Canada has an image problem. It’s too good. The country is too beautiful, the people too polite and friendly, the society too cohesive, the institutions too effective. It’s a nice problem to have!
I witnessed this as a guest of the Canadian government, when I presented them with my suggested ‘postcard’ for Canada — a lovely vista of snow capped mountains, with the catchy slogan, “May the moose be with you.” It all went down well in the commercial cities of Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver, but boy did I upset them in the federal capital, Ottawa. The civil servants there told me: “We’re trying to get away from the stereotypes of Moose, Mounties and Mountains. We want them to know that Canada is edgy, sophisticated, economically diverse, etc.”
I replied: “You know, people think Aussies are kangaroos, koalas and beaches but it’s good to have a brand. Austria has to give out t-shirts saying ‘No we don’t have kangaroos, just to differentiate themselves from Australia’.”
Furthermore, Brand Canada is pretty successful. According to the global expert on country brands, Simon Anholt, Canada regularly is top of the charts and often pips Australia on a number of scores. And as Anholt points out, a minority of the world’s population will never get to see Canada, or Australia, but when a country hosts the Olympics, everyone with a TV set will be thinking about the host country. So like it not, everyone will be thinking and talking about Canada right now, as Vancouver hosts the Winter Olympics, just like Australia was ‘on display’ during the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Can Canada capitalise on its Olympics achievement? | Anthill Magazine
Author: Tim Harcourt
