Regional branding versus national branding Erki Peegel Director Marketing & Communication Enterprise Estonia

Regional branding versus national branding The overall regional strategy must be kept in mind when building your own national brand identity All countries are establishing their own national identities and the BSR identity should add value to the national identity The idea is to align and co-ordinate national efforts and expanding and developing a strong common and competitive regional brand

Regional branding benefits By joining forces BSR can leverage commercial spending of many millions of euro, if we can tell one good, coherent story for the Region Best stories of the Region establish itself as a region with a particular positive reputation and image By aligning our efforts we can build the reputation of the BSR much faster

Regional branding challenges Creating a brand strategy for the BSR, we are trying to find the true, compelling, distinctive, fascinating story about the region. There is a need to establish a branding strategy for the 11 countries of the BSR under one umbrella A common message, a common belief, a common story? BSR must have a reputation, which takes a long time to build but is extremely important How we can use branding to help make BSR an economic, social and cultural reality?

Our region strengths and competencies We combine skills, sustainability and dynamism, which is something others envy about our region The BSR offers one of the most ‘New Technology’ savvy markets in the world. Internet telephony (Skype), ancillary services to mobile phones, wireless access in public places, and software and hardware development and testing The region can be your European logistical hub with its year-round deepwater ports, world-class airline services covering five continents, and railway connections from Valencia in Spain to Vladivostok on Russia’s Pacific coast, and across central Asia to China. Our greatest collective strengths are: IT & telecoms, life sciences and engineering and automotive