With Pride Against Prejudice

Aarhus School of Business and Social Sciences

Bachelor‘s Thesis – 2012 May

Supervisor: Katrine Vanggaard Madsen

Executive Summary

This thesis explores what aspects have impact on the perceptions about the nations and how those perceptions can be managed through Nation Branding and Public Relations. More precisely the analysis is narrowed down to the Lithuania’s image in Denmark, which is negative due to the appearance of Lithuanian criminals in Denmark, who are often mentioned in Danish Media in this way contributing to the overall image of Lithuania. Inability to manage the coverage of Danish media can negatively affect the collaboration between the governments and citizens of Denmark and Lithuania in the areas such as politics, diplomatic relations, infrastructure and tourism. Thus it is important to solve this problem, which could be done by answering the question: „How can the Lithuania’s image in Denmark be improved through Nation Branding?”. This thesis is action-prescribing; therefore the purpose of it is to provide recommendations for such an improvement considering the discussions of Nation Branding and Public Relations theories.

In brief, this thesis encompasses the analysis of Lithuania’s efforts to build the nation brand abroad, analysis of current Lithuania’s image in Denmark and the discussions of Nation Branding and PR theories. To examine the previous efforts to improve the Lithuania’s image is relevant in order to identify the mistakes that have been done and that need to be improved. The analysis of Danish perceptions reveals the aspects of Nation Brand that are perceived negatively, in this case – general perception about people, because of the Media’s constructed stereotypes about Lithuanians. The secondary research is used in order to make these two analyses. In terms of the theories, the relation between Nation Branding and PR is discovered as well as the importance of Media Relations in Nation Branding process is emphasised.

All the findings assist in the recommendation and discussion parts, where the theory is related to the analyses and this specific issue. In brief, the recommendations for Lithuania’s image in Denmark are: the proposed appropriate stakeholders (Lithuania’s government, Danish Media, Lithuania’s diaspora living in Denmark, and a hired PR company) have to maintain an open-dialogue communication with each other; secondly, the Media Centre is suggested to be established, where the media coverage in Denmark would be measured continuously by the PR company and diaspora volunteers. Moreover, the recommendation to establish diaspora’s community is proposed in order to collaborate with them and benefit from their knowledge about Danish society. For their communication the idea to use Social Media as a tool is suggested to make the interactions more open and active.

Lastly, the foundation of this thesis is Social Constructionism, which implies that the recommendations made should not be considered as the only truth, but rather as a strategy backed up by relevant theories and suitable only for the discussed situation.

Table of Contents

1.Introduction

1.1.Background information

1.2.Problem Statement

1.3.Delimitations

1.4.Method and Structure

1.5.Theory of Scientific Methods: Social Constructionism

1.6.Theoretical Framework

2. Nation Branding

2.1. Nation Branding vs. Corporate Branding and Product Branding

2.2. Complexity of Nation Branding

2.2.1. The scope of Nation Branding

2.2.2. Global target audience

2.2.2.1. Stereotypes

2.2.3. Discussion on who owns the nation brand

2.2.3.1. Diaspora

2.3. Conclusion

3. Public Relations

3.1. Public Relations approach to Nation Branding

3.1.1.Use of Social Media for Public Relations in Nation Branding

3.2 Conclusion

4. Lithuania’s efforts in building the Nation Brand

4.1. Lithuania’s image in Denmark

4.2. The importance of improving Lithuania’s image precisely in Denmark

5. Recommendations for improvement through applying PR

6. Discussion

7. Conclusion

8. Bibliography

9.Appendixes

9.1.Appendix 1: the NBAR model

9.2.Appendix 2: The Nation Brand Index Hexagon

9.3.Appendix 3: The FIST approach

9.4.Appendix 4: Four models of PR

9.5.Appendix 5: Inspired by Iceland Web site

9.6.Appendix 6: The Article about the Lithuanian Criminals in DK

Total number of characters (no spaces): 54 246

1. Introduction

In today’s world, which is governed by the media and information overload, building and maintaining strong brands has become an inevitable process for companies, organisations, and even countries in order to survive and compete in the global market. Furthermore, the media has recently started to play a very powerful role, and companies have adjusted by becoming more careful and observant about their images and reputations, which are now more under control of customers and the media.

Tench (2008) calls this process “the information revolution” that resulted in “an international information society”. Tench (2008) claims that “the global network society refers to the notion that new communication technologies result in a fundamental shift in social organisation” and therefore, such a change in the control of power has also affected individual countries (117p.). This implies that countries are also branded to compete on a global scale and sustain positive reputations in the world. However, this process is much more complex for countries than it is for companies. The reason is that countries are not "selling" just one product, but a whole, complicated pack of them, such as people, culture, territory, infrastructure, etc. (Metahaven, 2008).

