Nation branding and integrated marketing comunications an ASEAN perspective 科技英语论文.docx

Nation branding and integratedmarketing communications:an ASEAN perspectiveAbstractPurpose – This paper aims to examine the extent to which the nation branding activities of exportpromotion organisations (EPOs), investment agencies (IAs), national branding activities (NTOs)and embassies follow the principle of coordination that characterises an integrated Marketing communications approach.Originality/value – This paper extends previous work on the need for countries to adopt acoordinated approach to their nation branding activities. the paper is also original in its reporting of findings from a region (ASEAN)that is under-researched relative to other areas, such as Europe and North America.KeywordsBrands, Marketing communication, Exports, Tourism, Investments, South East AsiaPaper type Research paper1. IntroductionWhile the need for different state-level organisations to integrate their nation brandingactivities in a coordinated manner is widely accepted, very little research examinesactors’ perceptions of the optimal degree of coordination that should occur.The locus of the research is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)region. ASEAN comprises ten member countries – Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia,Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.This paper is structured as follows. First, we review the key elements of IMC andindicate the challenge inherent in applying an IMC approach in a nation branding context.Then, we review conceptualisations of the nation branding construct, with a particularfocus on the degree of coordination that is desirable between different organisationsengaged in nation branding strategy. 2. IMC: the principle of coordinationThe concept of IMC has become established in the marketing literature as an integralpart of brand strategy (Cornelissen and Lock, 2000; Eagle and Kitchen, 2000; Gould,2004; Madhavaram et al., 2005).Although the construction and application of IMC at firm-level is far from st