A country — can it be repositioned? Spain — the success story of country branding

Abstract

Active repositioning of a country through branding can be done successfully and holds great potential for countries. This paper argues that thoughtful brand positioning gives a country a competitive advantage over other nations. The framework suggested explains how the core of a country's brand must capture the spirit of its people and how it can be developed into a brand positioning after consideration of four essential factors — macrotrends, target groups, competitors and core competencies. It advises that the positioning derived should be rich enough to translate into sub-positionings to target diverse groups and that it should be substantiated in terms of what the country can actually offer.