In this article I will present and discuss the Swedish virtual embassy as a new example of nation branding. By exploring the development of the Swedish embassy in Second Life, activities arranged by and involving the virtual embassy as well as the surrounding discourse of international mainstream media and people engaged in the development of Second Life, I will analyse the significance of the virtual environment in this virtual nation-branding project. I argue that the most important achievement of the Swedish virtual embassy was reached through the connection with the virtual environment in the coverage of traditional international mass media and that the key dimension, although not the only one, of the virtual world in branding Sweden was to serve as a fresh and influential brand signifier within the marketing project.

Soft power and nation branding are essential factors for a state to communicate with global audiences around the world. A state's investments in public diplomacy, and nation branding campaigns can prove to be effective in terms of establishing relationships with other countries, promoting tourism, and to gain influence in the international community. Qatar has established various soft power resources such as the Al Jazeera news network, FIFA World Cup 2022, and several cultural and educational exchange programs with countries from around the world. This dissertation will conclude that soft power has proved to be an effective strategy to be implemented by the state of Qatar, the small state has established itself in the international community by gaining legitimacy and credibility in the international community, which gives the small state the ability to gain regional influence. Through these soft power strategies the small state can go forward to pursue its ambitious foreign policy objectives.

The second edition of the Routledge Handbook of Public Diplomacy, co-edited by two leading scholars in the international relations subfield of public diplomacy, includes 16 more chapters from the first. Ten years later, a new global landscape of public diplomacy has taken shape, with major programs in graduate-level public diplomacy studies worldwide. What separates this handbook from others is its legacy and continuity from the first edition. This first edition line-up was more military-focused than this edition, a nod to the work of Philip M. Taylor, to whom this updated edition is dedicated. This edition includes US content, but all case studies are outside the United States, not only to appeal to a global audience of scholars and practitioners, but also as a way of offering something fresher than the US/UK-centric competition. In Parts 1-4, original contributors are retained, many with revised editions, but new faces emerge. Parts 5 and 6 include 16 global case studies in public diplomacy, expanding the number of contributors by ten. The concluding part of the book includes chapters on digital and corporate public diplomacy, and a signature final chapter on the noosphere and noo-politik as they relate to public diplomacy. Designed for a broad audience, the Routledge Handbook of Public Diplomacy is encyclopedic in its range and depth of content, yet is written in an accessible style that will appeal to both undergraduate and postgraduate students.

In the age of disruption and in today’s platform society (Van Dijck et al., 2019), communication between nation states is influenced by the development of technology. The nation state is responding to the new communication environment through “techplomacy” and through the use of Artificial Intelligence as a strategic asset in the global tech race. Artificial Intelligence (AI), including the strategies to come up with viable AI, has a big potential for nation branding, being also a competitive advantage for countries worldwide. In this context, the aim of our research is to investigate technology as a soft power (Nye, 2004) instrument for Romania and to analyze how the nation brand is constructed in relation to technology. In doing so, our research revolves around the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy for Romania, presented at the IT&C Summit on May 8, 2019, and 50 news articles, published in the quality press (Adevărul, Gândul, România Liberă) employing mixed methods such as fra...

Resumo: Este artigo apresenta discussões pertinentes à prática pedagógica no ensino de história no contexto atual, ou seja, o uso das tecnologias como recurso e metodologia. Entendemos por emprego de tecnologias na educação não somente as ferramentas digitais, como internet, jogos ou redes sociais para dinamizar as aulas, mas também a utilização de diversos recursos audiovisuais no fomento tanto ao ensino como na pesquisa histórica. Nesse sentido, indicaremos as possibilidades educacionais mediante o uso de variadas tecnologias, dentre as quais, destacamos: computador, iconografia, filmes, música, arquivos, museus, mapas e literatura de cordel. A inserção dos referidos recursos no ensino é significativa, sobretudo, por estimular a participação e interação dos discentes na construção do conhecimento. Esta perspectiva se insere nas diretrizes propostas pelos Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais, no tocante ao ensino de história no nível fundamental e médio. O referencial teórico refere-se a obras cuja abordagem é análoga a proposta deste artigo.

