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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 measure their marketing activities and develop successful strategies. Headquartered in the City of London, we are present in 25 countries worldwide.
We have published the Brand Finance Nation Brands study into the strength and value of the world’s top nation brands for 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 150,000+ respondents in 100+ markets and ranking all 193 member states of the United Nations. Our Brand Finance City Index – published for the first time in 2023 will be extended in the coming years to cover more city brands in regional rankings across all continents.
The Global Soft Power Summit is returning on February 28-29th, 2024. Learn more here.
Strategic applications of place brand measurement
Brand Finance's Konrad Jagodzinski and Artur Bryzghalov joined three place brand leaders at City Nation Place Global to share practical examples of how place brand measurement can inform your strategy and improve results.
Listen in to learn from Carla Urbano Donayre, Promperu, David Downs, New Zealand Story Group, and Enver Duminy, Cape Town Tourism, as they share their practical experience on how analysing perceptions data can help you identify strategic priorities, develop a licensing programme, and communicate the added value of your work to key stakeholders.
#WhatWeAreFightingFor
#WhatWeAreFightingFor showed the world over 600,000 reasons to fight, presenting each region of Ukraine to the world and explaining why each square kilometre of their land is essential.
Learn about Ukraine's Award entry for Best Communication Strategy: Place Brand
How to build reputation and influence: A roadmap to setting strategic priorities
Nurturing reputation and coming across as an influential player are both essential objectives for building soft power. But how should nation brands go about growing reputation and influence? Drivers analysis conducted by Brand Finance experts on the Global Soft Power Index data provides the answers.
More from Soft Power
Berlin’s Culture Project: plans for recovery after a year in lockdown
Berlin is arguably one of the cultural powerhouses of the world. With the global cultural sector devastated after a year of lockdown, we reached out to Burkhard Kieker, CEO of Visit Berlin, to discover what the city’s plans were for recovery, and how they have reframed their approach from ‘attracting tourists’ to ‘having guests’.
Solidarity, public health, and the impact of soft power
Last week, Brand Finance's 2021 Global Soft Power Summit was hosted virtually and questions of public health and COVID governance dominated both the discussions and the results of the 2021 Global Soft Power Index. “ But what can we learn from the impact felt on nations’ soft power approaches as we prepare for recovery?
How hosting COP26 is cementing Glasgow's green credentials
The spotlight is on Glasgow as the hosts of COP26. What role do cities play in addressing global challenges such as climate change? Susan Aitken, Council Leader for Glasgow City Council, shares how can cities can leverage their events to grow their international reputation, engage citizens in key areas, and generate equitable development.
COVID-19, leadership, and the impact on nation branding
International relations are at a crossroad. With so much upheaval comes an intense international scrutiny on how countries are managing their reputations.
The unsung benefits of attracting international students to your destination
Are you currently working to attract international students to your destination? If the answer is no, then the chances are that you’re missing a trick. We reached out to three destinations who have been incorporating their study proposition into their broader place brand strategy to understand how they have leveraged their international student attraction to deliver back on their city’s values.
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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, Nation Brands, and City Index 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 the GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland Campaign, Austrade, and Cape Town Tourism.
Before moving on to grow the place branding practice, Konrad was the Communications Director of Brand Finance and Managing Director of Brand Finance’s PR agency – Brand Dialogue for 5 years. He has a proven track record in executing integrated communications strategies, having been responsible for publishing nearly 100 industry and country reports on the world’s most valuable brands on an annual basis.
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.