The master thesis is focused on the perception of Poland as a brand among university students. The aim of the master thesis is an analysis of Poland in terms of image and identity of the country perceived by university students. The theoretical part is concentrated on nation branding as a key concept for building a nation brand. The practical part contains analysis of secondary data from rating indexes, researches about perception of Poland, national and media campaigns. The primary research included qualitative and quantitative methods to explore the perception of Poland, general image, stereotypes, opinions and attitude toward Polish products and services. The research was carried out among Polish and Czech university students.

This Master's thesis focuses on nation branding in developing countries. Nation branding is an emerging discipline that aims to build and improve a nation's image through the application of marketing techniques. The aim of the thesis is to contextualize the nation branding of developing countries within the broader framework of the theory and practice of nation branding and development studies. The thesis is structured into three chapters. The first chapter offers an introduction into the theory and practice of nation branding and the critique attached to it. The second chapter then looks at how nation branding fits into the wider context of development studies, and the scale of its relevance for developing countries with a special focus on its application for export, FDI and tourism promotion and its significance in development co-operation. The last chapter is dedicated to case studies of application of nation branding in two developing countries: Uruguay and Thailand. The conclusion sums up the results.

Nationer är komplexa varumärken i kontrast till organisationers eller företags varumärken. De omfattar en rad aspekter såsom exempelvis turism, näringsliv och politik. Trots det, är det minst lika viktigt för ett land att skapa ett gott rykte kring sitt varumärke. Att sponsra en film är ett av alla tillvägagångssätt att nå ut med sitt varumärke till omvärlden. Det gjorde Singapores turistnämnd, när de sponsrade filmen Crazy Rich Asians. Hollywoodfilmen släpptes år 2018 och blev en succé i många länder. Denna studie har undersökt på vilket sätt en geografiskt distanserad publik tolkat landets varumärke genom filmen. Syftet med studien är att framhäva på vilket sätt en geografiskt distanserad publik tolkar ett nationsvarumärke i film. Fem svenska studenter deltog i en fokusgrupp. Studien kom fram till att (1) Singapores varumärke uppmärksammades tydligt av en geografiskt distanserad publik genom filmen, men att (2) vissa singaporianska kulturer och traditioner som framhävs tolkades på ett icke-önskvärt sätt. Studiens resultat understryker vikten av vilken kulturell kontext som filmen presenteras i. / Nations brands are complex in contrast to corporational- or organizational brands. There are numerous different aspects that need to be considered when building a strong nation brand for example within sectors revolving tourism, politics and infrastructure. Sponsoring a movie is one way for a nation to market themselves and reach out to a larger audience worldwide. In 2018 Singapore Tourism Board, STB, sponsored the movie Crazy Rich Asians, a movie that became a Hollywood success worldwide. This study aims to examine in which ways a geographical distanced audience responded to the movie and how their interpretation could help to construct Singapore's brand image. The purpose of the study is to highlight in what way a geographically distanced audience read a nation brand trough film. Five Swedish students participated in a focus group discussion on this matter after watching the movie Crazy Rich Asians. The study reveals that (1) a geographically distanced audience did create a brand image of Singapore through the movie. (2) Some of the Singaporean cultures and traditions that exposed in the movie were not read in a desirable way. The result of the study highlights the importance of which culture context a movie is presented in.

