Maxim Behar: Eurovision Is an Opportunity to Position Bulgaria Globally

“Maxim Behar on Eurovision 2027: Bulgaria Needs a Common Strategy” PR expert Maxim Behar and Assoc. Prof. Justine Toms, a specialist in online marketing and content, commented on “Bulgaria Morning” on Burgas’s preparations to host Eurovision 2027 and the proposals for the contest’s mascot. During the conversation, they emphasized the need for a common communication strategy, stronger branding for Bulgaria, and the use of the event as an opportunity to present the country to the world.

Host: There are already several extremely interesting, entertaining and creative proposals for the mascot of Eurovision 2027 in Burgas.

The official choice is still to come, but we will now discuss the main contenders that have captured the public’s attention together with our guests, namely PR expert Maxim Behar, who is here with us in the studio, and Assoc. Prof. Justine Toms, a specialist in online marketing and content, who will join us online.

Hello to both of you. I hope Assoc. Prof. Toms can hear us as well. Mr. Behar, let us start with you. Let us begin more generally with this campaign and the question of who should be the Eurovision mascot. We are seeing all kinds of proposals, but what should we mainly focus on in the Eurovision campaign and in the campaign for host city Burgas?

Maxim Behar: First of all, good morning.

We have a wonderful topic for discussion all the way until May next year. Eurovision will probably be discussed by five or six million Bulgarians, across all social media, at home, around the table, over a glass of rakia and a salad. Everywhere.

And from six million Bulgarians there will probably be around 40 million opinions, which is a good thing, by the way, because after all this is a positive topic.

These are not murders, these are not rapes, these are not the problems that we are all constantly overwhelmed with in the media. Finally, we have a positive topic, which, on top of everything else, is pan-European, not just Bulgarian.

I do not have a definite opinion about the mascot. I think the seagull is a very good option. Now, whether it should be this particular seagull, whether it should be 60+, because this seagull is the father or grandfather of the seagulls, and exactly how it should be designed, that is another question.

It seems to me that along the entire Black Sea coast, seagulls are something of a familiar symbol that we have known for many years.

Host: Let us just say, Mr. Behar, that there are already several proposals on social media.

We have a seagull, as you mentioned, a capybara, a seahorse, and a flamingo. A kuker has also appeared.

Should we have some kind of strategy? Should the mascot be one hundred percent Bulgarian, like the kuker, or should it be connected with the sea because of Burgas? Is there a right choice?

Maxim Behar: I would make it a little more Bulgarian. Personally, I really like the seagull because it creates a local, Bulgarian association with Burgas.

I have no idea who will choose it, just as no one still has a complete idea why Burgas was chosen in the first place, since the criteria remained unknown.

That no longer matters, by the way, because Burgas has been chosen and I think it is a very good choice. A genuinely very good choice.

The entire Black Sea coast will be on the map of Europe. The whole world will know about Burgas, not only Sofia. Sofia is recognizable. Wherever I travel around the world, when I say “Bulgaria,” people ask me: “Are you from Sofia?”

This is also a huge opportunity for the entire hotel industry around Burgas, whether it is Sveti Vlas, Sozopol, Primorsko and all the other resorts, which can be promoted very well across Europe.

Host: We are back in the studio with Mr. Behar.

Mr. Behar, are we clear about what messages we want to send not only to the people who will be here in Bulgaria for Eurovision, but to the whole world? Because all eyes will be on Bulgaria.

Maxim Behar: Here we return to one of my favourite topics. We are currently debating what the symbol of Eurovision should be, while at the same time Bulgaria does not have a good tourism logo.

Bulgaria itself does not have a slogan. It is not clear where Bulgaria is or what Bulgaria is. I will give “Malaysia, Truly Asia” as an example, a very famous and very well-promoted slogan that has probably been used for two decades already. There are many other countries with similarly clear messages. Bulgaria does not have one. That is why the debate over what the Eurovision mascot or emblem should be seems secondary to me.
Above all, Bulgaria must have several clear messages. One is that it is a stable country.

