Nation Branding of the Philippines in the Post-Pandemic Era: Insights and Perspectives
Abstract
Nation branding is used by a country’s government to promote its identity and image abroad. A strong nation brand influences the choice that people make to live, study, invest in, or visit a country. However, the COVID-19 pandemic posed challenges in the development of a strong country brand. Arguably, the pandemic brought significant disruption, adversely affecting skillfully and carefully choreographed images of countries, including socio-economic and political gains they made before the pandemic. The Philippines were not spared. In this study, Anholt’s nation brand index was used as the main framework to analyze how the Philippines were impacted by the pandemic and can better brand itself post-pandemic across six dimensions of national competence: exports, governance, culture, people, tourism, and immigration and investment. While studies have been conducted on branding the Philippines, this research is novel as it was conducted during a pandemic and examines the prospect of branding the country in the post-pandemic era. The study tried to identify other dimensions that can be considered by the Philippines as it grappled with the pandemic and showed how the Philippine brand was severely dented across Anholt’s six dimensions. Interestingly, two new dimensions emerged, brought about by the pandemic: health and technology. This study is of great significance in branding the country post-pandemic, especially in developing a national branding campaign through the concerted efforts of the public and private sectors. This approach could help the Philippines and other countries manage their images locally and internationally despite challenging times. A descriptive case study was used to draw responses from ten key informants across the archipelago using in-depth interviews and thematic analysis. This study provides recommendations and strategies for the Philippines to develop a strong country brand in the post-pandemic era.
Keywords: country branding, nation brand index, COVID-19 pandemic.
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