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Branding Bulgaria

How to make the image of Bulgaria more popular and easily recognizable? This was the topic of a conference that raised issues such as: what exactly is the image of a country, why is it important and how to change it if we do not like it. “If you want to build a good image and reputation of Bulgaria, you need to set yourself specific goals”, said at the conference Simon Anholt, advisor of several cabinets and a leading expert on the problems of national reputation and identity. The modern world is a market and each country, city, or region competes for its share of world consumers, tourists, investors, sports and cultural events. In this fierce competition, more and more people do not have enough time to read about new places and get a preliminary idea. That is why most often they trust clichés. And the most popular clichés describe Bulgaria as a country in Eastern Europe and a EU member with cheap seaside resorts, and… that’s all. How can we change the image of Bulgaria? Bulgaria’s Minister of Economy and Energy, Traycho Traykov, told Radio Bulgaria more:

“In order to change something, we need to constantly send messages to the world the country deserves the image that it claims to have”, Minister Traykov commented. “Inside the overall brand of Bulgaria, we have specific products that we want to sell, for example tourism in Bulgaria. There you can work in a much more focused way. Bulgaria is one of the richest countries in the world in terms of cultural heritage and we just need to advertise ourselves more. This does not necessarily mean that we need to entirely change the country’s image. In improving Bulgaria’s image as an investment destination, it is good to work with specific recipients of our promotional message”, Minister Traykov stated.

In order to achieve a good reputation, Bulgaria should not simply invest millions in advertising, but it should strive at achieving things that will be beneficial to people around the world. This is the opinion of Simon Anholt who regards this idea as a completely feasible prospect:

“The question is what Bulgaria’s logo tells about your country, what message it sends to people around the world”, says Simon Anholt and is quick to offer expert advice. “You need a strategy for the next 50 years. Building a positive image takes decades, but ruining a positive image is really hard. For example, the turmoil in Egypt is not going to change the country’s image as people are simply not willing to change their cliché idea of this country. In order to improve Bulgaria’s reputation, we need actions that relate to people around the globe. These actions will make people think well of your country. This is a true example of policy and not an artificial PR campaign. A logo alone or a promotional phrase is not enough to change the perception of a country. On the other hand, world news related to Bulgaria are of much higher importance as they will attract the attention of everyone to you”, branding expert Simon Anholt says.

According to Minister Traykov, branding Bulgaria around the world as a tourist and investment destination has a huge potential.

“Having a good image is like a love relationship – you need to like yourself first in order to make others like you. For example, Bulgarian yoghurt in Japan has a 40-percent share on the market because people there think that Bulgaria is a beautiful country where people lead healthy and long lives. And it will be really difficult to change this sustainable image of Bulgaria and of the specific product.”

Economy Minister Traykov thinks that this approach needs to continue, and we should continue profiting from the sustainable perceptions of Japanese people about Bulgarian yoghurt and those of Russians about good-quality Bulgarian canned food. As far as the country’s economy is concerned, things there are pretty clear. “We have a favorable business environment in which the government does not act as an impediment and costs are cheap. The world needs to learn about these attractive conditions that we offer, that is why the money spent on the country’s branding is money well spent”, concludes Bulgaria’s Economy Minister Traycho Traykov.

By creating a destination brand, Bulgaria has a great opportunity to market itself to hundreds of thousands of potential visitors. Successful destination brands are not places in the world, they are places in people's minds, advising Bulgaria to create a positive outlook of itself to potential travellers can only be a good thing.

Brian1 wrote:

By creating a destination brand, Bulgaria has a great opportunity to market itself to hundreds of thousands of potential visitors. Successful destination brands are not places in the world, they are places in people's minds, advising Bulgaria to create a positive outlook of itself to potential travellers can only be a good thing.

Nicely said Brian the striking thing about your comment is, it is what people remember. What is in the minds eye. The Ski World Cup will help winter Tourism so all they need now is something that will attract people to Bulgaria for the summer season.

tonyb60 wrote:

Brian1 wrote:

By creating a destination brand, Bulgaria has a great opportunity to market itself to hundreds of thousands of potential visitors. Successful destination brands are not places in the world, they are places in people's minds, advising Bulgaria to create a positive outlook of itself to potential travellers can only be a good thing.

Nicely said Brian the striking thing about your comment is, it is what people remember. What is in the minds eye. The Ski World Cup will help winter Tourism so all they need now is something that will attract people to Bulgaria for the summer season.

