Luxembourg embarks on a long-term rebranding effort

Luxembourg embarks on a long-term rebranding effort

The low city in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, Oct. 21, 2015. Such national rebranding efforts rarely work, but the small European nation is spending heavily to divert attention from allegations of financial chicanery. (New York Times photo)
The low city in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, Oct. 21, 2015. Such national rebranding efforts rarely work, but the small European nation is spending heavily to divert attention from allegations of financial chicanery. (New York Times photo)

Luxembourg, the country once known as the European “Death Star” of financial secrecy, is looking to improve its image.

Buffeted by the accusations that it was helping multinational corporations evade billions of dollars in taxes, the country has embarked on a long-term rebranding effort.

The effort has yet to yield a catchy slogan, but it may not matter. Unless you remember similar exercises that centred on the themes “The eternal and fascinating Romania,” or “I feel sLOVEnia,” your image of Luxembourg is probably set.

This is not the view of a cynical resident or just another analyst. This is the opinion of the man who coined the phrase “nation branding” in the 1990s, Simon Anholt.

“There is just no evidence that it has ever succeeded in changing the image of a country,” Anholt, a policy adviser, said by telephone.

He said the so-called Luxleaks scandal, in which leaked documents revealing that the government had helped some 300 corporations, including Microsoft Corp, The Walt Disney Co and Koch Industries Inc, dodge billions of dollars in taxes, would do more to determine Luxembourg’s image than a marketing campaign.

“If Luxembourg wants to replace its negative image with a positive image, it would have to do something really good and do it consistently for a long, long time,” Anholt said.

The country has been aware of its tarnished reputation for some time. The previous government, under Jean-Claude Juncker, established a panel made up of the representatives of the monarchy, several ministries and two public-private agencies that promote business to spearhead the branding effort.

The panel hired two marketing agencies which conducted surveys and focus groups to determine how residents perceived their country and what it could promote. The project is expected to cost almost €1 million, or just over $1 million, in 2016, when a marketing campaign will begin.

Mario Hirsch, a political scientist, said such marketing campaigns were “made to divert, to keep people from questioning things.”

“To me, nation branding is a smokescreen behind which business can go on as usual,” said Hirsch, a visiting senior research fellow at the European Union Institute for Security Studies in Paris.

He added that that did not mean that “business as usual is necessarily bad or wrong.”

Some believe the country’s bad image is a result of an outside smear campaign.

“The things we are accused of are things that are practiced by other and larger nations which, of course, don’t go at each other but choose to point the finger at us, a small nation, and find support in doing so, because we are doing so well,” said Emile Haag, author of The Rise of Luxembourg from Independence to Success.

A local arts collective has a different view. Richtung22, known for poking fun at national treasures, staged a satirical communication campaign and theatre piece about Luxembourg, portraying it as a regressive half-democracy with an industry based on the motto, “It’s not illegal if you do it in Luxembourg.”

Before Luxembourg, it was the former Soviet nations that were best known for rebranding as they entered the global marketplace. Ukraine has made several branding attempts since its independence in 1991. Slogans like “Ukraine. All about U” and “Ukraine. For snowlovers” painted a portrait of a holiday destination both fun and cozy, far from its Soviet bleakness.

After the break-up of the Soviet Union, countries all over Eastern Europe and the Balkans paid marketers for a new start. In addition to the Romania and Slovenia campaigns, there was Albania’s “A New Mediterranean Love,” the government’s effort to attract tourists and foreign investment.

Regardless of how Luxembourg’s campaign fares, it can be secure in the fact that it already ranks higher than the United States, Japan and Israel on Anholt’s new Good Country Index, which evaluates how each nation takes care of security, health care, climate issues, equality and other issues.

“The reality,” Anholt said, “is that it probably deserves a better reputation than it has now acquired for itself.”

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