Recently I figured out nation branding was not a self explaining concept.
I was introducing myself to someone last week and told him that my research area was nation branding. He looked at me, all dazzled, and said “Nation branding, like branding the nations?”. Then I told this story to a friend, expecting her to be surprised that someone heard nation branding concept for the first time. She frankly said: “Efe, I really don’t know what you mean when you say nation branding” .
So here is just a quick note on my take on the concept of Nation Branding: The perception of a country’s image by the foreign public opinion. In other words, how do people see your country? It is more than just a logo, more than promoting your country as a great place to live/visit/study/invest. It is about managing the perception of people, it is definitely about how you tell your story, with words and actions, to the people living all around the world.
Reaching the Public 
I want to make you aware of the Strengthening Brand America Project. It is a community of practice designed to help people involved in community economic development successfully reapply product and corporate branding principles. The objective is to help our communities become more competitive for capital investment in a new, interdependent global economy. Success will result in accelerated economic recovery.
You can check it out at http://www.strengtheningbrandamerica.com. I am hoping your Organization would consider helping increase awareness of this project.