Strengthening Finland's Country Brand: 100 Reasons to Travel in Finland Campaign
Parina, Linda (2021)
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Lataukset:
Parina, Linda
2021
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2021053112727
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2021053112727
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The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the perceived possibilities of strengthening Finland’s country brand through being part of a nation-wide domestic tourism campaign, that aims to create a phenomenon out of domestic travel. The research was done as a commission for a campaign called 100 Reasons to Travel in Finland, Suoma being the official commissioner and Drama Queen Communications in charge of executing the campaign and therefore closely as an advisor in working on this thesis. The main objective of the thesis is to examine if the companies/organizations, that participated in the 2020 campaign, perceive they had an important role in strengthening Finland’s country brand.
Finland’s country brand has been under conscious strategic development only for a decade. The aim of country brand work is to form a certain kind of image and identity for a country. It is often perceived from an international aspect, even though country brand does also exist for the country’s own residents. This thesis was conducted to further contribute to the understanding of how country brand could be strengthened internally by its own citizens.
The thesis process was conducted between October 2020 – May 2021. Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic and its imposed restrictions on international travel, the topic of the thesis has current relevancy. Theoretical framework of the thesis introduces central concepts and aspects that country branding entails both in general and specifically in Finland. It also extensively introduces the 100 Reasons to Travel in Finland campaign and the commissioner. The research was qualitative and it was conducted by video call interviews between March – April 2021. Sampling consisted of ten participants of the 2020 campaign.
The results showed that the participants could extensively describe operations that are a part of country branding. However, they could not bring up if they consciously execute these procedures because they know it strengthens Finland’s country brand. The findings revealed that while co-operation was seen highly important in terms of the campaign, but also work environment in general, many respondents also believed that a single actor has power to influence how Finland is perceived.
The findings of the research indicate that the participants’ perception of their influence is linked to the extent and level of knowledge they have on what country branding entails. However, even if they were unfamiliar with the concept, they could still bring up a strong perception of the influence over country image. As a conclusion, it is possible that the participants already impact country brand on a much higher level, but these operations are sub-conscious. In order to the actors of tourism field to know how to support its strengthening, the level of awareness about country branding should be increased.
Finland’s country brand has been under conscious strategic development only for a decade. The aim of country brand work is to form a certain kind of image and identity for a country. It is often perceived from an international aspect, even though country brand does also exist for the country’s own residents. This thesis was conducted to further contribute to the understanding of how country brand could be strengthened internally by its own citizens.
The thesis process was conducted between October 2020 – May 2021. Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic and its imposed restrictions on international travel, the topic of the thesis has current relevancy. Theoretical framework of the thesis introduces central concepts and aspects that country branding entails both in general and specifically in Finland. It also extensively introduces the 100 Reasons to Travel in Finland campaign and the commissioner. The research was qualitative and it was conducted by video call interviews between March – April 2021. Sampling consisted of ten participants of the 2020 campaign.
The results showed that the participants could extensively describe operations that are a part of country branding. However, they could not bring up if they consciously execute these procedures because they know it strengthens Finland’s country brand. The findings revealed that while co-operation was seen highly important in terms of the campaign, but also work environment in general, many respondents also believed that a single actor has power to influence how Finland is perceived.
The findings of the research indicate that the participants’ perception of their influence is linked to the extent and level of knowledge they have on what country branding entails. However, even if they were unfamiliar with the concept, they could still bring up a strong perception of the influence over country image. As a conclusion, it is possible that the participants already impact country brand on a much higher level, but these operations are sub-conscious. In order to the actors of tourism field to know how to support its strengthening, the level of awareness about country branding should be increased.