The second, and perhaps even the first, is that it is a country where a great deal of business can be done. That it is a country of great people. The visitors and participants in Eurovision will see all of this, and it needs to be packaged into something very attractive and interesting as quickly as possible.

Host: But what should Bulgaria be promoted as more, a country for business or a tourism destination?

You mentioned the Black Sea coast, Burgas and the entire coastline. Where should we focus, Bulgaria as a tourism destination or Bulgaria as a business destination?

Maxim Behar: They overlap to a large extent. In my opinion, both should be secondary to one primary message: Bulgaria is a stable country with wonderful people. Of course, I am saying it in a very straightforward way. It should be expressed in a completely different and creative way.

When you know that a country is full of young, intelligent, well-educated and ambitious people, when you know that a country is stable and safe, as Bulgaria truly is, then both tourism and business would be much more likely to show interest.

Host: Mr. Behar, how can we attract as many people as possible to come to Bulgaria for Eurovision, but beyond coming for the contest itself, to return to the country afterwards?

How do we leave them with such good impressions?

Maxim Behar: The project of branding Bulgaria is not a project for today. It is not a project for yesterday either. This project has been needed for at least ten years. Now we simply have a unique opportunity to use it.

It is not so much about whether 200,000, 300,000 or 400,000 people will come. Everyone is welcome. The point is that for a moment Bulgaria will become much more recognizable and much more talked about. It will be at the centre of attention.

This is completely different from other international events, because music captures people in a completely different way and is shared in a completely different way.

I do not know whether all of this should be done at government or state level.
Personally, based on my experience, I do not believe the state on its own can initiate a meaningful and intelligent campaign.

Host: Why, Mr. Behar?

Maxim Behar: Because it has not done so for the past 30 or 40 years. But if it happens, I will be very pleasantly surprised.

However, different groups of professional experts must be involved, whether from advertising, digital media, public relations or marketing consulting. This needs to happen very quickly.

A group of experts must be created. People from abroad who have organized Eurovision in different years should be invited. These are professionals with tremendous know-how.

Perhaps two or three major international PR companies should be invited and given a brief. Will there be a tender? We do not have time for tenders. But at the very least, 20 or 30 people can gather in one place for two days, brainstorm, discuss, drink N number of bottles of rakia so that the creative ideas come more easily. I am absolutely serious.

Host: What mistakes, Mr. Behar, could we make now in preparation and organization?

Maxim Behar: Doing nothing. That is the biggest mistake.

To say to ourselves: “Eurovision is coming, Burgas will be full, apartments will be expensive,” and start only with the negative things that we are already seeing.

The biggest mistake would be to wait for something to happen simply because Dara, our beloved Dara, won Eurovision.

Host: Can we leave Burgas to handle everything on its own as the host city?

Maxim Behar: If we leave Burgas to handle it on its own, I think it will do a wonderful job. From what I have seen in recent years, both the mayor and his team are doing very well.

The most important thing, however, is for Bulgaria as a destination and as a country to gain the maximum benefit from this. We really need to try to create a new logo, have a slogan, have a marketing strategy and start producing good videos that present Bulgaria.

Host: This should come from the Ministry of Tourism, right?

Maxim Behar: It has to come from somewhere.

The Ministry of Tourism, probably to some extent also the Ministry of Economy, and the Ministry of Finance should provide the funding.

The National Board of Tourism is also a very strong factor in this strategy. Something simply has to be done. That is the most important thing, not to sit around and only argue about who the mascot should be.

We need to try to make sure that Bulgaria as a destination, whether we are talking about business, tourism, culture or anything else, gains the maximum possible benefits from the unique opportunity we have right now.

Host: How important is it, Mr. Behar, for us to truly have a slogan?

To be able to say “Eurovision is Bulgaria,” but also for Bulgaria itself to have its own motto.

You mentioned the logo. We have had so many discussions, whether it should be a rose, mountains, the sea. It seems that we cannot choose what Bulgaria’s greatest beauty is.

