own as a world economic power and finally steps out of America's shadow.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
The Canadian Century
If Canada continues on the path it is following today, it's not unreasonable to think that this will be the Canadian century, the era in which the country comes into its own as a world economic power and finally steps out of America's shadow.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Canadas World Project was a 3 years citizens dialogue that engaged Canadians in developing a new story for Canadas role in the world. The SFU Centre for Dialogue brought Canadians together for conversation on issues that define the current global environment. They then focused on how to share the results of those conversations and how to implement changes made based on the priorities the conversation participants across the country game them.
The project was not lead or funded by the Government of Canada, but rather funded and lead by individuals, businesses, international organization, and foundations who wanted to inspire citizens to author a new story for Canada. This project is a great example of how citizens can take charge and get actively engaged with the story writing of their own country oppose to soley leaving the task to their Governments to define their nation on the world stage. You can watch the documentary of the whole process it took to accomplish this amazing and innovative project at http://www.canadasworld.ca/
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Canadian Identity and Sports
Some countries struggle with something called a “national identity crisis”. The place may lack a shared vision, self concept, unity, sense of belonging, and so on, hence; these identity issues can lead to further problems socially and economically for the nation as a whole. A national identity is the foundational element that must be addressed before any other initiatives to progress the society.National identity is a sense of belonging to a national society which is more than just being legally integrated; it’s about a feeling that this society and Government is yours, it’s more of a psychological integration if anything. National identity is about the common experiences, memories, and shared visions that we share altogether as residents of a specific place.
A strong national identity or social solidarity is extremely difficult and complex to establish. Weak national identities are caused by a multiplicity of factors and are very difficult to pinpoint which ones the primary culprits. Germans use to be perceived as humorless, cold and unfriendly imaginably because of the hostile and disturbing history of the country, or South Africans, both white and black had major tension between each other especially when Nelson Mandela was released from prison.Later down the road, the German identity was miraculously altered in only 30 days during the 2006 FIFA world cup. In those ominous four weeks between June 9 to July 9 2006, Germany's image transformed dramatically, from: serious, humorless, conservative, cold to carefree, fun, welcoming, hospitable, modern and innovative. Germany became a nation charged with a sense of pride and common destiny by taking a stylish approach in nation building, where they had large outdoor fan festivals, and a core message of “a time to make friends” campaign. This core message touched their national psyche to such an extent that they were actually moved to and wanted to deliver the "brand promise" of being friendly and fun. They also built giant sculptures of German innovations (automobiles, theory of relativity, Adidas shoes, etc.) and situated them in major tourist destinations. These sculptures were photographed, filmed, and written about so much that they generated their own media and reinforced to everyone that Germany is a land of bright ideas.In the case of South Africa, well the recently released movie “Invictus” illustrates the story of how Nelson Mandela established a united national identity and how South Africa became a country for all of its peoples through the unifying balm of sports, in this case rugby. Nelson Mandela used the World Rugby Games as an instrument to unite all South African at a time when whites and blacks didn’t even want to look at each other. Nelson had formulated this grand strategy while he was in jail and he executed it beautifully because he well understood the power of sports.Both Germany and South Africa were able to revitalize their national identities by utilizing the power of large sporting events. Sports have the power to boost the morale and confidence of the masses in a memorable and emotional manner if majority of the citizens are meaningfully drawn in. Sports are a powerful mobilizer of mass emotion and shaper of political perceptions, Mandela once said “Sport has the power to change the world, it has the power to inspire, the power to unite people that little else has… it is more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers. “Now who would have thought that Canada, the country perceived as being warm and fuzzy, peace loving, kind, and the land of immigrants is currently going through one of the most complex identity crisis? The morale of Canadians hasn’t been up to par nor has there been a sense of unity since forever due to various factors, but lets focus on sports. All the teams in the national leagues haven’t won a championship for decades (NHL, NBA, etc) and when it comes to the 2 largest international