In abroad, especially in Europe, people often ask us “where are you from?” There are many to whom the word “Armenia” says nothing. Some of them, probably remembering something, say, “A, Russia!”. Does it worth to explain that we are a republic that once was a part of the Soviet Union, and now a legally independent country? Or … there is no need anymore. Especially when the ordinary European is not particularly interested in that history.
An ordinary man needs a phenomenon, a name, a product that is the international “brand” of given country, with which he will recognizes the said country. It is not so easy task. I, for example, will have difficulty in remembering such a branding phenomenon, let’s say, about Slovenia or Croatia. For me, they are first and foremost a “former Yugoslavia”, which, of course, is not the best description of this wonderful country.
You would say that I compared our ancient nation with other, non-ancient nations. Where were the Croatians, when we had a theater? But that is our unfounded self-solace, we cannot roughly speaking sell our being ancient to anyone. Meanwhile, only the medieval city of Dubrovnik, Croatia, is visited by about one million tourists a year, we can not even dream about such number.
When a French woman asked me where I am from, I tried to approach from the other side, I talked about Charles Aznavour. My interlocutor immediately reacted, she certainly knew Aznavour and knew that he is an Armenia, but she did not know where Armenia is. But, for example, Charles Aznavour’s (educated, advanced) name said nothing to the Japanese.
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“What is your country famous for?”- sometimes ask the most curious Europeans. Were you the first to adopt Christianity as a state religion? Is the mountain Masis seen better from our side? These two facts can be considered serious “brand”, but as of today they do not leave a particularly deep impression on foreigners, we still do not know how to use them.
The ordinary European is not interested in our copper or molybdenum, they are products of too narrow consumption. Brandy? Apricot? They are almost missing in the European market. In Russia, yes, there are. Perhaps that is why we have entered into the Customs Union.
Unfortunately, you can also be known by misfortunes happened to you. The porter of one of the Italian hotels, opening our passports, said that recently he has seen a movie about what happened to our nation during the World War I, and added,- “It was very sad story”.
Aram Abrahamyan
Interesting article…. well done! i m working currently on a website project about armenia and i had the same question. i was asking greeks and other europeans “what do you know about armenia?” and they didnt know even the location in map. The only i could propose to my armenians friends is to “invest” to a brand name, something that is expessing the country 100%, and promote it to europe and rest of world.
As i did say to everyone, when i first travelled to armenia, your country is a well hidden treasure 🙂
Greetings from Greece
my question is if you don’t want to be known for your exports and your history what do u want to be known for.
Is there something in this article about my wishes?