Klaipėdos universitetas

Medias make impact on social environment – they influence individual interrelations, communication, approach to oneself and entire world, “insist” on certain stereotypes in different situations. They take active part in socialization of individuals. Socialization is perceived as a continuous lifelong process, in which values, standards, social state, roles and patterns of social behaviour are mastered. The article analyzes impact of media (social agents) in socialization processes of individuals.

The paper deals with the problem of Slovak image abroad. Slovakia is a small country in terms of population and geographical size and despite its natural beauties and positive economic development it does not draw enough attention. The paper describes two main approaches to nation branding and outlines several typical branding strategies of chosen Eastern European countries. As there is a strong correlation between the image of Slovakia and Eastern Europe, the paper also studies the common characteristics of Eastern Europe image with specific focus on its reflection in popular culture. The final part of the paper summarises basic characteristics of the image of Slovakia in foreign press and briefly presents a new Slovak branding campaign Good Idea Slovakia.

The image formation and support, reputation-building and active marketing are vital for the existence of the nowadays modern country and its development. Today the country’s nature, history, people and traditions became the exclusive brands that strengthens the economy and cross-border relations, a competitive advantage is obtained. There are many image definitions and classifications, each author analyses it from own perspective. It was found that individual elements make a big influence for a general country’s image. In order to use it effectively systemic attitude is required. Country’s image in the international tourism market is explained by tourist behavioural characteristics: how a person behaves in respect of country, how he or she perceives the country – as a neighbour or distant, closed or open, acceptable or unacceptable, how much the person trusts the provided information, if he or she is ready to travel to the country. Personal characteristics has an influence for perceived location’s image. Despite Lithuania’s efforts to make the image better abroad and inside the country, it’s rank on the international agencies surveys, evaluating country’s political and economic situation in the world context and how famous it is, remains low. There are no innovative strategy for building Lithuania’s image. During the 2006–2015 period, there were no core changes in associations, created for foreigners by the word “Lithuania”. The research found that foreigners imagine Lithuania as underdeveloped, neglected agriculture country, people are closed, not willing to communicate – the same as was imagined in 2006. Lithuania’s touristic image was better after the visit. More facts about Lithuania was known by tourists from neighbouring countries. During the 9 years Lithuania’s touristic image has not changed.