Music has a great potential for positive country branding, still not exploited enough. Music branding as such offers a strategic way to reach audiences in ways that traditional communication can’t. Music provides the spark for people to socialise, energise and organise. Music is ranked as more difficult to live without in peoples’ everyday lives than sports, movies and newspapers. Music also beats TV, radio, arts and literature. Only Internet and mobile phones are ranked higher.

1. Music and art as tools for
country branding
Maria Gergova-Bengtsson
Istanbul, January 2014

2. Content
• Country image is based on…?
• Art and culture – country branding tools
• Music as part of art and culture branding
tools
– Test it!
– Music is … (key insights)
– Music branding
• Case study – Eurovision

3. Country image is based on…

4. Country image is based on:
•
•
•
•
•
Value system
Quality of life
Good for business
Heritage and culture
Tourism

5. What does each mean?
• Value system:
– Political freedom
– Environmental
friendliness
– Stable legal
environment
– Tolerance
– Freedom of speech
• Quality of life:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Education
Healthcare
Standard of living
Safety
Job opportunity
Most likely to live in

6. What does each mean?
• Good for business:
– Investment climate
– Advanced technology
– Regulatory
environment
– Skilled workforce
• Tourism:
– Value for money
– Attractions
– Resort and lodging
options
– Food

7. Hard to influence
• All mentioned above
depend largely to the
government and the
politics of a country and
can not be
influenced/changed
easily through
communication.

8. Art and culture – country branding tools

9. Easier to use as reputation tool is:
• Culture and heritage:
– History
– Art and culture
– Authenticity
– Natural beauty

10. Why culture and art?
 Culture and art are universal languages
 Culture and art are personal choices/taste
 Culture and art generate positive news
 Culture and art create positive attitude/feelings
 Culture and art create emotional bond with the audience
 Culture and art are more accessible and easier to involve great
amount of people – both for creating it and enjoying it.

12. Test

14. Test

16. Test

18. Test

19. Music as part of art and culture branding tools

20. Why music?

21. Important
Everywhere
Engaging
Emotion
Music is
Listened/
Enjoyed
Without
borders
Vast
Emotive

22. Music is everywhere
• 97% of people in the world LOVE/LIKE music
(research of Frukt Communications)
• Insight: Music is almost universal social currency

23. Music is important
• Music is ranked as more difficult to live without in
peoples’ everyday lives than sports, movies and
newspapers. Music also beats TV, radio, arts and
literature. Only Internet and mobile phones are ranked
higher.
• More than 6 out of 10 further say that music is important
or very important to them in their lives. As for 16-24 year
olds, that figure rises to 74%.
* Soundslikebranding study

24. Music is listened/enjoyed in many
ways:
• Passively or actively
• Independently or socially
• Expressively or receptively
Also:
• Physical
• Digital
• Live
• On air

25. No borders for music
Experiential, online, mobile and social
media channels emerged
over the last few years and music travel in real time
with no borders.

26. Music is emotive
• It makes people do things
• It brings people together – physically and
emotionally
• Online music is the glue for music lovers
communities

27. Music is vast
• Music is vast in:




Its depth and breadth of content
Genres and styles
And is constantly expanding and changing
And is inclusive – there is something there for
everyone

28. Music/Emotion
• Music creates big amount of emotional
value
•
•
•
•
Music is the jogging soundtrack
The roar of a crowd
A trigger for distant memory
Shared experience from live gig
etc.

29. Music is engaging
• Music encourages engagement.
• Beats, words and sounds arouse energy, emotions.
• More than half of the online audience go there for music,
and roughly 40% embed music into their personal profile
in popular social networks like Facebook, MySpace,
Last.FM and Twitter.
• Music provides the spark for people to socialise,
energise and organise.
• Music is an engine for social interaction.

30. Music branding
‘We know what our country brand looks like.
But we have no idea what our country brand
sounds like?’

31. Music branding
• Music branding is communication through emotions.
• Music engages people in conversation and creates
memorable experiences.
• Music branding as such offers a strategic way to reach
audiences in ways that traditional communication can’t.

32. Case study

33. Eurovision
• Great example to get a feeling what a country sounds
like.
A Ministry of Culture
spokesman of Belarus
said:

34. The case of Ukraine
•
•
•
•
•
The 2004 Eurovision Song Contest hosted in Istanbul, Turkey, was
won by Ukraine.
Singer Ruslana and a set of long haired dancers, all dressed in
bearskins and leather, sang and danced their way to the top. Their
song “Wild Dances” was the first win for Ukraine
The performance was based on traditions, clothing and music of the
Hutsul-people from the Carpathian region of Western Ukraine122
It was remarkably exotic in its representation of Ukraine, mixing
modern-day music with age old Hutsul dancing styles, exotic outfits
and traditional musical instruments, such as the Surma horn.
Interestingly, this was not just a coincidental idea of the writers and
artists of the song. It was part of a deliberate marketing strategy to
brand Ukraine, selected by the Ukrainian PR and government
relations firm CFC Consulting

35. Ruslana/Ukrain/2004 winner

36. Conclusion
• Music has a great potential for positive
country branding, still not exploited
enough.

37. Thank you!