Nation Branding

Madi Ohrman

Dr. Green

Eurovision

21 March 2019

Nation Branding

           The Eurovision Song contest is an international song contest watched by millions of viewers around the world. Some countries use Eurovision to promote their country by exposing their culture, expressing its political stances, or using the opportunity to educate individuals who are unfamiliar with their country. In three-minute performances countries are able to use nation branding, a mechanism which aims to build reputation of countries (Jordan, 2014). Some nation branding directly correlates to their national identity. Other times, there are misalignments between the two. In this blog post I will be analyzing Estonia’s use of nation branding in Eurovision. Does the country take Eurovision seriously? Do the performances best exemplify the country? I will answering these questions in this blog post.

In my first blog post I defined national identity as similar traits that bring a group of people together. I used this definition to discover the aspects that make up Estonia’s national identity. In their early existence, Estonia has been invaded by “powerful” nations, one main country being Russia. The way that Estonia has dealt with the post-Soviet era and continue to strive to be an independent nation shows how powerful and strong they are as a whole. I deemed this to be a part of their national identity. For having deep history and their attitude during their post-Soviet era. Another part of their national identity is Estonia’s language. According to CIA, 68% of the population of Estonia speak Estonian (CIA, 2019). The language, Estonian, has been around for a long time and will continue to be an important aspect of the national identity.

However there is a misalignment between Estonia’s national identity and their performances on stage at Eurovision. In blog post two, I analyzed two performances “Verona” (2017, Estonia)  and “La Forza” (2018, Estonia). The national identity was not accurately represented during these two performances.

One misalignment between the national identity and the performances is the language. As stated before, about 68.5% of the population speak Estonian (CIA,2019). However, it has not been sung at Eurovision in the past years. In the 2017 performance “Verona” (2017, Estonia) the duet sang the song in English. About 1.6% of Estonia speak English (CIA, 2019). This is shocking to me, Estonian is a big aspect in their history, yet they choose to sing the song in English. Also, in the 2018 performance, “La Forza” (2018, Estonia),  Estonia sung their performance in Italian. Italian isn’t even one of the top five languages that are spoken in this country. This is a perfect example of cosmopolitan irony. Cosmopolitan irony can be described as being open to the world by detaching yourself from your original country. Estonia discards their national identity by singing in languages that do not best represent it just so they can appeal to other countries better. They used the most common languages in the world to get more votes and appeal to audiences more rather than using their national identity.

Another misalignment between Estonia and their performances are the songs they choose to sing. Some countries choose songs to test society or expresses political stances that are going on in their world. However, Estonia took a different approach on what the country would be singing. In “Verona” (2017, Estonia) the performance was an awkward breakup song. The duet did not convey the message very well and ultimately lead Estonia to not making it through to the finals. Estonia has won Eurovision once in 2001. That was over eighteen years ago, the country wanted to win again. In “La Forza” (2018, Estonia) the Russian singer, Elina Nechayeva came in sixth at the finals. Although the song was not about any significant events or history of Estonia, they tried their best in taking Eurovision more seriously. Although these performances did not show any of Estonia’s national identity, the country itself takes Eurovision very seriously.

As stated before nation branding is a mechanism which aims to build reputation of countries. Estonia is known to use nation branding in many of their performances. When Estonia was going through their post-Soviet era they relayed heavily on nation branding to give their country more of an appeal. “The country first has to be known on the map and have the reputation of a reliable partner. In this context nation branding campaigns and popular culture media events such as the Eurovision SOng COntest have significance attached to them, especially by the newly-sovereign nations as they seek to negotiate their position on the world stage” (Jordan 2014). Estonia used Eurovision to help get their country known to the world and to set a good reputation. Jordan also states, “Nation branding is an exercise in the sale of the nation state and the commodification of national identity” (Jordan, 2014). Meaning that national identity and nation branding have a direct relationship. The national identity should correspond with nation branding. However, this is not always the case as I have explained above. Estonia has struggled with relating their nation branding and their national identity.

Estonia takes Eurovision very seriously due to the fact that it gave the country a platform to show the world who they are. “For the young nations that were part of the former Eastern bloc, Eurovision Song Contest has played an important role in overcoming the political, economic, and also cultural isolation from which they have suffered for decades” (Jordan, 2014). However, in the past few years their nation branding has not been ideal. They have not shown their culture or shown what their country represents. It is simple to say that the past performances in Eurovision and the national identity misalign a hundred percent. Meaning, that the way that Estonia presents itself to the world is fictitious. Estonia seems to be appealing more to the world even though it is not representing their country in the correct way. Estonia needs to be more prideful in their country and show their true colors.

Word Count: 1354

References:

Central Intelligence Agency. (2019). Estonia. The World Factbook. Retrieved from

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/en.html

Elina Nechayeva (2018). La Forza (Estonia). Eurovision Song Contest 2018 Lisbon

[DVD]. Baarn, NL: Universal Music Group.

Jordan, P. (2014). The Modern fairy tale: National branding, national identity and the Eurovision

song contest in Estonia. Tartu: University Press.

Koit Toome and Laura (2017). Verona (Estonia). Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Kiev

[DVD]. Baarn, NL: Universal Music Group.