The Image of Sweden : Nation Branding and Public Diplomacy in Germany

Abstract: ABSTRACT Title: The Image of Sweden - A study of the Swedish Embassy’s Nation Branding and Public Diplomacy in Germany Number of pages: 46 (57 including enclosures) Author: Heidi Marie Nömm Tutor: Göran Svensson Course: Media and Communication Studies C Level – Bachelor’s Thesis. Period: Autumn term 2006/2007 University: Division of Media and Communication Department of Information Science Uppsala University Purpose/Aim: The purpose of my research study is to examine how the press, culture and PR department at the Swedish Embassy in Berlin is organising its external communication of Swedish affairs and “branding” Sweden as an attractive and competitive nation in Germany. My research objective is therefore to investigate the nature of the Embassy’s Nation Branding by means of one specific media channel, which is the Embassy’s German website, in order to find out how Sweden’s nation brand is communicated according to my chosen theory. Material/Method: The method of analysis is a combination of both qualitative and quantitative methods: a qualitative interview in terms of collecting information about the Embassy’s external communication, as well as a quantitative content analysis of the Embassy’s German website. Furthermore I’m making use of secondary data from previous research, various articles and several information sources from the Internet. Main results: On the basis of the results I have gained by dint of the content analysis, it can be concluded that the Embassy’s German website foregrounds and focuses on communicating cultural topics, whereas political and governmental issues are being undermined. Hence, the website shows an uneven representation of Anholt’s nation brand key areas which denote that it is communicating a too one-sided and unbalanced picture of a national image, thus Sweden’s nation brand. Keywords: Nation Branding, Public Diplomacy, external communication, content analysis, case study, Swedish Embassy Berlin, channel of communication, information flow.