Lidija Luneva

Development of National Brand: Evaluation of the Development of National Branding Strategy of Latvia Lidija Luneva

In the past decades, branding has become a fundamental tool to compete for customers in the whole world. Branding has been stretched from products and services to corporate branding to create value for companies and consumers. Countries have also heeded the great success and power of brands. Because nations compete in economic, cultural, social, and political areas, many countries have become aware of a need to be recognised and to stand out against other countries. Therefore this work takes a systematic approach to analyse the process of development of national branding strategy of Latvia. Analysis is based on the National Branding Development Model by Erm and Arengu and 7-step model proposed by Olins. The work starts with current situation analysis and application of the model, followed by defined problems and proposed actions. The work can be of great value for academic purposes, as well as for state officials who work directly or indirectly with areas related to the country image and national branding.