sporting events, the summer Olympics, and FIFA, Canada doesn’t perform adequately compared to other countries and not to mention, Canada has never competed in the FIFA, an international event that entices passionate national pride to be celebrated at its peak where fans go bananas waving their national flags around the world.The issue with Canadian Identity is of course even deeper than poor performance in sports. Canadians are simply confused, are we British, French, Canadian, Native, or, in the context of immigrants, are we still Indian, Chinese or Italian? We just don’t know. Canada seems like a land where we just come to take advantage of the social safety nets and cluster into our ethnic communities. When the national anthem is played to students each day at the start of school, students clearly are not enthusiastic and some may not even stand up because they don’t know if their Canadian or not. The Canadian government and constitution may be attached to fundamentals that are no more relevant to the majority of Canadians. For example, many Canadians may ask “what is the queen of England, a woman that visits Canada once in a blue moon doing on our currency, are we not our own country like USA, India, France and so on?” These multi-confusions have led to the identity of having no identity in Canada basically.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5GZIDnMzZQCitizenship-by which I mean the laws, institutions and symbols that define our individual membership in the Canadian nation-has the potential to raise our sights again. In fact, a revitalized citizenship may be the best and last hope for Canadians ready to rid themselves of their “post national” ennui and reconnect with the enduring values and principles upon which Canada’s greatness rests. –Rudyard Griffiths – “Who We Are”It’s an inconvenient truth that Canadians have a complacent identity crisis and the question arises, can Canada solve this problem through the profound power of sports? In my opinion, yes it will help massively, however; the opportunity and perhaps the only ideal opportunity ever to create a sustainable sense of pride is during the 2010 Vancouver Games particularly since winter sports are all we’re good at and even sweeter the games are taking place on home turf! What an opportunity!The torch relay team is doing an admirable job by covering so much ground across Canada and putting on a great show that stimulates pride and joy across all walks in Canada. Though, this torch relay is only temporary pride, once it leaves your city or town, so does your sense of nationhood. John Furlong the CEO of the Vancouver Games says that “The adventure cannot be about a few of us-it has to be about all of us. Less about facilities and structures, infrastructure and economics, and more about the kind of human power than can transform the spirit of a nation” Its great that John Furlong believes the event can be a real nation builder, however other than just the temporary gratification from the torch relay, and seeing Canadian athletes win a bunch of medals which they should since $110 million was spent on a program called own the podium to make sure we win the most amount of medals, are their any other initiatives being undertaken to unite such a grand and baffling country. In Canada you can look at the different parts of the country and think that you’re in a different part of the world. It’s really hard to brink Canada together and it seems to me that only British Columbians will be humming while the rest of Canada will be watching it on TV in the bar, home and for the majority will be watching the highlights on the news or not watching at all. Worse yet, after the Olympics are done, even the host city Vancouver will be back to normal soon enough and have little positive change in terms real national identity. It's worth noting that Winnipeg has twice hosted the Pan-Am Games in 1967 and 1999, and Winnipeg is still Winnipeg.Corporations like Coco Cola and RBC (primary sponsors of the torch relay) cannot play the central role of facilitating the unity messages. Other organizations like The Historica-Dominion institute, and the Government should creatively play the pivotal role. The Historica-Dominion Institutes sole mandate is to build active and informed citizens through greater knowledge and appreciation of the Canadian story, so they should be major partner in with the games.So what can we immediately try to do to capture this opportunity? It may probably too late now but it's still imperative to address.Every Province, city, town, region, and community has to feel as if they were right there in Vancouver collectively cheering, enjoying, and savoring all the excitement and splendor. Similar to what the Germans did with the public viewings and fan festivals across Germany, we can do the same thing in indoor stadiums equipped with jumbo trons or projectors to watch the games, as oppose to watching them in crammed bars, where children are not allowed, and other types of people feel out of place. Even theatres and schools with projectors will do the trick. Every city and town has at least one available stadium or large space to host fan festivals and public viewings. To name a few:Toronto-Skydome/air Canada centre, BMO Field Ottawa-Frank Clair StadiumMontreal-Olympic Stadium Quebec City- PEPS Le Stade ExterieurEdmonton-Common wealth stadiumCalgary-McMahon StadiumThese events should be heavily promoted through the media, and I recommend them mainly for