The following article will cover three contemporary notions of identity and power in Central Asia through the use of post-Soviet contemporary art studies. Case studies will consist of topical artworks on the thematics of mankurtism, monuments and marketing within post- Soviet Central Asia. The themes transition from what has been seen as an erasure of long- standing cultural tradition, language and lifestyle by Soviet colonisation, known as mankurtization in Chingiz Aitmatov’s literary language. After which, crucial in the creation of memory, fostering allegiance and modern credence has been the indoctrination of new identities. Based on nation-building while still under the Soviets, propagandising through monuments has been an example of this. With the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, borders were drawn for the Central Asian Independents. Nation-building was already complete, having begun under the Soviets. What came next was a repurposing of existing tools by nation-branders left behind by the Soviets and the marketing of new identities both internally and internationally. The practice of nation-branding emerged in the mid 1990s, shortly after Central Asia’s independence. Marketing of Central Asia was aimed at building internal and international identities which have been the product of public relations campaigns, as well as government and the elites’ exercise in power. Despite the recent shared history of the region, post-independence growth has been uneven, due to the influence of geopolitics and the adoption of international models of state governance. My arguments will stem from the examination of several artist practices from different Central Asian countries coupled with their current political discourse. My aim is to show that complete identity erasure and reconstruction has not happened, but rather there has been a selective forgetting and privileging by the new elites in an attempt to solidify the importance of one’s standing on an international platform.

In the last 10 years a new dimension of branding was developed: national branding. The concept is as controversial as the concept of globalization; specialist either embraced or criticized it. But more and more countries hire specialist in order to shape a national brand, attractive for other individuals, residents in foreign countries. The concept is meant to create or emphasize national identity in a globalised world. But the national brand is not just a concept, some fliers and maybe a video or two. The national brand is influenced by the country’s economy, and the intellectual property rights made representative for that state. New patented inventions, new successful brands, the promotion of traditional knowledge can help enhance the international image of a nation. The paper explores the structure of the national brand meaning the elements that put together form the image of a nation and how intellectual property (IP) aspects can be found or not in these elements. The goal is t...

In today’s globalisation, countries compete with each other in the same manner as the multinational corporations do. Recently, the term ‘nation-brand’ has appeared, together with a nation-brand index that tracks how a particular country's reputation responds to activities, promotions and events at home and around the world. Countries, like corporations and products have brand values and reputations. These ‘branding’ factors are analogous to identity formulation on a national and personal level. For example, visual motifs and icons have a dramatic impact on how successful that country is in attracting tourists, foreign investment, capital, talent, cultural relations and political allies. Such manifestations of identity are vital to the marketing of products and services abroad. In order for a country to develop itself as a competitive nation-brand, it needs to have a strong national identity. The paper will argue that in a same manner as the corporate identity, the national identity serves as a foundation on which the ‘brand image’ is built. The brand’s image is a representation of the brand’s culture (in this case the nation’s culture); therefore, how the image is formed and what kind of form it takes should be of concern to the government, the industry and the local communities. For that reason, strong interdisciplinary partnerships need to be established, as only then the communication of the country’s image can bring success in the above-mentioned areas of interest.

A historiographic and interpretative methodology will be used to present the analogous case of corporate and national identity formulation.  The current political situation in Macedonia will be used to exemplify the argument. This paper will address the subtheme ‘Identities/Subjectivities’ for the conference and will engage with activities in the boundaries of corporational-ism and nationalism.

The paper defines the role of airlines’ names in nation branding. The author describes the types of identity (territorial, political, ethnic) in airlines’ names and the main types of onyms communicating these identities.
Key words: country’s identity, airlines’ name, nation branding, brand, onym.

