destination branding in a country context - finland

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A CASE STUDY OF FINLAND IN THE BRITISH MARKET

Joensuun yliopistoJoensuu 2009

Saila Saraniemi

DESTINATION BRANDING

IN A COUNTRY CONTEXTA CASE STUDY OF FINLAND IN THE BRITISH MARKET


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2 DESTINATION BRANDING IN A COUNTRY CONTEXT

University o Joensuu Faculty o Law, Economics and Business Administration

Title o thesis Destination branding in a country context.A Case study o Finland in the British Market

Author Saila Saraniemi

Supervisor Proessor, Ph.D. Raija KomppulaReviewers Proessor, Ph.D. William C. Gartner

Ph.D. Kirsti Lindberg-Repo

Opponents Proessor, Ph.D. William C. GartnerPh.D. Kirsti Lindberg-Repo

Publisher University o Joensuu

ISBN 978-952-29-264-6ISSN 978-952-29-265-3

Joensuun yliopistopainoJoensuu 2009


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A CASE STUDY OF FINLAND IN THE BRITISH MARKET 3

ABSTRACT

This dissertation examines the theoretically emerging phenomenon o tourism destina-tion branding within a country context. The purpose o the study is to develop the con-cepts needed to describe and analyse the destination branding process in the countrycontext. Its ocus is on the national tourism organisation. Today place branding, particu-larly its tourism-related sub-area o destination branding, is a common approach towardstourism destination promotion. The academic destination branding discourse howeverhas been under-theorised.

The theoretical basis o this study lies within multidisciplinary image, identity andbranding research (especially corporate branding), drawing particularly rom marketingand organisational research. The tradition o image studies in tourism research provides acontextual basis. The brand is a contextually-bounded concept. This study is an intensivesingle-case study, using abductive logic as its scientic approach. The multiple sets o dataconsisting o conversational interviews, standardised personal interviews, press articles,

and the documents and web pages o the Finnish Tourist Board, are used to provide aholistic description o the image building and destination branding processes used to sellFinland in the British market. The analysed market serves as a sub-analysis unit o thecase phenomenon.

This research report consists o an introductory section, and ve intertwined papers,which aim to provide a thorough understanding o the Finnish Tourist Boards imagebuilding eorts (supply side/ induced image ormation), the press media infuence (inde-pendent- /autonomous), and the perceptions o tourists (demand side/organic). Image,as a dimension o brand, emerges rom this analysis.

As a result o this dissertation, brand is dened in a number o hierarchically con-nected ways. First, it is a subjective impression that conveys the core values, commitments

and promises uniquely associated with a particular place, emerging rom the identities othe destination and its stakeholders. Second, it is a holistic and co-created identity, basedon a destinations core values, interpreted by both supply and demand side stakehold-ers. Third, the destination identity emerges rom interaction between all stakeholders.Fourth, destination should be viewed as an evolving process, and not as a xed and com-pleted identity.

Empirically, a story o the image building and branding eorts o Finland duringthe past three decades is presented. Theoretically, as a concluding conceptual contribu-tion, the typology o our dierent branding philosophies is presented: product-boundbranding, corporate branding, co-created branding, and identity-based branding. It issuggested that branding philosophy, rather than being only an implementation strategyor image promotion, relates to a way o understanding the branding process within anorganisation. The branding philosophy is maniested in ) how the destination is under-stood (e.g. as a product, or as a process with blurring roles o producers and customers),2) in the ownership o the destination brand and in the management o that brand, 3) inthe level o involvement o external stakeholders and 4) in the destination values relatedto the branding process. The typology o destination branding philosophy has in no waybeen categorised to show the best alternative. Instead, it may serve as a tool or analys-ing the practices o destination marketing organisations. In Finland, the product-boundbranding process o enhancing avourable images has changed towards co-created brand-ing, with a deepened involvement o stakeholders to the branding process.

Keywords: Destination, destination image, destination branding, corporate branding,identity-based branding, country branding


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TIIVISTELM

Vitskirja tarkastelee teoreettisesti matkailukohteen brndin rakennusta maakonteks-tissa. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on kehitt ksitteit kuvaamaan ja analysoimaan mat-

kakohteen brndin rakentamista maatasolla. Tutkimus keskittyy kansalliseen matkailu-organisaatioon. Nykyn paikan markkinointi ja erityisesti matkakohteen markkinointiovat yleisi matkailumarkkinoinnin muotoja. Akateeminen matkailubrnditutkimus onkuitenkin ollut vhist.

Tutkimuksen teoreettinen perusta on monitieteisess imago-, identiteetti- ja brndi-tutkimuksessa (erityisesti yritysbrnditutkimuksessa), jonka juuret ovat markkinointi- jaorganisaatioiden johtamiskirjallisuudessa. Matkailututkimuksen imagotutkimustraditiotarjoaa kontekstuaalisen perustan tutkimukselle. Brndi on kontekstisidonnainen ksite.

Tutkimus on intensiivinen, yhden tapauksen tutkimus, joka noudattaa abduktiivistalogiikkaa. Aineistona kytettiin keskusteluhaastatteluja, standardoituja henkilkohtaisiahaastatteluja, lehtiartikkeleita sek Matkailun edistmiskeskuksen arkistoja muun muas-

sa markkinointimateriaalin osalta, sek kotisivuja. Siten saatiin kokonaisvaltainen kuvaSuomen imagon ja brndin rakentamisprosesseista Iso-Britanniassa. Analysoitu markkinatoimii kohdeilmin yhten analyysiyksikkn. Tutkimus koostuu johdanto-osuudesta javiidest toisiinsa liittyvst tutkimuspaperista, jotka tarkastelevat Matkailun edistmiskes-kuksen imagon rakentamistoimenpiteit eri nkkulmista. Kohdemarkkinoilla tutkitaanmaaimagoa sek kysynnn ett tarjonnan nkkulmasta eli vallitsevan yleisen ksityksensek lehdistn vlittmn imagon nkkulmasta. Lehdistn luomaa kuvaa tarkastellaanerityisesti siit nkkulmasta, miten MEK:n julkisuustyll on pystytty siihen vaikutta-maan. Analyysin tuloksena imago ilmenee brndin ulottuvuutena.

Tutkimuksessa brndi mritelln lukuisin, hierarkkisin tavoin. Ensiksi, se on sub-

jektiivinen vaikutelma, joka ilmaisee ydinarvoja, sitoumuksia ja lupauksia, jotka liittyvttiettyyn paikkaan, ja ilmentyvt matkakohteen sidosryhmien identiteeteist. Toiseksi seon kokonaisvaltainen yhdess luotu identiteetti, joka perustuu kohteen ydinarvoihin, joi-ta tulkitsevat sek kysynt ja tarjontaa edustavat osapuolet. Identiteetti syntyy eri osa-puolten vuorovaikutuksessa. Neljnneksi matkakohde tulee nhd jatkuvasti kehittyvnprosessina, ei muuttumattomana identiteettin.

Empiirisesti esitetn MEK:n imagon rakentamisen ja brndmisen prosessit kolmenviime vuosikymmenen ajalta. Kokoavana teoreettisena kontribuutiona esitetn neljn eribrndinrakennuslosoan typologia: tuoteperustainen, yritysbrndminen, yhdessluo-tu brndminen sek identiteettiperustainen. Tutkimus ehdottaa, ett brndyslosoaei ole vain imagon edistmisen toteuttamisstrategia, vaan liittyy siihen, miten brnd-minen ymmrretn organisaatiossa. Brndyslosoaa ilmaistaan seuraavien seikkojenkautta: ) miten matkakohde ymmrretn (tuotteena vai prosessina, jonka rajat tarjoajanja ostajan vlill hilyvt), 2) brndin omistamisen ja hallinnan kautta, 3) ulkoisten si-dosryhmien osallistumisella brndin rakentamiseen ja 4) brndykseen liittyvill kohteenarvoilla. Typologia ei luokittele parasta mahdollista vaihtoehtoa, vaan palvelee kytn-tjen analysoinnin tukena matkailuorganisaatioissa. Suomessa tuoteperustainen, imagoayllpitv tyyppi on muuttunut kohti yhdess luotavaa, syvemp sidosryhmyhteistythuomioivaa prosessia. Tutkimuksen kontribuutio liittyy erityisesti matkailuorganisaationsisisten tekijiden huomioimiseen brndinrakennuksessa. Trke onkin osata erottaamatkakohteeseen liittyvt tekijt ja matkailuorganisaatioon liittyvt tekijt matkakohteen

brndyst kehitettess. Huomioitava on mys matkailijoiden ja muiden sidosryhmienmuuttuvat identiteetit matkakohteen vetovoimaisuutta kehitettess.


