2010 and the Power of Perception

This Keynote Address, presented by international brand leadership expert, Dr Nikolaus Eberl (featured weekly on CNBC and in the Business Day) examines the nation branding program that Germany applied to capture the top spot in the Nation Brand Index. "From Humourless to Carefree: Transforming 82 Million in 31 Days - The 2006 FIFA World Cup changed both the image and the character of brand Germany." (Carte Blanche Feature Story).

One year after the 2006 World Cup, Time Magazine titled their cover story "Germany revs up", and the Financial Times, notoriously critical of Germany, wrote admiringly of a "new economic miracle". Within one year from hosting the event, Germany

• Held the most valuable country brand in the Nation Brand Index;
• Foreign tourism bookings increased by nearly one third;
• Unemployment dropped by 29%;
• Exports grew 14% year-on-year;
• Investors confidence surged to a 27-year high;
• The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel's, approval ratings were the highest of any German Chancellor ever (79% in September 2007).

Commenting on the legacy of the 1998 FIFA World Cup held in France, the head of the Parisian office of Time magazine concluded that “The French soccer team [did] more to promote racial tolerance in France, and pride and a sense of belonging amongst its immigrant population, than anything the government could have ever done.”

And the chief executive of DuPont Korea, went on record stating that "people used to have memories of' Korean union workers wearing red bands protesting on the streets, and then dispersed by tear gas used by the police. Now those memories were replaced by images of the patriotic, organized, powerful Red Devils (Korea's Fan Club).”

Date: 01 March 2010
Venue: BrandOvation Campus, Johannesburg
Cost: R575

More info:

Auckland Park