Living in Peru : your everyday companion

(By Jacqueline Saettone, translated Joe Lara)

Andy Warhol, the famous American artist who converted common consumer products and pop icons into art, knew how to cultivate and sustain his reputation throughout his career. When he died in 1987, his patrimony was valued at US$700 million. However, that figured dramatically reduced to US$220 million just six years later.

What happened?

In the years following Warhol’s death there was a major economic recession and Warhol’s reputation deteriorated so much that his patrimony was reduced to the price of his art.

Picasso’s case was different. His art was valued somewhere between US$500,000 and US$800,000 in the early 80s. In 1993, after having faced the same economic recession as Andy Warhol, his art was estimated to be valued between US$2 million and US$3 million. Why was there such a difference?

One of the reasons for Picasso’s surge in value was that there was a systematic effort to improve Picasso’s image. An art collector who owned 88 different Picasso pieces hired Sotheby’s, the famous auction house, to help sell off his collection.

Sotheby’s, looking to grab the attention of potential buyers worldwide, organized a tour featuring the 88 Picasso pieces. The tour stopped in every major art hub in the world. Knowledge and demand consequently increased, as well as the prices collectors were willing to pay.

The same thing is true for organizations, companies, and even countries. Naturally, the process is much more complex than the previously mentioned examples, but the principles are pretty much the same.

Let us think about Peru. How do we develop the image of Peru?

Taking a systematic approach, we can start by asking a few simple questions:

How do we want our target market to perceive us? Going a little further, how do we want to be viewed by our current and potential business partners, tourists, investors, and even ourselves?

We should then ask:

How are we being perceived by you?

With this information, we can then develop a plan that will enable us to achieve our strategic objectives, change false perceptions, and strengthen relationships with our target groups.

Since we must practice what we preach, not only should we use our communications strategically, but we should also think about designing projects aimed at ensuring that each Peruvian represents the country's brand.

For example, if we say that one of Peru's attributes is to be hospitable and welcoming and we don't give people the right of way or even worse, they get mugged or scammed, we are essentially destroying the Peruvian 'brand.'

Building the reputation that we all want Peru to have is not as simple as creating a catchy logo, having great advertising, or benefiting from important public relations.

Although these factors are important, they represent only a small part of the process.

The most important step is the first one: designing and creating invisible machinery which will enable us to create the desired reputation for our organization, company, or country.

Jacqueline Saettone is a partner of Aleteia Capital and a professor at Peru's Universidad del Pacifico.

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