The recognition of Perú brand on international media

In the context of the recent launch of Peru brand’s strategy, this thesis focuses on Nation brand, understood as the perception foreigners have of this country. From a Public Diplomacy perspective, and strongly based in Simon Anholt’s ideas, 129 articles from twelve international trade magazines have been analysed using content analysis methodology. The objective was to discover which are the stories about Peru, being told in international media. Following Peru brand’s strategy, the focus of the analysis was on politics, economics and tourism. In this thesis, it is acknowledged the story of a country that twenty years ago was considered a failed state, and how today it represents a new opportunity of investment. The viewpoint of right wing magazines is that of a country that is performing impressively due to liberal economics and the rising prices of commodities. However, for most magazines, disregarding their place in the political spectrum, the country is failing in distributing wealth and creating quality of life for the entirety of Peruvian society. Peru’s economic growth is slowly contributing to rebrand the country. However, its social conflicts constantly remind publishers of the violent and poor country it was thought to be back in the 90s and 80s, reaffirming some of Simon Anholt’s and Willy Olins’ theories: as long as a country does not create outstanding news, the most relevant information from its past will continue to be the first thing outsiders remember. In this paper, it is unveiled that one of the competitive advantages of the country is its gastronomic culture, which is also one of the main forces behind the rebranding. While Peruvian cuisine is a new exciting characteristic for visitors, Peruvian restaurants are proving to be one of the most successful exports of the country. Gastón Acurio, the top chef behind the rebranding efforts, is recognized as the key figure carrying the key responsible of unleashing new markets and opportunities for Peruvian cuisine. The results proved that even as Peru is making the best effort in its history to launch a branding campaign, it still has little power to decide what stories about itself will be published by international media. Peru is gathering attention, but cannot yet be considered a main stakeholder in the world, nor in the region. Media portrays a country with outstanding macro economic figures, but that is still conflicted and lacks social cohesion and unity.