Country images in marketing strategies: Conceptual issues and an empirical Asian illustration

This paper aims to clarify how a country image is established, and how it can be developed. The authors argue that the marketer seeks to activate specific associations from a country image, and to match these with important characteristics in the target market through the design of all the components of the marketing mix. If all these components successfully come together, then it is likely that the intended image association will be established. It is only when this succeeds, ie when the image-creating moment occurs, that the country image can develop and eventually become stronger and more multifaceted. The Norwegian fish industry's strategy to market fish in Asia is discussed to illustrate the point that a country-of-origin strategy can be beneficial even if there is little or no knowledge about the country of origin within the target market.