Branding Peru: Cultural heritage and popular culture in the marketing strategy of PromPerú

Nation brands reveal how a country would like to be perceived and what it considers to be its most appealing attributes. Of course, there is not necessarily concordance between the brand and reality, either as perceived inside or outside the country or both. Ideally, however, the brand can be sustained in the face of examination-domestic and foreign. It can deliver on what it promises. When a nation’s people are mobilized in support of the brand, when they affiliate themselves with the brand’s message, when there is popular buy-in, when the brand taps into the prevailing zeitgeist, then the brand becomes iconic in the country and amazing things can happen. This chapter discusses Peru’s new nation brand: la marca Perú. That brand was created by PromPerú, the national Commission for the Promotion of Peru. The brand is wildly successful in Peru because it has drawn together a strategic cluster of positive cultural ideas about what Peru and Peruvianess are. The brand has overcome the pathology of Michael Herzfeld’s cultural intimacy pervasive in the country so as to generate a performative and embodied pride of self as a member of this imagined community. Popular culture in Peru has become one of the foundations of la marca Perú. Popular culture joins Peru’s spectacular ancient civilizations, ethnic diversity, and breathtaking scenery to create what PromPerú calls a "unique, special, and multifaceted image of the country.".