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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.
The polarisation paradox: Thirteen trends re-shaping place branding and marketing
We’re living in paradoxical times – but how should place brand and marketing teams be preparing to respond? We reached out to our Expert partners to discover what geopolitical, social, or economic trends they predicted would have the greatest impact on nation, region, and city brand strategies to help you prepare for the year ahead.
Countering false narratives with a values-driven nation branding
Christian Biller, Brand Strategist for the Swedish Institute and industry veteran, joined us to talk about how approaches to nation branding have evolved over the past decade, what skills place leaders need to succeed in the face of disinformation, and how you can future-proof your strategy.
The future of nation and place branding: Predictions for the next decade
Dive in to discover the global conditions and trends that have affected and will continue to influence nation and place branding, and three possible future scenarios place branders could be facing in the next decade.
More from Soft Power
Brand Britain on the world stage
How are perceptions of the UK created, and how are they changing? Hear from Conrad Bird, Director at the GREAT Britain Campaign, how can the brand architecture of Great Britain work best for all stakeholders?
Soft Power and Nation Branding: A coordinated approach
The effect of a country’s national image on its home-grown brands and the economy as a whole is now widely acknowledged. But how exactly do place brands boost corporate brands?
Interview with Conrad Bird, Director of the GREAT Britain Campaign
Ahead of the inaugural City Nation Place UK conference, we asked Conrad Bird, Director of the GREAT Britain campaign, why he believed it was important for the key decision makers in UK place branding to share their insights and learn from each other's experiences, as well as what he considers to be the international perception of Brand Britain.
Soft power, city diplomacy and urban resilience
Mike Duffin, Senior Advisor Bureau of Counterterrorism & Countering Violent Extremism U.S. Department of State
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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.