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Tutkimuksen kohdemarkkinana oli Iso-Britannia, joka nytt silyttneen vakaanasemansa viiden eniten Suomeen matkustavan kansallisuuden joukossa. Tulevaisuudessamys tm markkina tarvitsee entist enemmn huomiota markkinoiden eriytyess yhpienempiin ryhmiin. Tutkimusajankohtana imago oli edelleen niin mahdollisten matkai-lijoiden kuin lehdistnkin nkkulmasta stereotyyppinen pohjoiseen sijaintiin liittyv.

Tm on haaste erityisesti siit nkkulmasta, miten knt kylmyys edelleen positiivi-seksi, Lapin lisksi koko maata hydyttvksi tekijksi.

Asiasanat:matkakohteen brndin rakennus, matkakohde, yritysbrndi, brndyslosoa


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ACkNOwLEDGEMENTS

Writing this dissertation has been a challenging journey, during which the nal destina-tion has at times seemed unattainable. Now, when the end is in sight, I nally have achance to express my deepest gratitude to all those people who have encouraged andguided me throughout these years.

First and oremost, I would like to thank my supervisor, Proessor Raija Komppula,without whom this dissertation would have never been completed. Raija, you have in-troduced me to the academic world and to the enthusiastic, multidisciplinary group otourism researchers in Finland and abroad who have been un to know and a pleasure towork with. You encouraged me to travel to my rst conerence when I was still a completenovice. Most o all, you have been such a good riend and listener over the years, and haveopened your home to me every time I needed somewhere to stay in Joensuu. I will neverorget our combined data and mushroom gathering trip! Thank you or your patience,and or your belie in me and my work, even during the most dicult times!

I was honoured to have Dr. Kirsti Lindberg-Repo and Proessor William Gartner aspre-examiners and opponents. Their constructive comments and recommendations wereextremely valuable in improving the quality o the report. Thank you or this!

I have been privileged to be a part o a multiple research environment during thisprocess. Firstly, the beginning o this journey would not have been possible without theresources provided by the Degree Programme o Tourism, Catering and Domestic Servic-es at the North Karelia University o Applied Sciences (my employer at the time). Thankyou all, especially M.Sc. Raija Wirekoski, or being my riend, and or teaching me manyaspects o tourism business!

Secondly, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Proessor Jaana Thtinen

or providing me with the chance to join the research community at the Department oMarketing, in the Faculty o Economics and Business Administration, at Oulu Universityduring the critical stage o my dissertation process. The table I borrowed as an externalgrant researcher ensured my place as a member o this enthusiastic research community. Iwould like to thank all o my co-workers or accepting me into their group! The time inOulu has turned a new page or me as a researcher. I am particularly grateul or the timespent with M.Sc. Mari Juntunen, with whom I shared interesting and mind-openingdiscussions about the branding research and lie. Thank you!

I am also grateul to numerous other people in the academic world who have helpedme during this process, in particular my persistent and precise co-author o the rst es-say o this thesis, Lic. Sc. Mika Kylnen, who taught me a lot about research. M. Sc.

Sanna Hakulinen has been a valuable help in the data gathering phase. The post-graduateseminars in the Department o Business Administration and Economics at the Universityo Joensuu, the KATAJA tutorials and doctoral courses, as well as the membership andpost-graduate seminars o the Finnish University Network or Tourism Studies have allprovided me with valuable orums to discuss my research. Thank you all who I unortu-nately cannot mention here by name!

Finally, without spending time in Southern Lapland working in a regional tourismdevelopment project, my understanding o the tourism business would have been verylimited. This years I spent in Ranua were also necessary or my journey. A special thankyou goes to Tuija Rytknen or being my riend and mentor in the tourism business!

I would like to thank the Finnish Tourist Board or providing me a challenging andinteresting research case. I wish to express my deepest gratitude to all my inormants andthose who have helped me in practical matters. In particular Director General Jaakko


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Lehtonen, without whom this journey would not have even started, and InormationSpecialist Kirsi Suni: thank you! I would also like to thank all my other inormants in thetourism business and elsewhere!

I am indebted to Liikesivistysrahasto, Jenny ja Antti Wihurin Rahasto, Suomen Kult-tuurirahaston Lapin Rahasto, the Finnish Concordia Fund, the Faculty o Social Sciences,

and the Faculty o Law, Economics and Business Administration at the University oJoensuu or the nancial aid, and or encouraging my dissertation process.I would like to thank Dip Trans IoL Kirsti Gibbs and Charles Gibbs or checking and

improving the language o this report in such a limited time! In practical matters, mythanks go to Tuula Honkanen and Liisa Reichenvater in the Faculty o Law, Economicsand Business Administration, and to Jussi Virratvuori, Viestinttoimisto Kirjokansi.

Finally, I would like to thank all my riends or always giving me something else tothink about! I am sorry i in the last couple o years I have been somewhat distant andabsentminded. I promise that this is going to change.

I would like to thank my amily and relatives or always supporting me! The love andencouragement o my mother and ather, my sister Maare and her amily, and my brotherSampo and his wie, have been invaluable during this research process. I cannot thankyou enough or being so encouraging and or believing in me, and or providing me witha place to charge my batteries.

I must not orget the cleverest dog in the world, Pinja, or orcing me to take a breakrom my research. But my most heartelt thanks go to my loved one, Teijo, or beingso understanding during this long process. Teijo, you always remind me o what is im-portant in lie: our journey together has been a good one and I know that in the yearsto come when this research project is but a distant memory, we will go on to have evengreater times together!

Oulu, August 2009

Saila Saraniemi


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CONTENTS

ABSTRACTTIIVISTELMACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

FIGURESTABLES

INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 2. Motivation or this study ..................................................................2.2 Research problem ............................................................................ 4.3 Purpose o the study ........................................................................ 5.4 Key concepts o the study ................................................................ 20.5 Positioning o the study ................................................................... 2.6 The scientic approach abductive logic ........................................ 22.7 How to read this dissertation structure o the study ...................... 25

2 THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS FOR BRANDINGA COUNTRY AS A TOURISM DESTINATION ...................................... 26

2. Tourism destination as a context to study image and brands ............ 262.2 Conceptualising destination image ormation and

image building ................................................................................ 272.3 Destination identity concept ........................................................... 302.4 Dierent perspectives on branding discussion ................................. 382.5 Place branding and its sub-sector, destination branding ................... 42.6 Concluding remarks: image building as

a destination branding activity......................................................... 443 RESEARCH STRATEGY ............................................................................ 46

3. Intensive, single case study .............................................................. 463.2 Case description introducing the context ..................................... 483.3 Data collection and methods o analysis .......................................... 49

3.3. Standardised personal interviews ........................................... 523.3.2 Press articles rom the British press ....................................... 533.3.3 Rhetorical analysis o the press articles .................................. 543.3.4 Conversational interviews ..................................................... 55

4 OVERVIEW OF THE ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPERS .......................... 564. Problematising the concept o tourism destination.

An analysis o dierent theoretical approaches ................................. 564.2 Organic images o Finland in the European market ......................... 574.3 Country image represented in the press

component o the destination image ............................................ 584.4 From amiliarity tours to media representations:Finland in the British press .............................................................. 59

4.5 How does destination branding dier rom buildinga avourable image? Insights into a country context ......................... 60

5 DISCUSSION .............................................................................................. 625. Review o the ndings ..................................................................... 625.2 Conceptual contribution ................................................................. 675.3 Managerial contributions ................................................................ 705.4 Evaluation o the study .................................................................... 735.5 Future research ................................................................................ 77

REFERENCES ............................................................................................. 79

Appendix . ........................................................................................... 89Appendix 2. ........................................................................................... 90Appendix 3. ........................................................................................... 9


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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Image-related concepts o this study rom a perspectiveo a national tourism organisation. ................................................. 7

Figure 2. Historiography on concepts used within corporate image researchinternationally and in Finnish business context (Modied anddeveloped based on Balmer and Greyser 2003 by Rindell, 2008, 52) 8

Figure 3. Positioning o the study. ................................................................. 2

Figure 4. Abductive research process (Kovcs and Spens, 2005, 39) ............... 24

Figure 5. The structure o this dissertation. ................................................... 25

Figure 6. The basic organisational structure o the destination

at the country level. ........................................................................ 27Figure 7. Two-olded image concept. ............................................................ 28

Figure 8. The relationship between supply and demand side image conceptsand a destination identity. .............................................................. 30

Figure 9. Interaction between value and identity in three levels.(Urde, 2003, 020.) ....................................................................... 3

Figure 10. Balmers new corporate identity mix (200). .................................. 32

Figure 11. The hexagon o competitive identity. (Anholt, 2007) ..................... 34Figure 12. The components o destination identity

(modied rom Ahonen, Saraniemi and Thtinen, 2007) ............... 36

Figure 13. Dynamic components o destination identity.(c. Corporate management identity mix (Balmer, 2008). .............. 37

Figure 14. Interaction between value and identity in our levels(modied and developed rom Urde, 2003). .................................. 37

Figure 15. The product-destination brand continuum.