The paper examines the ideological underpinning and the level of persuasion and authenticity of the architectural upheaval in Skopje, accentuating the annihilation of the socialist period spent within Yugoslavia and the inclusion of a single dominant ethnicity. The paper is the first to suggest the co-branding of the city and nation brand, where attribute associations are transferred from the city brand to the nation brand and back. The paper contributes to the academic codification of the concept of rebranding.

This study focuses on brand literacy in the emerging market of China. Results reveal Chinese consumer desire to express a deep resonance between Chinese values and aesthetics and a favored brand identity. Chinese brands such as Shanghai Tang and Shang Xia – developed in collaboration with leading European luxury brands – build upon Chinese culture, values, and aesthetics to create distinctive, culturally infused brand identities. At a basic level, culture, which includes aspects of particular histories of meaning, and moments of creative innovation, can be perceived as a resource upon which branding processes and practices can draw. Yet, brand culture refers not to a simple process of applying “culture” to a brand.
Under what conditions may we perceive the many ways in which branding – and brands themselves – go beyond cultural branding, and indeed, co-create culture in relation to consumer processes and practices? One way of thinking about how brands and culture interact draws upon the notion of brand literacy – how well consumers are able to “read,” understand, and engage brands and brand messages. We explore a growing brand literacy among Chinese consumers, and reveal how brand literacy is embedded in a cultural context and contributes to brand culture. This study highlights multidimensional aspects of brand literacy and represents an initial step toward a more developed framework in the context of brand culture.

1 The following thesis, “Branding national identity”, authored by Anamaria Georgescu and Andrei Botescu, attempts to develop a multidisciplinary perspective on a particularly new topic raised by marketing and advertising. Several theoreticians in the field discern the matter as a strategy of “fighting globalisation with its own weapons ” (Simon Anholt, 2002). It promises to offer equal opportunities for global back up to countries with a low level of economic development. This is to be done by appealing and emphasizing the cultural and national specific. This controversial set of suggestions requires to be objectively debated using various perspectives. Also, a practical extension of our debate is to consider aspects of the scrutinized theoretical constructions, in a particular example of a developing country: Romania. We brought a new angle to the approaches of nation branding using sociological theories and concepts like “the imagined communities ” of Benedict Anderson, “the

This research investigates the current Identification and Branding System of Egypt’s Governorates. It discusses the core elements of each governorate and how it is branded. The research reviewes the historical branding of Egypt as a nation as well as the different comparative case studies of United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, South Korea and Turkey. There are also different design principles that are discussed through the research, which should be applied when designing such an identification system for a governorate or a city.

This conceptual article proposes a new integrative model of the country image by drawing on advances from the fields of business studies, social psychology, political science, and communication science. To interrelate different approaches, a communication management perspective is applied, providing a basic terminological framework systemizing the central constructs of country image, country reputation, country brand, and country identity. On this basis the authors develop the ‘4D Model' of the country image by integrating well-established concepts from national identity theory, attitude theory, and reputation management. The new model is suited for application in comparative analyses of country images both on the level of different groups (such as a country’s domestic and foreign publics) as well as different societal levels (such as individual attitudes on the one hand and mass-mediated prestige information on the other).

Discussion on the distinctions between brand management in the corporate vs. the public sphere; the question of how image and identity are managed by elected governments in a democratic nation vs. appointed or self-appointed management in an essentially "tyrannical" commercial corporation.

