Nation Branding as a Strategy to Reposition and Strengthen the Nation's Image

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Nation Branding as a Strategy to

Reposition and Strengthen the

Nation’s Image

The case of:

KOSOVO – THE YOUNG EUROPEANS

Master Thesis In partial fulfillment of

Master of Arts in International Relations Leiden University

July 2018

by

Armela Meçaj

Supervisor: Dr Roshni Sengupta

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Acknowledgments

With this thesis I finalize my Master of Arts programme in International Relations with specialisation in Culture and Politics at Leiden University. The last few months have been challenging but also exciting and hugely rewarding. Finishing this research means a lot to me and could not have been possible without the help of some people.

First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to my thesis supervisor Dr Roshni Sengupta, whose support and continuous feedback has helped me immensely to improve my work. With her knowledge, sharp criticism and enthusiasm, I have received great advice during these months of research. Roshni, thank you for your positive outlook and confidence in my research, it inspired and gave me strength to keep going.

I am sincerely grateful to all my respondents Mehdi Sejdiu, Annea Hapçiu, Emira Limani, Jeton Mehmeti, Senad Ferati, Labinot Hajdari, Dr Dafina Paca, Ekrem Tahiri and Dr Gëzim Krasniqi who took their time to share with me their thoughts about the campaign.

Furthermore, I would like to thank someone very special - my Georgian friend Anna, with whom I have spent almost every day while writing this thesis. We shared the same journey and we worked hard together. Thank you for your invaluable support, advice and faith on me. This experience would not have been fun without you. I will always cherish our friendship.

And finally, I would like to thank my partner Sebastiaan, who has been my biggest supporter along this journey. Thank you for your infinite belief in me, unconditional love and for always encouraging me to succeed.

Faleminderit! Armela Meçaj,

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LIST OF FIGURES

Fig. 1 Celebration of Independence...13

Fig. 2 Monument of Independence...13

Fig. 3 The Nation Brand Index...25

Fig. 4 ‘Kosovo – The Young Europeans’ Logo...29

Fig. 5 The Young Europeans TV Ad...30

Fig. 6 Isolated Europeans...31

Fig. 7 The Oldies Europeans...31

Fig. 8 Behgjet Pacolli Visit to Malta...33

Fig. 9 James Berisha Flying for Kosovo...33

Fig. 10 Kelmendi Wins Judo Gold...35

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LIST OF TABLES

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AKR New Kosovo Alliance

CMC Computer Mediated Communication

EBU European Broadcasting Union

ESC Eurovision Song Contest

EUSR European Union Special Representative HCSS The Hague Center for Strategic Studies

ICC International Criminal Court

ICR International Civilian Representative

ICTY International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia IIUM International Islamic University Malaysia

IOC International Olympic Committee

ITU International Telecommunication Unions

KFOS Kosovo Foundation for Open Society

KLA Kosovo Liberation Army

M&M Media & Marketing

NBI Nation Brand Index

NGO Non-governmental Organization

RTK Radio Television of Kosovo

UN United Nation

SFRY Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia YIHR Youth Initiative for Human Rights

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ABSTRACT

This thesis is a study of the phenomenon of nation branding and how the concept has been applied in the Republic of Kosovo. In a world where countries compete with one another, where having a good image internationally is seen as an important element, nation branding can serve as a good strategy. However, over the last decade, the concept of ‘nation branding’ has been emerging rapidly and at the same time, it has also faced criticism among scholars. Nation branding is a strategy that governments take in order to create and improve the image of their nation in the eyes of the world. Therefore, when the government of Kosovo launched the nation branding campaign ‘Kosovo – The Young Europeans’ the purpose was to represent the youth of Kosovo and positively brand the image of the country. The campaign in itself brought mix feelings and different views among people. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to find out what is the impression of Kosovars regarding this initiative. What are their thoughts about the campaign? Did it have an impact? Nine interviews have been conducted for the purpose of this research. Whether the campaign had an impact, whether it brought something new or whether it was worth the money these are some of the questions that were asked to the respondents.

Keywords:

Kosovo, The Young Europeans, nation branding, nation brand, nation image, branding strategy

* The photographs in the following two pages were taken by the Spanish photographer Cristina Garcia Rodero, in 1999 near the Macedonian border in a camp where the Kosovar refugees were displaced as a result of the Kosovo War (Source: Magnum Photos). We all have our own interpretation of a photograph but when I look at these two photos, I see a strong young boy and a strong old woman. If I had to name these photographs, I would name them “FEARLESS”. Young or old, European or not European, they have come a long way.

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“We have had the unique privilege of watching a young nation finally stand up and take charge of its European destiny. It is now for Kosovo to demonstrate how it will merge this new found road with the rest of the world”.

(ICR/EUSR Pieter Feith)1

1.1 INTRODUCTION

17 February 2008 was a remarkable day for Kosovo and its citizens. I remember following the news together with my parents from the family home in Albania. I was fourteen at that time and even though I didn’t know a lot about the conflicting past between Serbia and Kosovo I remember watching the neighboring country celebrating out of joy their declaration of independence in the streets of Pristina. The people were waving the Albanian flag2 (see Figure 1) and were singing and dancing Albanian patriotic songs. In front of the Youth and Sports Palace in Pristina, the “NEWBORN” monument in bright yellow letters was placed as a symbol of independence, meaning, the birth of a new country (see Figure 1). For many people in Kosovo, this monument symbolized their hopes for “a prosperous and more secure future” (Danielsson, 2015: 117), “it embodied the desire to reinvent Kosovar society in terms of self-understanding and outside perception” (Ströhle, 2012: 223). In addition, the NEWBORN monument is seen as “an iconic symbol for post-war Kosovo” (Kaneva, 2018: 85). Every year on the same date, the letters of the monument change color and theme in order to symbolize something different. For example, in 2013, the flags of all the countries that recognize Kosovo as an independent state were painted in the monument. Another example is the one of 2014, where the walls were painted with colors of NATO and Kosovo Liberation Army military uniforms as a symbol of history and appreciation towards the ones who fought for Kosovo. This monument can also be seen as the first strategy that the nation took in order to brand itself and reach out to both, the Kosovar society and the international community.

1_{Pieter Feith is a Dutch diplomat formerly serving as a European Union Special Representative and International}

Civilian Representative in Kosovo between 2008-2012. Quote taken from Ströhle, 2012: 223 in book Retracing Images: Visual Culture After Yugoslavia.

