Developing a brand diplomacy scale in nation branding

The idea that nations can be branded like commercial organizations is conceptualized as nation branding. The basic principle of nation branding is to increase a country's international image, reputation, and competitiveness. The strong national brand perception of the country in the world contributes to the economic development of the country, increases tourism revenues, attracts foreign investment into the country, strengthens international relations and increases the national pride and loyalty of citizens. Due to the benefits of nation branding that can affect the future of a country, many states are now engaged in nation branding initiatives and define nation branding as a kind of state policy. The right communication tool is required to achieve the benefits expected from nation branding and manage an efficient branding process. Nations explain themselves to the foreign public through various communication tools, ensure international interaction and carry out nation branding projects. One of the assets that integrate nations with the world and are defined as national values are multinational brands. The position of multinational brands in the global economy establishes strong bonds between consumers/citizens and government administrators due to the investment and socio-cultural studies they provide in the country they operate. The interaction created for the multinational brand contributes not only to the corporate brand value of the organization, but also to the country of its origin. In addition to the influential role of multinational brands in nation branding, they are also active in the diplomatic relations of their country of origin. Multinational brands, supporting the economic development of the states, strengthen their relationship with them, especially with the ones they belong to and are hosted. International and diplomatic relations that countries establish through multinational brands are defined as brand diplomacy. This study aims to develop a scale to measure the impact of multinational brands, which have versatile functions in global markets, on the branding and diplomatic relations of the country of origin. The unique aspect of the study is that the impact of multinational brands on the branding and diplomatic relations of countries is not examined empirically. The scale development process was followed in the study. In this context, besides a literature review conducted on the concepts, interviews were held with government officials, multinational brand managers, commercial non-governmental organization representatives, brand and public relations professionals, consumer groups and academics who have academic studies on nation branding and brand diplomacy. Based on the information obtained, a survey form consisting of 36 statements was prepared. The field application of the research was carried out in Germany. Turkish Airlines, one of the most valuable brands and flag carrier of Türkiye, was chosen as the brand the participants would consider when answering the survey form. Within the context, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyzes were conducted with the data collected. According to the findings, the scale consists of 6 dimensions: presentation effect, attitude effect, representation effect, diplomatic effect, desire formation effect, and interaction effect. It has been concluded that multinational brands affect the branding and diplomatic relations of countries. It is believed that by empirically measuring the direction of multinational brands in nation branding and brand diplomacy, significant gains are made to the marketing and international relations literature. Additionally, the result of the study emphasizes that multinational brands with high country representation power contribute to the nation branding and brand diplomacy initiatives of the states and should be effectively characterized and considered as strategic partners.