Marca España as a Nation Branding Instrument of Spain To Deal With Economic Crisis

Abstract

Economic crisis in Spain in 2008 has degraded of the country in a considerable manner, particularly in terms of its market competitiveness at global level. In order to recover the image, in 2012 Spain formulated an initiative, namely Marca España or Spain Brand. This study seeks to analyze the extent to which Marca España has contributed to nation-branding of Spain during 2012 to 2018. The roles of stakeholders, as well as the collaboration among the parties are focus of the discussion. Aside from the analysis, this research provides a comprehensive understanding on the emergence of Marca España as a strategic response of Spain towards domestic economic crisis, as well as towards challenges in terms of image of the country at the global stage. The study also identifies strategic measures and coordination under Marca España. This includes discussion of the actions meant to boost Spain’s international reputation, underlining the significance of multi-stakeholder collaboration in producing cohesive and sustainable achievements. This study explores Spain's nation-branding strategy through the Marca España initiative by using a qualitative method based on literature review. In this context, this study identifies the roles and contributions of stakeholders organized within the Fully Inclusive Stakeholder or FIST framework developed by Keith Dinnie. Furthermore, it examines the forms of cross-sector collaboration that serve as key elements in achieving the goal of building a positive international image for Spain.