40 years of EU brand building just with a flag?

Almost invisible, a shoddy plastic sign indicating the EU invested here.

LinkedIn blog post, 30/05/2025, by Sven Franck (en français , in Deutsch)

TL;DR - Yesterday 39 years ago, on the 29th of May1986, the European flag was officially inaugurated in front of the European Commission in Brussels. Also yesterday, I stumbled over an ad on Facebook from a youth magazine pitching the flag and a "European Identity" - only to be drowned in comments along the lines of "WTF is European identity"?

I tend to agree. EU marketing is full of emptyness (remember "You are EU"). I also heard the Commission has little budget but it can send MEPs around as "ambassadors". However, since the only MEPs with free time are from the extreme-right, we're likely not getting an EUvangelist treatment. There's no Eurovision and no Europapa. For 39 years, the EU covertly sticks its flag on hidden corners of buildings and light poles, informing the occasional and accidental reader, that this X or Y was financed with help from the European Union. Amazing.

What do the other superpowers do? Just look at the United States, who since WW2 demonstrate how to build a global brand (currently being destroyed but that's another topic). Whether Coca-Cola, the Dream Team, Hollywood or, heck, even David Hasselhoff - the US knows marketing. Abroad, asking french cinemas to show US movies within the Marshall Plan or using USAid for democracy building. And at home, where the national anthem is played before every little league sports event, while we can't even have a European flag during the Olympics.

You may argue, marketing is not the job of the EU. Maybe that's part of the problem. During past electoral campaigns, I often met people who grew up with the EU taking shape. They had great hopes for the European project and are today bitterly disappointed. They didn't hope for Europe to regulate USB plugs. They dreamt not only of an economic union (which btw we still don't have), but also a democratic one. A united Europe, that could overcome national divisions and be the voice of the peoples across the continent. That requires not treaties and referendums, but marketing: within our borders, to instil a new hope and willingness to move the European project forward - and beyond where the EU must strive to fill the shoes left by the United States.

Another 40 years of flag waving alone will not get the job done, so let's get creative: #jumpstartEU