The Morocco brand from the Moroccan emigrants' perspective

El auni, Fatimazohra; Cascón-Pereira, Rosalia; Hernández-Lara, Ana B.

Abstract:

The aim of this work is twofold: on the one hand, it consists of determining the main elements of the Morocco brand constructed and transmitted by Moroccan emigrants, and on the other it explores whether this brand is convergent and coherent or, on the contrary, diverges depending on the socio-demographic profile of Moroccan emigrants. To achieve these objectives, data from 131 Moroccan emigrants living in Spain were collected through a questionnaire. The findings sum up the most relevant factors of the Morocco brand transmitted by emigrants to the local population in Spain. These elements are: environment, infrastructures and activities, culture and innovation, as functional attributes of the country brand; and the contrast of old and new life, including hospitality, religion, traditions but also modernity, cosmopolitism and multiculturalism, and lifestyle as emotional attributes. Moroccan emigrants highlight emotional attributes more than functional ones to characterise Morocco. Our data also show that Moroccan emigrants construct and transmit a convergent and coherent brand, despite their differences in age, gender and education. At a theoretical level, we conclude that this work contributes to a scarce literature on the analysis of destination branding from an internal point of view, and more specifically with regard to the role of migration on the brand construction. Moreover, from a practical point of view this study offers important insights to be considered by destination management organisations (DMO) in order to align all the multiple voices from different stakeholders of a destination brand into a coherent and non-contradictory message. In addition, this study entails implications for DMO regarding the appropriate use of emigrants as potential ambassadors of a destination brand.

Year:

2014

Type of Publication:

Article

Keywords:

destination branding, brand identity, Morocco brand, Moroccan emigrants

Journal:

Place Branding and Public Diplomacy

Volume:

10

Pages:

55-69

ISSN:

1751-8040

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1057/pb.2013.27