Soft Power
Soft power is the persuasive approach to international relations, typically involving the use of economic or cultural influence. But what does that mean for cities, nations, and places? If you can leverage your soft power effectively in your place marketing and place branding strategy, you can create far greater impact and leverage your reputation to meet your goals. Here, we’ve collated a wealth of resources to help you with your journey.
This Soft Power Topic Zone is sponsored by

Brand Finance
Brand Finance is the world’s leading brand evaluation and strategy consultancy. We help place brands evaluate marketing activities and develop successful strategies. Headquartered in the City of London, we are present in 25 countries worldwide.
We have published the top 100 most valuable and strongest Nation Brands ranking for nearly 20 years. In 2020, we launched the Global Soft Power Index – the world’s most comprehensive research study on perceptions of nation brands, surveying opinions of 100,000+ respondents in 100+ markets.
Managing Ukraine’s nation brand during a war
Maria Lypiatska, Head of BRAND UKRAINE and Strategic Communications Advisor for the MFA, outlines how they’re telling Ukraine’s story to the world during a war and shares lessons from crisis communications that hopefully you’ll never need to use.
Moldova for Peace
On the 24th of February 2022, the war in Ukraine started, forcing hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians to leave their home country. As a multinational country, many of whose citizens had previously expressed pro-Russian views, Moldova faced a communication crisis. Discover how Invest Moldova launched a campaign to unite the nation.
Focusing on what really matters
Understanding the perspectives of different target audiences is central to a successful place brand strategy. Join Brand Finance to discover how to use perceptions research to uncover what really matters and how that differs across audiences.
More from Soft Power
Nordic Talks: Inspire to act, act to inspire
The eight countries in the Nordics might look similar, but they’re pretty different in terms of size, nature, export markets and finally, nation branding. Still, they have a few crucial things in common. Find out how 'Nordic Talks,' a joint branding initiative, worked to enhance the Nordic Commonality and share their core values.
Actions not words: Finland's Hän Honours
Finland wants to be known for its dedication to equality. But just telling people ‘Finland is committed to equality’ won’t cut it. Actions are needed to get the message across and to make a difference – and making a difference is what the team was interested in.
Omicron, soft power, and managing the media’s narrative
What sells newspapers and subscriptions can be hugely damaging to the respective nation, or city, often blowing concerns vastly out of proportion and creating long-lasting reputational impacts that take months or even years to overcome. So how can places retake control of the narrative to tell a new story?
Understanding the value and strength of nation brands post-COVID
What is the value of a nation brand post-COVID? David Haigh and Parul Soni discuss the findings of the latest Brand Finance Nation Brands report and reflect on the case study of the US - what damage has Trump done and can Biden repair it?
Creativity, opportunity, and optimism: how UNBOXED hopes to revitalise the UK
How is UNBOXED - formerly known as Festival UK - aiming to bring creativity and optimism to the forefront in the UK? Before he joins us at City Nation Place UK on November 3, we caught up with Phil Batty, Executive Director of UNBOXED, to understand what the festival hopes to achieve and what the opportunities are for cities, regions, and countries across the UK.
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CloseKonrad leads Brand Finance’s place branding and soft power practice. He liaises with clients, directs consulting projects, and is responsible for the creation and promotion of the annual Global Soft Power Index and Nation Brands studies.
Konrad has extensive experience in advising clients in the fields of place branding and public diplomacy. Before joining Brand Finance, he worked at the Polish Embassy in London where he developed and delivered successful marketing communications campaigns as well as media relations programmes of official engagements by the president, prime minister, government ministers, and the ambassador.
In his role at Brand Finance, Konrad has advised a variety of place branding organisations, including New Zealand Story, the Australian Trade and Investment Commission, and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.
Konrad has qualified with the Professional PR Diploma from the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR). He studied European Studies MA at King’s College London and the Humboldt University in Berlin, and International Relations with Political Science BA at the University of Birmingham.