Globalisation has had a huge impact on the growth of migration among the countries, which directly impacts a nation's brand. For example, after Lithuania became a member of the EU, more and more Lithuanians have decided to use the opportunity of open borders and migrate to other countries, but unfortunately, criminals have also realized this chance and migrated too. One of the favorite destinations for Lithuanian immigration has been Denmark, which has experienced both the positive and negative aspects of the immigration phenomenon, including crime. After a wave of crimes committed by Lithuanians in Denmark, Lithuania faces a huge challenge as a nation, since its reputation in Denmark is now hanging by a thread. Inability to manage the coverage of Danish media and insufficient efforts to improve this situation can lead to weakened collaboration between the governments and citizens of Denmark and Lithuania, negatively impacting areas such as politics, diplomatic relations, infrastructure and tourism efforts between the two countries.

1.1. Background information

After the end of the Cold War, when many new eastern and central European nations emerged, those nations realized the importance of building strong identities in order to compete for FDI, attract tourists and be diplomatically recognized to become members of the EU (Tench et al., 2008, 127p.). One of those nations was Lithuania. However, even though the country was able to implement all the requirements and became a member of the EU, this achievement has not transformed it into an overnight European country in the eyes of the international publics.

Unfortunately, similar to other post-Soviet countries, Lithuania is still identified with communism, corruption and crime. In other words, Lithuania does not have a strong brand and as a nation and thus it is very vulnerable in terms of media. As it can be expected, unbranded and unknown states are especially susceptible to be presented negatively by the media, which can have an impact on the long-term image of the nation. For example, the movie "Borat" has “reshaped Kazakhstan’s image into that of a grotesque backwater inhabited by village idiots, interspersed with Soviet-era footage of agriculture and heavy industries” (Metahaven, 2008) for the global audience. Thus, Kazakhstan is still having problems with getting rid of this image. This demonstrates that the world is unaware of former Soviet nations and that the media reflects it blindly through the use of its tremendous power and influence.

A victim of this image partly built by the media, Lithuania is also perceived negatively in most Western countries. One of the reasons that heighten this image is crime committed by the country's citizens in more developed and better-branded nations. This situation is especially clear in Denmark, which has had “a 63 percent increase in the number of eastern Europeans charged with crimes since 2006”; thus, its government was even considering tightening borders (Stanners, No evidence to support tighter borders, 2012). More precisely, such criminality done by Lithuanians resulted in the police asking motorists to follow cars with Lithuanian registration numbers and report their movements within Danish territory. To crown it all, “Danish far-right Folkepartei representatives have argued that Lithuanians should require visas to enter Denmark, in order to protect the country from an influx of criminals and even though other mainstream parties have not supported their proposals” (Pavlovaite, 2001). This shows that Denmark, which is one of the major foreign investors in Lithuania, views Lithuanians as a danger for their well-being, and in the same way, the Danish media is reflecting that negative stereotype.

For such a young (concerning only 22 years of independency) and not well-branded country like Lithuania, it is a big challenge to cope with this issue and protect its image. Nevertheless, it is critical to improve this image, or at least minimize the negative perception in order to maintain good relationships between these two countries, avoid restrictions like closed borders, and stimulate promising communication regarding tourism, culture, policy, people, brands, investment and recruitment.

1.2. Problem Statement

Considering the importance that nation branding has in our interconnected and media driven society, and the problems that Lithuania faces as a result of a negative image in Denmark, the problem identified, and thus, the question this thesis attempts to answer is the following:

How can the Lithuania’s image in Denmark be improved through Nation Branding?

To answer this, the relevant theories of Nation Branding and Public Relations will be discussed in this thesis, and based on them and the findings from the subsequent analysis, recommendations for the improvement of Lithuania's image in Denmark will be identified.

1.3. Delimitations

Even though nation brand is usually focused on the global market, the scope of this thesis was narrowed down to focus specifically on Denmark. Further, this thesis will not provide information on how to create Lithuania's nation brand for the Danish audience. Instead, it will provide recommendations to improve the country's image in Denmark. The recommendations will not be specific steps for a Nation Branding strategy, but theoretical suggestions that can be applied in reality. In addition, this thesis will not elaborate on the connection between nation branding and the country-of-origin effect, as it is not focused on destination or place branding, and this is outside the scope of this thesis, which would not support the problem solving.

1.4. Method and Structure

This is an action-prescribing thesis, and thus, the main aim is to propose appropriate recommendations to solve the problem presented above. The framework of the thesis is based on the discussion of the theories of Nation Branding and Public Relations, the analysis of the current image of Lithuania in Denmark, and the strategies that Lithuania already applied to improve its image. For the analysis, secondary research was chosen, mostly because of time restrictions.

