Nation branding and sustainability: A comparative analysis of European countries

The environmental problems of the 21st century have led countries to pay attention to issues of sustainability. The UN Sustainable Development Goals have encouraged member-states to strive for social, economic, and environmental objectives through policies that address nature, poverty, peace, equality, and diversity in society up to the year 2030. In recent years, sustainability became one of the leading discourses of a commercial culture shaped by brands, in addition to political, social, and economic fields. In this period, sustainability has also been applied to the countries' nation branding strategies. This article aims to analyze the impact of sustainability on the formation of nation brand identity based on European countries. As the research sample, the nation branding websites of 27 European Union countries and Great Britain, Norway, Switzerland, and Turkiye were analyzed by a thematic analysis with a qualitative methodology. The research highlights that Northern European nations, which have high scores in the Sustainable Development Growth Index, are more successful in linking sustainability to their nation brand identities. Ultimately, this article highlights the expanding importance of sustainability in nation brand communication in an effort to contribute to existing studies and practices in the field.