In what I can only imagine must have been a deeply frustrating experience, Jordaan and his team managed to keep their cool at the worst of times, despite what must have been an exhausting marathon of inquiries from both international and local media, from foreign dignitaries to local citizens: “Will South Africa be ready on time?”
FIFA's own president, Sepp Blatter, spectacularly scored an own goal by admitting that there was a plan B in place but somehow forgot to mention the little detail that all FIFA World Cups have a plan B in the event of an ‘act of God', such as a natural catastrophe. The statement forced the LOC back into familiar defensive positions again and took months to remedy.
Finally, world opinion seems to have united with South Africans that we are actually prepared to successfully host the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa. The successful hosting of the FIFA Confederations Cup has underlined this reality, yet it has taken five long years since the original hosting bid win announcement in May 2004 to convince most.
From a national communications perspective, it was a tragedy that so many international and local spectators persistently held onto such ill-informed and downright negative views of our country's capabilities but the silver lining is that our country's brand custodians have finally managed to correct most of these ill-informed perceptions regarding our ability to manage international events of such a large scale.
The frustrating FIFA World Cup experience does beg the question of what other ill-informed perceptions world leaders and consumers have towards SA, however.
For example, is SA an attractive destination for potential international tourists? Is SA regarded as a trustworthy nation with which to conduct business? Is our country perceived to be a uniquely vibrant and profit-making market international investors cannot ignore? Do we retain our own and attract exceptional talent required for an economy in the 21st century?
Recently, FutureBrand released its Country Brand Index 2009, a ranking of country brands based on a three-tier approach relying on research involving approximately 3000 international business and leisure travellers from nine different countries, an expert panel of 47 persons and analysis of third party data such as World Economic Forum papers etc.
Although only one source for trying to get to the bottom of how SA is holistically viewed abroad, its findings remain instructive: SA is ranked 33rd out of a total of 102 countries in the 2009 survey, recording a significant improvement from its position of 59th out of a total of 78 countries in the 2008 ranking.
While there is no doubt that the future hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup played an instrumental role in our ranking gains, the results are particularly impressive since China, the host of the last great international sporting event (Beijing Olympics 2008) and soon to be host of the 2010 World Expo Shanghai, only improved in the Country Brand Index overall rankings from 56th position in 2008 (three positions above SA) to 48th position (15 positions below SA) - despite the overwhelming amount of international media coverage China received over the past two years.
The hosting of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games did wonders for China's country brand positioning, whereby people now have a better balanced view that includes a mixture of traditional/modern city landscapes, architectural and infrastructure prowess, sporting excellence and friendly/welcoming people.
But Brand China at the present time still lacks a degree of trust. China is a good example of why comprehensive and sustained country branding is important; the hosting of major international events give a great boost to a country's image but people are fickle and it is necessary to keep your country's message top of the decision-maker's mind at all times.
SA furthermore ranked fifth place for ‘Rising Star' in the 2009 Country Brand Index, sixth for ‘Natural Beauty', 18th ‘Desire to Visit/Visit Again', 19th ‘Value for Money', 20th ‘Outdoor Activities & Sports', 21st ‘Authenticity', and importantly, 23rd for ‘Ideal for Business'.
Unsurprising however, SA's lowest ranking was that of ‘Safety' where we only attained 73rd place out of 102 countries. Areas that require increased attention included Fine Dining, Environmentalism, Conferences, Rest & Relaxation, Resort & Lodging Options, Advanced Technology, Arts & Culture, Easiest to Do Business In and Friendly Locals, according to FutureBrand's Country Brand Index.
According to FutureBrand's Tim Riches, the reason that events on the scale of the world cup offer such a great opportunity for countries is that they show off such a wide range of country characteristics - both to tourists and business partners: “There is nothing so valuable as a ‘captive' audience on the scale of FIFA World Cup. Countries have unique permission in this context to bring out their real stories. It's so much richer than any advertising campaign, and you have the world's power brands - the sponsors - doing their part to tell your story. You've just got to make sure it's the story that will drive long-term value for the country.”
While recently in SA I was terribly impressed with the hive of activity taking place to get ready for the FIFA World Cup, the stadiums, the hotels, the airport renovations and the general sense of excitement growing amongst the people for what will be our moment in the international spot light.
Despite immense challenges such as the change of government which was accompanied by entire government departments being divided into opposing factions and organisations entrusted with our country's branding operating without CEOs for lengthy periods of times, we have still managed to project a far more positive image of SA to the international community, and in turn the citizens of the world have not forgotten Mandela's people.
On the contrary, they are viewing our country with increased interest.
A word of caution, however, just as the excitement surrounding the images of Nelson Mandela handing Francois Pienaar the 1995 Webb Ellis Rugby World Cup trophy eventually fizzled out, so too will the media coverage honeymoon of the 2010 FIFA World Cup also fizzle out.
Our government and its leaders charged with custody of our country brand seem to be overcoming the immense challenges of late and the timing could not have been more opportune. For a gleaming Jordaan and his LOC team now racing down the final stretch, it has been a tremendous marathon effort on their part, but now they need to hand over SA's brand to the next set of runners.
The new country branders have a very difficult task ahead of themselves as it is everything but easy to overcome the contradictions of, for example, promoting South Africa as a natural wildlife mecca without confusing potential manufacturing investors unfamiliar with our world-class infrastructure.
Come 12 July 2010, a new - hopefully audacious - chapter in South Africa's country branding will begin.
