UNLOCKING CULTURE’S FULL POTENTIAL IN NATION BRANDING: COMMUNICATING SAUDI CULTURAL NATION

Abstract

Saudi Arabia has announced its new direction toward a diversified economy based not only on oil and petrochemicals but also on global tourism and foreign investments. Such ambitions require rebranding of the nation globally to pave the way and also the elimination of negative stereotypes that may hinder these goals. This is not unlike the general trend, where many countries are trending toward developing their brands through cultural promotion activities. This dissertation sought to examine culture as a tool that influences the perception of a nation. In particular, cultural diplomacy was studied as a branding tool through the experiences of Saudi Arabia in promoting its culture globally. Such research is important because of the scarcity of studies in evaluating and measuring the effectiveness of nation branding and cultural diplomacy strategies. This dissertation proposed an updated model from merging and revising Gienow-Hecht and Donfried’s model (for analyzing cultural activities) and the Mutually Beneficial Relationships (MBR) model (for exploring efforts from a PR perspective). Two main themes emerged from semi-structured in-depth interviews with 29 participants: alignment, and communication efficiency. The participants were either official actors employed in local or international Saudi governmental organizations or unofficial actors from civil society institutions, individuals, and private businesses. Participants shared their practices of promoting the Saudi culture on the global stage. They also shared experiences in aligning cultural diplomacy activities to the Saudi Arabia Vision 2030. The main finding was that Saudi Arabia’s cultural diplomacy activities were ineffective due to several reasons. First, participants were not sufficiently qualified to communicate their culture. They also failed to set long-term objectives in their activities and did not organize their efforts and activities among the actors or in alignment with Vision 2030, instead primarily basing cultural diplomacy on a reactive approach. Finally, they did not attain one unified and unequivocal cultural brand for the country. The dissertation recommends that Saudi Arabia builds a cultural diplomacy plan in order to rebrand the country. Based on participants’ experiences of promoting the country’s culture, an update is proposed to Gienow-Hecht and Donfried’s model, and the MBR model. In consideration of the updated model, future research could explore its applicability in the process of building cultural diplomacy and branding and in evaluation of the effectiveness of the process