Panama Brings in Nation Branding Specialist
Panama’s Tourism Authority has hired David Lightle, a leading authority on nation branding responsible for creating “Colombia is Passion,” to redress Panama’s image.
Past Panama country slogans or ideas for slogans have included: Panama, Crossroads of the World; Panama, It Stays in You and Panama, Surprises.
During the previous administration, former president Martin Torrijos invested $300,000 for the slogan “Panama, Nacion Destino,” which could either translate as “Panama: Destiny Nation” or “Panama: Destination Nation.” The slogan, however, was scrapped when it didn’t appeal much to various Panama businesses and creatives, La Prensa reports.
Lightle has worked with such countries as Taiwan, New Zealand, Thailand, Vietnam and Chile. His Panama proposal is due by year’s end 2010.
Incidentally, Lightle (Dartmouth College class of ’80) would have conceivably been on campus at the same time as former Panama mayor Juan Carlos Navarro (Dartmouth class of ’83.)
Any ideas for slogans and logos?
Here are a few:
“Panama, branded by a specialist”
Or, “Panama, it’s not what you think”
Or, if we want to stay true to local linguistic tradition, how about: “Panama, e lo que e”. For those of you who don’t understand Panamanian urban parlance, this means: “Panama, it is what it is.”
“Colombia Is Passion”?? Could anyone who’d come up with that not be worth all the garbage-collection money that will be diverted to him? #