One Island, Two Nations

Introduction

According to the American Marketing Association (AMA); “A brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s goods or service as distinct from those of other sellers” (www.ama.org). As it can be understood from the definition brand is term which identifies and differentiates itself from competitors with the features it has (Rojas-Méndez, 2013).

The first stage in the brand building process is to find out what consumers know about the brand and what it represents. If the current situation and the position of the brand is unknown, it will not be known that how it will be brought to the position it should be. The brand should be considered as an investment for the future. Because while a brand is being created, a long-time value is created in people's mind (Karabulut, 2018).

Cities, destinations, nations and countries can become brands just like goods, services and corporations. Branding is a holistic progress that affects a whole place (Rainisto, 2003). Based on their unique identities, many countries have branded consciously and systematically for centuries (Giannopoulos et al., 2011).

During branding process companies and countries show parallelism with each other. While companies have logos, jargons, culture and employees, countries have flag, languages, culture and citizens. But the concept of nation brand is much more controversial and complex than the conceprt of corporation brand. Controversy originates from the conflicting perspectives and ideas due to the strong influence of countires' public and international relation policies. Complexity originates from multiple levels, dimesions and disciplines which contribute to nation branding that goes beyond traditional products and corporate branding. Complexity is distinct. Because countries have population, history, foreign customers, visitors and investors as well as their physical characteristics (Rojas-Méndez, 2013).

Countires should attach importance to nation branding in order to become prominent at international level. Unless a country represents something special and different, that country has little chance of competing with other countries successfully (Giannopoulos et al., 2011).

Branding is also important in terms of destination marketing. Morgan and Pitchard (2000), stated that campaigning for tourists in tourism market would be based on hearts and minds instead of excessive prices and branding would be the key to the success. Just as customers show more interest and trust in branded products, interest in branded nations is more intense than in non-branded nations. The success of the countries that manage a correct branding process, increases significantly in destination marketing.

This section, in which the relationship between nation branding and destination marketing is described is designed as below. First, the concepts of nation brand and nation branding are explained. Then destination marketing is mentioned. Finally, a case study about the subject is included. The subject of the case study is Gökçeada (Imbros) which is a binational island.