I like your little comment under you posting Tony, Cast off all care, inhale fresh air
That is exactly what we did last week. We went to Gran Canaria to celebrate our 44th Wedding Anniversary, well I celebrated it, I think the other half commiserated it. We enjoyed the weeks rest and beautiful sunshine with temperatures in the upper 20'c, the doctor could not have prescribe any medicine or pills that could do what that week has done for us, I went with the Wife and came back with a new women (still the Wife though)

The point I am coming to is what the topic is about and the comment already made advising Bulgaria to create a positive outlook of it'self to potential travellers can only be a good thing. So how can Bulgaria achieve that, and if I may, let me just return to our holiday with a few more relevent details
First point the aircraft took off on time, the cost £79.95 return, baggage £20.00, a clean tidy apartment, 10 minutes from the beach £102.00 per person, so a wonderful week for £200.00. Back on track now, what are Bulgarian's doing to promote tourism, what are airlines doing to get us there and back and at what price. Perhaps the Bulgarian tourist department needs a wake up call and make them fully aware of what the future could hold for them

As Tony commented about Ski World Cup helping winter tourism, well of course they need snow, so it is not rocket science to start with sunshine for the summer season. With all the unrest in the Africian Countries and thousands of holidays cancelled and tour operators not taking bookings for places like Tunisia and Egypt there is a golden opportunity for Bulgaria to cash in

Nice point Willows! We did invite my Brother and wife out last year for a 'free' holiday. However, given the price of the flights, hire care, etc., they decided to take two weeks in Spain instead (flights, transfers and half board included in a 3 star hotel!).

willowsend wrote:

tonyb60 wrote:

Brian1 wrote:

By creating a destination brand, Bulgaria has a great opportunity to market itself to hundreds of thousands of potential visitors. Successful destination brands are not places in the world, they are places in people's minds, advising Bulgaria to create a positive outlook of itself to potential travellers can only be a good thing.

Nicely said Brian the striking thing about your comment is, it is what people remember. What is in the minds eye. The Ski World Cup will help winter Tourism so all they need now is something that will attract people to Bulgaria for the summer season.

I like your little comment under you posting Tony, Cast off all care, inhale fresh air
That is exactly what we did last week. We went to Gran Canaria to celebrate our 44th Wedding Anniversary, well I celebrated it, I think the other half commiserated it. We enjoyed the weeks rest and beautiful sunshine with temperatures in the upper 20'c, the doctor could not have prescribe any medicine or pills that could do what that week has done for us, I went with the Wife and came back with a new women (still the Wife though)

The point I am coming to is what the topic is about and the comment already made advising Bulgaria to create a positive outlook of it'self to potential travellers can only be a good thing. So how can Bulgaria achieve that, and if I may, let me just return to our holiday with a few more relevent details
First point the aircraft took off on time, the cost £79.95 return, baggage £20.00, a clean tidy apartment, 10 minutes from the beach £102.00 per person, so a wonderful week for £200.00. Back on track now, what are Bulgarian's doing to promote tourism, what are airlines doing to get us there and back and at what price. Perhaps the Bulgarian tourist department needs a wake up call and make them fully aware of what the future could hold for them

As Tony commented about Ski World Cup helping winter tourism, well of course they need snow, so it is not rocket science to start with sunshine for the summer season. With all the unrest in the Africian Countries and thousands of holidays cancelled and tour operators not taking bookings for places like Tunisia and Egypt there is a golden opportunity for Bulgaria to cash in

Congratulations on serving over 4 life sentences with no parole for good behaviour

Quite agree with all that you have put here Bryan. As you say its not rocket science.

Good post this is I think the successful development of Bulgarian tourism needs resolving we all know of the serious problems related to the transport infrastructure like lack of sufficient airports, roads in bad condition;
difficult access to a number of sites have a disastrous effect on tourism, which is one of the main reasons for the inefficient development of the different types of alternative tourism. The improvement of the road infrastructure should be one of the priorities in the utilization of the EU funds, which will definitely support the development of the tourist sector so long as they pull out their finger and get on with it before Bulgaria misses the boat.

They need to create awareness among Bulgarians of how they might be seen and how they actually wish to be seen abroad. There is more than nice yoghurt and seaside resorts in Bulgaria. The country needs to consider what it is focusing on and attract as many people as possible from all walks of life.