IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/vrs/bjeust/v4y2014i1p29n8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Country Branding and Country Image: Insights, Challenges and Prospects. The Case of Estonia

Author

Listed:
  • Same Siiri

    (Tallinn University of Technology Akadeemia tee 3, Tallinn 12618, Estonia)

  • Solarte-Vasquez Maria Claudia

    (Tallinn University of Technology Akadeemia tee 3, Tallinn 12618, Estonia)

Abstract

Gaining understanding about customers ’mindset and information on their experiences is a precondition for the formulation of an effective country branding strategy. What potential tourists might learn and how they can be made to feel about a place can help small and not very well-known countries compete with bigger and more popular tourist destinations. The article focuses on the effectiveness of Brand Estonia and claims that it is still a challenge, despite the existence of an ongoing strategy. It also favors the revision of the brand identity selection and the promotion of Estonian brand, and supports a customer-based approach for their assessment. Documentary and empirical evidence show that the image of Estonia among its most important target audiences in the field of tourism does not match the Estonian brand identity. The gap in-between was evidenced by the results and content analysis of 24 in-depth interviews made with a selected group of people well acquainted with the country as well as some branding experts. This article contributes to the existing case study literature with findings that also manifest opportunities to strengthen the country brand, if its formulation develops a realistic brand identity and its promotion is based on accurate, unique and appealing ideas. It proposes academic support to innovative or alternative concepts for the country branding, and comments on applications of this study to more specific fields and further research.

Suggested Citation

  • Same Siiri & Solarte-Vasquez Maria Claudia, 2014. "Country Branding and Country Image: Insights, Challenges and Prospects. The Case of Estonia," TalTech Journal of European Studies, Sciendo, vol. 4(1), pages 137-165, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:vrs:bjeust:v:4:y:2014:i:1:p:29:n:8
    DOI: 10.2478/bjes-2014-0008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.2478/bjes-2014-0008
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2478/bjes-2014-0008?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Martin S Roth & Jean B Romeo, 1992. "Matching Product Category and Country Image Perceptions: A Framework for Managing Country-of-Origin Effects," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 23(3), pages 477-497, September.
    2. Teemu Moilanen & Seppo Rainisto, 2009. "How to Brand Nations, Cities and Destinations," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-230-58459-4, October.
    3. Pike, Steven & Page, Stephen J., 2014. "Destination Marketing Organizations and destination marketing: A narrative analysis of the literature," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 202-227.
    4. Pike, Steven, 2012. "Destination positioning opportunities using personal values: Elicited through the Repertory Test with Laddering Analysis," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 100-107.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Siiri Same, 2014. "Experience Marketing in Country Branding: Theoretical Developments and an Estonian Case Study," Research in Economics and Business: Central and Eastern Europe, Tallinn School of Economics and Business Administration, Tallinn University of Technology, vol. 6(1).
    2. Navin Kumar & Rajeev Kumar Panda, 2019. "Place branding and place marketing: a contemporary analysis of the literature and usage of terminology," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 16(2), pages 255-292, December.
    3. Pike, Steven & Page, Stephen J., 2014. "Destination Marketing Organizations and destination marketing: A narrative analysis of the literature," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 202-227.
    4. Yu, Julie H. & Albaum, Gerald, 2002. "Sovereignty change influences on consumer ethnocentrism and product preferences: Hong Kong revisited one year later," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 55(11), pages 891-899, November.
    5. Un-Kon Lee, 2021. "The Effect of Confirmation of Nation Brand Image in International Tourism Advertisement on Travel Intention of Foreign Tourists: The Case of Korean ITA for Chinese Tourists," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(1), pages 21582440209, January.
    6. Valentina Daniela N. CONSTANTIN & Roxana-Denisa G. STOENESCU, 2014. "The Impact Of Origin On Creating A Cult Brand: The Case Of Apple," SEA - Practical Application of Science, Romanian Foundation for Business Intelligence, Editorial Department, issue 3, pages 123-134, April.
    7. Hsu, Chia-Lin & Chang, Chi-Ya & Yansritakul, Chutinart, 2017. "Exploring purchase intention of green skincare products using the theory of planned behavior: Testing the moderating effects of country of origin and price sensitivity," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 145-152.
    8. Gary Warnaby & David Bennison & Dominic Medway, 2011. "Branding a Roman Frontier in the Twenty-first Century," Chapters, in: Andy Pike (ed.), Brands and Branding Geographies, chapter 15, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Mariani, Marcello M. & Giorgio, Luisa, 2017. "The “Pink Night” festival revisited: Meta-events and the role of destination partnerships in staging event tourism," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 89-109.
    10. Saeed Samiee & Constantine S. Katsikeas & G. Tomas M. Hult, 2021. "The overarching role of international marketing: Relevance and centrality in research and practice," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 52(8), pages 1429-1444, October.
    11. Simon Fauser & David Agola, 2021. "The influence of regional Italian images on consumer behaviour: a study of consumers in Germany," Italian Journal of Marketing, Springer, vol. 2021(1), pages 129-158, June.
    12. Cristina Elena ALBU, 2016. "Tourism And Terrorism: A Worldwide Perspective," CES Working Papers, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 8(1), pages 1-19, March.
    13. Fabiana Mariutti & Ralph Tench, 2015. "Are we talking the Same Language? Challenging Complexity in Country Brand Models," Athens Journal of Business & Economics, Athens Institute for Education and Research (ATINER), vol. 1(1), pages 49-62, January.
    14. Aby Abraham & Sanjay Patro, 2014. "‘Country-of-Origin’ Effect and Consumer Decision-making," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 39(3), pages 309-318, August.
    15. Marija Čutura & Katerina Malić Bandur, 2016. "Importance of the Country of Origin from the Consumers’ Perspective in the Research Context of Bosnia and Herzegovina," Tržište/Market, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, vol. 28(1), pages 63-78.
    16. Drule Alexandra-Maria & Chiº Alexandru & Dunca Adina-Georgeta, 2013. "Exploratory Research Regarding Romanians’ Perception About The Regional Brand “Maramureª”," Annals of Faculty of Economics, University of Oradea, Faculty of Economics, vol. 1(1), pages 776-785, July.
    17. Huang, Zhuowei (Joy) & Cai, Liping A., 2015. "Modeling consumer-based brand equity for multinational hotel brands – When hosts become guests," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 431-443.
    18. Christophe Alaux & Laura Carmouze & Vincent Mabillard & Martial Pasquier, 2024. "Place Attractiveness and Image. A research agenda," Post-Print hal-04667643, HAL.
    19. Leonidas Hatzithomas & Christina Boutsouki & Fotini Theodorakioglou & Evanthia Papadopoulou, 2021. "The Link between Sustainable Destination Image, Brand Globalness and Consumers’ Purchase Intention: A Moderated Mediation Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-16, August.
    20. Marcello Mariani, 2020. "Web 2.0 and Destination Marketing: Current Trends and Future Directions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-17, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:vrs:bjeust:v:4:y:2014:i:1:p:29:n:8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.sciendo.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.