Influence of Brand Ambassadorship on Positioning of Kenya as anInvestment andTourism Destination

ABSTRACT:Several countries have adopted and implemented branding strategies to stimulate tourism and investment. Country branding uses the tools of branding to amend the behavior, attitudes, identity or perception of a nation in a positive way. With devolution now in place in Kenya and as the county governments use their unique features to leverage their brand, this must not be seen to offend the national brand or brands of sister counties. Specifically the study sought to establish the effects of brand ambassadorship on the positioning of Kenya as an investment and tourism destination. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. The target population was all 94 marketing officials constituted by two officials from the Public Relations and Brand Management departments in the county governments in Kenya and 10 Brand Kenya Board officials. The sample size comprised of 60 county government officials and 10 Brand Kenya officials. Purposive sampling technique was used to select 10 Brand Kenya officials. Systematic sampling technique was used to select 30 counties from the former eight provincial administration boundaries. Stratified simple random sampling technique was used to select marketing officials in each stratum. Primary data was collected by administering questionnaires to the respondents in the counties Data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistical methods. From the findings the researcher concluded that concluded that some of the County governments brand ambassadors are bloggers. The study further concluded that counties thought that leveraging their brand on a satisfied client‟s testimony was good for their reputation. The national government should retain all rights to Kenya brand as this will uphold the heritage of the country. The government should organize promotional events to make citizens more enthusiastic about the national and county brands. The study suggested that further studies should be conducted to determine the effect of internal branding on performance of local tourism in counties