The Brand. The most important brand

In his weekly column "Max's Column" for TBmagazine, Maxim Behar talks about the difficulties and changes in the Bulgarian economy and business and the only force that counts - experience.

What is a "brand"?. The easiest definition is by my good friend and without a doubt the world's most famous living PR guru Paul Holmes: a brand is what people say about you when you're not in the room.

We are used to this word, but mainly when we buy a fridge, a garment, a phone, or a watch... “branded”!

And in all this hustle and bustle, we don't think about the most important brand of all, on which everything depends. And that is the brand "Bulgaria". It has been 30 years, during which time the world knows where we are, is basically aware that we have the sea, relatively cheap alcohol, and fewer bans in our resorts. In short, there is a lot more known about Bulgaria than in the years when it was a completely closed country and in recent years this has been helped enormously by online media and easy communication between people and institutions.

But we also don't have a lot of things. Most importantly - a good slogan, clear messages, consistency in their use, an easy to remember logo and all those elements that shape the "physiognomy" of a destination, its character, and its recognition. Without them, we cannot create a successful brand. And there is no way to know what people are saying about us when we are not "in the room".