The archive · Brand & Identity · Strategic decision · 2022
Bhutan opens post-Covid with 'Bhutan Believe', a nation brand for citizens and visitors
Bhutan hired MMBP in 2022; the resulting nation brand, Bhutan Believe, serves citizens and travellers after something different.
Kingdom of Bhutan · MMBP
What it had to solve
The Kingdom of Bhutan appointed MMBP as its national and international branding partner in 2022. The goal was to refresh the country's identity to mark the post-Covid reopening of the kingdom and to look to the future, crafting something for Bhutanese people and for foreigners seeking a different travel experience.
How it works
The Kingdom of Bhutan appointed MMBP as its national and international branding partner in 2022. The task was not a tourist poster: the country was marking its post-Covid reopening, and the identity had to look forward while carrying what Bhutan is — its character, its landscapes, its history and its ambitions.
The answer, Bhutan Believe, is a visual and textual identity system built on a rigorous strategic framework. It was crafted for two audiences at once: the people of Bhutan, and foreigners seeking a different travel experience. One national brand could then speak domestically and internationally without splitting into separate stories.
The identity turns reopening into an invitation to believe in the country's future rather than a claim about its past. Because a system, not a single campaign, carries the message, the brand can keep communicating as the world changes around it. The work now sits in D&AD's awards archive as a branding reference.
Why it lands
- One identity serves both publics: citizens get national pride, travellers get a reason to come, and neither message needs a separate brand.
- The strategic framework keeps a visual and verbal system coherent across government and tourism communication over time.
- Naming the brand around belief fits the moment: reopening becomes forward-looking rather than merely recovering from Covid.
- Grounding the identity in landscapes, history and ambitions makes it read as Bhutan itself, not as imported consultancy.
What it did
Bhutan reopened with one national identity instead of a tourism-only campaign: the same visual and verbal system speaks to citizens and to international travellers, and the work is documented in D&AD's awards archive.
What you can take
A relaunch is a moment to state one belief: an identity built on a single idea can serve citizens and outsiders from the same system, which outlasts a campaign aimed only at customers.
Since then
Bhutan Believe is the identity the kingdom reopened with: a system for communicating at home and abroad rather than a one-off campaign. The work entered D&AD's awards archive under branding, where it stands as a documented example of a post-Covid nation relaunch built on one belief statement for citizens and visitors alike.
Sources
spotted an error? The archive wants to know.
Your turn
You just read one. Describe the brief you are staring at, and see who has been given the same problem.
Free account · 3 free questions · no card