5/16 Country Brands

Up until today I have seen many country brands, but I never knew what they were. Our speaker today, Patricia Gurdian, did a great job of explaining Costa Rica's country brand, Essential Costa Rica, and it's importance to the country. Their brand was made as a tool to help boost their exports, attract more investment, and promote the tourism. These are important reasons to have a country brand, but it is also important when it comes to trade agreements. A trade agreement can't just be made, it's a negotiation that is agreed upon by two or more parties. Negotiations usually take some time until a final agreement is made, it's not a one day task. If a country has it's own brand, this could prolong negotiations even more. The positive aspect of a trade agreement being negotiated to include the country brand is it can help to meet their goals of exports, investments, and tourism. Their country brand is what promotes the country itself. When negotiating trade it would help the country if their trade partners agree to use their brand to promote the country as well. If the consumers in the trade country enjoy the product they will have a higher demand for it. This could even go as far to help the tourism industry for Costa Rica. All in all, negotiating a trade agreement could greatly help to promote the country brand of Essential Costa Rica.

If I were to develop a state brand for Louisiana, it would be "Learn, Love, Live Louisiana". I would choose this name because each word has it's own truth and meaning for our state. I was born and raised in Louisiana and I can honestly say I love our state. But, a person not from here may pass judgement based on bias, this is where Learn comes in. People that have never been to Louisiana can sometimes have their own opinion of us. Louisiana is known for a couple of it's television shows such as Duck Dynasty and Swamp People. Sadly some think these examples are how all people from Louisiana are and this is simply not true. Other people may have seen pictures of New Orleans and Bourbon Street and consider us to just always want to party and celebrate Mardi Gras which is not true of everyone as well. The first thing outsiders have to do is Learn about Louisiana and our actual culture. The best part of our state is we don't have one set culture. Depending on what part of the state you're in, you can have a different experience in just about every city. With each experience may come a different background. The best part of experiencing Louisiana is that you learn about it at the same time. You almost have to learn about our culture in order to fully love it. While learning about Louisiana, you begin to fall in love with it. This is what brings in the Love part of the brand. Many people that I have talked to in my life that were not originally born and raised here and were either just visiting or had moved here have fallen in love with it. The best part of the people that love our state very much, there is a great chance they may visit more or possibly even move here, bringing the last part of Live. I could honestly go on for a long time about the reasons I love our state, but I would just keep going on and thinking of more reasons. I have been a tourist in pur state and have traveled to and stayed in many different areas and have loved them all. I think the country brand Learn, Love, Live Louisiana is perfect for our state.