Marketing, so in the era of soft power brands refine the art of persuasion

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Ban the harassing marketing of the past. Today in Australia a leaping and colorful kangaroo, accompanied by a cinematic iconic female voice, best summarizes the new power of persuasion. Thus Rose Byrne, ambassador of the Australian tourist board, interprets the animated character Ruby. The cartoon is presented as the new mascot of the continent. Objective: to encourage tourists to visit the beauties of this land plagued in recent years by a series of fires that have destroyed thousands of hectares of greenery. An empathic and engaging counter-narrative compared to the dramatic one of the environmental emergency. We must forget the past: only two years ago the rendering dedicated to the map of the fires in Australia by the world-famous graphic designer Anthony Hearsey, the signature of the New Yorker and author of a map with the continent narrowed by a grip of fire. The image of him immortalized the fires and was created starting from data released by NASA, combined with those of the MyFireWatch government platform.

For many analysts, the virality of that two-dimensional shot has kept millions of tourists away. This campaign entitled “Come and Say G’day” fits into this context as a response. So today the geographically farthest continent for us chooses one of the symbols that make it better known to the world. Ruby the kangaroo wishes everyone a good day in this campaign defined as epic by the American marketing bible AdWeek. “Australia wants the world to know it’s a place to see amazing sights and make friends through the launch of a global campaign led by an animated kangaroo, accompanied on its journey by a unicorn,” wrote Stephen Lepitak. Yet not everyone was fascinated by it. “Is this the best we have to promote tourism in Australia? Kangaroos? But do people really visit London for Big Ben and New York for the Empire State Building? As an Australian, I feel frustrated to notice that the same tired message is always proposed», commented Elisa Choi, Australian economist and one of the most followed profiles on social networks.

The art of persuading

The whole world is a country, one might say. But each country tries to play its cards to involve connected and sometimes distracted audiences. So today it is soft power – that ability to persuade, convince, attract and even co-opt – that has become a marketing lever for positioning oneself on global markets. Soft power, which has always been the other side of power as opposed to hard power, evaluates the subtle, penetrating, suggestive influence. The definition is related to the pioneering work of US political scientist Joseph Nye of Harvard University. But if it has always been applied to the ability to influence the behavior of actors in the international arena – be they states, corporations, communities, the public – through attraction or persuasion rather than coercion, today it can be transferred to brands.

This is also what emerges from Brand Finance’s Global Soft Power Index 2023, which mapped data from 101 countries around the world, carrying out interviews with a sample of almost 112,000 consumers. At the heart of Brand Finance’s assessment are the relative strength and financial worth of ‘nation brands’, versus the impact of soft power. The ranking shows how the Italian brand is very strong, placed in ninth place among the most influential countries in the world. But we are losing appeal among foreign investors who are also attentive to the governance system in which we have room for improvement. At the individual company level, Ferrari, Lamborgini and UnipolSai are the ones that make the most of the elements of persuasion and reputation, or rather that soft power that determines attraction towards the public. «Today the monetary value of the Italian brand is equal to over 2,300 billion, in line with the position in the ranking by GDP. But the weakness of governance is expressed and therefore we are less attractive than other countries. From our analyses, Italian brands are strong thanks to the good branding activity and the existing historical and cultural heritage», says Massimo Pizzo, Italy managing director of Brand Finance. The brands in the world that best embody this soft power are those of luxury, food and tourism. «But soft power – and in particular the strength of the national brand – can favor or penalize those commercial brands and vice versa. Italy’s strengths perceived by international consumers – for example beauty, art and culture – certainly favor those luxury companies and all those who have a connection with Italy’s strengths», Pizzo points out.

The Italian classification

This year, the top 100 Italian brands added a cumulative brand value of 19 billion euros, +12% compared to last year. Luxury brands are the ones with the greatest growth. Among these stand out Lamborghini, Prada and Gucci. Perception still today is conditioned by quality and price, a little by emotional factors, except for some specific areas such as luxury. «To attract consumers, brands should focus more on emotional elements to add value to quality. The current strong focus on sustainability not driven by a meaningful purpose seems ineffective. This is why companies should try to lead the change, not necessarily suffer it», concludes Pizzo.