How to Brand an International Organization. NATO Case Study

Branding products and companies has always been associated with private enterprises and less, if ever, with international intergovernmental organizations. International organizations now have a long history behind them, a history often marked by contradictory events. In the last decade the international organizations developed their own public relations department in an attempt to communicate promptly and transmit the general audience their version of reality. Having this in mind we will try to briefly present in the current work the main reasons why we believe that the international organizations, NATO in particular, have started to see themselves as brand and to create a so called “commercial identity” by becoming a brand. By applying the conceptual and analytical framework used in analyzing the marketing strategies of the private companies we will try to see whether NATO is about to become a brand. Our starting point will be a 2008 statement of Jean-François Bureau, deputy general secretary responsible with NATO’s public diplomacy: “We have the green light to think about a branding policy for NATO”. Nowadays global society, perceptions tend to become more important than reality itself, and thus positive perceptions tend to become crucial. NATO has suffered an image decline in the last decade, therefore some new communication measures tend to impose themselves. The distinction between soft power and propaganda must be carefully analyzed when we speak about branding NATO. Thus we hope to bring some necessary clarifications in the area of NATO branding. Is there a brand? Is a brand going to be constructed? How does it differ from a commercial society? Does NATO need its own TV channel? Raising questions and offering a new perspective is, in the end, our primary goal, as a debate on this subject is a must that offers a new perspective in the area of theory of international organizations