The Impact of Branding on Mission Achievement of IOs: A Grounded-Theory Model Based on Five Cases from the UN-System

International organizations (IOs) are crucial to solving global challenges. Many IOs include in their mandate and mission components that relate to these challenges: the UN Environment Programme works towards protecting the biodiversity and climate on this planet, UNICEF aims to help vulnerable populations such as children, and UNESCO aims to protect the global community from conflict by "building peace in the minds of men and women." But a quick glance at the state the world shows that the amount of unsolved global challenges is daunting: we are not on track to sufficiently address climate change and the sustainable development goals, and conflict in various places devastates countries and threatens human lives. Literature on international organization performance may offer insights into how IOs can increase their impact and achieve their mission. However, the body of literature on IO performance is only emerging, and scholars have only begun to build the foundations, for example by suggesting various frameworks on how to study IO performance and on factors that may impact IO performance. (See: Gutner and Thompson, "The Politics of IO Performance," 2010; Tallberg et al, "The Performance of International Organizations: a Policy Output Approach," 2016; Lall, "Beyond Institutional Design: Explaining the Performance of International Organizations," 2017). But the literature on IO performance has neglected communications, and in particular the field of branding and brand management. The gap in branding literature is striking, considering that IOs engage in many branding-related activities that also relate to IO performance, such as countering misconceptions, bettering understanding, improving support, and increasing funding. The gap in IO-specific branding literature means that IOs cannot fully utilize the power of a discipline that is applied to improve organizations’ performance in other fields, such as the for-profit sector and NGOs. With my research, I contribute to filling this gap by exploring two questions: 1) What IS branding and brand management in international organizations?; and 2) How does branding and brand management relate to the performance of IOs? Based on a cross-case analysis of five UN-system organizations (UNEP, UNICEF, UNESCO, ILO and the UN) with data from more than 50 interviews, I have developed a grounded-theory-informed model for IO branding. The model identifies specific elements of branding in IOs and how those are related to IO performance. This paper contributes to the growing literature on IO performance in two ways. First, it suggests a framework of two performance dimension groups: one related to the MANDATES of IOs, the other related to the CAPACITY to deliver on those mandates. Second, it shows how branding relates to performance dimensions of IOs, such as awareness raising, agenda setting, convening stakeholders, supporting member state policy adoption, and project implementation. Building on this framework, scholars can explore specific relationships and analyze how the characteristics of concrete branding concepts shape these performance dimensions; and practitioners can adapt their practices to better contribute to addressing global challenges.