Comblant un fossé dans les études relatives à la diplomatie culturelle des pays émergents, cette thèse s’inscrit dans le cadre d’une analyse quantitative et qualitative de la diplomatie culturelle vietnamienne. Celle-ci est une partie intégrante de la politique étrangère en vue d’assurer une intégration internationale du pays et ce, au service du développement socio-économique. L’objectif primordial de cette stratégie, reconnue comme l’un des trois piliers de la diplomatie vietnamienne avec l’économie et le politique, est de présenter le Vietnam dans le monde entier afin d’attirer les investissements. Dans ce sens, elle constitue un outil de « marketing » pour le pays. L’histoire séculaire contre les invasions étrangères, une détermination de préservation de l’identité culturelle ainsi que la nature du régime politique sont à l’origine des particularités de cette stratégie qui articule diplomatie du parti communiste, du gouvernement et du peuple. L’élément étatique est indispensable dans la formulation de cette politique. L’observation des pratiques ainsi que le résultat de notre évaluation montre que cette diplomatie se concentre sur les activités évènementielles au détriment des projets structurels (éducation et information). Sa mise en œuvre constitue un défi pour le gouvernement, en raison d’une absence de véritable mécanisme de coordination d’une part, mais aussi d’une conception de la « culture » attachée à l’idéologie d’autre part. L’UNESCO est le partenaire principal du Vietnam car l’inscription au patrimoine mondial de sites ou de pratiques nationaux demeure l’un des sujets phare de cette diplomatie, contribuant à l’essor du tourisme. La Francophonie, elle, a des compétences spécifiques en particulier dans la diversité culturelle mais le Vietnam n’en a pas encore bénéficié. Si l’UNESCO est un forum où le Vietnam pourrait se présenter dans la communauté internationale, l’OIF, avec le dossier économique et la promotion du français, servirait de lieu pour promouvoir une recherche d’influence dans la région d’Asie du Sud-Est. / Filling a gap in studies on cultural diplomacy of the emerging countries, this thesis constitutes of a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the Vietnamese cultural diplomacy. This is an integral part of foreign policy in order to ensure international integration of the country and also for socio-economic development. The primary objective of this strategy, recognized as one of the three pillars of Vietnamese diplomacy with economy and politics, is to present Vietnam to the worldwide in order to attract investment. Thus, it is a “marketing” tool for the country. The secular history against foreign invasions, a determination to preserve the cultural identity and the nature of the political regime are the specific features of this strategy, articulating diplomacies of the Communist party, the government and the Vietnamese people. The element “state” is essential in the formulation of this policy. The observation of practices and the results of our evaluation show that this diplomacy focuses on event activities while seconding structural project (education and information). Its implementation is a challenge for the government, due to a lack of effective coordination on the one hand, but also a concept of “culture” attached to the ideology on the other. UNESCO is the main partner of Vietnam because inclusion in the World Heritage sites remains one of the major subjects of the Vietnamese cultural diplomacy, contributing to the development of tourism. La Francophonie has its specific expertise especially in cultural diversity but Vietnam has not benefited from that yet. If UNESCO is a forum where Vietnam could arise in the international community, OIF, with the economic issue and the promotion of French, would serve as a place to promote influence of Vietnam in the South-East Asia.

This paper aims to highlight how the recent developments in international relations has created a environment with increased competition between countries for attention and assets and how these changes has promoted the increased use of public diplomacy  to reach out to new actors. The study will focus on the public diplomacy sub-discipline of nation branding.  The paper will analyze reputation management in international relations through the lens of corporate branding. This approach will help bridge the gap between marketing and international relations and expand the analytical toolkit for public diplomacy. While many studies have focused on branding campaigns this study will focus on the brand management to see whether it is capable of creating distinction and relevance for a nation brand or national reputation.     The paper aims to give an descriptive analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats the Swedish reputation management faces in order to assess how the management can improve but also provide an analytical framework for researchers interested in studying reputation management. The paper will employ a qualitative method consisting of text analysis and interviews to connect the theoretical models with business practice to then present the results using a SWOT-analysis. The data gathered from the Swedish Institute serves to provide empirical data on the business conduct in relation to brand management and several indexes will be used to assess the Swedish brand. Results show that the Swedish nation brand management have adopted a wide range of methods to strengthen the distinctiveness and relevance for the Swedish brand and that the weaknesses are mostly connected to communication failures. The brand management has also good opportunities to further project a strong image of Sweden and the threats towards it are only marginal. The brand management should continue its current work while developing new methods and solutions to overcome the communication problems towards certain target groups. While the study have made contributions to understand how reputation management could be analyzed through corporate brand management, further research should look into whether a nation brand or reputation has been used as a power asset that is capable of actually acquiring global assets.