“Italy is simply extraordinary”: nation branding between tradition and innovation

Abstract

In an increasingly competitive world, nation branding has become a crucial way to promote a country, especially after a global health crisis. In 2020, Italy was strongly affected by the Covid-19, and to recover from its negative impact, Italy launched a nation branding campaign to support the Made in Italy. The paper explored Italy’s nation branding campaign in Instagram, from a communicative perspective, to understand its main themes and narrative patterns. The research is based on a quantitative content analysis, to examine the content and values promoted in the campaign, and a thematic analysis to provide the main narratives adopted. The content analysis showed that the main themes were nation branding initiatives, followed by people & culture, and economy. Moreover, the predominant narrations were cultural heritage, culinary culture, land of style, innovation and sustainability, and initiatives for the users. This demonstrated that traditional themes about Italy (heritage & art, gastronomy, and craftsmanship) are still strong; however, some new themes concerning innovative and green themes, and interactive initiatives are also included. The study contributed to the exploration of new methods to promote nation branding through social media and digital community engagement.