Досліджено поняття «економічної дипломатії» та «національного бренду», їх
взаємозв’язок, взаємовплив, складові. Ідентифіковано існуючі методичні підходи оцінки
бренда країни та його класифікацію у міжнародній торгівлі за сприйняттям країни спо-
живачем. Визначено алгоритм формування, розвитку і просування національного бренду.
Досліджено позиції країн світу у провідних брендингових рейтингах та охарактеризовано
тенденції щодо провідних лідерів та аутсайдерів. Узагальнено чинники, які безпосередньо
впливають на формування національного бренду та розкрито вплив пандемії COVID 19 на
відповідні процеси. В результаті дослідження виявлено, що внаслідок пандемії втрачено
понад 13 трил. дол. США або 14% у вартості національних брендів провідними країнами
світу у 2020 р., а наслідки коронакризи вдалося подолати незначній групі країн. Обґрунто-
вано пріоритетні напрями просування бренду України за допомогою методів та інстру-
ментів економічної дипломатії.
Introduction. The relevance of the topic is connected with an importance and influence
of the national brand on the level of international competitiveness of the country that is forming a
positive image of the state, its investment and tourist attractiveness. Purpose. The purpose of the
study is to generalize the theoretical foundations of the formation and development of the concept
of national brand, to describe the main trends of their transformations within a pandemic and to
justify the priority areas of brand promotion of Ukraine using methods and tools of economic
diplomacy. Results. The concepts of «economic diplomacy» and «national brand», their
relationship, interaction, components are studied. The existing methodological approaches to the assessment of the country's brand and its classification in international trade according to the
criterion of consumer perception of the country are identified. The algorithm of formation,
development and promotion of the national brand is determined. The positions of the countries of
the world in the leading branding ratings are investigated and the tendencies concerning the
leading leaders and outsiders are characterized. The factors that directly influence the formation
of the national brand are summarized and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the relevant
processes is revealed. The study describes that in 2020, as a result of the pandemic, the world's
leading countries lost more than 13 trillion US dollars of the value of national brands, and the
effects of the coronary crisis were overcome only by a small group of countries. The world leader
in brand value remains the United States (23.7 trillion US dollars, China remains on the second
position (18.8 trillion US dollars), but in addition to global trends and influences, a significant
role was played by the trade war between the countries that absorbed both economies over the
past three years. The top three are closed by Japan as it has remained relatively unharmed by the
pandemic. A phenomenon that deserves special attention is Ireland, as it is the only national
brand among the twenty leaders 11% to 670 billion US dollars, a testament to the resilience of its
economy, backed by strong exports and consumer spending. Vietnam acted as the fastest-growing
national brand in 2020. The country is associated in the global business community, especially in
the United States, with a newly created industrial paradise in the region of Southeast Asia that
challenges global trends, the value of the brand has risen by an impressive 29% or 319 billion US
dollars. Vietnam has also a staggeringly low level of COVID-19 cases and deaths among the
population. Argentina became the world outsider and the fastest losing national brand, the value
of its brand fell by 57% or 175 billion US dollars because the number of cases of COVID-19
exceeded the mark of 1 million. At the same time Germany became the strongest brand in the
world with a brand strength of 84.9% out of 100%. Conclusions. The priority directions of
promoting the brand of Ukraine with the help of methods and tools of economic diplomacy are
substantiated in the paper.
