Over at Kai’s, fellow 296 blogger Kai Gan’s page, I’ve found several really cool posts about national and personal branding. Before going to university I’ve never really thought of branding myself – isn’t a “brand” just for products and companies? Now that I am older (aaahh, high school…those were the good ol’ lazy days) I know better.
Kai talked about a country’s brand, a topic which I found especially interesting. She talked about kimchi being so integral to Korea’s food culture that it’s become part of Korea’s brand. I’d never thought of it that way. When I think of Korea, I do think of kimchi – and I also think of darn good figure skaters, snow, and Korean bbq. Maybe those are all part of its national brand.
Where did I get those examples from? I remembered that Korea had fantastic figure skaters from the 2010 Winter Olympics (a major marketing showcase for participant countries if there ever was one). And on the VisitKorea website, Korea’s official tourism organization, the first picture I see is of a snow-covered temple.
How do different cultures’ brands translate? When non-Chinese people think of Chinese culture, what comes into mind? Wontons, chopsticks, dragon dances, calligraphy, good at math? I don’t consider those things part of my brand, yet I am Chinese – are chopsticks and good at math also part of my brand in a way that I’m not aware of? (Then maybe I should clarify: although I can wield some crazy chopsticks, I am no good at math.)