RESUME
Avec le processus de mondialisation, de plus en plus de pays sont désireux de présenter une image d'eux-mêmes facilement compréhensible et favorable à leurs politiques et le Japon ne fait pas exception. Comme la plupart des pays aujourd'hui, le Japon, avec sa politique «Cool Japan», tente de se créer une image de lui-même à travers des stratégies de l’image de marque nationale. Les racines de cette politique se trouvent dans la diplomatie culturelle du Japon, qui remonte à la fin de la Seconde Guerre mondiale par laquelle le Japon a tenté de créer et de gérer l’image d’une nation pacifique et pacifiste. Depuis le début du millenium, ces efforts de diplomatie culturelle essayant à renforcer une image pacifique et pacifiste du Japon a été transformée à une politique de l’image de marque nationale par laquelle le Japon a commencé à promouvoir son soft power en le fusionnant avec les éléments attirant de sa culture populaire. Même si les termes de « la puissance douce » et « l’image de marque nationale » sont relativement nouveaux, ils sont essentiels pour la compréhension de la diplomatie culturelle japonaise et donc la politique de « Cool Japan » comme elles sont intimement liées.
Dans ce travail, les efforts de marque nationale du Japon sous le nom de « Cool Japan » et par extension sa diplomatie culturelle à travers l'utilisation de la culture populaire sont discutés et évalués selon la notion de la puissance douce développée par Joseph Nye et selon les objectifs et le contexte dans lesquels les politiques de l’image de marque nationale « Cool Japan » sont mises en œuvre.

ABSTRACT
With the process of globalization, more and more countries are keen to present an image of themselves that is easily understandable and favorable to their policies and Japan is no exception. Like most countries today, Japan, with its “Cool Japan” policy, tries to create an image of itself through nation-branding strategies. The roots of this policy can be found in Japan's cultural diplomacy, which dates back to the end of World War II in which Japan attempted to create and manage the image of a peaceful and peaceful nation. Since the turn of the millennium, these cultural diplomacy efforts trying to bolster a peaceful and pacifist image of Japan has been transformed into a nation-branding policy whereby Japan began to promote its soft power by merging it with the attractive elements of its popular culture. Even though the terms “Soft Power” and “nation-branding” are relatively new, they are essential for the understanding of Japanese cultural diplomacy and therefore the politics of “Cool Japan” as they are closely related.
In this work, Japan's national branding efforts under the name “Cool Japan” and by extension its cultural diplomacy through the use of popular culture are discussed and evaluated according to the notion of Soft Power developed by Joseph Nye and according to the objectives and the regional and global context in which “Cool Japan” nation-branding policies are implemented.

ÖZET
Küreselleşme süreciyle birlikte, giderek daha fazla ülke kendileriyle ilgili kolayca anlaşılır ve politikalarına uygun bir imaj sunmaya istekli hale gelmiştir ve Japonya da bu konuda bir istisna değildir. Bugün birçok ülke gibi Japonya da “Cool Japan” politikasıyla ulus marka stratejileri aracılığıyla kendi imajını yaratmaya çalışmaktadır. Bu politikanın kökleri, Japonya'nın barışçıl ve barışçıl bir ulus imajını yaratmaya ve yönetmeye çalıştığı II. Dünya Savaşı'nın sonuna kadar uzanan Japonya'nın kültürel diplomasisinde bulunabilir. 2000li yılların başlangıcından bu yana, Japonya'nın barışçıl ve pasifist imajını güçlendirmeye hedefinde olan bu kültürel diplomasi çabaları, Japonya'nın yumuşak gücünü popüler kültürünün çekici unsurlarıyla birleştirerek güçlendirmeye çalıştığı bir ulus markalama politikasına dönüşmüştür. “Yumuşak Güç” ve “ulus-marka” terimleri nispeten yeni olsa da, yakından ilişkili oldukları için Japon kültürel diplomasisini ve dolayısıyla “Cool Japan” siyasetini anlamak için gereklidir.
Bu çalışmada, Japonya'nın “Cool Japan” adı altında ulusal markalaşma politikaları ve buna bağlı olarak popüler kültürü kendine bir temel edinmeye başlamış olan kültürel diplomasisi, Joseph Nye tarafından geliştirilen Yumuşak Güç kavramına ve Japonya'nın dış politika amaçlarına ve bölgesel ve küresel bağlama göre tartışılmakta ve değerlendirilmektedir.