the hockey game since that’s the most celebrated game to Canadians. Somebody said that we can win 35 medals, be in first place, and not win the gold medal in hockey and feel like we failed. The togetherness and loud cheering across Canada will ignite a whole new spirit and will create emotional national memories that will live on for a long time to come.Also this event needs to be global and very emotional. Our athletes need to exhibit more raw passion and emotion, and as well the coaches, like how Wayne Gretzky angrily made it clear that Canada was going to win gold in Salt Lake City in the news. The media has to capture these emotional moments in order to make these special moments touch Canadians.Corporate Canada has done a great job in creating products that promote Canada, such HBC, Roots, and etc. This trend of wearing Canada and representing is here to stay and it will definitely contribute in the mix of building a strong identity that we all can collectively hold on to. But the Government and other organizations need to step up to deliberately nudge the civic population to realize that we are one strong nation. This way all of Canadians coast to coast can live the games as something they will contribute to-a moment in time when we hold hands, moved by a single and powerful vision. There’s a lot more Canada can do to change the national psyche for the better during these games and after, but the Government, private and public have to all be on the same page and realize that there’s nothing more important than teaming up and taking on the world together. This whole movement has to be ignited by the Government first. Sports prove the importance of investing in people and confirm what Canadians have been saying all along, its people are its greatest resource. I said that the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver are a prime opportunity of a life time to move Canadians to a common good, however; I believe that by being creative and passionate, we can hatch an infinite amount of opportunities like this, but it would be a terrible waste if Vancouver 2010 doesn't make a positive dent in our identity identity.
A strong national identity or social solidarity is extremely difficult and complex to establish. Weak national identities are caused by a multiplicity of factors and are very difficult to pinpoint which ones the primary culprits. Germans use to be perceived as humorless, cold and unfriendly imaginably because of the hostile and disturbing history of the country, or South Africans, both white and black had major tension between each other especially when Nelson Mandela was released from prison.Later down the road, the German identity was miraculously altered in only 30 days during the 2006 FIFA world cup. In those ominous four weeks between June 9 to July 9 2006, Germany's image transformed dramatically, from: serious, humorless, conservative, cold to carefree, fun, welcoming, hospitable, modern and innovative. Germany became a nation charged with a sense of pride and common destiny by taking a stylish approach in nation building, where they had large outdoor fan festivals, and a core message of “a time to make friends” campaign. This core message touched their national psyche to such an extent that they were actually moved to and wanted to deliver the "brand promise" of being friendly and fun. They also built giant sculptures of German innovations (automobiles, theory of relativity, Adidas shoes, etc.) and situated them in major tourist destinations. These sculptures were photographed, filmed, and written about so much that they generated their own media and reinforced to everyone that Germany is a land of bright ideas.In the case of South Africa, well the recently released movie “Invictus” illustrates the story of how Nelson Mandela established a united national identity and how South Africa became a country for all of its peoples through the unifying balm of sports, in this case rugby. Nelson Mandela used the World Rugby Games as an instrument to unite all South African at a time when whites and blacks didn’t even want to look at each other. Nelson had formulated this grand strategy while he was in jail and he executed it beautifully because he well understood the power of sports.Both Germany and South Africa were able to revitalize their national identities by utilizing the power of large sporting events. Sports have the power to boost the morale and confidence of the masses in a memorable and emotional manner if majority of the citizens are meaningfully drawn in. Sports are a powerful mobilizer of mass emotion and shaper of political perceptions, Mandela once said “Sport has the power to change the world, it has the power to inspire, the power to unite people that little else has… it is more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers. “Now who would have thought that Canada, the country perceived as being warm and fuzzy, peace loving, kind, and the land of immigrants is currently going through one of the most complex identity crisis? The morale of Canadians hasn’t been up to par nor has there been a sense of unity since forever due to various factors, but lets focus on sports. All the teams in the national leagues haven’t won a championship for decades (NHL, NBA, etc) and when it comes to the 2 largest international sporting events, the summer Olympics, and FIFA, Canada doesn’t perform adequately compared to other countries and not to mention, Canada has never competed in the FIFA, an