No abstract

Sport is one of the most effective promotional channels of a country that helps the country to become well-known. However, to achieve this, except the successes of athletes of one country it requires other conditions because not all sports are equally popular all over the world. Because of this, the great (global) success of an athlete is not necessarily a precondition that the athlete and country from where he or she comes is well-known because of him or her. According to the aforementioned, this paper deals with the recognition of Croatian sports and Croatian athletes at the European level. Since Croatian independence, Croatian athletes have achieved remarkable sports results and they are one of the strongest promotional channels of this small country. The purpose of this paper is to determine how strong Croatia is as a sport brand among young European students and whether Croatia is recognized at all through sport. To determine this, the authors undertook two researches during the European University Games (Zagreb & Rijeka, 2016-1762 respondents and Coimbra, 2018-1188 respondents) using the questionnaire as a research method. The outline of the paper shows that respondents in the researches recognize Croatia as a s sports country, highly evaluated the sport element related to Croatia, and considered the Croatian football kit as being highly recognizable. The paper presents the key results.

Rad analizira međuovisnost javne diplomacije i odnosa s javnošću, kao sve prisutnijih i sve‎ važnijih disciplina u međunarodnim aktivnostima države. Propituje njihova teorijska utemeljenja i praksu,‎ s posebnim naglaskom na dodirne točke i preklapanja. Naime, iako postoji svijest o povezanosti tih‎ dviju disciplina još od šezdesetih godina prošlog stoljeća, kad je javna diplomacija zaživjela kao termin i‎ zasebna diplomatsko-komunikacijska disciplina, od 2001. godine teoretičari i praktičari sve češće pišu o‎ međuovisnosti, pa i konvergenciji javne diplomacije i odnosa s javnošću. Naime, javnu se diplomaciju u‎ njezinim početcima više povezivalo s propagandom ili se svodilo na programe kulturne diplomacije, a‎ odnosi su s javnošću doživljavani putem modela jednosmjernoga javnog informiranja. U suvremeno doba‎ odnosi s javnošću sve se više doživljavaju putem simetričnog modela dvosmjernog komuniciranja, čija je‎ svrha postizanje razumijevanja i izgradnja odnosa s ključnim javnostima. A javna diplomacija obično se ‎sagledava u tri područja djelovanja: upravljanje informacijama, dugoročne kampanje strateškog komuniciranja ‎i upravljanje odnosima. Zbog toga autor smatra nezamislivim djelovanje javne diplomacije bez ‎odnosa s javnošću, odnosno njezino promatranje izvan teorije i prakse odnosa s javnošću. Tek sinergijom,‎ zajedničkim djelovanjem i primjenom sličnih strategija i taktika, javna diplomacija i odnosi s javnošću ‎mogu postići punu učinkovitost u međunarodnom komuniciranju i djelovanju države prema ciljnim javnostima ‎te utjecanju na njihovo znanje, mišljenje i ponašanje.‎‎

In 2013, Croatia became the 28th member of the European Union. However, the road to full membership was quite lengthy and marked by numerous ups and Croatia and the European Union and brings original research on the perception of the European Union in Croatia just prior to full membership. Furthermore, the paper analyses the historical context of the mutual relations between Croatia and the EU.

This article analyzes the attempts of four countries created upon the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia -Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia -to use communication as a tool for establishing themselves as distinct travel destinations and for creating attractive brands in the international political and economic markets. The paper focuses particularly on the analysis of the communication and promotion approaches, and concepts and strategies used by these countries in terms of the processes behind the aims outlined in the preceding sentence. The level of success of each country, as regards the subject matter of this article, is determined for the purpose of the analysis in question, by the best known brand perception surveys. The paper also analyzes the disintegration of Yugoslavia in the context of the newlycreated countries' attempts to establish themselves internationally and compares their approaches to developing their brands and the models they are using for it. The countries in question are focused on tourism promotion. In these countries we see a tendency towards ignoring other aspects of branding. None of the analyzed countries have introduced the systematic management of their brands due to the fact that the process of brand development is obstructed by unresolved political issues or a failure of their politicians and ordinary citizens to understand the advantages of branding. Slovenia, according to the criteria used in this analysis, has adopted more efficient practices than the other three countries covered in this paper but it is important to stress that Croatia ranks first when it comes to tourism branding. The paper suggests that the importance of country branding has not yet been fully appreciated in Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia and that no integral branding concepts are being used, despite sporadic attempts undertaken by the mentioned countries.