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Figure 1: Celebration of Independence3_{Figure 2: Monument of Independence}4

Kosovo has always brought a lot of attention worldwide because of the many years of ethnic conflicts with Serbia, and also “the disturbing stories, horror images and interpretations of the situation in Kosovo have still left a shadow that haunts the new country and it’s people today” (Hapçiu and Sparks, 2012: 5). More than half of the population in Kosovo is under the age of twenty-eight years old, making Kosovo the youngest population in Europe. At the same time, Kosovo is one of the continent’s poorest countries where the percentage of the unemployed people is around 30% (Sassi and Amighetti, 2018). Many people know very little about this small and young nation and some of them already have a negative perception because of what they see and hear in the media. In general, throughout history, the Balkan countries have been labeled with repetitive themes of being related to conflicts, corrupted, unstable etc. (Ströle, 2012: 231). In order to change the negative perceptions that the international community has about Kosovo, in 2009, the Kosovo government saw the need to launch a nation branding campaign that would improve the image of the country. BBR Saatchi & Saatchi, a multinational agency based in Israel, won the tender worth 5.7 million Euros under the heading ‘Kosovo – The Young Europeans’. The idea of the campaign was to “place Kosovo in the map of Europe, as the last

3_{“Ethnic Albanians in Pristina gathered around a newly unveiled monument after Kosovo declared independence.}

For the ethnic Albanians who make up 95 percent of the population of Kosovo, independence marks a new beginning, after decades of repression and war” (The New York Times, 2015), (Photo by Damir Sagolj, 2008).

4_{Part of the NEWBORN monument can be seen in this picture. Monument of Independence, “NEWBORN”}

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country in Europe, and to improve the perception and the image of the country worldwide” (Ekrem, Appx B8: 91). Or, as said by the Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi, “the campaign would reveal the new image of Kosovo, the image of the state, the image of an independent, sovereign, multi-ethnic and democratic Kosovo, a Kosovo with a Euroatlantic perspective” (Ströhle, 2012: 246). The target of the campaign on the other hand, was to reach a wide audience, including here politicians, businessmen’s, tourists and donors, and to bring new investments in the country (Maarzouk, 2009 and Bytyçi, 2009 as cited in Ströhle, 2012: 228).

Although a relatively new concept, nation branding has been applied to several countries up to now. At the same time, it has also faced numerous criticisms among scholars and ordinary citizens – as we will see later in this thesis. Overall, nation branding deals with positioning, strengthening and promoting a country in the international arena, something that ‘Kosovo – The Young Europeans’ campaign was also trying to do. In today’s globalized world, countries compete with one another in almost every field therefore branding the nation is seen as a necessary part of modern governance. As stated by Ströle (2012), “nation branding pays tribute to the highly globalized capitalist market and the media revolution, it emphasizes the responsibility of national governments to keep up in the rough competition” (229). This is mainly for “tourists, investors, students, entrepreneurs, international sporting and cultural events as well as for the attention and respect of the international media, of other governments, and the people of other countries” (Anholt, 2007: 1). Many argue that a powerful, thought and well-implemented nation branding strategy can positively contribute to the image and reputation of a nation. For the others, such initiatives are seen as costly, ineffective and useless marketing advertisements. In the case of Kosovo, a country with a relatively negative image is particularly interesting to find out whether this nation branding campaign had a positive impact. In this thesis, ‘The Young Europeans’ initiative will be critically analyzed and examined from different perspectives in order to find out whether it reached its aim.

In order to find out, whether this nation branding strategy was an effective and important source to reposition and strengthen the nation’s image, nine interviews have been conducted with Kosovar Albanians. These interviews will help us to answer the main research question of this thesis. Thus, the main research question is formulated as follows: What are the views of the

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Kosovar people on ‘The Young Europeans’ campaign and to what extent can nation branding improve the image of Kosovo in the global arena?

This work is divided into three chapters that will lead us to the answer of the research question. Chapter one begins with an introduction where I as the researcher give the reader a general background of the subject and why I have chosen to write about nation branding as a strategy to reposition and strengthen Kosovo’s image internationally. Afterwards, a brief historical background is provided that includes the main historical events in order for the reader to understand the long and conflicting past of Kosovo up to the moment of independence in 2008. Next, the chosen methods for the purpose of this research are outlined. It is explained why interviewing is the most relevant method for this study and how these interviews have been conducted. The chapter ends with a brief description of the respondents in order for the reader to create an idea of the people that were interviewed but also to be able to relate to them throughout this work. Chapter two provides a rich literature on defining and understanding nation branding as a new concept where different theories are presented. This will help the reader to fully understand the concept but also to make the connection with the branding efforts that the nation has taken with the theories described. For a clear and full picture of this initiative, every element of ‘Kosovo: The Young Europeans’ campaign is profoundly examined. Then, we will be looking at other steps undertaken by non-governmental institutions, celebrities and ordinary citizens in order to promote the image of Kosovo to the world. Afterwards, the focus will be on the culture as a tool for nation branding where examples of young men and women that have promoted Kosovo in different fields, are given. Here, the question would be: Can culture be a powerful tool in improving Kosovo’s image? Chapter three is dedicated to the analysis of the interviews with the respondents where a connection with the theoretical framework is also made. And lastly, Chapter four presents the findings and the conclusion of this study as well as the limitations of the research.

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1.2 BRIEF HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Kosovo was one of the six Yugoslav republics or also known as the autonomous province of Serbia. In February 2008 the country declared its independence, however for Serbs, Kosovo still remains part of Serbia and they refuse to recognize Kosovo as an independent state. Both countries claim to have historical rights to Kosovo. For Albanians, Kosovo is part of a bigger Albania and for Serbs Kosovo has always been part of them since the 14th century. For the past few decades, the country has witnessed ethnic conflicts between the Albanian and Serbian ethnic groups. In order to understand the tensions between Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo, someone needs to go back in history.

These tensions date since 1912, when the First Balkan War occurred as a result of Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria and Greece attacking the Ottoman Empire with the purpose to be liberated from the control of Turks. What happened next is that Serbs and Montenegrins seized Kosovo and Albania, something that made Bulgaria quite unhappy because of having small territorial gains comparable to Serbia. It was mid-1913 when the Bulgarians decided to attack Serbia, Montenegro and Greece in the Second Balkan War forcing these three countries, together with the pressure of some Great Powers, to give up some of their claimed territories. And that’s how an independent Albania was created. However, nothing changed for Kosovo. They remained part of Serbia, despite Albanian nationalists intention to create a Greater Albania that would include all the territories that Albanians lived.