international event that entices passionate national pride to be celebrated at its peak where fans go bananas waving their national flags around the world.The issue with Canadian Identity is of course even deeper than poor performance in sports. Canadians are simply confused, are we British, French, Canadian, Native, or, in the context of immigrants, are we still Indian, Chinese or Italian? We just don’t know. Canada seems like a land where we just come to take advantage of the social safety nets and cluster into our ethnic communities. When the national anthem is played to students each day at the start of school, students clearly are not enthusiastic and some may not even stand up because they don’t know if their Canadian or not. The Canadian government and constitution may be attached to fundamentals that are no more relevant to the majority of Canadians. For example, many Canadians may ask “what is the queen of England, a woman that visits Canada once in a blue moon doing on our currency, are we not our own country like USA, India, France and so on?” These multi-confusions have led to the identity of having no identity in Canada basically.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5GZIDnMzZQCitizenship-by which I mean the laws, institutions and symbols that define our individual membership in the Canadian nation-has the potential to raise our sights again. In fact, a revitalized citizenship may be the best and last hope for Canadians ready to rid themselves of their “post national” ennui and reconnect with the enduring values and principles upon which Canada’s greatness rests. –Rudyard Griffiths – “Who We Are”It’s an inconvenient truth that Canadians have a complacent identity crisis and the question arises, can Canada solve this problem through the profound power of sports? In my opinion, yes it will help massively, however; the opportunity and perhaps the only ideal opportunity ever to create a sustainable sense of pride is during the 2010 Vancouver Games particularly since winter sports are all we’re good at and even sweeter the games are taking place on home turf! What an opportunity!The torch relay team is doing an admirable job by covering so much ground across Canada and putting on a great show that stimulates pride and joy across all walks in Canada. Though, this torch relay is only temporary pride, once it leaves your city or town, so does your sense of nationhood. John Furlong the CEO of the Vancouver Games says that “The adventure cannot be about a few of us-it has to be about all of us. Less about facilities and structures, infrastructure and economics, and more about the kind of human power than can transform the spirit of a nation” Its great that John Furlong believes the event can be a real nation builder, however other than just the temporary gratification from the torch relay, and seeing Canadian athletes win a bunch of medals which they should since $110 million was spent on a program called own the podium to make sure we win the most amount of medals, are their any other initiatives being undertaken to unite such a grand and baffling country. In Canada you can look at the different parts of the country and think that you’re in a different part of the world. It’s really hard to brink Canada together and it seems to me that only British Columbians will be humming while the rest of Canada will be watching it on TV in the bar, home and for the majority will be watching the highlights on the news or not watching at all. Worse yet, after the Olympics are done, even the host city Vancouver will be back to normal soon enough and have little positive change in terms real national identity. It's worth noting that Winnipeg has twice hosted the Pan-Am Games in 1967 and 1999, and Winnipeg is still Winnipeg.Corporations like Coco Cola and RBC (primary sponsors of the torch relay) cannot play the central role of facilitating the unity messages. Other organizations like The Historica-Dominion institute, and the Government should creatively play the pivotal role. The Historica-Dominion Institutes sole mandate is to build active and informed citizens through greater knowledge and appreciation of the Canadian story, so they should be major partner in with the games.So what can we immediately try to do to capture this opportunity? It may probably too late now but it's still imperative to address.Every Province, city, town, region, and community has to feel as if they were right there in Vancouver collectively cheering, enjoying, and savoring all the excitement and splendor. Similar to what the Germans did with the public viewings and fan festivals across Germany, we can do the same thing in indoor stadiums equipped with jumbo trons or projectors to watch the games, as oppose to watching them in crammed bars, where children are not allowed, and other types of people feel out of place. Even theatres and schools with projectors will do the trick. Every city and town has at least one available stadium or large space to host fan festivals and public viewings. To name a few:Toronto-Skydome/air Canada centre, BMO Field Ottawa-Frank Clair StadiumMontreal-Olympic Stadium Quebec City- PEPS Le Stade ExterieurEdmonton-Common wealth stadiumCalgary-McMahon StadiumThese events should be heavily promoted through the media, and I recommend them mainly for the hockey game since that’s the most celebrated game to Canadians. Somebody said that we can win 35 medals, be in first place, and not win the gold medal in hockey and feel