Nation Branding. A Critical Evaluation. Assessing the Image Building of Iceland

• Main Author: Huijbens, Edward H.
• Other Authors: Isleifsson, Sumarlidi R., Chartier, Daniel
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: Presses de l'Université du Québec 2011
• Subjects: Nation branding; Marketing; Image nationale; Iceland; Islande; Politique; Politics; Relations étrangères; Foreign relations; Scandinavia; Scandinavie; Arctique; Arctic; Nordicity; Nordicité; Nation Brand Index (NBI); Simon Anholt; Géographie; Geography; Arctique*
• Online Access: http://www.archipel.uqam.ca/10605/1/222023446.pdf

Icelanders have long been image conscious. But only recently with Icelandic companies expanding abroad has a concerted effort towards image building been set in motion. With the budding expansion, the Icelandic Trade Council invested in an analysis of “the image of Iceland,” which was conducted by the Office of the Prime Minister and is now being perpetuated as “communicative defence strategies” by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This article provides an analysis of image building and claims that its underpinnings lie in the idea of “nation-branding,” with Iceland receiving a place on the Nation Brand Index (NBI) devised by Simon Anholt. This article seeks to critically evaluate the Icelandic image building effort with reference to geographic literature on place-making, placing, and notions of belonging, ideas integral to an image of anywhere.