Comparison of perceived and projected image of Slovakia as a starting point for a country image building strategy

Abstract

Countries have been associated with certain products, peoples, and landscapes from the ancient times. Nowadays, the active managing of country image has become an important tool of international marketing for the countries around the world. Nation branding as a modern, comprehensive and systematic approach helps to build the image of the country. It is currently applied in many countries, among which also Slovakia gradually ranks. When developing image building strategy for a country, it is important to know the perceived and projected image of the country. The paper briefly describes the nation branding. It is mainly focused on analyzing of primary and secondary data which describe perceived and projected image of Slovakia. Finally, these data are compared in order to define the possible ways and procedures for image building strategy of Slovakia. As the country started to build up its image in 2012, this is clearly a topical issue.