The University presents Francesc Pujol's study 'Spain in images'.
The report is a diagnosis of the external image of the Spain brand in international media and social networks.
"Corruption is a serious problem for the country brand when it is perceived as systemic, but specific cases involving individuals do not affect the emotional values associated with Spain,"says the dean of the University of Navarra's School of Economics and Business Sciences, Reyes Calderón.
One of the most evident conclusions of the content analysis study of the international media of reference letter 'Spain in images', signed by Professor Francesc Pujol, director of the average Reputation & Intangible Centre of the University of Navarra, is that Spain "is a powerful emotional country brand; it is the country of the sun, the beach and cultural richness".
The image that the international media of reference letter builds of Spain is solid and consistent in the historical series since 2008, and although the recent episodes of corruption "have clearly affected the country-brand", in Pujol's words, they have not done so on its most powerful flank, the emotional one.
The dean adds to the argument: "Spain is the second country in the world in issue of visitors and the first in profitability of its tourism sector; tourists perceive corruption as a problem if it is systemic, if they think that a policeman who stops them on the street is going to ask them for money instead of documentation, but that does not happen in Spain, and it is not perceived that way either". However, "it is very important to put an end to these 'bad apples' to prevent this perception from spreading".
Tourism: 62.8% positive impacts
The extensive study associates the image of our country with "emotional" and not "rational" values, so it is not the country of business and competitiveness, an issue in which it is far surpassed by Germany.
"The Spain brand lives off the special streak of sporting triumphs in recent years", explains Pujol, and although these triumphs -such as the Euro Cup in May-June- served to "silence negative information such as the Bankia intervention", it is "dangerous", since "they are very ethereal, volatile values".
However, tourism, with 62.8% of positive impacts, is -far ahead of sports with 14.5%-, the most consolidated value in the configuration of the Spain brand in the international media. Pujol insists that these images "do not reflect reality, but rather the unique and differential aspects that foreigners perceive of our brand".
The professor therefore considers that Spain "does not give tourism the real strategic weight it has in the configuration of the brand", as Spaniards, "affected by the everyday, lose sight of the big picture".
The way to improve these perceptions can only be done "in the long term deadline and like good brands: with good communication that is also supported by structural reform, otherwise it is just fireworks". "A good example of how to do this would be the Coca Cola brand, which has a single message and repeats it ad nauseam, and that's why we believe it," says Pujol.
This message contrasts with a start to 2013 that, according to provisional results, has result "very bad" for the Spain brand in the international press, but Pujol prefers to see the bottle half full: "It is only the first month of a series of 12, depending on how the corruption crises are resolved, the success of the institutions or their failure will be reflected".
