Nearly 20 years ago I was lucky enough to be headhunted by a big London communications agency to run its newly-won Welsh Development Agency account. The challenge was a big one - to change centuries-old perceptions of the Welsh economy so that the country could move from the bottom half to the top half of the UK's regional inward investment league.

We were fortunate to quickly win a remarkable level of support and cooperation from senior people in local and national government and businesses of all kinds.

Two years into the campaign, The Independent newspaper wrote: "The Welsh Development Agency has turned the Welsh business community into a giant public relations machine for the country".

Success came more quickly than anyone anticipated. Within three years Wales had secured the top spot as the UK's leading inward investment region and it held that position for seven more years. The economic impact of a decade of inward investment success was enormous and success bred success in the form of new private investment in property, homes, shops and new small businesses.

It was a great thing to be part of and it taught me some fundamentally important lessons about branding and marketing countries. I learned that countries cannot be managed in the same way as commercial brands. I've now applied those lessons in other parts of Wales, in Scotland, England and overseas.

Great commercial brands - Coca Cola, Nike, BMW - are the product of what I call the dictatorship of management. The behaviour of a commercial brand is ruthlessly shaped, moulded and adjusted in any way the brand owner thinks fit to maximise the profitability of the brand. But the big difference between a country and a brand is that a brand is one type of entity aimed at distinct audiences.

BMW is cars, Coca Cola is soft drinks, Nike is sports goods. Each trades on a set of benefits, values and personality that constantly, though almost imperceptibly, shifts to take account of ever-changing social, cultural, economic and competitive circumstances but they never stop being about cars, soft drinks and sports kit.

A country is very different. A country's values and personality have been built up over millennia of time. In very few countries do the people express uniform views or behave in a uniform manner. Commercial brands do that.

In democracies people think and express an incalculably vast range of views and attitudes. Foreign perceptions of a country also shift in response to how it is perceived to behave as a member of the global political community. Above all, a country is typically, and critically, economically diverse.

And here we reach the nub of the issue. The audiences for tourism are distinct from those of manufacturing inward investors and those are distinct from the overseas buyers of the goods and services produced by a country. Each wants fundamentally different things from the country. And the scale of the investment each plans to make is altogether different. A holiday decision is taken much more lightly and far more quickly than a large capital investment full of managerial challenges. In addition, each audience has to be reached through different channels and addressed in individual ways. Tourism is about leisure and pleasure. Manufacturing is about productivity, profits and markets. Buying goods is about price, quality and delivery.

Creating a single brand - with tightly defined messages and rigorous brand discipline - to try and market everything about a country is therefore fraught with practical, economic and organisational difficulties.

The people who would run a unified country campaign would need to have very great knowledge of how each market works and the skills and experiences to know how to reach and persuade them. Such a combination of expertise is extremely rare, if it exists at all. The alternative is a committee, though committees can stifle creativity and campaigns often end up biased towards the interests of the biggest lobby or the most vociferous personalities.

But there is hope and it is not to be found in countries trying to be all things to all men. It is to be found in cities. Across the globe, from Baltimore to Glasgow, from Cardiff to Montpellier, medium-sized cities have found ways to brand themselves to lasting advantage.

Almost without exception, the cities that have succeeded have done so with a potent mix of art, culture, outstanding conference facilities, high fashion retail, restaurants of global distinction and adventurous architecture alongside new uses for old buildings. Heritage is an important part of all the offerings but new buildings, new amenities and lots of innovative festivals and initiatives present places that are proud of their past while not steeped in aspic. Places alive, dynamic and always interesting and stimulating.

Glasgow changed from a city almost down and out to one of the most exciting and self-confident cities in Europe and it promoted itself with wit, style and a sense of fun; truly human and truly global characteristics.

Cardiff too majored on art and culture, with a strong sprinkling of sport. Montpellier has become a city of advanced research and development and has developed stunning business and science parks. All three have invested in being world class.

What each of these cities has done is create real - not cosmetic - brand personality and differentiation, by constantly evolving the product, investing in marketing communications and persuading their peoples that there are good economic reasons to show visitors that being in their city is a warm and rewarding experience.

I've been fortunate to advise the Malta Financial Services Authority on communications, brand strategy and international media relations. Some 60 journalists from world renowned newspapers and prestigious professional publications have been brought to Malta and the MFSA has sent consistent and wholly credible messages about Malta to critical and financial services audiences worldwide. It has managed its communications strategy with great care and the product has constantly moved forward. It has been an effort focused on small and highly influential international audiences and it has played a central role in helping Malta triple the size of its finance industry in a decade.

A decade on from the decision to become an onshore jurisdiction, Malta has built a professional and effective marketing machine in financial services that in many areas is ahead of its competition. It's a prime example of specialism, delivering broad ranging benefits to an economy and to the quality of employment.

Mr Roche is a member of the Marketing Society of the United Kingdom and holds an MA from the Centre for Regional Policy at the University of Aberdeen.

© Martin Roche 2005

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