(Modied rom de Chernatony, 2008) ........................................... 38Figure 16. Timeline o the activities in the Finnish Tourist Board during

the research process 2002-2009 ..................................................... 48

Figure 17. Time-line o the research process 2002-2009 rom the perspectiveo a researcher. ............................................................................... 5

Figure 18. Contextually grounded model o the ) destination imagebuilding and 2) identity-based, co-created branding. ..................... 64

Figure 19. Typology o dierent destination branding philosophies ................ 70

Figure 20. Phases o co-created destination branding process. ......................... 7


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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. The main concepts o the study ..................................................... 20

Table 2. Product branding literature originated concepts .......................... 39

Table 3. Corporate branding discussion originated concepts .................... 40

Table 4. Service branding originated concepts ........................................... 4

Table 5. Published destination branding articlesin the time period 999-2007 ....................................................... 43

Table 6. Selected denitions and characteristics relatedto the destination image building and branding ............................. 45

Table 7. Research methods o the individual papers ..................................... 50

Table 8. The relationship between research questions and research papers ... 56Table 9. Appropriate brand-related concepts or destination branding ......... 73


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A CASE STUDY OF FINLAND IN THE BRITISH MARKET

LIST OF PAPERS INCLUDEDIN THE DISSERTATION

I Saraniemi, S. and Kylnen, M. (2009), Problematising the concept o tourismdestination. An Analysis o Dierent Theoretical Approaches. Accepted orpublication in Journal o Travel Research. Forthcoming

II Komppula, R. and Saraniemi, S. (2004), Organic images o Finlandin European Market. Tourism Today, 4 (Autumn), 37-5

III Saraniemi, S. (2009), Country image represented in the press component

o the destination image. Manuscript. First version o this paper presented inImagination, media power and reputation conerence, Hague 30.-3.5.2007

IV IV Saraniemi, S. (2009), From Familiarity Tours to Media Representations:Finland in the British Press. Tourism Analysis Vol 4 No 2 In press

V Saraniemi, S. (2009), How does destination branding dier rom buildinga avourable image? Insights into a country context. Manuscript. First versiono this paper published in Proceedings o the Travel and Tourism Research

Association Europe Annual Conerence, 23-25 April 2008, Helsinki, Finland,Competition in Tourism: Business and Destination Perspectives


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1 INTRODUCTION

The FTB has been engaged in promoting the countrys image or as long as it[FTB] has existed.

We always had to consider the perspective. The perspective o the orest industryis somewhat dierent to that o the tourism industry, to that o Finnair, and tothat o Invest in Finland.

We approve that perception o the country, the country image, and its brand, areall one and the same.

A new way o thinking is needed and a new kind o knowledge.

They [tour operators] did not know that the Rereshing Journey campaign was

on.The central and visible responsibility o proling should lie with rms, associa-tions, and with other non-governmental organisations.

The extracts are rom my interviews with the management o the studied nationaltourism organisation

1.1 Motivation for this study

The above interview extracts are examples o the research arena o this ocal dissertation.Representing the views o dierent levels o management in the Finnish Tourist Board(FTB), they describe the starting point o this study. Tourism destinations have promotedtheir images in numerous ways throughout their history o attracting visitors rom dier-ent markets. Some destinations have become popular, or at least well-known, around theworld, whereas others have remained less amiliar, despite the time and money spent ontheir marketing eorts.

Today place branding, and especially its tourism-related sub-area - destination brand-ing (c.. Gnoth, 2007), is now a common approach to tourism destination promotion,and has even become a trend amongst tourism destinations marketers. Academic desti-nation branding studies are oten legitimated through the assumption that destinationimages are the main infuence over customer choice in leisure travel markets (e.g. Han-lan and Kelly, 2005). A choice o travel destination, especially a holiday destination, isnowadays a liestyle symbol or customers (e.g. Morgan et al., 2005). At the same time,a virtual, and moreover a globalised world, orces destinations to extensively compete orcustomers, be it a last minute reservation or a vacation or a conerence trip. Changesin the marketplace, like increased competition, more extensive use o the Internet, andthe need to involve stakeholder perspectives in marketing campaigns (rather than seeingthem only as targets), call or a new kind o thinking, as the manager in one extractabove mentioned. Although the phenomenon o dierentiation o a place, or instance,may be the same both with building the destination image, and with branding the desti-

nation, the ways o implementing this image building or branding process vary.Many tourism destinations around the world, including resorts, cities and countries,

have launched branding campaigns to dierentiate themselves rom their competitors


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and to attract more tourists. O countries, the examples o Thailand, Singapore, Australiaand Denmark are the best known due to their successul branding eorts. Personally, I be-came interested in destination branding through the various phases o the research processdescribed in this dissertation. The starting point or this specic journey was in the year2002, when a new director general o the National Tourism Organisation (NTO), Jaakko

Lehtonen, started at the FTB. Mr Lehtonen, beore starting at the NTO, had a career as amanager in Valio, a Finnish dairy product company, and had many new ideas developingthe tourism business. One o his innovative ideas was to develop the country as a brand,just like consumer products. According to him, the rst task should be to clariy Finlandsposition and image in the European markets. The objective was to clariy the existingpositive images o Finland as a basis or branding the country as a tourism destination.Soon, this journey ended up as a dissertation project with urther theoretical objectiveswhich will be described in the ollowing chapters o this book.

In short, there were two riddles that inspired and irritated me during this researchprocess. The rst is summarised in Hanlan and Kellys article (2005, 75), which sum-marises the current research o destination branding: Research ndings suggest to marketerswho wish to develop a strong destination brand rstly to identiy the image attributes gener-ated through destination experience within a specic market segment. The branding entitymay then identiy a small number o positive and meaningul image attributes on which toposition the destination. This reers to very customer specic considerations, orgettingother stakeholders, but also relates the destination with a consumer product which hasattributes to be marketed to specic segments. For me, particularly when large entitiessuch as countries are the ocus, the destination is more than a product in the tradi-tional manuacturing sense, (see e.g. Morgan and Pritchard, 2003). At least, the destina-tion consists o several components (Buhalis, 2000), and involves socio-cultural aspects(Saarinen 998; 200; Shaw and Williams, 2004). Hankinson (2007, 24) based on pre-

vious literature, described the distinct eatures o complex destination product as ollows:) the co-production o the place product, 2) the co-consumption o the place product,3) the variability o the place product, 4) the legal denition o boundaries, 5) administra-tive overlap (e.g. inconsistent strategies in a region), and 6) political accountability (e.g.short-term decisions due to regional elected members o the governmental oces) (seealso Moilanen, 2008).

The second riddle concerns the concepts o image and brand, which have beena challenge or me. What is the dierence between them? For a long time, I avoidedspeaking about brands or branding in a destination context, and read only destinationimage literature. In this study my empirical case study orced me to dive into the world

o branding; I ound that I was not alone when hesitating with the branding discussionin a tourism destination context (e.g. Blicheldt, 2005; Pike, 2005; Gnoth et al., 2007).I am also not alone having conceptual challenges with image and brand (Ekinci, 2003;Tasci and Kozak, 2006). The problems with conceptualisation o the destination brand-ing relate to insucient theorising and concepts within marketing literature concerningbranding, and destination branding, in particularly. Finding solutions or these riddles aremy motivations or this dissertation. The perspective to the branding in this dissertationis that o the National Tourism Organisation which oten has responsibility o tourismmarketing at a country level. Later, the specic research questions will be presented.

The view expressed by Mr Lehtonen in our rst meeting in spring 2002


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1.2 Research problem

In the ollowing chapter, I describe the need or this study more precisely. Hankinson(2007) proposed that the destinations dier e.g. in terms o both their institutional in-rastructure and their potential as a brand. Thereore, empirical research is needed to

identiy the specic characteristics determining the destination branding process and tourther conceptualise this phenomenon. This study aims to increase the rare empiricalknowledge on destination branding and has ollowing argumentations or the need othis study:

- A problematic concept o a brand and an image, dicult to dene, diversieddenitions in the literature (e.g. Balmer and Greyser, 2003; Brown et al., 2006;Louro and Cunha, 200; Rindell, 2008).

