Blog Post 3

            If we look at the well-established countries throughout Europe and the world, we can create a picture in our heads and picture a few quintessential themes, features, or qualities of the given state based on the way that they promote or brand themselves. Many of these large countries such as Spain, Germany, and Italy built up a reputation throughout Europe and created a brand for their countries, and we can see this in their various performances in the Eurovision Song Contest throughout the years. Moldova is one of the outliers, it is a smaller country that was created as a result of the desire for independence and a fight for a unique identity. However, the current state of Moldova's national brand is up in the air due to the striking similarities to Romania, lack of a distinctive society and cultural or national pride in their performances in Eurovision. It is for these reasons why I believe that the national brand and identity of Moldova is nonexistent.

            If we observe past Moldovan performances, specifically their entries in the 2013 and 2014 Eurovision Song Contests, we do not see any form of their representation of a national brand. These performances were excellent and proved that Moldova can compete, but we do not see any nods to their country or culture, other than the use of the Romanian language in their 2013 performance of the song “O Mie” by Aliona Moon. (NRK TV – Eurovision Song Contest)The other song in 2014 was called “Wild Soul” by Cristina Scarlat which was a ballad that was sung in English. (NRK TV – Eurovision Song Contest) I believe that the main reason for Moldova's lack of a national brand and identity has to do with the fact that they are still a relatively young and new country. As I mentioned in my narrated briefing, Moldova has only been officially independent since 1992 after gaining independence from Romania. While doing my research on Moldova, I learned a lot about Moldovan society and life in their country. From what I could see, Moldovan life is not really unique to their own country. In all honesty, they look like a rip-off of Romania, which would make a lot of sense knowing their history.

            In my first blog post, I talked about national identity, and I defined it as is the portrayal of beliefs, traditions, culture, and language within one's country and throughout the world. My claim that Moldova has no national brand or identity is backed up by a few of the politicians in Moldova such as Vitalia Pavilecenco, the President of the National Liberal Party in Moldova and Ana Gutu. They have said that the truth is that Moldovans are Romanians because the societies of both countries and the history is the same (Ştefan, 2013). With this being said, I believe that Moldova would like to be more active in expressing a national brand in their performances and establishing a valid national identity, but I think if they do try then everyone would mistake them for Romania. They speak the same language, their flags are nearly the same, they have similar national symbols, colors, history and culture in general. By becoming independent, they fall into a weird area where they do not have any unique characteristics to put on display without being seen as a Romanian spin-off. Moldova does care about its national brand, they just do not know how or what to represent themselves as.

            Despite the complicated situation that they are in with regards to their national brand, Moldova does care about and enjoy being a part of the Eurovision Song Contest. They consistently put out good performances and have decent placements almost every year. From what I can see, Moldova views Eurovision as a way to establish themselves within Europe and show everyone their legitimateness as competitors and as a country. This is important to them because as a young country, they are always looking to create relationships with other countries. Moldova also wants to be a part of the European Union, so this is another way that they could potentially show that they are worthy of being considered. If I were Moldovan, I would want my country to go all out in Eurovision because of the many benefits that come with winning the contest. The amount of tourism and revenue that the state would get from hosting could help with their growth. Moldova is also not the wealthiest country either, in fact, Moldova has Europes most poor economy and hosting Eurovision would undoubtedly improve the economy to thrive. (Nag, Poorest Countries In Europe 2016)

            In conclusion, Moldova's performances and presence in Eurovision do not represent their nation's brand and identity in any way. The main reason for this is due to their lack of cultural and societal uniqueness. Their desire for independence played a significant role in this, causing Moldova to start off as a new country without its own culture and history. This is why Moldova is struggling to find its own identity and also why their national brand should be relevant to them. They need to Even though Moldova does not typically represent their country's brand or identity in their performances, they believe that Eurovision is vital to them and can allow for many possible benefits for their economy and brand if they were to win and host the event.

Works Cited

Nag, O. (2016, December 08). Poorest Countries In Europe. Retrieved March 19, 2019, from https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-poorest-countries-in-europe.html

NRK TV – Eurovision Song Contest. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2019, from https://tv.nrk.no/serie/eurovision-song-contest/2013/MUHU13006313/avspiller

NRK TV – Eurovision Song Contest. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2019, from https://tv.nrk.no/serie/eurovision-song-contest/2014/MUHU11006214/avspiller

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