Social aspects of the national brand (demonstrated on the brand of the Republic of Azerbaijan)

The subject of this research is the social content of the national brand of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Research methodology is based on interpretation of marketing as a new general social theory. In this context, the author examines branding and brand management technologies as social technologies of formation of the identity, integration, and social behavior management overall. Applicable to the national brand, the aforementioned provision is valid for both, domestic (citizens of the country) and external (citizens of other countries) target audiences. Structural components of the national brand include: ) the main message of the brand; 2) the components that form national identity (values shared by majority of the citizens); 3) national products; 4) gallery of the visual images, which on the one hand represent national values, while on the other – the unique visual “keys” for understanding the character, history and future of the nation; 5) brand discourse – a set of textual verbal forms of the national brand; 6) heroic spirit of the brand (persons who have the brand-building capacity); 7) audio discourse – a combination of audio brand-building characteristics; 8) event driven brand-building communications. The conclusion is made that the national brand of Azerbaijan is currently at the turn changing concepts, which indicates the transition of the country towards a new stage of development. The author highlights the four concepts of the national brand of Azerbaijan. The first is historical, which resembles the concept of “petroleum” and characterizes the industrial period of development. The second is ornamental, attributed to the archetypal branding (Azerbaijani rug ornaments). The third is “the Land of Fire”, similar to the ornamental by the nature of used symbols and the mechanism of influence. The fourth concept is referred to the postindustrial images. It is assumed that the national brands can be an interesting and heuristic object of analysis of the social processes of represented territories.