- There is still a need or the development o a commonly accepted rameworkor destination branding theory (Ritchie and Ritchie, 998; Koneznik and

Gartner, 2007).- A destination is not a traditional product (e.g. and Pritchard, 2003) but itis not a company (Ooi, 2004) or service either: current branding literaturelacks with theorising in this context. Maybe, thereore, many governments,consultants, and scholars persist in a supercial interpretation o placebranding that is nothing more than product promotion (Anholt, 2008).

- A common debate has been whether branding is suitable to a complexdestination context (e.g. Williams, Gill and Chura, 2004).

- The unmanageable place brand (Blicheldt, 2005): ownership o the placebrand is not obvious, but there are numerous stakeholders involved (e.g.Morgan et al., 2003)

- The stakeholder perspective is, however, undertheorised in branding discussionas a whole (see Gregory, 2007). According to Hatch and Schultz (2003), acorporate brand needs to deal with the requirements o multiple stakeholders,or instance.

- Over ten years ago, Balmer (998) posed that Strong corporate brands requireclear corporate missions and philosophies; the brand personality and identityneed to be understood and each stakeholders perspective o these perspectivesneed to be measured. Still, until today, this note o stakeholder identities hasnot created ully theorising in the area.

- Traditionally, brand is dened as a promise (e.g. Kaperer 994; 997). From

the perspective o the destination and the Destination Marketing Organisation,it is not obvious who denes the identity and promise in a multi-stakeholderdestination. Furthermore, rom the perspective o the destination and theDestination Management Organisation, particularly, it is interesting whodenes the identity in a multi-stakeholder destination.

- The geographical dimension brings in the light yet another characteristic,namely, the notion that branding may well be dierent in the regions and inthe countries (e.g. Anholt, 2002).

Some researchers (e.g. Morgan et al. 2005) see destinations as being parallel with brandsin relation to the product and service markets. Indeed, the brand was originally a prod-uct level concept o the marketing management approach (e.g. Kotler, 988). Here thebrand treats the product as a marketing tool. According to Knox and Bickerton (2003),


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attitudes in marketing towards branding have evolved away rom the primacy o customerdemand. This approach views the brand as a strategic resource, which can be used toguide the business processes, generating brand value or customers (Urde, 999). Lateron, the customers evaluating the organisation conclude a brand to be more holistic thanthe unctional benets perspective would allow, calling or a broader scope than merely

the relationship between the customers, the product and the growth o business (seeRoper and Davies, 2007).They have developed the discussion towards corporate branding, which is more use-

ul or e.g. non-prot organisations. Ater the rst wave o branding literature, the de-velopment towards a branding concept at a corporate level in the 2st century has beencalled the second wave o branding by Schultz, Antorini and Csaba (2005). The corporatebranding discussion holds on to the value oundation o the organisation, and takes intoaccount a broader stakeholder perspective. It also has a long term perspective, instead omerely ocusing on advertising (see Roper and Davies, 2007). As a consequence, it seemsbetter suited or destination branding.

Thereore, as my theoretical lenses I have chosen the multidisciplinary approacheso destination image ormation (e.g. Gartner, 993; Gallarza et al., 2002) and corporatebranding (c. Knox and Bickerton, 2003). For nding conceptualisations needed speci-cally or destination branding, I have in this dissertation used emerging ideas o identity-based branding (e.g. Burmann et al., 2009) and co-created brand (e.g. Boyle, 2007; Kay,2006; Payne et al., 2009). These concepts are discussed urther later in my dissertation.To the reader, I wish to note that these relatively new concepts in branding literature wereadopted into an analysis ater collecting and initially analysing the interview data. Thebroadening o the corporate branding discussions with these new perspectives and theairly recent destination context may well contribute to a marketing discipline beyond atourism context and place marketing. In the ollowing, based on the theoretical justica-

tions o this chapter, I present the purpose o this study.

1.3 Purpose of the study

This doctoral dissertation consists o ve individual papers ollowing the introduction.The purpose o this study is to develop the concepts needed to describe and analyse the

destination branding process on the country level. The Finnish Tourist Board is a nationaltourist organisation (NTO) that is responsible or building the image o the country.In this study, I have ollowed a change process o the NTOs image building activities,mainly using interviews and secondary data as my sources. I started my research processby investigating the prevailing images o Finland in important target markets to orm thebasis o a brand strategy or the NTO. I continued the process by examining how theseimages o Finland were created and managed by the NTO in certain important markets,like Great Britain. I examined this image management rom the perspective o publicitymanagement, due to the strong position which media amiliarity tours hold as a meanso image building with the NTO. I conceptualised the specic context o the tourismdestination in detail in the rst research article o this dissertation. It orms a basis orunderstanding the complexities o country branding described in the last article, whichsummarises the change process o image building activities which the NTO has used dur-

ing the last three decades.The main research question addressed in this dissertation is: How does destination

branding take place at the country level?


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The verb take place is used here to give to the reader a connotation o the partiallyactive course o eventsin the destination, rom the perspective o a Destination Manage-ment Organisation. A debate has taken place in literature over whether branding is alwaysa deliberate and strategic action on the part o a certain brand manager (see e.g. Leitchand Richardson, 2003).

Sub-questions are:

1. How can a tourism destination concept be understood in order to build a destination-wide brand?

2. What are the prevailing images o Finland in the dierent target markets?3. How does the demand-side image ormation process work?4. How does the general country image in the market contribute to the destination

image?5. How does the National Tourist Organisation implement publicity management in

order to project destination image?6. How have the planning and implementation stages o image building developed in

the National Tourist Organisation during the past three decades?7. How are destination image building and destination branding concepts related?

The questions , 3, 4 and 7 are theoretical sub-questions, while sub-questions 2, 5 and 6are more empirically oriented research questions. In the ollowing section, I shed light onthe theoretical discussions justiying my research questions.

The nature o the tourism destination contextprovides interesting opportunities to studybranding. It is well established that a destination is not a product in a traditional sense,but more a bundle o dierent components, both tangible (e.g. attractions) and intangi-ble (e.g. socio-cultural) (see Buhalis, 2000; Morgan et al. 2003; Pritchard and Morgan,200). In this study, destinationreers to a certain area which is marketed to tourists as a

place to visit. More specically here, a destination reers to a country, instead o smallergeographical units like a city or a skiing centre (c. Moilanen, 2008).According to Cald-well and Freire (2004, 59) the actorswhich infuence the image o a country are dierentrom the actors which aect a region and city. Thus, branding a country can be seen as adierent activity rom that o branding a region or a city.

Tourism destination imagehas undoubtedly become one o the most important top-ics in tourism research during the past three decades (Pike, 2002; Seaton, 989). At thesame time, the tourism industry has adopted an image as a crucial marketing concept (seePike, 2002). Destination image research has ocused on several dierent topics. Theseinclude the relationship o image to destination choice (Fakeye and Crompton, 99;Goodrich, 978; Mayo and Jarvis, 98), image modication and change (Chon, 99;Pearce, 982), and image measurement (Echtner and Ritchie, 99; Gartner, 993).Much emphasis has been placed on examining the image ormation process (Balogluand McCleary, 999; Fakeye and Crompton, 99; Gartner, 993; Gunn, 972; Suhand Gartner, 2004; Tasci and Gartner, 2007; Govers et al., 2007b). In the 2000s, somecomprehensive literature reviews on destination image studies have been executed (seeGallarza et al., 2002; Pike 2002).

The country level as a contextis interesting in tourism marketing, because a country asan advertising or branding object is most visible to the wide audiences. Parallel conceptsand discussions exist in the international marketing arena, where e.g. concepts ocountryo originand country imageare well known (see Mossberg and Kleppe, 2005; Nadeau et

al., 2008). Many researchers (e.g. Anholt, 2008; Papadopoulos and Heslop, 2002) arguethat every place has an image no matter what the source o that image is. Furthermore,in international marketing research a country image consists o all associations related


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to a given country. It also acts as an image source or other product-related associations,like the country-o-origin (Mossberg and Kleppe, 2005). Similarly, when the context isa country as a place to visit, the image can be conceptualised as an overall country im-age impacting on images o local destinations in the country and vice versa. That is, thecountry image is an element o the destination image.

In his later publications (e.g. 2007; 2008), among others, Simon Anholt has ques-tioned the legitimacy o the branding term within the place context. Perhaps because o this,my research is encouragedby Anholt (2002), who argues that in the branding sense, acountry is closer to the corporate level than to the product or service level. According toAnholt (2002), the country itsel may not be the primary brand, but (is) more the managero a group o related sub-brands. In so saying, Anholt reers to all orms o country brand-ing, with sub-brands being activities related to the country, like the country as a place toinvest, to live in and to visit. In this study, I admit that all o these aspects are intertwined,but the perspective is that o the country as a tourism destination.