It was December 1, 1918, when the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was created, that later on was called, Yugoslavia. Albanian government together with the Albanian politicians in Kosovo demanded that Kosovo should belong to the Albanian state, but this was simply ignored by the Serbs (Gulyás and Csüllög, 2015: 221). In their view, “Albanians had settled in Kosovo, an ancient Serbian land during the Turkish reign” (Gulyás and Csüllög, 2015: 222) therefore, giving Kosovo to Albania was not an option. When the Italians occupied Albania in 1939, during the Second World War, Kosovo was briefly united with Albania. However, in 1943 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) was rebuilt and Kosovo became a province within that state.

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After the death of Tito, Slobodan Milosevic became the President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and throughout 1989 begging 1990 ethnic tensions in Kosovo only continued to rise. During these years, when Slovenia and Croatia were about to become independent and the Yugoslav state finally collapsed, the Kosovo Albanians also claimed the right to self-determination and proclaimed the sovereign and independent Republic of Kosovo (Calic, 2000: 22). In a referendum held in 1991, almost 100 percent of Kosovar Albanians supported the idea of Kosovo becoming an independent state. However, for the Serbian authorities, “Kosovo should remain an integral part of Serbia and that Albanians should be considered as a minority rather than as a constituent people” (Calic, 2000: 22). Western policymakers were aware of Kosovo’s case, however, they did not intervene for Kosovo’s independence like they did with the other SFRY countries. That being said, “the status of Kosovo as part of Serbia was not questioned by the world […] the Kosovars were not generally perceived as possessing a right of self-determination” (Greenwood, 2002: 146).

Milosevic continued his political violence towards Kosovar Albanians where around 800,000 people were forced to leave the country and thousands of others were killed. “By pushing Kosovo Albanians into neighboring Macedonia and Albania, Milosevic was trying to empty Kosovo of its Albanian population, hoping further to destabilize the entire region” (Demjaha, 2000: 36). The feeling of nationalism grow up among Albanians and by 1998, a militant organization group in Kosovo was created, called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) whose target was the Serbian authorities. At the same time, the Serbian government initiated a large-scale campaign against the KLA fighters in order to prevent further the disintegration of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The ongoing conflicts between the Serbian security forces and KLA fighters escalated into a major war.

It was March 24, 1999, and for the first time in history, NATO decided to intervene and conduct an air war against Yugoslavia as a result of previous year events. NATO’s air campaign target was not only Yugoslavia but also the Serb leader, Slobodan Milosevic who was responsible for many years of crime against humanity. From Serb’s perspective, “they were attacked by an outside world which failed to understand that military action in Kosovo was intended only to

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suppress a terrorist military organization [referring to KLA], to relieve the oppression of Serbs living in Kosovo, and to protect Serbia’s cultural heritage” (Schnabel and Thakur, 2000: 6). For

Serbs and especially for Milosevic, “Kosovo was the ‘cradle of Serb nationalism’ and could not and should not be surrendered” (Calic, 2000: 6). NATO’s ‘humanitarian intervention’ lasted 78

days until the moment the international community proposed a peace plan that made Serbia comply. The Serb forces left Kosovo and the NATO forces remained on the ground to continue supervising the situation.

Finally, on 17 February 2008, Kosovo became an independent state – a historic moment for all the Kosovar people. Yet, many countries in the world still haven’t recognized Kosovo’s independence. Furthermore, up to today, Kosovo remains one of the poorest countries in Europe. That being said, “the problem of un-recognition, with the backlog of misconceptions and image problems of the country and the people, pose a significant threat to the Republic of Kosovo in economic, political and social terms” (Hapçiu and Sparks, 2000: 5). This was the main reason why the government of Kosovo saw the need to launch a nation branding campaign that would change the image of the country. The campaign aimed to “positively change and brighten the gray image of Kosovo – fueled by internationally known brutal war stories, poverty, and Kosovar struggles” (Hapçiu and Sparks, 2000: 5).

1.3 RESEARCH METHODS

This part of the paper addresses the chosen methods of research for the purpose of this study. Generally speaking, by studying nation branding someone can be flexible to use a variety of research methods in order to effectively explore the research objectives of his work. Since the aim of this study is to explore whether ‘Kosovo – The Young Europeans’ nation branding campaign improved the image of the country from the views of Kosovar people, it requires the use of qualitative methods and a series of interviews. It is the aim of this thesis to “report multiple perspectives, identifying the many factors involved in a situation and generally sketching the larger picture that emerges” (Creswell, 2012: 47). Therefore, in order to understand the broader picture, this study will make use of the qualitative method. The strength of this

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method is that it’s based on in-depth interviewing and observation, in order to fully understand the individuals or the groups that are being interviewed (Pierce, 2008: 45). Since nine interviews have been conducted, this method allows making comparisons, distinctions and drawing conclusions from what each of the respondents has said. The major advantage is that I will be able to “see the world [the campaign] through the subject’s [respondents] eyes” (Pierce, 2008: 45).

Interviewing is one of the most useful methods in qualitative research and the most relevant method for this thesis. During these months of research, I found out that there was lack of sources on nation branding in combination with ‘The Young Europeans’ campaign, therefore in order to fully understand what are the views of Kosovar people on this initiative, interviews had to be conducted as a method for obtaining this knowledge. As Foddy (1994) says in his book, “asking questions is widely accepted as a cost-efficient and sometimes as the only way, of gathering information […]” (1). There exist various types of qualitative interviews however for this study semi-structured interviews have been conducted. By using semi-structured interviews I “gathered systematic information about a set of central topics, while also allowing some exploration when new issues or topics emerged” (Wilson, 2013: 24). Moreover, semi-structured interviews “are used when there is some knowledge about the topics or issues under investigation, but further details are still needed” (Wilson, 2013: 24). In his article, Kvale (1983) explains semi-structured interviews as “neither free conversation nor a highly structured questionnaire, whose purpose is to gather descriptions of the life-world of the interviewee with the respect to interpretation of the meaning of the described phenomena” (174).

In order to collect these descriptions, I conducted two face-to-face interviews and seven interviews by using computer mediated communication (CMC) tools such as e-mail and Facebook messenger. Since I as the researcher live in the Netherlands and my respondents live in the different countries of the world, Skype was used as an online tool to perform these two interviews. Sometimes, with Skype interviews, there is a possibility that the connection can be poor and this can result in interruption of the interview or misunderstanding of the words. To make sure that this would not happen, the interviews were conducted from my home, where the Internet connection is good and the environment is quiet. Two devices were used to record the

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conversation for more accuracy instead of taking notes. One of the advantages of face-to-face interviews is that it can give the interviewer extra information that can be added to the verbal answer of the interviewee on a question – such as social cues (body language, intonation) (Opdenakker, 2006: 3).

