The PD Blogger Interview series periodically features a blogger included on the Blogroll, once a month. The interviews provide insight as to the motivations, ideas and personalities of these international individuals who are speaking, thinking, and writing about Public Diplomacy.

Simon Anholt, is a UK-based leading specialist/consultant in public diplomacy and place branding, city branding, and region branding. Simon Anholt coined the phrase 'nation branding' in 1996, to encapsulate the fact that just like corporations, countries depend on their good name, reputation or 'brand image'. As such, public diplomacy is naturally an important part of Simon Anholt's advisory work with many governments, and features prominently in his research and writings.

On November 1, 2007, Simon Anholt launched his new blog: Placeblog. In his first post, Simon explained that the main issue to be covered in his blog would be: "what do we mean by place branding/nation branding?"

On December 1, 2007, CPD researcher Rima Tatevossian, interviewed Simon for the first of the PD Blogger Interview series:

Simon, you are renowned for your work in nation-branding and aside from your consulting work, you frequently publish articles, maintain your personal website, edit the Place Branding and Public Diplomacy journal, and have authored several books...so, why the new blog?

Mainly because I needed a place where I could share and work out new ideas informally and regularly. Articles and especially books are a different kind of expression, where you synthesise a body of thought in a careful and structured way, once a month or once a year. The blog lets me put things out just as they occur, and I find that both therapeutic and useful. You never really know whether an idea is interesting or not until you take the time to write it out or share it in some way. I hope that my readers also find it stimulating.

As the study and practice of Public Diplomacy gains momentum and refinement, there are still misconceptions about what it means. How do you think your blog contributes to the conversation on defining what Public Diplomacy -- and it's related concepts such as nation branding -- is, and why it is important?

Well that's the other reason why I publish so much - the blog as well as the other channels you mention. I feel there is a race on to get across the message that changing perceptions has little or nothing to do with communications, and everything to do with good governance, the right policies and the right strategies. There is no short cut to a better reputation, and this needs saying over and over again, in many different ways and in many different contexts, using many different examples. Right now, either side could win the argument, and I am determined that public diplomacy and nation branding (although 'nation branding' is a phrase I'm no longer very fond of) should become accepted as something really central in the modern world, and not something trivial, superficial, or even contemptible.

Do you gear your blog posts towards any particular intended audience?

It's mainly geared towards the 'universe' of around 20,000 people who subscribe or contribute to the Journal, follow or subscribe to the Nation Brands and City Brands Indexes, buy my books, visit my website or attend the Masterclasses. These people are mostly practitioners in national and city government (foreign affairs, culture, education, economic affairs), tourist boards, investment promotion agencies, export promotion agencies; journalists; multilateral agencies; academics, students and consultants.

As we have seen, blogging and related technologies of web 2.0 are helping advance global people-to-people dialogues. Since launching your blog in November you have provided some detailed responses to comments that people have left on your blog. Do you expect to continue that? And do you find that interaction helpful in defining, expanding or evolving your own opinions and ideas?

I do find it very worthwhile but I'm coming to the conclusion that it's a luxury I probably can't afford on a regular basis. Because I travel every week, finding the time to post two or three times a week and give worthwhile responses to every question (and this is in addition to the existing stream of e-mails from students, scholars, journalists and practitioners), is probably unrealistic. But I still try to answer questions that are genuinely provocative, or where the discussion might be genuinely helpful to readers.