In all my years of working with businesses on their strategy, there are have been few questions that I did not find answers to. The one* that will always stand in my mind because I had no idea at all was “How do countries get a reputation for something?”.
The reason the question got asked was because the client was marketing a product from a country that did not have any credible reputation for that industry. I won’t get into specifics but it’s as if a Brazilian apparel company marketed an extreme winter coat. The marketplace would go: “What do Brazilians know about extreme cold?”.
That lack of perception would hurt the company even if the coat really were the best choice for extreme cold!
A country gets a reputation from unique and repetitive cases. For instance if on a global level, the most admired cars are from a given country, that country will get a reputation for designing and building good cars.
If locals find that a number of tourists of a given country tend to act in a certain way that’s different from other visitors.
The interesting thing is that sometimes it only takes one or two observations for the reputation to spread.
Lately, we all know what happened in Austria, less than a year ago, a similar event had made worldwide news. Already, people are starting to make generalizations. I sure hope the department responsible for the international image is paying attention.
* I found the answer by seeking the advice of a fellow consultant who basically told me that it was good old marketing play in action.