This paper will analyze the role of the Romanian press in the debate about the migration of the Romanian people, in the context of the freedom of movement for workers in Great Britain. The theme of Romanian migrants in the UK is a public issue which involves, among others, the country image of Romania. Considering these facts, the discussion will focus on the national symbols used by Romanian mass-media, as a response to the campaigns from the British tabloid press, and on the way in which stereotypes of Romanian people, spread in quality and tabloid newspapers (" beggars " , " murderers " , " criminals " , " fraudsters " , " corrupt ") shape the discursive construction of Romania's nation brand. Methodologically, a mixed research will be used, combining critical discourse analysis and media frames analysis, implying the four structural frame devices developed by Pan & Kosicki (1993). As a conclusion, the Romanian journalists respond to the anti-immigration campaigns from the British press by using three media frames: the anti-immigration frame, the contestation frame – Daily Fail and the truth frame. In doing so, the journalists fight against the stereotypes most employed in the British news articles about the Romanian migrants.

This thesis is an attempt to think through a number of questions arising from the intense circulation of Japanese brands in East Asia, which I call the East Asian Brandscape, and, in doing so, produces an innovative conceptual framework to understand brands and branding.

The ubiquitous presence of American brands has been linked to Americanization, particularly Hollywood film’s global dominance, and is summarized in the phrase ‘trade follows the films’. Similarly, the East Asian brandscape has been linked to Japanization, an intense circulation of Japanese popular culture throughout the region, and may be summarized in the phrase ‘trade follows manga’. This Japanization discourse is based on the unsubstantiated assumption that the globalization of Japanese brands is closely linked to the presence (or the lack) of symbolic appeal of Japanese popular culture in a given market. This thesis investigates the largely understudied processes in which the globalization of Japanese brands is taking place in the context of Japanization through case studies on Japanese luxury cosmetics brands.

In the first section, ‘analysis from outside’, the thesis draws out a contour of the East Asian brandscape, which is shaped by large multinational corporations such as L’Oréal, Shiseido, and Estee Lauder. In global capitalism, brands are routinely exchanged across national borders by these corporations in order to manage and thrive on local differences. Drawing on Appadurai, this thesis argues that we need to understand brandscape as the organization of otherwise disjunctive scapes, rather than in the image of the Americanization model.

In the second section, ‘analysis from inside’, I explore the ways in which the branding is reformulated as the design and management of consumers’ experience in/through a great number of brand interfaces – material and immaterial – in which semantic and symbolic registers (such as Japan’s symbolic appeal) are engulfed in the overall affective ambience of brand experience. What is at stake in this reconfiguration, it is argued, is the unequal distribution of skills and finance resources across national borders required to global brand management, rather than distribution and consumption of national symbolic power. What emerge through the analysis of both outside and inside is a complex and contradictory relationship between Japanese brands and globalization that is no longer understood in a national framework.