The person that was interviewed via Facebook messenger was because his name was found randomly in a Facebook post. The person was asked in advance whether he preferred the questions via e-mail or via the Facebook messenger and he preferred the latest. The main advantage of this interview was that in comparison to other respondents, the person replied to the questions of the interview quicker than the others. The other interviews were conducted using e-mail as the most preferred way of communication. The advantage of an e-e-mail interview is that “the chance of a spontaneous answer to a question is smaller because the interviewee has more time to reflect on the question” (Opdenakker, 2006: 9). Moreover, e-mail interviewing saves time because the interviewer does not need to transcribe tapes. One of the disadvantages of this research tool is the possibility of interviewees not replying to the interviewer’s e-mail. It can happen that the interviewer sends too many questions at once that discourages the interviewee from replying or sometimes the interviewee finds the questions difficult therefore he or she delays their responses or even fail to respond altogether (Bampton and Cowton, 2002: 5).

As already mentioned, the focus of the research is on the way Kosovo has engaged with nation branding as a strategy to promote its image internationally. Therefore, I have chosen to work also with discourse analysis as a relevant method for this study. Lynda Nead (1988: 4) defines discourse as a “particular form of language with its own rules and conventions and the institutions within which it occupies” (as quoted in Rose, 2016: 187). “Discourses are articulated through all sorts of visual and verbal images and texts, and also through the practices that those languages permit” (Rose, 2016: 187). This type of discourse will pay careful attention to images, videos, symbols, text, themes and the meaning of this nation branding campaign. Discourse analysis is very effective to look carefully at the images of the campaign and to interpret their effects. By using this method, I attempt to analyze the way Kosovo has chosen to present itself internationally through ‘The Young Europeans’ and the efforts it undertook to promote the country as a touristic destination, investment opportunities or others.

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For the theoretical part, I will be working with the synthesis of the literature where conclusions will be drawn from the findings in the literature and research articles of the authors like Simon Anholt, Melissa Aronczyk, Keith Dinnie and few others. Recently, there has been an increase on the number of books and articles written on nation branding even though most of the time the authors are contradicting one another and there is still a confusion between the concepts such as brand, branding, nation brand, national brand, nation branding, country branding, place branding, public diplomacy etc. Another thing that I found out was that the concept of nation branding is still largely in its theoretical stage. There is not much information available about how this concept has been applied in practice from one nation to the other and especially in the case of Kosovo the information was very limited. That being said, I believe this thesis to be very experimental in nature.

1.4 PRESENTATION OF THE RESPONDENTS

The target group of this research consists of Kosovar Albanians who live in Kosovo or abroad and they are from different groups and backgrounds. In total, nine people were interviewed from which five live abroad and the other four live in Kosovo. Among them, three are women and six are men. The aim was to interview people that were directly involved in this project or people that have written articles or that have done research for ‘Kosovo - The Young Europeans’ or for nation branding in general so I could get the most out of the questions. However, even by interviewing people that didn’t study the campaign in detail or that didn’t know much about nation branding I still received valuable answers and a different way of viewing things. Initially, eleven people agreed to be interviewed, but when they were contacted for the second time only nine of them answered my questions. Table 1 provides a brief description of the respondents in order for the reader of the thesis to create an idea of the people that were interviewed. A detailed description of the respondents and the full interview with each of them can be found in Appendix B, page 66.

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Table 1: Summary of the respondents

NAME AGE RESIDENCE PROFESSION _INTERVIEWTYPE OF DATE

1 Mehdi Sejdiu 25 Germany MA Student at University of Heidelburg; Researcher in Germany and Kosovo

Face-to-face

34 minutes 05.05.2018

2 Annea Hapçiu 29 Kosovo

Director of Development for KosovaLive and GlobalGirl

Media; Co-author

E-mail 16.05.2018

3 Emira Limani ≈ 35 Kuwait University of the Middle East; Professor at the American Researcher in Nation Branding

E-mail 20.05.2018

4 Jeton Mehmeti ≈ 40 Kosovo

Policy Analyst and Research Director at Institute for Advanced Studies; Lecturer at

the University of Prishtina

E-mail 29.05.2018

5 Senad Ferati 32 The Netherlands Graduate MA Student from _{Aarhus University} E-mail 10.06.2018

6 Labinot Hajdari ≈ 40 Kosovo

Executive Director of Kosovo International Summer Academy; Journalist; Phd

Candidate

Facebook

messenger 13.06.2018

7 Dafina Paca ≈ 40 United Kingdom Associate Lecturer at Cardiff _{University; Author} E-mail 19.06.2018

8 Ekrem Tahiri ≈ 45 Kosovo

Managing Partner and Executive Director of PR

Solutions

E-mail 22.06.2018

9 Gëzim Krasniqi ≈ 40 United Kingdom

Career Development Fellow in Sociology at The University of

Edinburgh; Researcher

Face-to-face

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2.1 DEFINING AND UNDERSTANDING NATION BRANDING

What is nation branding? Nation branding is relatively a new concept and Simon Anholt claims to have introduced it in 1996. He is known as the ‘father’ of the term. Keith Dinnie has also written an academic book regarding the concept and only recently the numbers of papers on nation branding have been increased. For many others, nation branding is not a concept at all. The combination of these two terms can be confusing for some because branding refers to products or services and not to countries and nations. Branding a country can appear as selling a country to the world and this can be quite controversial with what a nation stands for.

Since the concept contains two words in one phrase and can be a bit misleading, it is important to define first the concept of the nation, brand and branding. Smith defines a nation as “a named human population sharing a historic territory, common myths and historical memories, a mass, public culture, a common economy and common legal rights and duties for all members” (1991:14). Prieto proposes a similar definition, “nation refers to a population that shares a common culture, language and ethnicity with a strong historical continuity” (2011: 6), “a sense of belonging together through external symbols” (Hobsbawn, 1983: 3012). A brand, on the other hand, “is a product or service or organization, considered in combination with its name, its identity and its reputation” (Anholt 2007: 4). If we look at it from the classic definition provided by the American Marketing Association, a brand is “a name, term, sign, symbol or design, which is intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or a group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors […]” (Fan, 2010: 98). Branding on the other hand “is the process of designing, planning and communicating the name and the identity, in order to build or manage the reputation” (Anholt 2007: 4). In their book, Erman and Hermanik argue that branding does not refer only to products or services but that the idea of branding can also be applied in the context of a place, a nation. They compare it with brands like Adidas or Nike, where customers feel attracted to purchase things that identify their style. To them, “residents, visitors or investors should create a special relation to the place being branded in order to identify with the place where they live and be proud of it, come back to visit the place, and invest and keep investing in that place” (Ermann and Hermanik, 2017).