In businesses, corporate level branding requires organisation-wide support; it needsthe integration o internal and external communications, and it needs close cooperationbetween dierent departments (Hatch and Schultz, 200; Balmer, 200). In a destina-tion context, this brings the perspective odestination marketing organisations into theocus. In country level tourism marketing, National Tourism marketing Organisations(NTOs) are in a key position to coordinate the messages delivered. Thus, this study aimsto identiy certain important elementsduring the process o moving rom traditional im-age building activities towards a period o country branding, rom the perspective o anational tourism organisation. In the ollowing Figure , I illustrate the image-relatedconcepts oimage building, image management, publicity managementand projecting des-tination imageunder the main concept o destination branding. During my research, myunderstanding o this phenomenon has developed in such a way that I see all o them

contributing to this phenomenon o destination branding.

Figure 1. Image-related concepts o this study rom a perspective o a nationaltourism organisation.

Despite the requent use o the image concept within the general marketing research

tradition, Balmer and Greyser (2003) emphasise diculties in its usage. Images are im-possible or companies to control; there is a multiplicity o images, and dierent imagesaect dierent stakeholder groups. Balmer and Greyser suggest that this is the reason why

Dstnton ndn

Image building

Image

management

Publicitymanagement

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recently concepts obrandand reputationhave become more popular (Balmer and Grey-ser 2003). Rindell (2008) argues that rom a theoretical and managerial point o view it isdicult to see how changing one concept to another can help our understanding o howa companys actions infuence the consumers construction o images, brands or reputa-tion. In this study, rom an organisations perspective, I consider it more important to

clariy the structures and elements behind the concepts, while at the same time develop-ing the theory to be more consistent.The conusion about conceptsis at the root o image, identity and brand research is con-

usion about the concepts. Both marketing and organisational research have contributedto the discussion o product and corporate images (see e.g. Knox and Bickerton, 2003).As a result, new concepts have evolved, but their relationships to existing ones have otenremained unclear. Rindell (2008) in her dissertation describes the evolution o image-related concepts in a corporate context, both internationally, and nationally in Finland(Figure 2).

Figure 2. Historiography o concepts used within corporate image research inter-nationally and within a Finnish business context (Modied and developed based onBalmer and Greyser 2003 by Rindell, 2008, p. 52).

Since the late 990s, branding discussions have been adopted rom traditional product orservice branding contexts to others, such as the corporate context (Knox and Bickerton,2003), and the place marketing context. Gold (994) was one o the rst researchers

to theorise this phenomenon, naming it placepromotion. Later, Kotler et al. (999) hasbeen one o the rst authors introducing place marketing as a research concept. Olins(2004) notes that analogous and much older activity or place branding, especially coun-

Corporate branding

Corporate reputation

Design management

Corporate identity management

Corporate image management

955 980 990 2000

Time Finland

Internationally

4

44

44

44

44

44

4

4

4

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try branding, includes the projection o national identity and reputation. In this study Idene destination as being a place to visit, and thus, the tourism context can be seen as apart o broader place marketing phenomenon (c.. e.g. Moilanen, 2008).

In a tourism context, while the destination image has been extensively studied overdecades, literature on the destination branding is still sparse (see e.g. Morgan et al.,

2005; Konecnik and Go, 2008), although emerging (e.g. Cai 2002, Hankinson, 2004;Moilanen, 2008). In spite o growing academic interest and an increasing trend towardsbranding among tourism destinations, there still seems to be a lack o conceptualisationin the eld. Although Pritchard and Morgan published their seminal destination brandingrelatedjournal article already in 998, and a textbook, Tourism Promotion and Power: Cre-ating Images, Creating Identities, in the same year, there is still a need or the developmento a commonly accepted ramework or destination branding theory (see e.g. Ritchie andRitchie, 998; Konecnik and Gartner, 2007). Destination branding discussion has otenused classical product branding theories as an assumed conceptualisation (e.g. Hall, 999;Hankinson, 2005; Murphyet al., 2007) and let the premises o the product brandingoverlooked.

Empirical studies (e.g. Moilanen, 2008) have shown that practitioners have otenunderstood destination branding rom a product branding perspective. A rather narrowunderstanding o the brand, as a name or a logo, has been emphasised in the discussion(Tasci and Kozak, 2006). Moreover, as Cai (2002) pointed out, another unclear concep-tualisation is the distinction between image building and branding. One may question,does dierentiating them benet us? Cornelissen and Elving (2006) argue that thus, en-ergy rom systematic empirical research on image-related topics is wasted. Arguably, weare discussing the same phenomenon o building and delivering avourable images, but itis important here to consider how the activities and operations o these tourism market-ing operations are conducted.


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1.4 key concepts of the study

In the ollowing table, the key concepts o the study are shortly dened.

Table 1. The main concepts o the study.

Th concpt Th dfnton

Tourism A social phenomenon which involves the movement o people tovarious destinations and their (temporary) stay there (Sharpley,2002)

Tourist A temporary visitor to a destination. See Pike (2008, 23).

Destination marketingorganisation

Local, regional (RTO) or national (NTO) tourism destinationmarketing organisation. See chapter 2..

Destination In this study, a country instead o a smaller geographical unit,

which is marketed to tourists as a place to visit. Destination isurther conceptualised in the study.

Destination image Destination image is a mental association held by a tourist (seeGunn, 972; Gartner, 996).

Destination identity Destination identity reers to the core o the destination; theinternal aspects o the brand. Identity is urther conceptualised inthe study.

Destination brand Destination brand conveys the core values and commitmentso a destination, and makes promises uniquely associated withthe place, based on dynamic identities o the destination and itsstakeholders.

Destination branding Destination branding is holistic, dynamic, co-created andcommitted identity management, based on core values o thedestination and its stakeholders both on the demand and supplyside, in order to build a promise uniquely associated with theplace.

Oten, corporate brandis dened ollowing using the product brand denition given bythe American Marketing Association: a brand is a name, term, sign, symbol or design orcombination o them, intended to identiy the goods or services o one seller or group osellers and to dierentiate them rom those o competition. It is however recognised thata corporate brand is more than that; it has meaning or all stakeholders, both internal andexternal. For them, a brand represents a set o values and promises and even a personality(Daly and Moloney, 2004.) Corporate branding, on the other hand, can be dened as asystematically planned and implemented process o creating and maintaining a avour-able image and, consequently, a avourable reputation or the company as a whole, bysending signals to all stakeholders, and by managing behaviour, communication, andsymbolism(Einwiller and Will 2002, 0).


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1.5 Positioning of the study

Tourism destination branding research has its roots in the branding o products andcompanies. In this study, the existing literature o destination branding is extended byusing multidisciplinary research streams, including identity management and corporate

branding, as a backbone o the research. Due to this multidisciplinary research area, des-tination image ormation and image building research are used in addition to the existingplace and destination branding discussion (Figure 3).

Recent branding research in Finland includes a ew doctoral dissertations that aim toconceptualise the brand and the branding in dierent contexts (Lindberg-Repo, 200;Aspara, 2007; Moilanen, 2008). Qualitative methods and strong emphasis on empiri-cal research are typical characteristics or this airly new research topic. In addition, thecertain perspectives in marketing or related literature (e.g. customer relationship commu-nication, network management, actor-network theory) are typically used to approach thebranding phenomenon. This study operates within the branding research.

This dissertation contributes rst and oremost to destination branding research. Thestudy draws particularly rom values-based corporate branding discussion (e.g. van Riel,995; Urde, 2003; Edvardsson et al., 2006). In the data analysis phase, emerging identity-based branding literature within corporate branding literature (see e.g. Burmann et al.,2009; de Chernatony and Cottam, 2005; de Chernatony and Harris, 2000; Dunn andDavies, 2003) was adopted due to characteristics o the empirical data (e.g. signicance othe NTOs characteristics). Identity-based branding emphasises internal aspects, like thesupportive culture o the organisation in branding. In addition, this approach calls orurther research on relationships between the identity and image dimensions o organisa-tions (see Burmann et al., 2009).

Figure 3. Positioning o the study.