Devletlerin uluslararası ilişkiler alanında, amaçlarına ulaşmak için kullandıkları çeşitli dış politika
araçları söz konusudur. Siyasi, ekonomik ve askeri niteliklerde olabilecek bu araçlar arasında siyasi
nitelikli olanlar diplomasi ve propaganda olarak karşımıza çıkarken, küreselleşme ve bilgi
teknolojilerinin etkisiyle uluslararası politika ve siyasal iletişim süreçlerinde yaşanan dönüşümler,
“kamu diplomasisi” olarak adlandırılan yeni bir dış politika aracının ortaya çıkmasında etkili
olmuştur. Kamu diplomasisinin bir aracı olan ulus markalama, ulusların imajını yönetmek için önemli
bir kavram haline gelmektedir. Bu yeni düzende markalama araçlarını en etkili şekilde kullanabilen
ülkeler, dünya sahnesinde hem itibar elde edebilmekte hem de birçok farklı alanda gelişme
gösterebilmektedirler. Ülkenin prestiji ve çekiciliği hakkında önemli ipuçları veren ulus marka
endeksleri; turizm, kültür, yatırımlar ve göç, ihracatlar, yönetim ve insan faktörleri bağlamında
değerlendirir. Bu çalışmanın konusunu turizm boyutunun bir mecrası olan sağlık turizmi
oluşturmaktadır. Turizmin hızla büyüyen ve ülkelere özellikle ekonomik açıdan fayda sağlayan bir
endüstri olması sebebiyle, ülkeler uluslararası turizm pazarından daha fazla pay almak istemekte,
dolayısıyla ülkeler arasında yaşanan rekabet de artmaktadır. Pazarda farklılaşmanın ve rakip
ülkelerden ayrılmanın aracı olarak “markalaşma” olgusu ortaya çıkmaktadır. Çünkü bir
destinasyonun “marka” olması; destinasyonun turistler tarafından tanınmasını ve ayırt edilmesini
sağlamakta, kalitesine işaret etmekte, destinasyona kimlik kazandırmakla birlikte ülke markasına da
katkı sağlamaktadır. Bu çalışmada temel olarak ulus markalama sürecinden kısaca bahsedildikten
sonra, Sağlık Bakanlığı çatısında, sağlık turizmine yönelik markalama çalışmaları hakkında bilgi
verilerek, bu alana yapabilecek katkı ve bunu ne şekilde gerçekleşebileceği ele alınacaktır.
Anahtar Kelimeler: Kamu Diplomasisi, Ulus Markalama, Sağlık Turizmi, Medikal Turizm

Focusing on recent artistic and photojournalistic portraits of India as an animal – an elephant or tiger – that wanders alone or sometimes with another animal companion – dragon or panda bear – called China, this article analyzes the ways in which India’s potential as an emerging market and a rising power is being conjured in the popular aesthetics of magazine and nonfiction book covers. Even as an outpouring of verbal discourse from business and policy experts has hailed an India that is transitioning from a peripheral Third-World nation to a rising power, a steady stream of visual illustrations, including, those that deploy animal avatars, has sought to illuminate the vicissitudes of India’s newfound economic recognition. Ultimately, my article’s tracking of the visual semiotics of India’s animal imprints
seeks to get inside an economy of appearances in which zoological embodiments arbitrate this non-Western nation’s prospects for entering economic globalization’s newly minted scale of “emerging market.”

This Impact Report identifies and summarises the diverse impacts, resulting from the £500m of UK funding of Science and Technology in 2013, using numerous quantitative metrics and short case study extracts.  It shows how the varied impacts of a national science and technology organization and its many funded programmes can be annually identified, captured, tracked, and summarised in a public document.

The report was produced for, and by, the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) -  the UK Research Council responsible for funding: (1) all UK astronomy, particle and nuclear physics research, (2) related UK science and technology facilities (e.g. as Harwell and Daresbury), (3) the UK contribution to international science (e.g. CERN, international telescopes and space missions), (4) innovation and business spin-off programmes, and (5) UK public engagement activities.

The Report was co-researched and co-authored by the STFC Impact Team, including myself while Impact Evaluation Manager in 2013, with Dr. Claire Dougan-McCallie (lead author/Head of Impact) and Jenny Beard, with additional input from senior managers, and many data and case study contributions from other key managers across STFC.

Varied key impacts are identified and reported including:

• Research amongst the best (by citation impact) in astronomy, nuclear and particle physics.
• Supported research of 226 Principal Investigators in 70 universities, led to 1,100 peer-reviewed papers in 2012.
• Facilities (the Diamond Light Source, ISIS and CLF) were used in 2012/13 by over 4,200 unique users , in over 2,400 experiments, producing over 1,000 papers in peer-reviewed journals.

• Technology from CERN benefited the UK economy by over £100 billion every year.
• Funding the development of the UK’s space, internet and computer animation industries, returned over £500 billion to the UK economy per annum.
• Funded Innovation Campuses hosted over 230 enterprises and supported over 5,000 jobs.
• UK industry won £43 million in contracts from the international subscriptions funded, and had accumulated a total of £150 million since 2005.

