What is the "ultimate sales lead" that I'm talking about here?
Image.
And if anyone still was in need of an "extreme makeover", it was Germany. After the games, and after doing a superior job of hosting the World Cup this year, everyone agrees that the world has a new, fresh image of a proud, progressive Germany.
From a recent CNN International article:
Guenter Gebauer, a sports sociologist at the Free University of Berlin, said the tournament gave Germans a chance to present their idealized image of themselves.
"I think people in Germany saw this World Cup as an opportunity to present themselves the way they would like to be presented, meaning, to make into reality for four weeks the wished-for image that Germans have of themselves," he said.
That, he said, was not the stereotype of reticent northern Europeans but of "an open, friendly, playful people, that lives outside on the squares, with whom it is easy even for strangers to strike up contact -- a rather southern people," Gebauer said.
You can read the whole article here.
Image counts when it comes to an entire country, and how that country is perceived around the world. It affects tourism, the national economy, and the national psyche. And, it can lead to sales leads in a variety of different ways.
Well done, Germany.
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