Jaap de who?
On Saturday 4 April, when the Danish Prime Minister was officially appointed the next NATO Secretary General, I sat watching the Danish TV presenter get more and more excited. When she finally heard though her earpiece that Anders Fogh Rasmussen had got the job, she was so ecstatic she just about bounced up and down in her chair. It may have been the highlight of her onscreen career, but having grown up from about as far away from NATO territory as you can get, the moment was lost on me.
A recent opinion poll by Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten found that 60 percent of Danes think Fogh’s appointment will be good for Denmark. But what will Fogh’s appointment really mean for Denmark, if anything? Do people even care about NATO or know much about it? The current NATO Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, is hardly a household name. And if put to the test, can you pinpoint NATO headquarters on a map?
This speaks volumes about NATO as a brand. And probably explains why last year, NATO hired a former Coca-Cola executive to improve the way the alliance is seen around the world. So any positive spin-offs from Fogh’s appointment might have to wait until NATO gets it street cred in order. Meanwhile, as the next Secretary General, Fogh’s had to deal with Denmark’s biggest branding gaff ever, the Mohammed crisis, which doesn’t look like it will go away. That for now, looks like one of his biggest challenges in his new role.