Alsem and Kostelijk (2008) even suggest that incorporating the brand identity into thegeneral marketing paradigm bridges the gap between general marketing science andpractice, which could lead to a more balanced paradigm, appealing to both supply and

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Country image

Corporate

branding

Destination image

formation

Identity

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demand sides in the market. Alsem and Kostelijk (2008) however mainly consider theproduct to be brand identities, not corporate or destination brands, although they suggestthat corporate reputation management discussion could be ruitul or branding theory.To sum up these emerging discussions, it could be said that taking a holistic view andexamining the organisation rom the supply and demand side (and rom the perspective

o the other stakeholders, i possible) are both valuable exercises that contribute to thecorporate branding discussion.Recently, there has been a growing interest in the impact o identity perspectiveon

destination branding(e.g. Konecnik and Gartner, 2007; Konecnik and Go, 2008). Parkand Petrick (2006) emphasise the meaning o identity by suggesting that destinationbranding strategies would be eective i a nation is undergoing a redenition o identity.Cai (2002) argues that brand identityis a critical missing link between branding and im-age building; image building does not consider brand identity. As a theoretical contribu-tion o this study, the corporate branding discussion as a whole can benet rom holisticinsights into place branding, and specically to destination branding. Branding-relatedconcepts will be claried when the identity perspective on branding is examined.

Empirically, the inspiration or this study was the plan o the National Tourism Organ-isation in Finland, the Finnish Tourist Board (FTB), to ormulate a brand strategy. ThisNTO is an interesting case because it recently, according to many exposures in the media2,has adopted the country branding. The voicing o branding eorts, that is, speaking aboutbranding, was put orward internally in the NTO in early 2000s, as the NTO gained anew general manager. Image building has been, however, one o the main tasks o the FTBor much longer. This case study introduces the story o FTBs eorts to build Finlandscountry image, and its attempts to crat a brand strategy during the last decades.

Great Britain is selected as the research market o this study as it has in many waysbeen a pioneer in Finnish tourism. At the destination organisation level, all marketing e-orts emphasise the importance o group and charter travelling over individual travellingas a means to gain critical mass. For Finland, in this charter segment, British tourists havebeen the most important leisure travel market or years. In the last ew decades there hasbeen a remarkable increasing in the number o tourists visiting Finland rom the UK, andthere has also been a change in the travel behaviour o British travellers. Great Britain isnot however the biggest market or Finland. It has or a long time (see e.g. Bord InterviewSurvey, 2009) been the th largest country o residence or visitors coming to Finland. In2007, 32 000 visitors travelled rom Great Britain to Finland. In 2008 the number wasslightly bigger (see e.g. Border Interview Survey, 2009). Still, British leisure tourists havebeen or Finnish Lapland the biggest market and they have given the aces or chartertourism to Lapland and to Finland. Naturally, economic considerations in this research

have limited the ocus to this one specic market.

1.6 The scientific approach abductive logic

Being an essay-based dissertation, with several research phases, I nd identiying my sci-entic philosophical position to be important. One oten used distinction in the philo-sophical continuum is that between subjectivism and objectivism (Burrell and Morgan,979). Subjectivist approaches relate to phenomenology, which is one broad paradigmwithin the eld o social sciences, the other being positivism (Neilimo and Nsi, 980).

2 The brand Finland discussion has been a popular topic in the Finnish press and on internet discussionorums, especially since the ocial brand team, with a ormer Nokia director Jorma Ollila as a chair-man, was established in autumn 2008.


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During my research process, I have ound the borders o the dierent philosophical posi-tions blurring (see Berger and Luckmann, 966; Eriksson and Kovalainen, 2008). Di-erent data collection and analysis methods especially in my study would reer to thedierent positions in the philosophical continuum. The view expressed by Berger andLuckmann (966) however, that too strong dichotomising o subject and object may lead

to ignoring their inseparable relationship, eels comortable to me. I see that my overallunderstanding o the world, as being socially constructed, most importantly guides myscientic approach.

Phenomenology sees the reality as a social construct (Eriksson and Kovalainen, 2008).Furthermore, it is closed linked to nominalism, an ontology which sees the world as asocial process created by the individuals concerned (Burrell and Morgan, 979). Episte-mologically close to this approach is anti-positivism, which sees knowledge as somethingthat has to be individually experienced (Burrell and Morgan, 979). On the contrary,according to positivism, research produces acts and accounts that correspond, ree ovalues, to an independent reality (Eriksson and Kovalainen, 2008, 8).

This study ocuses on one case study. According to Eriksson and Kovalainen (2008),

dierent philosophical traditions can be applied to case studies, as the data in case studymay involve qualitative data, quantitative data, or both (Yin, 2003). In this study, severaldierent data collection methods were used: ) standardised personal interviews 3(open-ended questions) 2) narrative, conversational interviews 3) press articles (British andFinnish) 4) e-mails and homepages, and 5) archives o the Finnish Tourist Board (e.g.marketing plans and journalists itineraries o amiliarity tours in Finland). The data wasthus mainly qualitative, with analysis methods only diering depending o the data. Theact that this data collection comes rom multiple sources is seen as an advantage or casestudies, as it allows a holistic picture o the phenomenon to develop (Yin, 2003). Thephenomenon being studied in this dissertation, destination branding, is deeply context-bound, as are the concepts to which it relates. The starting point or this research wasstrongly empiricallyoriented. As a result, the context here is something which I mustknow about in order to understand an action or process (see Alajoutsijrvi and Eriksson,998). My background as a tourism lecturer, and as the project manager o a regionaltourism development project, has allowed me easier access to the data and also a moreholistic pre-understanding (Gummesson, 2000) o the phenomenon. In addition, I ac-quired this knowledge by using multiple data analysis methods, seeking a deeper under-standing o the phenomenon.

Due to the pragmatically evolved research question o this study, the variety o meth-odological choices which an abductive orm o logic oers make this logic the naturalchoice to guide my approach to this study. The abductive approach aims to develop

new knowledge by considering earlier theories as a background or research, but duringthe research process, to ormulate the research ramework with empirical phenomenon.(Danemark, 200; Kovcs and Spens, 2005). Instead o being deductive, as many busi-ness studies traditionally are, or inductive, like the Grounded theory o Glaser and Strauss(967; Strauss and Corbin, 990), abductive research logic combines the principles othese two approaches (e.g. Alvesson and Skldberg, 994). Dubois and Gadde (2002)encourage this kind osystematic combiningto be used, especially in case studies.

3 A standardised interview is considered qualitative when responses given by participants are open-ended. They usually consist o what-questions (see Eriksson & Kovalainen2008). In this research thisapproach is taken when studying the spontaneous images o Finland (e.g. When you hear the wordFinland, what comes to your mind?Some qualitative researchers however argue that these questiontypes are unnatural and restrictive, and should not be used in qualitative studies (Eriksson & Kovalainen,2008, 82).


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In Figure 4, an abductive research process is illustrated. The research process can beseen as being more inductive than deductive, as it begins with a real-lie observation(Alvesson and Skldberg, 994, 45). Analytical rameworks or empirical observation arebased on prior theoretical knowledge, gained rom earlier literature. As a result, empiricaldata is rarely approached without any preconceptions rom prior literature (Kovcs and

Spens, 2005, 39).

Figure 4. Abductive research process (Kovcs and Spens, 2005, 39).

Dubois and Gadde (2002) suggest that a tight and evolving analytical ramework4 is suit-able or abductive approach. This means that the ramework emphasises rstly the re-searchers and studys relationship to earlier theories, and secondly the evolving nature othe ramework, based on empirical observations over time. An abductive research process

continues by considering which parts o the prior theories match the empirical observa-tions, and which do not. This theory matching(Dubois and Gadde, 2002; Kovcs andSpens, 2005) makes the abductive research process more fexible than only on certaintheoretical basis committed deductive, or pure empirical observations trusting inductiveapproaches.

In abductive logic, no single model o scientic research is used, as the whole researchprocess consists o various orms o reasoning (Eriksson and Kovalainen, 2008, 23). Inthis process, my reasoning has evolved ollowing the evolution o branding discussion inthe literature during the past ew years. As a result, in addition to being the story o im-age building and branding o Finland, this dissertation is also a story o progress o in my

reasoning. Along the process, the emerging, increasing knowledge rom the case guidedmy choices o concepts, methodology and empirical data.Finally, I adjust my scientic approach to the dominant paradigmatic and methodo-

logical views in the current branding literature. According to Bengtsson and Ostberg(2006),the research stream ocusing on corporate branding operates with the approachwhereby case study analyses o companies corporate branding eorts are used to provetheir eect (e.g. Hatch and Schultz, 200; Schultz and Hatch, 2003). Bengtsson andOstberg (2006) call or qualitative research into brands which seek to integrate the vari-ous perspectives o the cultures o the brand. According to the cultural brand productiontheory (product-brand), a brands meaning is co-constructed by the brand owner, con-sumers, popular culture and other important stakeholders. In this sense a brand can be

4 See Miles & Huberman (994) or two distinct analytical rameworks: ) tight and pre-structured(deductive) and 2) loose and emergent (inductive)

(0) Priortheoreticalknowledge

() Deviating real-life observations

(2) Theory matching(3) Theory suggestions

(Final conclusions:H/P)

(4) Application ofconclusions

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understood as a multicultural entity whose special characteristics need to be examinedrom dierent perspectives. My denition o the destination brand as a co-created anddynamic entity, answers this call. In this dissertation, the cultural approach is mostly seenin the research paper , which provides an alternative, postmodern interpretation o thedestination ollowing my analysis o dierent theoretical approaches.