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In his article, Fan argues that since every country is characterized by a unique name and images this justifies that a nation does have brands to show to the outside world. According to him, “a nation brand is the total sum of all perceptions of a nation in the minds of international stakeholders, which may contain some of the following elements: people, place, culture, language, history, food, fashion, famous faces (celebrities), global brands and so on” (Fan, 2010: 98). This leads us to nation branding, a concept that contains several definitions. Anholt’s first interpretation of nation branding was “the reputations of countries behave rather like the brand images of companies and products, and they are equally critical to the progress, and good management of those places” (Anholt, 2011: 6). Later on, Anholt changes his observation and sees nation branding as crucial for the reputations of places especially because of the rapid growth of globalization. To him, “all responsible governments, on behalf of their people, their institutions and their companies, need to discover what the world’s perception of their country is, and to develop a strategy for managing it” (Anholt, 2007: 2). In this sense, Anholt developed the Nation Brand Index (NBI) a tool that can help governments to build a strong image for their nation based on six different dimensions: Exports, Governance, Culture, People, Tourism and Immigration and Investment (see Figure 3).

Figure 3: The Nation Brand Hexagon5

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Nation branding aims to create internal and external pride by varied initiatives that a nation may apply and it should not be mistaken with commercial branding. However, for many the concept of nation branding is still not convincing, it’s a dangerous myth or simply it does not exist. Recently Anholt renamed the concept as ‘competitive identity’ in order to respond to public skepticism and to avoid the misleading interpretations. In his book, Anholt (2007) defines competitive identity as “the term to describe the synthesis of brand management with public diplomacy, trade, investment, tourism, and export promotion – it is a new model for enhanced national competitiveness in a global world” (3). Even though it is a promotional term, it refers more to a real competition with nations instead of commercial marketing. Another nation branding expert, Melissa Aronczyk, emphasis that “nation branding is to make the nation matter in a world […] it is a professional transnational practice […] and it is a solution to perceived contemporary problems” (2013: 3). In his article, Szondi uses the term ‘country branding’ instead of nation branding, and in his view, it is especially crucial for Central and South-East European Countries in transition to apply ‘country branding’ in order to promote themselves both inside and outside the country. He argues that country branding is used in order to:

• To distance the country(ies) from the old (economic and/or political) system, which

existed before transition [...]

• To change negative or false stereotypes or reinforce some positive stereotypes associated

with the country and its people [...]

• To position the country as the reliable and eligible member of the new system, the

transition is aiming for, or that of an international community [...]

• To support and justify this ‘move’ and demonstrate that these countries are worthy of the

centre nations’ support [...]

• Country branding can boost self-confidence and can be an expression of being proud of

the achievements of transitions [...] (Szondi, 2007: 10-11).

Creating an international image (or having one) is tempting for most of the countries or nations. It is important for the countries to have a prestigious and competing international image in front of other countries. Differently said, it all has to do with the term reputation. For example, the Netherlands is a country with a relatively positive reputation because of the good living

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standards, great social system, and no corruption etc. As Anholt argues, “there are doors open, trust, and respect for the countries that have acquired a positive reputation on the global stage. Places with a reputation for being poor, backward, dangerous or corrupt find that everything they or their citizens try to achieve outside their own neighborhood is harder, and the burden is always on their side to prove that they don’t conform to the national stereotype” (Anholt, 2010: 4). An example of a country with a bad reputation is Kosovo therefore, it is also chosen as a case study for this thesis. Kosovo is considered unsafe, corrupted, the country of extremists, and criminals etc. So, how are the ideas created regarding a positive or negative image of a country? Most of the time we create an assumption about another country because of stereotypes, prejudgment, favoritism etc. and labeling other countries is something unavoidable for most of us.

The idea of nation branding or the idea of competitive identity arises not only from the assumptions of a country’s image but also from national identity. National identity is in itself a complex concept but is very well connected with nation branding. As Dinnie argues, “an understanding of the core features of national identity is a prerequisite for developing nation branding campaigns […] nation branding is too large an undertaking to be left solely to marketing, branding or advertising people. A deep and authentic nation brand must include the many elements and expressions of a nation’s culture” (2008: 111-112). Aronczyk adds, “the relationship between national identity and national branding is representing and communicating national identity to the global world” (2008: 42 as cited in Arkenbout, 2015: 8). At this stage, it is important to specify that nation branding is not about building or reshaping the identity of a nation. A nation is defined by its people and other elements and not by branding strategies. Changing the identity of a nation would take fundamental changes in the country’s structure. That being said, nation branding only deals with altering the image that the outside world has about a nation.

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2.2 THE YOUNG EUROPEANS CAMPAIGN

After defining and understanding nation branding as a new concept, this part of the paper analyzes in depth every element of the campaign ‘Kosovo – The Young Europeans’. Furthermore, we will be looking at some non-governmental and private initiatives that the citizens of Kosovo have taken in order to promote their country internationally. And lastly, the focus will be on the culture as a tool for nation branding where few examples of talented young men and women who have promoted Kosovo through sports and music are given.

Shortly after the declaration of independence, the Government of Kosovo saw the need to announce a tender for a nation branding campaign, worth €5.7 million. Years in complex conflicts, problems of un-recognition and many misconceptions, have created a problematic image in the eyes of the world about Kosovo. A nation branding campaign was seen as the right tool to positively change and brighten the gray image of the country, which is usually portrayed by the brutal war stories, poverty, and ongoing struggles (Hapçiu and Sparks, 2012: 6). In October 2009, BBR Saatchi & Saatchi, a multinational agency based in Tel Aviv, was chosen as the winner of “Execution of Nation Branding and International Media Campaign for the Republic of Kosovo”. The agency is well known internationally for their campaigns and commercial ads. According to Wählisch and Xhara, “the overall purpose of this contract was to introduce the new state to the international public and inform the public on a national and international scale about the opportunities and possibilities it offers” (2010: 11). Or, as said by the director of the campaign, “The aim of the campaign ‘Kosovo - The Young Europeans’ was to place Kosovo in the map of Europe, as the last country in Europe [...] and also to improve the perception for Kosovo and improve its image worldwide” (Ekrem, Appx B.8: 91).

