Although Croatia is already recognised as a tourist and sports brand, it needs to create its own "strong and positive" national brand, as it could provide the key for a competitive edge over other countries, President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic said on Wednesday, announcing the forming of a national branding task force.

“In today’s world there is no alternative to managing the country’s image and creating a new national brand. If we don’t create our own image, others will do it for us, and I don’t want that and won’t allow it,” Grabar-Kitarovic said at the panel discussion that attracted marketing and branding experts.

Grabar-Kitarovic warned that as a country, Croatia had not developed a sufficiently recognisable image that would strengthen its position compared to other countries in international relations.

She added that any branding campaign can only have a limited short-term impact unless followed with concrete political and institutional steps that will maintain the long-term credibility of the country, its leadership and population, and if it doesn’t concentrate on common values and celebrating success and achievements by individuals in Croatia and the world.

She stressed that Croatia has exceptional advantages and can become a strong brand on the global scene because it is recognised for its natural beauty and now thanks to the country’s success at this year’s soccer World Cup. She added however that there were writers and inventors that have not been promoted sufficiently as stakeholders in the world’s heritage.

She added that many foreign governments have taken this task seriously and have incorporated important stakeholders into umbrella institutions and have built a strong brand which is managed in a systematic way.

Warning that this is lacking in Croatia, Grabar-Kitarovic said that she would move to change that by setting up a task force to develop Croatia’s national branding, commissioned to define and design Croatia’s brand.

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