1.7 Ho to read this dissertation structure of the study

This dissertation is essay-based, which means that it consists o the introduction and theoriginal essays. The introduction started with the motivation or the study, the position-ing o the study, denitions o key concepts, and the dissertations scientic approach. Inthis chapter, I will also shortly represent the original essays. Ater that, I will introducethe theoretical ramework or the study, and in the ollowing sections, I will discuss theresearch process and the methodological aspects. Then, I review and discuss the resultso the original essays and, nally, I will evaluate this study, and represent the theoreticaland managerial contribution o this study to branding literature, and will suggest someideas or the uture research. The last part o the study consists o the original essays. Inthe ollowing Figure 5, I illustrate the structure o this dissertation including the originalessays and research questions.

Figure 5. The structure o this dissertation.

1. iNTrODuCTiON

2. THeOreTiCalFOuNDaTiONS FOr

braNDiNg a COuNTrY aS a

TOuriSM DeSTiNaTiON

3. reSearCH STraTegY

4. OVerVieW OF THereSearCH PaPerS

5. DiSCuSSiON

ParT i

ParT ii

reSearCH PaPerS

How dos dstnton ndn tk pc t th conty v?

RQ1: How can a tourism destination concept be understood in order to build adestination-wide brand?

RQ2: What are the prevailing images of Finland in different target markets?

RQ3: How does the demand-side image formation process work?

RQ4: How does the general country image in the market contribute to the destinationimage?

RQ5: How does the National Tourist Organisation implement publicity managementin order to project destination image?

RQ6: How have the planning and implementation stages of image building developedin the National Tourist Organisation during the past three decades?

RQ7: How are destination image building and destination branding concepts related?

I Saraniemi, S. and Kylnen, M. (2009), Problematising the concept of tourismdestination. An Analysis of Different Theoretical Approaches. Accepted for publication

in Journal of Travel Research. Forthcoming. (RQ1)

II Komppula, R. and Saraniemi, S. (2004), Organic images of Finland in EuropeanMarket. Tourism Today, 4 (Autumn), 37-51. (RQ 2 & 3)

III Saraniemi, S. (2009), Country image represented in the press component of thedestination image. Manuscript. First version of this paper presented in Imagination,media power and reputation conference, Hague 30.-31.5.2007. (RQ 4)

IV Saraniemi, S. (2009), From Familiarity Tours to Media Representations: Finlandin the British Press. Tourism Analysis 14(2), in press (RQ 5)

V Saraniemi, S. (2009), : How does destination branding differ from building afavourable image? Insights into a country context. Manuscript. First version of thispaper published in Proceedings of the Travel and Tourism Research AssociationEurope Annual Conference, 23-25 April 2008, Helsinki, Finland, Competition in

Tourism: Business and Destination Perspectives. (RQ6 & 7)


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2 THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONSFOR BRANDING A COUNTRY ASA TOURISM DESTINATION

2.1 Tourism destination as a context tostudy image and brands

The destination branding literature is still ar rom the level o research quality we nd inthe generic product and services marketing literature, mostly because o the complexity othe connotations that come with the term destination (Gnoth et al., 2007).

Several studies (e.g. Haywood, 986; Lew, 987; Framke, 2002; Saarinen, 2004) havesuggested that too little attention has been given to the identication o what is, argu-ably, the most appropriate unit o analysis in tourism research - the tourism destination.Destination is usually the unit o action where dierent stakeholders, such as companies,public organisations, service providers, locals and visitors, interact through the co-crea-tion o experiences (c. Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2004) Tourism is increasingly aboutexperiences rather than about places and things. Whether building a destination-widebrand or promoting co-operation amongst dierent stakeholders o the same region, onemust understand the nature o tourism destinations.

In tourism literature, destinations have been studied rom several perspectives (seee.g. Framke, 2002). The ollowing discussions can be identied: ) economy geography-oriented (e.g. Medlik and Middleton, 973), 2) marketing management-oriented (e.g.

Kotler et al., 993; Middleton and Clarke, 200), 3) customer-oriented (e.g Lumsdon,997; Komppula, 2005), and 4) cultural (e.g. Pritchard and Morgan, 200; Saarinen,200).5 The discussion has developed rom a destination as a product approach towardsmore holistic perspectives.

Tourism marketing, particularly at a country level, is oten organised in three dis-tinctive types o tourism bodies, with interests in destination tourism development. Thedestination marketing organisation (DMO) is responsible or promotion. It is a govern-ment ministry, tasked with providing policy advice or government, and also acts as anumbrella industry association or the private sector, as it is responsible or the causes omember organisations (Pike, 2008, 30-3). Usually the country level DMO is a national

tourism organisation (NTO)6

that is responsible or marketing the country as a tourismdestination. In Finland, the NTO is The Finnish Tourist Board. NTO, local DMOs, orregional destination marketing organisations (RTO), various associations, as well as pri-vate sector rms, orm the basic organisational structure o the destination at the countrylevel (Figure 6).

5 These research streams have been identied in the rst research paper o this dissertation, Saraniemiand Kylnen (2009): Problematising the concept o tourism destination. An analysis o dierent theo-retical approaches.6 NTO is sometimes used to reer to a national tourism oce (see Pike, 2008)


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Figure 6. The basic organisational structure o the destination at the countrylevel.

2.2 Conceptualising destination imageformation and image building

Image ormation and image building. Since the term image rst appeared in the market-ing literature (Boulding, 956; Martineau, 958), it has signied many things to manypeople. Research ocus has varied depending on the aspect o image being studied. Theterm denotes either an object in the external world, or a perception in the consumersmind (Stern et al., 200, 202-203). Research into the eects o individuals corporate as-sociations, especially in the marketing and organisational disciplines, has placed conceptssuch as identity, image, and reputation, into key roles (e.g., Albert et al., 2000; Brown

et al., 2006; Fombrun, 996; Schultz, Hatch and Larsen, 2000; Puusa, 2007). Balmerand Greyser (2003) identied our main schools o thoughts in image studies: ) trans-mitted images (image management categories), 2) receiver-image categories, 3) ocus-o-imagecategoriesand 4) construed-image categories.

Despite a wide interest, our understanding o imageand identity is still in its in-ancy, in both a general marketing (see Brown et al., 2006), and in tourism marketingresearch. Destination image studies have been criticised as being atheoretical, and o lack-ing a conceptual ramework (Echtner and Ritchie, 993; Fakeye and Crompton, 99;Gartner, 993). O the dierent destinations, the country image context has been one othe most extensively studied (see Gallarza et al., 2002), and still the complex nature o it

provides a broad arena to study image building practices.Traditionally, most destination image studies have largely ocused on static structures,by examining the relationship between image and behaviour (Baloglu and McCleary,999). It is common to see destination image, either rom the customers side as a per-ceived image, or rom the producers side as a projected image(Bramwell and Rawding,996). In the literature, the destination image ormation process reers to the tourists or-mation o a single mental image o the destination (see Gartner, 993; Beerli and Martn,2004). Several stimulus actors, (Baloglu and McCleary, 999) or image ormation agents(Gartner, 993; Tasci and Gartner, 2007), aect the ormation o perceptions.

Image building, on the other hand, reers to the activities o destination marketingorganisations to enhance positive images o the destination (see e.g. Cai, 2002). Thesepromotional activities, such as marketing programs, strategies and positioning, and mar-keting communications (Cai 2002; Tasci and Gartner, 2007; Govers et al., 2007a), can

NTO-levelDMO-level

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aect the individuals image ormationprocess. The destination-originated activities andpromotional materials aim to deliver a projected (e.g. Selby and Morgan, 996) and de-sired imageo the destination.

There are arguably two perspectives regarding destination image creation7. Govers etal. (2007a), in their three-gap tourism destination image ormation model, recognised

the demand and supply-side perspectives on the image ormation process. Already Stabler(988) had divided the actors infuencing the ormation o a consumers destinationimage into demand and supply actors. This division o destination image studies led totwo ocuses; ) a ocus on supply-side aspects, like marketing operations, and 2) a ocuson demand-side aspects, like tourist decision-making. This division was also introducedby Tasci and Gartner (2007). The latter seems to be more common, refecting the gen-eral ocus in tourism marketing studies (see Li and Petrick, 2008). In destination imageand branding research, this struggle with concepts has been a source the subject o manystudies, including this dissertation.In Figure 7, I illustrate the supply-side and demand-side image concepts in a simplied orm in order to demonstrate the main concepts onboth sides. The concepts are typically used inconsistently in the literature, so it is useulto illustrate my understanding o them. Demand-side receivers may be tourists, potentialtourists, other stakeholders, or anyone else who may have the opportunity to receive in-ormation about the destination.