In 2010, ‘Kosovo: The Young Europeans’ campaign by BBR Saatchi & Saatchi, won the Best Nation and Place Branding category at Media & Marketing (M&M) Awards. The M&M Awards celebrates every year the creation and effectiveness of marketing strategies implemented across the world (BBR Saatchi & Saatchi, 2010). David Kosmin, who led the project at BBR Saatchi & Saatchi, said: “The Kosovo assignment has been a wonderful challenge for Saatchi & Saatchi because we are literally branding a new nation. Our strategy was to bring the spirit of youth to

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the old continent. The campaign takes the demographic fact of ‘Young’ and turns it into a feeling that touches the viewer, changing their focus on the country from its past to its future” (Saatchi & Saatchi, 2010). Furthermore, he adds: “‘The Young Europeans’ campaign projects a fresh way to brand a nation through the dreams of its young people. ‘Young’ is a demographic fact, but it’s also a feeling about seeing the future in a positive light” (Kosmin for BBR Saatchi & Saatchi, 2010).

Figure 4: ‘Kosovo – The Young Europeans’ logo6

First, it is important to look at the logo of ‘The Young Europeans’ and the meaning behind the chosen colors. Wählisch and Xhara explain that each color of the logo was chosen for a specific reason:

(1) The green represents the green fields that can be found across Kosovo’s countryside; (2) The terracotta-red represents the color of the bricks that are used for the building that is in

progress across the land;

(3) The blue symbolizes the sky and water and is taken from the background of Kosovo’s new flag;

(4) The design of the font is inspired by “the fountain of youth” concept to show the energy that spreads in a fluid way throughout Kosovo (2010: 13).

The TV ad, on the other hand, lasts one minute and it shows many young Kosovars working on puzzle pieces from different parts of the country and they finally unite in an open green field to place all pieces of the puzzle together. After all the pieces are assembled together, the map of Kosovo is formed. The young Kosovars are putting balloons that have the shape of the clouds, in

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the puzzle that lifts into the air and places Kosovo on the map of Europe, meaning, and “now Europe is complete”. However, when one of the respondents was asked what did she thought about the overall design and the look of the ad, she replied: “[…] floating clouds and yellow shapes are rather arbitrary and don’t really represent Kosovo” (Dafina, Appx B.7: 89). Part of the ad is a song that emphasizes a new beginning, harmony and a sense of togetherness. Moreover, this TV commercial has been aired on major international TV channels, such as CNN, BBC World News, Euronews, Eurosport, but also locally on RTK, KTV, RTV21, Klan Kosova as well as on different websites (Wählisch and Xhara, 2010: 15).

Figure 5: ‘The Young Europeans’ TV ad7

On YouTube, the ad was uploaded on 26 October 2009 and as of the 14th of June 2018, the ad has 200,983 views, 823 likes, 901 dislikes, and it is followed with some positive comments but also some negative and offensive ones. One of the users with the username ‘Haverinja’ comments: “Wonderful concept! Wonderful job. For the first time in history, we are looked upon as “Fountain of Youth”. This makes me personally to be proud of this ad”. Another user under the name ‘Lorpus 23’ wrote: “5 million euroooos?? Shame for this government...at a time when doctors take 100 euros, when retires get 70 euros, when extreme poverty is 30%, while unemployment 60% they give 5 million euros for 1 minute spot that shows nothing about Kosovo. Great SHAME”. As seen from the comments, the nation branding campaign has faced a variety of reactions therefore it is important to look further at feelings and reactions that the campaign

Dawn rolling over, The clouds bring the rain,

It’s time to start over, Time to join hands. The sun slowly rising,

Shining on earth. The sky’s open minded,

Today

And I’m feeling the life that I wanted

Coming to me.

I’m feeling the love that I want you Want you to see.

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caused. The first ones to react was the activist group ‘Vetëvendosje!’ (Self-Determination), that added to the billboards of the campaign across the country, the graffiti slogans “Isolated”, “Unemployed”, and “Poor” (see Figure 6). In their website they also wrote the following statement: We need doctors, teachers, schools and hospitals, pensions and support for the poor. But above all, we are isolated. We are the most isolated people in the world […]. This is the bitter reality that is missing in the polished advertisement which cost €5.7 million. This ad has been made with people that are not like us. The ad does not promote the people of Kosovo […]. In Kosovo, you are more an unemployed [person] than a European. You are poorer than young” (VETËVENDOSJE!, 2010 as cited and translated in Wählisch and Xhara, 2010: 25).

Figure 6: Isolated European’8 Figure 7: The Oldies Europeans9

The posters of young Kosovars that were placed all over the country faced criticism also from other generations who thought that they were excluded and that this is not the true reality in Kosovo. Gazeta Express, a daily newspaper in Kosovo wasn’t satisfied with the photo series on the billboards because “they were too artificial and that not only the teenagers but also the workers from different fields of life should be seen as Europeans” (Wählisch and Xhara, 2010: 27). Another example is the one from Shkelzen Domi, a citizen of Kosovo, who reacted to the nation branding billboards by replacing the photos of young Kosovars with photos of old people of Kosovo, that seem to be forgotten from this campaign (see Figure 7). He names it “Kosovo the Oldies European” because to him, “young kids with great potential cannot use their potential; for them, the future brings nothing but the physiological process of getting old”

8_{(Source: Wählisch and Xhara, 2010: 25)} 9_{(Source: Wählisch and Xhara, 2010: 28)}

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(Wählisch and Xhara, 2010: 28). During the interview, Gëzim Krasniqi, one of the respondents, also said that this campaign “was the most idealized representation of the country. The young people are in focus of the society, but you also have old people that partly present the working class … or whatever that means in Kosovo because there’s a high unemployment” (Appx B.9: ). These are just some of the criticisms that the campaign faced when it was first launched. Chapter three expands more on the opinions of the people regarding this initiative.

2.3 NON-GOVERNMENTAL EFFORTS

The NEWBORN monument and ‘The Young Europeans’ nation branding campaign were the first governmental efforts since Kosovo's declaration of independence to promote the nation’s image abroad. However, it is difficult to say whether the campaign in itself was successful or not, even though Ekrem stated in the interview that “the campaign in its first year was very successful and managed to achieve some great results which were showed in our before and after campaign surveys […]10” (Appx B.8: 91). But, what exactly makes this campaign a success? Winning a marketing award does not necessarily define the success of the campaign. What do the Kosovar people think about this initiative? For many, the campaign lacked a clear objective. If the main purpose of the campaign was to make Kosovo known abroad, the question then would be, for what exactly? What does Kosovo want to be known for? Do they want to be known in order to achieve recognition of its independence and if so, did this nation branding campaign help them to achieve this? Or is it that the country wants to create a new national identity? Maybe the purpose was to bring in foreign investments and promote tourism, even though when you watch the ad, these do not seem to be the main goals of the campaign. This part of the paper demonstrates some other ways that the citizens of Kosovo have taken in order to promote themselves globally. We will first look at some non-governmental and private efforts that have been initiated to promote the nation abroad, and then we will look whether Kosovo has used culture as a tool to brand itself. For instance, how has Kosovo made use of movies, music, sports etc. as a tool to build an appealing image of the nation? Can culture be a powerful tool in branding Kosovo?

