Famous Brands have synced into our system as humans and we operate in ways that we easily identify or think of them first in relation to our immediate needs or desires. The ideologies around a brand are the deeply involving principles and a totality of promise that allows us to aspire to have an association. With the amount of negativity that lives in the minds of most Zimbabwean citizens, there is a task at hand to educate the masses the possibilities of multiple triumphant eras that are ahead of us .
The starting point for any idea, corporation, country, or city is always surrounded on the issue of the kind of Brand desired to be created, built, managed and developed. As a young country, perhaps our founding principles were rather unclear on who we are, what we are all about, what we stand for and where we are going. In this Era of the dumping down of ideas we have the opportunity to redefine our course, so that we walk and work in eureka towards a clearly crafted and acceptable national vision.
Understanding Adolf Hitler’s work will never make anyone a Fanatic due to the deep understanding of what he created out of nothing for Germany. Adolf Hitler’s Nazi movement pushed to new extremes, political propaganda. In fact, they advertised their identity and philosophy with such vigour that it’s fair to say the Nazis became a bona fide brand. A brand strong, entrenched, immediately recognizable in German culture as any major corporation might be in our culture today. The positive Nation Branding lessons from Adolf Hitler and his Nazi movement are not to be ignored but to learn from as to develop a strong country or city brand in this 21st Century.
It remains evident that the process of creating something that converts into a powerful brand, history has taught us many lessons that it is not a day’s work but a lifetime of both smart and hard work. The story of Strive Masiyiwa who struggled through the creation of what we call the Nation’s Biggest Corporate Billion Dollar Brand. We never knew what it could turn into, as he faced difficult moments of pushing an idea that seemed to be more of crippling him in public and family life. Nigel Chanakira, a banker that set his mind to build a commercially private owned bank during times where nobody ever thought of the possibility of a black man owning a Bank.
The possibility of creating, what we desire as a country is infinite and these men I have mentioned must be a reference point of real testimony that we too as individuals can build whatever we desire , and that we too we can build our country the way we want but must go through the process of crushing. My mentor TD Jakes says that ‘’ Crushing is not the end, it is the beginning of the process because for there to be wine, there must be grape that must go through crushing ‘’.
For many it may seem unrealistic as I continue to impart my message of Branding our Country, I do know and believe that we shall reorganize ourselves better for the greater good. Let’s just see what the future holds for this country , because I already have seen it, tasted and experienced it as I have travelled many times into the beautiful future of this Country. In the words of Dr Martin Luther King, ‘’ I have a dream ‘’ .
Tare Munzara is a Country Branding Expert and The Chief Executive of Destination Marketing International & City Branding Org. He write this Column ‘’ Nation Brand With Tare Munzara ‘’ every Thursday. To Contact him email on ceo@destinationmarketinginternational.co.zw / taremunzara@taremunzara.co.zw. phone / whatsapp 00263 774 817 440.