like we failed. The togetherness and loud cheering across Canada will ignite a whole new spirit and will create emotional national memories that will live on for a long time to come.Also this event needs to be global and very emotional. Our athletes need to exhibit more raw passion and emotion, and as well the coaches, like how Wayne Gretzky angrily made it clear that Canada was going to win gold in Salt Lake City in the news. The media has to capture these emotional moments in order to make these special moments touch Canadians.Corporate Canada has done a great job in creating products that promote Canada, such HBC, Roots, and etc. This trend of wearing Canada and representing is here to stay and it will definitely contribute in the mix of building a strong identity that we all can collectively hold on to. But the Government and other organizations need to step up to deliberately nudge the civic population to realize that we are one strong nation. This way all of Canadians coast to coast can live the games as something they will contribute to-a moment in time when we hold hands, moved by a single and powerful vision. There’s a lot more Canada can do to change the national psyche for the better during these games and after, but the Government, private and public have to all be on the same page and realize that there’s nothing more important than teaming up and taking on the world together. This whole movement has to be ignited by the Government first. Sports prove the importance of investing in people and confirm what Canadians have been saying all along, its people are its greatest resource. I said that the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver are a prime opportunity of a life time to move Canadians to a common good, however; I believe that by being creative and passionate, we can hatch an infinite amount of opportunities like this, but it would be a terrible waste if Vancouver 2010 doesn't make a positive dent in our identity identity.
Guerrilla Diplomacy
In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is deeply conservative and actively hostile to the concept of nation branding because the concept of nation branding does not fit with the traditional professional training of career diplomats. It is obviously extremely difficult to develop a coherent and comprehensive nation branding strategy if a country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has no interest in it. This situation will probably change as a new generation of more communication-minded diplomats assumes responsibility within their respective Ministries of Foreign Affairs, but that process could take several years. One person that is helping to innovate and pioneer the ways of foreign ministries is Daryl Copeland. I believe he is very different from other diplomats because he is an outside the box thinker that knows what time it is. He has backpacked across the world where he got to intimately mingle with cultures and gain a potent international IQ which many diplomats lack. I personally believe that diplomats need to fathom the concept of nation branding as soon as possible because nation branding is here to stay and like it or not, many nations will be practitioners of it. Another thing I believe Diplomats need to be is more rugged. Far too many of them are ineffective because they don't get out there and experience the world first hand. They stay in their cars, hotels, conferences, and their offices. But rarely do they go out and experience the essence of the place where their posted. They need to have a higher sense of adventure, interest in cultures and unafraid to take risk. They can learn alot from journalists stationed in dangerous parts of the world, these people are in the heart of the danger and get to see first hand whats really going on, and as a result have the best insights. Perhaps they should take hostile environment training to ruggedify themselves instead of being softies stuck in their cars surrounded by a convoy of security that intimidates the public, hence, creating no meaningful engagement.
I had the pleasure to attend the book launch of guerrilla diplomacy by Daryl Copeland at the Munk Centre for International Studies in Toronto. Daryl talks about many issues relating to diplomacy and how foreign ministries are in a diar need to upgrade their way of thinking and operating on international relations. I highly recommend reading his book for a fresh and up to par perspective on international relations and plus he has a chapter on nation branding, Below is the link to the video of the book launch I attended.http://hosting.epresence.tv/MUNK/1/watch/124.aspx
I had the pleasure to attend the book launch of guerrilla diplomacy by Daryl Copeland at the Munk Centre for International Studies in Toronto. Daryl talks about many issues relating to diplomacy and how foreign ministries are in a diar need to upgrade their way of thinking and operating on international relations. I highly recommend reading his book for a fresh and up to par perspective on international relations and plus he has a chapter on nation branding, Below is the link to the video of the book launch I attended.http://hosting.epresence.tv/MUNK/1/watch/124.aspx
Saturday, November 21, 2009
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
Saturday, October 24, 2009
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.
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=Bh3W7mtl6iQ
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