• Funded research inspired future generations to study STEM subjects, attracting 90% of UK undergraduates to study physics, funded 782 PhD students  and 16,800 student training days.
• Between 2009 to 2012 public engagement programmes engaged people on 58 million occasions, with 2 million people engaged in face-to-face activities in 2013 alone.

Globalization contains new areas of research that still under development. Among these research is urban branding. It’s an alternative for countries to promote and rebuild their image in order to attract business and tourism. The public mental image is the first engine to, attract develop and improve the place in consumer mind. It is a catalyst picture of urban design and manufacture of urban branding. The paper will study Advertising Campaigns on the Egyptian cities that carries distinctive mental image of its urban (physical, cultural, social, economic and urban elements) at the whole city. The city contains urban elements those elements are not individual, but related to each other creating the city limits physically and symbolically.

Cet article ambitionne d’analyser la gastro-diplomatie, devenue une tendance dans les relations internationales, comme un ensemble de pratiques institutionnelles qui repousse les limites des usages politiques des cultures alimentaires. J’essaierai de montrer que l’essor actuel du concept tient à ce qu’il s’étend aux niveaux national et international, à sa nature intrusive et performative (c’est-à-dire, génératrice de participation et d’action) et à sa forte charge idéologique. Plus précisément, je rendrai compte de la façon dont la gastro-diplomatie, telle qu’elle est instrumentalisée par des agences publiques et privées, participe de la fabrication des imaginaires pour faciliter l’adhésion des citoyens aux intérêts des élites politiques et économiques.

Today's business customers expect sellers not only to respond effectively to their expressed needs but also to understand their business sufficiently well to proactively address their latent and future needs. Yet, research shows that many firms underestimate, misunderstand, or overlook these customer expectations. To draw clarity to this discrepancy, this study explores the notion of proactive customer orientation and examines the degree to which this capability offers an opportunity for competitive advantage. While research in recent years has explored the role of proactive customer orientation in new product performance, empirical investigation in this stream of market orientation literature is significantly underdeveloped. We assess the impact of the proactive customer orientation construct on value creation by taking a novel approach that examines the proactive customer orientation → value → satisfaction → loyalty chain using data from 800 business customers in India, Singapore, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. We find that, relative to other firm capabilities, proactive customer orientation is the most consistent driver of customer value across our multinational data set. Results also show robust effects for the interaction of proactive and responsive customer orientation to create superior value. Several moderating conditions further frame the impact of this capability: intense levels of customer value change, a global relationship scope, and a transnational relationship structure. Overall, findings significantly advance the understanding of the proactive dimension within market orientation and provide marketers with insights for voice of the customer processes.

The aim of this research article is to examine the effectiveness of the tourism branding campaign “Oman: beauty has an address” within the destination branding context. Cross-examination and gap analysis tools were used to determine the possible existence of any gaps between the brand image that brand Oman is trying to portray against the brand image from the recipient’s i.e. tourist perspective. The case study approach was found the most suitable to address the research aim(s); because it is an empirical inquiry that examines a contemporary phenomenon within a real-life context. As for the data collection methods, in addition to secondary sources, a qualitative primary method was adapted in the form one-on-one in-depth interviews, where officials from the Ministry of Tourism were interviewed to gain an understanding of Oman’s destination branding strategy, to be used as a comparison benchmark against the interview responses received from tourists in Oman. The research article has found that “Oman: beauty has an address” has had a success in communicating Oman’s brand identity to its audience. Research findings, however, suggest a gap in communicating Oman’s brand logo and slogan to the target audience. Essentially, research analysis has concluded that Oman’s brand has been successful in communicated its distinct identities. The gap however, is found when attempting to establish a link between the brand’s identities and their visual representations i.e. logos and slogan, both of which play a vital role in brand awareness, brand recognition, brand differentiation and building a brand image. Using Oman as the case study subject, this article also aims to make a contribution to the destination branding literature within the Middle Eastern context.