On the Art and Challenge of Rebranding Geece

Athens News feature on Peter Economides and the art of rebranding Greece (10 February, 2012).

On changing foreign perceptions and an image survey

A brand in need of renewal

Update (March 2012): plea from Tour Operators, and in Athens News

An example of a past campaign to modernise perceptions of the UK in Australia (and vice versa)

Not sure if I agree with all the ideas of Peter Economides, but he certainly has an impressive track record and a lot of experience in this field.

I come from a cultural relations and public/cultural diplomacy background, not from the commercial world of PR and advertising, so I am not tempted by terms like "Brand-DNA" or by the need 'to extol the work of Greek heroes.' I have worked closely on campaigns with companies like Saatchi and Saatchi (Australia) and similar Swedish agencies; they certainly add value and help to define objectives, strategies and they do understand the target audiences and markets. They're good at building the essential "Pillars" of a wide-reaching campaign.

Greece certainly has considerable 'soft power' assets (a term currently in academic fashion), whether it's the Ancient Greek heritage, the landscape, the poetry (Seferis, Elytis etc) and music, the sea, the mountains, the climate, the hospitality etc; all of these are a huge attraction. These assets should never be underestimated or undervalued.

But as I said in an earlier posting- and it's a truism-
"It is not just a question of rebranding. In order to change perceptions, the reality has to change first, and there have to be some compelling, true stories to tell..."

There are certainly plenty of wonderful stories to tell about Greece, Ancient and Modern. But it may be a little too early to spend large sums of scarce public money on  rebranding exercises aimed at tackling the current negative perceptions in various countries (I'm not sure how well this new campaign will work, but public money is not involved; see also "Join Us in Greece", Times Square animated billboard).

The research and planning could well start now.

But who constitutes the priority target audience? The foreign politicians and opinion-leaders? The potential tourists and the tourist trade? The media? Those interested in Greek culture and the arts? Those interested in ecological and specialised tourism (trekking, diving, wildlife etc)? Young people, middle-aged or retired people? New countries or established markets?

Personally I wouldn't go down the commercial rebranding route at this stage. I would recruit a group pf PhD students at Greek universities, such as the History Department of the Ionian University, to undertake some serious academic research into the attitudes of natural allies and long-term friends of Greece, self-declared Philhellenes and Grecophiles, to try to discover why their love and admiration for the country is tempered by exasperation and elements of the famous Love/Hate Syndrome. What are its root causes? Try to discover the nature of any feelings of ambivalence and negative perceptions.

Then start to develop a strategy or a series of campaigns to change both  internal (ie Greek) practices, policies and bureaucratic behaviour (where, and if, found necessary) and external (ie foreign) attitudes or (false?) perceptions.

If there is a Love/Hate Syndrome to be found even within the closest and most committed foreign friends of Greece, why not try, first and foremost, to get rid of the reasons for the "Hate" part of the equation?

Some other views on changing the image of Greece.

See YouTube video: All My Friends From Greece , for starters and the 2009 version

Specific regions with clear objectives (increased numbers of tourists, educational exchanges etc) can adopt a more targeted and country-specific approach, such as the forthcoming "Ionian inspires Australians" see slide show

To end, some problematic perceptions:
A link to a thoughtful piece in English by Corfiot Peter Papageorgiou
and to Keep Talking Greece. on how the rioters demanded money NOT to burn down shops and buildings in Athens
The Press Association on further hitches and hurdles