Obviously, prosperous countries are now resorting to the same strategy of building image as the leading brands do. A country with vague reputation, though, is deemed to be an outsider on the world economic arena. It’s high time we rethought how to withstand the manipulations from outside, and to boost the profitability of the national brand. The desire to get more Ukrainians excited about the national identity issues, and be united by this idea has urged me to write this piece.

Three main challenges on the way to capitalizing Ukraine

There are several components to the national brand – the so-called “hexagon” – whose symbiosis guarantees the creation of a solid and long-standing national brand. It incorporates tourism, export, government, cultural heritage, human asset, investments and immigration. All of these directly affect the brand capitalization. Cynical enough, the reputation of a country is a convertible asset and that be bought and sold.

The first challenge is geopolitical. We need to learn how to successfully manage the national brand at such a global level. To put it more precisely, the ability to convert the reality into objective benefits is a top priority for Ukraine. Moreover, it’s nigh to impossible to talk about capitalization of the independent country’s brand without enhancing its prestige in Europe. I believe that the perception of Ukraine as a new economic tiger would be the main criteria of assessing its economic renaissance in these rocky times. However, the integration is not that rampant to take place for the time being.

Historically, we have been witnessing our motherland affected by the spirits of time and milestones, all modifying its outlook dramatically. Still, it’s painful to realize that being a buffer territory, Ukraine demonstrates its inability to restore its economic and political health. Here “countries-saviors” bear the palm, positioning themselves as heavyweights with paternalistic attitude to perishable Ukraine. Gentlehearted as Ukrainians are, self-assertion would probably go a long way here for us as a nation.

The second challenge is cultural. What’s really remarkable is that Ukraine is receptive to the foreign know-how – from popular movies to consumer goods. While some are arguing about Westernization being a double-edged sword, the absorption of cultures is progressing. It’s not only about Ukraine – the whole world is getting more homogeneous. Here the paper by Samuel Huntington “The clash of civilizations” comes in handy, where the author claims that the next war will be not nuclear or atomic, but cultural. Far from being a Nostradamus, the author was a true visionary and one who was well ahead of his time.A morale for us to bear in mind is that it’s crucial to strike the happy medium between global trends and our own national identity.

What’s more, tourism potential is a great moving force of the Ukrainian economy. Ukrainian positioning should touch upon its national peculiarities. Successful examples include USA that positions itself as a Klondike of innovations and entrepreneurship, Greece as a cradle of mankind, Georgia as a homeland of wine and Borjomi, Israel as a motherland of three world religions and historical Mecca. Ukraine has lots of things to show to the world, and we shouldn’t keep silent, I believe.

Currently, the number of objects interesting for potential tourists is growing. These include Kyiv, Odessa, Lviv, the Crimea that attract tourists with their architecture, traditions and natural beauty. What we really need to do for the general good is to enhance this tendency.

The third challenge is industrial. Let’s consider export, for example. It’s no secret that a well-established brand helps to sell goods. For example, the German or Japanese quality ranks higher than Ukrainian. The same is about the French cosmetics in comparison with the local, provided that the quality is identical. Positioning plays a key role here. "Made in Ukraine" has not become a synonym of quality yet.

One more simple truth: the countries get revenue not from selling raw materials, but ready-made goods – just think of the cost of such brands as Gucci (Italy), Dior, Lois Vuitton (France), Samsung, Daewoo, LG (South Korea), Sony and Toyota (Japan)!

Unluckily, Ukraine hasn’t yet managed to totally get rid of the status of the raw-material country. One can single out such popular Ukrainian brands, as Nemiroff, Roshen, System Capital Management, Obolon, Chernigivske. Other brands like Ruslana, Shevchenko and Klitschko generate the general positive image of Ukraine but do not directly influence the brand capitalization.

The road ahead: joining forces

For further development the country needs the backup of the corporate sector, non-governmental institutions and organizations. It’s a well-known fact that the society and business are much more dynamic than the official bodies. Business is ready to generate ideas and implement projects that will lead to the breakthrough of Ukraine to the international market. Leading Ukrainian companies and foreign investors are able to support the process. European Business Association, American Chamber of Commerce and others could play a vital role here. I trust we as business can join forces with state bodies to work out an efficient plan to move Ukraine to prosperity.

Being aware of the importance of national branding, lots of countries allocate budgets for campaigns aimed at improving the image of the country. One of such examples is the Germany’s campaign “Du bist Deutschland” and “Germany Land of Ideas.” The first was launched in autumn 2005 and was aimed at internal branding. The second was aimed at strengthening Germany’s image in the world, and started at the beginning of 2006 on the eve of the Football Championship.

In November 2011 an unprecedented campaign of Israel aimed at enhancing its image among the countries of the Europe was aimed at popularizing the peculiarities of the republic on the background of the conflict with the Arab world. The same campaign of improving the image was launched by the UK on the eve of the Olympiad 2012. So, the branding at the national level is gaining momentum.

As country, we lay much hope on the Euro 2012 football games under way now through July 1. Ukraine’s football triumph on June 11 is arguably the platform for the nation’s reunion. I have enjoyed this overall sense of excitement – in the streets, on Facebook, in the offices! This national pride is simply overwhelming.

In fact, sports branding creates platform for building reputation, and the positive effect of such branding spreads on different aspects of life: political system, business, tourism, population, investors, mass media. Let’s hope this will turn into financial dividends and reputation benefits for Ukraine. The better we are aware of the key messages, the better the country’s image will be projected to the community. Let’s remember that the strength is in the unity of our aims and actions!

Olga Pikulska, ACIPR, is a public relations practitioner and can be reached via [email protected].