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
The true damage of COVID-19 to nation brands
The downward trend of nearly all the world’s most valuable nation brands is not entirely surprising. With COVID-19 contributing to the rise of protectionism, we may see a reversal of the economic growth brought about by globalisation. Nevertheless, with analysts’ forecasts looking less dire than initially predicted, and with a working vaccine in place, the future is certainly looking brighter.
How has COVID-19 impacted your brand? Understanding the strength and values of nation brands
Hear from David Haigh and Parul Soni, Brand Finance, as they launch the Brand Finance Nation Brands Index for 2020 and share an exclusive sneak peek at the next Global Soft Power Index.
Can place branding save the world?
To put it simply, if a country wants to do well, it must do good. Simon Anholt, founder of the Good Country Index, shares his thoughts on how nations can make a real impact on the global stage and create genuine, lasting positive perceptions.
Has the pandemic killed soft power?
There's a fine line between soft power and sharp power. How can we reconnect our values into our soft power approaches in a post-COVID-19 world? Can cities, regions and nations, promote a more global mindset in their citizens?
Papatūānuku is Breathing: how Māori values underpin Auckland's sustainable destination management
Closing the narrative gap between your identity and your perceived identity is a challenge for many places. Nick Hill, Chief Executive, Auckland Tourism, Events & Economic Development, shared with us how they're working to change perceptions with a new brand playbook - and how they're putting sustainable destination management at the core of their strategy.
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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.