Efe Sevin's Reflections on Public Diplomacy, Place Branding, and Foreign Policy
Hey, we can shoot high quality promo videos!
A friend of my recently sent me this video… Well, in fact, she sent the link with critical comments. Though I liked it!
Istanbul is selected as one of the three European Capitals of Culture in 2010 and the below video is prepared by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. The re-occuring theme of hospitality (everyone welcoming you) gets a little bit disturbing after the 50th person.
All we have are scenes from Istanbul, only city images. You can see some people but cannot hear anything. (Thinking about a long term branding process, I argue that we need people “talking” “sharing their ideas”.)
People walking around, trams, ships on the sea, the bridges, religious diversity… All great themes to be shown.
Is it possible to make this video better? I believe so,
Add something about science and technology. (Research facility, universities etc.)
Add something about contribution to current culture. (A concert, an art exhibition, a recent architectural work)
Add something about business and business places. (Yes, it is related with the culture.)
Cut down the number of mosques. (There are way too many…They could be just included in the religious diversity section).
Definitely change the intro music.
We have see again way too many houses (mansions) by the Bosphorus.
Enough with the SUBWAY! If your city has more than 500.000, you have to have SUBWAYS! (plural – subwayS). Istanbul’s subway is quite new – which means the city is behind the transportation technology, let’s say, by 100 years. It has no historical value. There is only one line – nothing to be proud of in transportation terms. It is just a subway.
Lastly, officials need to be more careful about distribution channels. I know it is difficult to control the flow of information in the age of Web 2.0 – but this is what happens if you don’t. The following are the key words from the youtube video: (Bold ones are unnecessary, and italic ones are “weird”)
Turkey turkish liverpool alanya marmaris paris amsterdam manchester germany greekbellydancetarkan hilton madrid dj sex
I think the only thing that disturbed me most is the number of WOMEN in the video because I guess there are none! Being a citizen of a country where ‘gender equality’ is taken as just a written clause in the constitution, it shouldn’t be a surprise (I am not being a feminist here)…If this is the image that the ‘Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality’ wants to create, then well done, they are very successful.
Overall, I think I prefer the ‘Turkey Welcomes You’ ad with Azra Akin (Miss World of some year). Even though it is produced with the priority of attracting tourists rather than ‘branding’ (short term thinking instead of long term), at least it looks good!
Well, great point! I really haven’t realized this fact! This is a really important point, in fact more important than including science and business! Thank you very much for your comment.
It looks nice, but it has no clear message. That video might be okay in terms of “place branding” and “destination branding” but it just offers a short preview of an oriental country…
Reaching the Public 
I think the only thing that disturbed me most is the number of WOMEN in the video because I guess there are none! Being a citizen of a country where ‘gender equality’ is taken as just a written clause in the constitution, it shouldn’t be a surprise (I am not being a feminist here)…If this is the image that the ‘Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality’ wants to create, then well done, they are very successful.
Overall, I think I prefer the ‘Turkey Welcomes You’ ad with Azra Akin (Miss World of some year). Even though it is produced with the priority of attracting tourists rather than ‘branding’ (short term thinking instead of long term), at least it looks good!
Well, great point! I really haven’t realized this fact! This is a really important point, in fact more important than including science and business! Thank you very much for your comment.
About Turkey Welcomes You video, if you haven’t seen my post, you might like to check it out https://efesevin.wordpress.com/2009/03/08/reality-tv-in-nation-branding/
It looks nice, but it has no clear message. That video might be okay in terms of “place branding” and “destination branding” but it just offers a short preview of an oriental country…