Figure 7. Two-olded image concept.

Attempts have been made to capture the dynamism o the image building process underholistic models8. As Govers et al. (2007b) suggested, image ormation is no longer seen asone-way push process, but is instead seen as being dynamic. Selecting, sharing, refect-ing and experiencing hold key roles. As a result, both the supply and demand side areinteractively involved in the process. Cai (2002) also acknowledges the emphasis on thetourist-oriented approach in image research, and with his model o destination branding,he aimed to combine the two perspectives. He calls or a distinction to be made between

7 At this point, image creation reers to the image-related activities o both sides, although I place empha-sis on the customers activity (see e.g. Keller (993) on customer brand image creation).8 For example, based on literature review, Gallarza et al. (2002) proposed a theoretical model or destina-tion image consisting o complex, multiple, relativistic and dynamic aspects.

Sppy-sd:

Dstnton

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rcvs

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the ormation o a destination image (by a destination organisation, not a customer) andthe branding o it. When claiming however that image building is in a way less importantthan branding, Cai was one o the rst to acknowledge the meaning o the brand identity,in addition to the customers received image, and the destination marketing organisationsprojected image.

During the 2st century, an emphasis on understanding branding as a dynamic proc-ess has emerged in general branding discussions. Despite this, dynamic models incorpo-rating both identity and image, which are ounded on dynamic and relational thinking,are rare within the eld (Rindell, 2008). Rindell (2008) introduces the concept o theconsumers image heritage as the core o uture branding. Rindells (2008) denitiono consumer constructed corporate images is as ollows: Consumers corporate images areconstructed through dynamicrelational processes based on a multiaceted network o earlierimagesrom multiple sources over time. This denition takes into account both the tempo-ral dimension, and change over time, in the consumers image ormation process.

Components o Destination Image. Tasci and Gartner (2007) presented a model o thedestination image and its relationships, which aims to capture the dierent aspects a-ecting the image ormation process. The model suggests that both the image capital othe destination, and dierent image ormation actors, aect the destination image. As aresult, destination image is a composite o dierent inputs or elements which, at least inthe short run, gives a destination its image capital (Tasci and Gartner, 2007, 42), andis seen as being the outcome o a ormation process. The inputs are oten called the im-age ormation agents, which Tasci and Gartner (2007) conclude to three main sources:) supply-side, ie. destination, 2) independent or autonomous, and 3) demand-side orimage receivers.

The role o autonomous image ormation agents, particularly the media, appears tohave powerul eects on destination image ormation. Because o this, the initial im-

age ormation stage beore the trip has or a long time been seen as the most importantphase in the tourists destination selection processes (Baloglu and McCleary, 999; Gunn,972). In his seminal study, Gunn (972) proposed that tourists destination image hastwo dierent dimensions: ) the organic image, which is a potential tourists impressiono a destination beore visiting, and 2) the induced image, which is ormed by promo-tional materials, or by actual visitation to the area. Whether the images are stereotypes,or based on real experiences, the level o amiliarity with a destination strongly infuencesthe characteristics o perceived images (Andsager and Drzewiecka, 2002; Baloglu, 200).Thereore, in order to develop a destination marketing strategy it is crucial to examinehow amiliar the place is among target audiences, and what the image attributes related

to the destination are. According to Konecnik (2004), the process o evaluating the imageo a destination can be seen as a sel-analysis process towards building a brand. Tasci andGartner (2007) noted that studies concerning these deliberated supply-side image orma-tion processes are rare in the literature. The authors interpreted this lack o image buildingprocess research as proo o either a lack o such activity amongst destination organisa-tions, or o a lack o access to such case studies.

Country image. Finally, when conceptualising the destination image at the countrylevel, an important aspect is the country-o origin, and the country image concepts de-tailed in international marketing literature (see. e.g. de Chernatony, 2008; Mossberg andKleppe, 2005). A country image consists o all associations related to a given country. Itthen also acts as an image source or other product-related associations, such as the coun-

try-o-origin (Mossberg and Kleppe, 2005).According to Mossberg and Kleppe (2005),a destination image is also a generic concept that has product-specic dimensions. The


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concept overlaps the three hierarchical levels o country images detailed in internationalmarketing literature. Following this idea, it is possible to understand a general countryimage as being the component o a destination image, whether the destination is a coun-try, state, city or a smaller area.

In the ollowing Figure 8, the main concepts o this chapter are illustrated in order to

show the relationship between the concepts o destination image, country image, imageormation, image building, and destination identity. The latter is urther discussed in thenext chapter. Figure 8 shows a simplied illustration o this phenomenon, and attemptsto show dynamism.

Figure 8. The relationship between supply and demand side image concepts anda destination identity.

2.3 Destination identity concept

In the ollowing chapter, the concept o identity is introduced to the reader in order to de-scribe its crucial role in destination branding. The organisation o this chapter is inspiredby the three level distinction in identity types proposed by Urde (2003), who suggestedthat identity operates at brand and organisational levels (internal identity), and customerlevels (external identity) (Figure 9). According to Urde (2003), a brand identityis devel-oped as a continual and ongoing interaction between the identities o the organisationand its customers. Furthermore, identities are in interaction with the values o these threelevels. Instead o organisational identity however, I use the concept ocorporate identity,due to the development o this concept towards a holistic ocus (see He and Balmer,2007). For the same reason, customer identity is replaced bystakeholder identity. At theend o this chapter, I summarise the components odestination identity, and propose aour level model o interaction between value and identity in a destination context9.

9 The idea is described in detail in the research paper 5 o this dissertation, which discusses the NTOs(corporate) identity in relation to destination branding. This chapter opens up the other identity con-cepts involved in the branding process, especially the concept o destination identity.

Generalcountry image

Supply-sideimage sources

Autonomousimage sources

Demand-sideimage sources:e.g. personal

characteristics

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m

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ctvty: imfomtonnts nd

mfomton

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Figure 9. Interaction between value and identity in three levels (Urde, 2003,020.)

There are several approaches to studying tourism destination identity. The approacheswhich are inspired by marketing discipline (e.g. Morgan, Pritchard et al., 2002; Hank-inson, 2004) have in recent literature suggested that destination identity is even moreimportant than image rom a strategic point o view (Cai, 2002). This emerges rom theview that the positioning and communication o the destination brand need to be rootedin reality to ull their promised experience to visitors (Hankinson, 2004). In this chap-ter, the roots o discussions related to brand identity and corporate identity are reviewed

in order to provide a basis or a denition o the destination identity concept.Brand identity. Traditionally in marketing literature, the brand identity concept hasreerred to how managers and employees make brands unique (e.g. Aaker, 996; Kaperer,997; de Chernatony, 999). Aaker (99) denes brand identity as a unique set o brandassociations that the company aspires to create or maintain. The concept has been usedin both product (e.g. Aaker 99; Keller 993; Aaker 996) and company related (e.g.de Chernatony, 999; McDonald et al., 200) contexts. The brand leadership model orinstance, put orward by Aaker and Joachimstahler (2000), and the brand identity prismmodel, originating with Kaperer (997), are utilised both in product and corporate brandidentity contexts. The rst is a normative model or managing brand identity and the latterillustrates the components o brand identity. All these perspectives ocus on the compa-nys internal attributes which aect the product or corporate brand. Another approach tobrand identity has been to emphasise visual identity (e.g. Abratt, 989; Olins 978; 995).This approach ocuses more on graphic design, like the communication o logos0.

Corporate identity. The dierences between the concepts o brand identity and corpo-rate identity are blurred. Both concepts have a strong practitioner background, and boththeoretical bases are still underdeveloped (see He and Balmer, 2007). In recent marketingliterature (Balmer and Greyser, 2003; He and Balmer, 2007), it is suggested that the con-cept o corporate identity may orm the platorm or understanding other corporate-levelconcepts, such as corporate branding (Balmer 995; Balmer and Gray, 2003), corpo-

0 Lippincott and Margulies (957) rst used the term corporate identity in relation to an organisa-tions logos and symbols, as these were seen as being the identiying eature o the organization to thirdparties.

q

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rate communications (van Riel, 995; Cornelissen and Harris, 200), corporate image(Abratt 989; Grunig 993), and corporate reputation (Fombrun, 996; Fombrun andvan Riel, 997). According to Kay (2006), corporate branding can be identied as theway in which an organisation communicates its identity

destination branding in a country context - finland

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