In our blogs, we talked a lot about other countries and destination branding in general. So, how good is the brand Belgium doing?
We should do great right? Ten-million people, over 500 kinds of beer, the best chocolate in the world, The Atomium, Bruges: The Venice of the Nord. Great, we are golden!
Nevertheless, the brand Belgium isn’t doing a magnificent job I’m afraid. The conflict we have on a political level: Flemish politicians striving for greater autonomy or independence, the inability to form a government and the quarrels about little things that don’t really matter (‘yellow and black are to Flemish to be the colors of the new license plates’), give Belgium the image of a country that we are a bunch of little kids who can’t solve their problems like grownups should. The divide between Wallonia and Flanders is continually hampering the development of a strong nation brand. By acting on their own, the regions weaken the image of Belgium. For example: Last year, a federal trade mission to China was immediately followed by a totally separate delegation from Flanders.
Even Simon Anthol, the godfather of destination branding, says: "Belgium branding is a global scandal. As a result of divisive politics, Belgium's brand equity is being squandered." And we can’t blame him. If a country can’t agree on the colors of the new license plate without problems, on what can we agree?
After reading the article and other information I searched for, I hate to say I agree on it. We have assets, a lot of them. But we are throwing them away with the division of our country. I won’t go political in this blog and state who is right and who is wrong, but viewed from the perspective of destination branding, we are doing a horrible job. I think a country should stand united to the rest of the world. If we don’t understand each other, how do we expect the rest of the world to understand us? If we have to fight about every little thing, why do we expect from the rest of the world to work together with us? If we can’t be on the same page in our own country, don’t expect the rest of the world to judge us positively.
Christophe Parrein
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