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One of the non-governmental organizations (NGO) that has tried to promote the image of the country internationally through a project called, Forum 2015 is Kosovo Foundation for Open Society (KFOS), a local NGO. Their aim is to strengthen Kosovo’s civil society and to organize different events and projects that promote Kosovo’s image and recognition throughout the world. Think Young on the other hand, is a Belgian NGO based in Brussels that focuses on the young people and on 2011 they run a project called “Advocacy for Young People in Kosovo” with the aim to raise awareness internationally about the youth in Kosovo. Through a documentary, they showed the dreams and hopes of the young Kosovars. Think Young has run a conference in Pristina, carried out a scientific study and produced a position paper with the aim to lobby the European Institutions for visa liberalization so that young Kosovars can work and study in the EU (Wählisch and Xhara, 2010: 40). When it comes to private initiatives, some have been taken by the head of the New Kosovo Alliance (AKR), Behgjet Pacolli, also known as the richest men in the country, a successful international businessman that through his own resources and networks, alongside his work with the government, has tried to lobby for recognition of Kosovo. 117 countries so far recognize Kosovo as an independent and sovereign state, eight of which (Swaziland, Vanuatu, the Comoros Island, Malta, Mozambique, the Island of Mauritius and the Maldives) recognized Kosovo as a result of his lobbying (Wählisch and Xhara, 2010: 40). The Kosovar diaspora has also taken similar initiatives like the one of James Berisha with the ‘Flying for Kosovo’ campaign.

Figure 8: Behgjet Pacolli visit to Malta11_{Figure 9: James Berisha flying for Kosovo}12

11_{Behgjet Pacolli during his visit in Malta, lobbying for Kosovo (Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Republic of}

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Berisha, the Kosovar Albanian pilot has traveled approximately to 85 countries in the world that haven’t accepted Kosovo’s independence. In his plane is written with big letters the message “Please Recognize the Independence of Kosovo” (see Figure 9). When Berisha went to Eritrea lobbying for Kosovo’s recognition by talking to newspapers, doing interviews etc. he was arrested and put in a cell for 156 days since the freedom of speech is strictly forbidden and controlled in the country. It can seem unrealistic and impossible that one pilot can influence the foreign policy of an entire country, but it is believed that his mission influenced the decision of Egypt to recognize Kosovo's independence in 2013 (Rebecca Charlton for Vice, 2013). Before starting his mission Berisha told Balkan Insight: “I will thank those countries who have already recognized us, I will tell the others how important it is for Kosovo to be recognized worldwide, and I will try to end racial stereotypes that belittle our people” (Mula, 2009). In another interview for Vica he said:

“All Albanians are very attached to their homeland and where they grew up. After Kosovo’s declaration of independence, I purchased my plane and at the time, I only wanted to raise as much awareness as I could by talking to radio stations and newspapers. At this stage I didn't know that the mission would become extremely powerful and that I would become a hero for the people of Kosovo. I have delivered Kosovo's message to the world as much as I could” (Charlton, 2013).

Another way of promoting Kosovo, especially its youth is the website portal Kosovo 2.0. The portal engages Kosovar youth from all over the world to write articles, express their views and share their stories in this online platform. This is an opportunity for the people to inform the outside world about their country in any topic that they wish to talk about. “These are just some of the initiatives that civil society organizations and individuals have undertaken in an attempt to explore and develop Kosovo public diplomacy, promote its image abroad, and bring Kosovo closer to countries and international organizations that have not recognized it yet” (Wählisch and Xhara, 2010: 37). It is hard to say whether these initiatives have been more successful than the nation branding campaign ‘The Young Europeans’, but what really matters is that any initiative small or big is a step forward for the nation to promote its image to the world.

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2.4 CULTURE AS A TOOL FOR NATION BRANDING

In 2016, International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to recognize and allow Kosovo to participate for the Olympic Games Rio in 2016 but also into future games that occur every four years. For the first time Kosovo had a chance to show itself internationally through sports with judoka Majlinda Kelmendi. Kelmendi made history by winning the gold medal in women’s judo but also she became the first Kosovo athlete to ever win a medal in the Olympics (Krasniqi, 2016). In an interview, Kelmendi mentioned how much this medal meant for her and especially for her country: “That means a lot. People, especially kids in Kosovo look at me as a hero. I just proved to them that even after the war, even after we survived the war, if they want something they can have it. If they want to be Olympic champions, they can be. Even if we come from a small country, a poor country” (Prishtina Insight, 2016). Kelmendi’s win in the Olympics13 gave a national pride to Kosovars and Albanians all over the world.

Figure 10: Kelmendi wins judo gold14 Figure 11: Emotional win for Kosovo15

Recently Kosovo has also joined FIFA and UEFA and for the first time this year, in June-July, the country participated in the World Cup. Kosovo's participation in world’s most important sports events is a great opportunity for the country to represent itself. The young nation can communicate a part of its identity to the broad public through their sports performances. In one

13_{To see Kelmendi become Kosovo’s first Olympic Champion go to:}

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBw3ozMDZbM&t=53s

14_{(Source: NBC Olympics, 2016)} 15_{(Source: CNN, 2018)}

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of his books, Simon Anholt mentions that there is one cultural event that takes the lead in changing a nation brand, and that is the Olympics (Anholt, 2007: 108 as cited in Meijer, 2013: 49). So, is winning or participating in the Olympics an opportunity for a nation to brand itself? Winning an event does not necessarily mean that that the country will improve its brand but as Anholt says, “its a media opportunity, not a branding activity in its own right” (Anholt, 2007: 110 as cited in Meijer, 2013: 50). Majlinda’s gold medal in the Olympics crowned Kosovo's efforts in sports and as Majlinda said for an interview: “I think this medal lifted their hopes” (European Judo Union, 2018). Leart Hoxha also said for Prishtina Insight that: “Kelmendi’s gold-medal win was the greatest honor Kosovo had seen in a while: Kosovo was being mentioned in a positive tone and became the center of the world's attention, and once again people saw Kosovars as victims of injustice who showed the world that they are champions” (2018).

