The new thematic dossier of JANUS NET, e-journal of international relations, entitled Place Brand Management and Public Diplomacy – Special Issue for Ibero-American States, was published in February 2025 (VOL15, No. 2 TD2) and is available at https://janusonline.autonoma.pt/dossies-tematicos-janus/ (https://doi.org/10.26619/1647-7251.DT0125).
Simon Anholt, one of the world’s most important references in the field of Place Branding, has developed a basic methodology for developing brand strategies applied to countries and the Nation Brands Index, a study that measures and analyses the reputation of 50 states, begins this thematic dossier with a question that is rarely asked by researchers in the fields of soft power, public diplomacy and Nation branding: Why do we study, measure or discuss the image and reputation of countries? Does it really matter what people think about a country? (Anholt, 2025) The thematic dossier Place Branding and Public Diplomacy – Special edition on Ibero-American States, edited by researchers Ana Margarida Barreto (ICNOVA, FSCH), Fabiana Mauriutti (University of São Paulo), João Freire (ICNOVA, IPAM) and Nuno Correia de Brito (ICNOVA, Polytechnic Institute of Leiria), features six articles by Portuguese and Brazilian researchers on the concepts surrounding Place Branding in its different guises, namely City Branding, Destination Branding and Nation Branding, applied to the context of Ibero-American countries, an area that deserves to be considered because of its particular cultural, social and economic characteristics.