The thesis is built around four main parts supplemented by other smaller sections in order to reach a conclusion. Section 2 is based on the theory of Nation Branding, involves its comparison with other forms of branding, and provides relevant aspects of this field that flow into the whole concept of nation brand. Section 3 encompasses the theory of Public Relations, and its relation to Nation Branding is discussed afterwards. Following this, Section 4 is an analysis of Lithuania’s efforts to build the nation brand since its independence until now, and the country's current image in Denmark. In Section 5, recommendations are provided after considering the findings from the previous sections. After that, Section 6 is drawn upon the discussion of the theories applied, and new points of view are presented. Finally, Section 7 contains the conclusion, where all the findings are summarized.

1.5. Theory of Scientific Methods: Social Constructionism

In order to answer the problem statement, Social Constructionism was chosen to lay down a foundation for this thesis. According to Social Constructionism theory, people construct their own and others’ identities through daily social interactions (Burr, 2001, 9p.). However, Social Constructionism also stands for the critical thought that there is no one truth for perceiving the world and that the ways of understanding it cannot be taken for grated (Burr, 2001, 3p.). This attitude towards building knowledge fits well with the topic of Nation Branding, since some theorists argue that Social Constructivism provides nations with the opportunity to construct their own images (Ham, 2008, 146p.; Widler, 2007, 145p.).

Another reason for this choice is because Social Constructionism claims that „all ways of understanding are historically and culturally relative” (Burr, 2001, 6p.), which implies that each country has a different perception of one nation, contradicting the notion that nations can be branded worldwide. Therefore, this thesis argues that Nation Branding is more successful when applied to specific cases and specific countries (as the issue between Lithuania and Denmark).

The Social Constructionism view also plays a major role in making analysis and conclusions. Based on the idea “that we construct our own versions of reality” (Burr, 2001, 6p.) this thesis and the theories discussed in it demonstrate the author’s interpretations of the world and therefore cannot be regarded as one and only truth. As a result, all recommendations and interpretations proposed are influenced by the social interactions that the author has experienced and thus, it can be regarded as a contribution to the overall knowledge of the subject.

1.6. Theoretical Framework

Since Nation Branding is a complex and relatively new concept, academics and practitioners hold different views on the subject. Hence, for the theoretical framework, a number of works were chosen to answer the thesis question. However, since this thesis is framed by the Social Constructionism theory, this implies that none of the interpretations should be regarded as absolute truth.

To explain the Nation Branding theory, the main research chosen is from Ying Fan, Keith Dinnie and Anholt, apart from additional academics to supplement their approaches. Ying Fan is chosen to define the general concept of Nation Branding and differentiate it from other forms of branding, whereas Dinnie’s findings provide the practical framework that corresponds to the analysis part by identifying the difficulties and complexities that Nation Branding practitioners may confront in the process of re-branding the country. On the other hand, Anholt's research is also critical, since as the father of Nation Branding, he identifies the relation between the nation's image and the influence of the media in the process of Nation Branding, which is relevant to answer the question of this thesis.

Regarding PR theory, Ralph Tench and Liz Yeomans are selected, as they provide the framework of this theory. PR was chosen because the theory concerns itself talks about the long-term relationships with the stakeholders, and another researcher, Gyorgy Szondi, explains the importance of these aspects in Nation Branding relating to both theories, which is important for this thesis in order to provide relevant recommendations for improvement.

The research was specifically chosen on the premise of Social Constructionism that the knowledge of the world is constructed through social interactions. As such, the research used emphasises the importance of relationships between people and their social interactions.

2. Nation Branding

In this chapter, the Nation Branding concept will be presented in order to understand how to successfully apply Nation Branding strategies. First, the differences between nation, corporate and product branding will be listed in order to clarify the concept, and secondly, the challenges for practitioners when building a nation brand will be discussed.

2.1. Nation Branding vs. Corporate Branding and Product Branding

• What is a brand?

To understand the origins of Nation Branding, the term “brand“ has to be clearly defined. According to the Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK) a brand is:

"a symbol that represents the consumers‘ experience with an organisation, product or services. A brand is a product or service whose dimensions differentiate it in some way from other products or services designed to satisfy the same need. Alternatively it can be viewed as a holistic, emotional and intangable experience – or both. A Brand can be strong enough to evoke feelings of belonging, love and affection“ (Kotler, 2009, 426p.).

This implies that branding helps products to be differentiated and gain a competitive advantage in a global market.

• How did the branding process begin for products, corporations and nations?

Because of globalization and increasing competition, customers became more cautious about the products they buy, their brands, and the corporations that stand behind them (Machkova, 2010, 115p.), which was the reason why corporations began to build their own brands (called corporate brands). Corporate brands are much more complex than product/service brands, since they also have to maintain the reputation of the corporation and develop long-term relationships with customers.

Similar to corporations, countries were forced to build their brands too. As Peter van Ham (2001) states: “having a bad reputation or none at all is a serious handicap for a state seeking to remain competitive in the international arena. The unbranded state has a difficult time attracting economic and political attention” (2p.). However, even though it might appear that product branding, corporate branding and nation branding are very similar concepts, some differences need to be analysed to prove the complexity of the Nation Branding process.