After Kosovo's successful participation in the Olympics, it is argued that it is about time to also see this young nation perform in an important international event such as Eurovision Song Contest (ESC). However, Kosovo’s public broadcaster needs to be first a full member of the International Telecommunication Unions (ITU) and since ITU only accepts public televisions from countries that are part of the United Nation (UN), for Kosovo this is currently not possible due to the strong Serbian and Russian veto in such a case (Argyriou, 2016). Since Kosovo is not allowed to participate, Rona Nishliu, a Kosovar artist, represented Albania instead at the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest with the song Suus16, where her outstanding performance placed her in the 5th place. As an international cultural event, Eurovision offers opportunities to countries for representing their national image but in the case of Rona Nishliu, Albania earned all the recognition. Everyone remembers Nishliu as the Albanian singer who represented Albania and this can be seen as a lost opportunity for Kosovo despite their insistent wish to participate. There are many petitions online which advocate for Kosovo’s inclusion in Eurovision contest but so far it has not been a success. Mentor Shala, the Director-General of Kosovo’s national broadcaster, Radio Television of Kosovo (RTK), made the following statement in 2017:

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“RTK has responded to all European Broadcasting Union (EBU) requests for its participation in ESC. Last year the Reference Group for ESC gave a positive opinion of Kosovo’s participation in ESC but under one condition if the host is a country that has recognized Kosovo’s independence. Since Portugal recognizes Kosovo, we were sure we would take part in ESC. […] But we were very surprised when EBU told us that Kosovo for the moment cannot participate because it is not a member of the UN. […] We did not ask for Kosovo to be part of the UN … we just wanted to sing at ESC! […] We are very sorry that a non-political organization is politically acting in the case of Kosovo” (Cobb, 2017).

Albania as a country has participated in Eurovision for fourteen years since 2004, unlike Kosovo. The highest-ranking performance was the one by Anjeza Shahini who was placed in the 7th place in 2004 but the other performances have not been so successful. If Kosovo would have had equal chances of participation, maybe it could have won once. This doesn’t sound impossible if we take in consideration Majlinda Kelmendi’s win in the Olympics and the Kosovar born Rona Nishliu who was placed the 5th in 2012 ESC. If Kosovo can participate and especially if it succeeds in winning the Eurovision, this would mean Kosovo has the opportunity to host the Eurovision the following year and this is a big opportunity for the nation to brand itself. In her research, Catherine Baker writes that Eurovision offers two forms of opportunity for nations to be represented: “the production of a live performance (and often a promotional video) by each competitor, and the promotion of the host city and country on the part of the state broadcaster” (2008: 173). Moreover, since these performances of nationality are presented to many countries in and outside of Europe, they create a certain pressure to the nation to represent themselves on a positive note in front of the world (Meijer, 2013: 51).

Another example that many people remember is the song that Rita Ora released in 2012, “Shine Ya Light”17 a song that she dedicated to Kosovo and all the Kosovar people. On YouTube only, the song has 20,280,351 views followed by 125,000 likes and 39,027 comments as of June 15, 2018. The message of the song is very strong, where she uses phrases like “you’re still standing,

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they’ll never knock you down”. Here she refers to the struggles that the nation has faced during the war and how they still remain strong after all they went through. Another phrase in the song says, “we gold, we gold, we shine [...] no matter where we are”. This is a strong message to all the Kosovar Albanian diaspora but also to the youth of the country where she encourages them to understand that no matter where in the world they are they will shine because of their talents. In an interview for GQ, Rita Ora said: “Shooting the video of the song in Pristina was the most surrealist experience I’ve ever felt. It was more than a music video. It was a moment in our history as Kosovo, it was a moment for people to see us how we live, how we are. It was my duty to do my video there” (Caesar, 2013). Rita Ora is just an example, but other artists from Kosovo have the done the same in promoting their country of origin on a global scale. They are seen as Kosovo’s best ambassadors. Also in his book, Simon Anholt states, “the primary means of communicating culture is through an important ambassador of culture outside the home country” (2006: 139). One of the respondents said the same (see Appx B.6: 88). Actually, any discipline where art and business are included, it will most probably “be effective carriers of cultural messages, for example, music videos, are just as effective in deepening and dignifying the brand print of the country” (Anholt, 2006: 138). According to Gëzim, “Rita Ora’s song definitely had much bigger impact” (App B.9: 95) so maybe if Rita Ora would have been part of the nation branding campaign ‘The Young Europeans’, a face which people recognize, maybe than the purpose of the campaign would have been more clear and the message would have reached a larger audience. However, even in this way, these young men and women through art and sports have placed Kosovo on an international stage where culture brands the nation.

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3.1 “OLD EUROPEANS”

This chapter analyzes the answers of the respondents based from the conducted interviews. A connection between the respondent’s answers and theoretical framework is also part of the analysis. From the beginning I was interested to know the overall opinion of the respondents about the campaign, therefore the interview started by asking them what was their first impression when they saw the ‘The Young Europeans’ and what did they like or not like about it. Most of them gave similar answers by admitting that they actually liked it in the beginning and that they thought that it was well done. From their similar answers, you get the impression that when the campaign was launched it brought a feeling of patriotism and optimism, “a sense of pride and belonging, hope for the future” (Senad, Appx B.5: 82), however, as questions went by, you can notice that the answers changed. They were very critical regarding the aim of the campaign, its impact and the money spent. Also, it is very important to mention that few of them really didn’t like or understand why “The Young Europeans” campaign was focused on the young generation of Kosovo and this strong message of ‘young’ being repeated. To some, it seemed like the campaign was trying to say that Kosovo as a young country wants to fit in old Europe. As one of the respondents said to during the interview: “We all know that Albanian is one of the oldest languages and it is a very old culture. If you look at the history it has been around for a long time. [...] so there is a sort of an irony of being young European when the culture and everything it is very old. I don’t think we are young Europeans, I think we are old Europeans. I didn’t really see myself as a young European, I see myself as a European. The state was formed later but we have a long and big history [...]” (Mehdi, Appx B.1: 66). For some, the word ‘young’ in relation with Kosovo can provoke tension if it is placed in the wrong context, considering all the struggles that the country has been through up to the moment to be finally free. Another respondent, Dafina, also argued “it was bizarre that they had chosen to go with the idea of ‘Young Europeans’. Kosovo is not new to Europe” and if she had to create a nation branding campaign, she would “try and capture that Kosovo is not new to Europe and is not populated by young people only, it is very diverse and multiethnic country with a rich history” (Dafina, Appx B.7: 90).

Nation Branding as a Strategy to Reposition and Strengthen the Nation's Image