Georgia’s political brand in the European Union: building the political product and the political brand

We live in a world full of brands, where the names, symbols, and logos of big corporations, such as McDonald’s, Adidas, and Coca-Cola are extremely recognizable. Nowadays, in the era of globalization, the product development and marketing strategies that were the domain of private companies and corporations are being taken over by the public sector. This unusual exchange of roles causes the state to enter the branding space, and to create an offer that includes the goods and services of national businesses, government, and non-governmental organizations, and also to create a brand. The brand of a state consists of three equal components: a national brand, country brand, and political brand.
Georgia is a “model democratic state” in the South Caucasus, which cooperates consistently with the European Union. The multi-level specificity of this state and the implemented model of systemic transformation, directed the foreign policy and created the state brand towards the West.
The aim of the paper is to present the construction of one of the components of a state brand, the political brand, and to analyze the strategy of political branding in Georgia’s foreign policy created towards the European Union. The author will answer the question of how the political, and economic institutions of Georgia are building the political brand.

Current trends in global development (migration processes, hybrid wars, global pandemics, multiculturalism) bring new challenges for nation states. The level of international competitiveness and subjectivity of a modern state depends on the successful positioning of its political brand, secured by the choice of adequate tools for achieving the goals and objectives. This research aims at studying the peculiarities of the public diplomacy resource potential and its use in the process of political branding in Germany. The research methodology combines system and axiological approaches, as well as discourse analysis; this helps to reveal the structural relationships within the brand, and their correlation with the peculiarities of national political and economic development and global trends. The content of the political brand is studied through the prism of the interaction of the public (politics, economics, public administration) and national (mentality, culture, traditions) components that correlate with the level of political and economic development. National political leaders, public and political institutions play a leading role in generating the key message of a state. It is proved that public diplomacy expands the possibilities of successful implementation of economic, political, socio-cultural initiatives of the state, based on partnership and cooperation with representatives of the international community. The main tools of public diplomacy include setting the agenda, synchronization of information messages by government agencies, the use of a wide range of communication channels and special events aimed at building trust and lasting relationships between international actors. The article pays special attention to the study of the content of the branding campaign «Land of Ideas». It presents Germany as an active actor in the international political space, focused on the use of brand-new technologies in all spheres of society to ensure sustainable development. The authors prove that the current branding campaign focuses on economic (sustainable development and citizens’ welfare), technological (technological innovation, energy efficiency, environmental safety), and cultural (dialogue, intercultural communication) aspects. The key ideas of the branding strategy are sustainable economic development, manufacturability and digitalization, environmental friendliness and energy efficiency, partnership dialogue and cooperation. German public authorities are actively involved in the process of political branding, which is carried out at the internal and external levels through public diplomacy. The key ideas of the political brand are presented to the domestic public through constant two-way communication on specialized online platforms, meetings of high-ranking officials with representatives of municipalities, and citizens’ potential is actively involved in various innovative projects. The process of state branding in Germany is synchronized with key global trends – environmental security, climate change issues, energy efficiency. In this context, Chancellor A. Merkel and government agencies are actively cooperating with the EU and other international organizations, participating in forums, summits and online discussions. The experience of German political branding is relevant for other countries in the context of its content, synchronization of government and society, and the use of public diplomacy.