To develop the tourism and increase the investment in Armenia, Armenia’s government has set a goal to create an Armenian brand aiming to make the country recognized in the world. To this end, today, the General Director of GK brand company, Vazgen Kalajyan, during the seminar at the UN office, presented the methods for creating a new brand, and the researches made for the new brand. “In many countries of the world, Armenia is associated with the victim. Our history has made many to give the status of a victim to Armenia. In this event, who will want to buy a ticket and visit a country, which is unsuccessful? I am not against the genocide campaign, but after the genocide Armenia is accepted as such,” said Mr. Kalajyan in his speech.
According to the specialist, thus, it is impossible to create an appropriate and the world-presenting brand for Armenia. “The brand will not be good, if the country is associated with a victim. It is necessary to create a positive brand based on the positive, but true histories.” Mr. Kalajyan illustrates an example that there are still countries in the world that do not know about Armenia, many confuse Armenia with Albania or Romania, others have listened only about the Genocide, Germans know Armenian thanks to the football-player Henrik Mkhitaryan, whereas the French are the most informed about Armenia.
In this regard, Armenia ranks the 137th in the list of the countries in the world for its awareness. According to Mr. Kalajyan, to attract the tourists and foreign investors, only the fact that Armenia is the first country to adopt Christianity is not enough. “We cannot attract people only by Christianity, because inviting thereby the representatives of Iran and the Arab world, who do not profess Christianity to make investments, is not enough.” Mr. Kalajyan mentioned that researches were carried out for the creations of the Armenian brand, and surveys were conducted, which involved more than thousand people.
The orator suggests accepting the following provisions as a core axis for the creation of the brand: “I suggest accepting first and foremost the traditions, grounded on the cultural values. We must show the world that there are many creative people in Armenia. It should not leave the impression that it seems to everyone that the country is emptied. The people who leave the country are those who create, develop and do innovations for the country. Armenia should be recognized as a creating and researching country where people are not afraid of innovation and are bold enough to meet the challenges.”
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In his speech, Mr. Kalajyan also suggesting having brand “ambassadors” for the creation of the brand. “People who will be able to present Armenia. They can be from taxi drivers to government representatives.” Mr. Kalajyan presented the preliminary version of the brand, but did not want to go to the details and make it available. Therefore, we present you only its name, but so far, we do not open the brackets. «Armenia. Rewards the bold.” During the workshop, Mr. Kalajyan also presented the secrets of creating a brand, and that the creation of a band requires develop of a long strategic plan. “The product is created in the factory, whereas the brand is created in the brain,” with this phrase, he introduced the ways of creating the brand.
Elya HOVHANNISYAN