Maxim Behar: Let us see different proposals.

That rose we have been using for around 20 years, the yellow-and-red one, is, in my opinion, a very unsuccessful solution. It does not even look much like a rose.

Even if it was a good solution 20 years ago, life is changing so quickly, communications are changing so quickly, that we need to replace it.

Should it be a rose? I do not know. I do not believe it should be mountains. It could be a stylized letter “B.” It could be anything. You know that many years ago I organized a series of conferences called “Bulgaria, Dream Area.” They were extremely successful. People came from all over the world and they were focused mainly on tourism.

I continue to offer every government, starting with the governments of Boyko Borissov, to sell the Bulgarian state the slogan “Bulgaria, Dream Area” for one euro. It is registered by me as a trademark. “Bulgaria, Dream Area” rhymes, it is easy to remember, but it is only one of the many proposals that could exist.

A government simply needs to create a good working group of experts who can start exchanging ideas.

Host: But why, after so many years, as you yourself mentioned, has no one taken responsibility for doing this with Bulgaria’s brand so that we can be presented to the world in the best possible way?

Maxim Behar: I do not have an answer to that question. I really do not.

The most valuable thing right now is, in quotation marks, to successfully “sell” Bulgaria to the world.

Host: Do we not understand the benefits of that?

Maxim Behar: There are experts, but in my opinion no one considers this a sufficiently serious priority. And it is an absolute priority.

Host: Both you and Assoc. Prof. Toms are experts. Someone should ask you for your opinion as well.

You say that you send letters, but in the end there is no reaction?

Maxim Behar: I simply want to put into practice something that I came up with years ago, “Bulgaria, Dream Area”, because I think it works well as a rhyme and is easy to remember.

But there could be another hundred thousand different proposals. The important thing is to do it.

We simply sit down, work, set a deadline and do it.

Host: A question to both of you, where should we start?

If we are already at the stage where we absolutely have to take steps to promote Bulgaria and further promote the fact that Eurovision will be held in Bulgaria. Mr. Behar, first to you, then to Assoc. Prof. Toms.

Maxim Behar: Do you know where I first presented one of my latest songs, “Viva Bulgaria”?

Here, in this studio. Together with Big Sha, Misho Shamara and Lil Sha.

Of course, I am joking, but the song already has close to one million views on YouTube. “Viva Bulgaria” has always been something very valuable to me.

It is a metaphor. I am not saying that it should be a slogan. But if all of us somehow say to ourselves “Viva Bulgaria,” meaning that we try to do the very best for our country and our homeland, something good will come out of it.

We need to start immediately. In my opinion, we need to start by changing Bulgaria’s logo, creating a new slogan and developing a marketing programme that will gradually warm up all these television viewers and people on social media with “Bulgaria, Bulgaria, Bulgaria.”

So that when they see in May that Eurovision is in Bulgaria, their reaction will be: “Ah, we know Bulgaria.”

There needs to be a very good campaign. And not only about tourism. The videos about Bulgaria that I have seen in previous years were shockingly simplistic, not to use a stronger word.

Some young women are sweating in a sauna, others are riding scooters along the seaside, skiers are going down the slopes. We cannot have a better sea than Spain, Italy, the Adriatic or the Seychelles and advertise it in this way. We simply cannot.
Our sea is wonderful. Our mountains are wonderful. But we cannot claim that, in terms of tourism development, they are better than those in Austria or Switzerland. In terms of natural beauty, they are otherworldly, of course.

We need to show the people of Bulgaria. We need to show the people. Because both tourists and investors would be attracted if they saw the young, intelligent people in Bulgaria who are truly doing remarkable things.

Host: Thank you very much, Assoc. Prof. Toms. Thank you as well, Mr. Behar.

Maxim Behar: Keep this topic in your programme every week and you will see that you will be successful.

Host: We will continue to follow everything related to Eurovision and, of course, to the branding of Bulgaria.

Thank you, Mr. Behar, for this conversation.

You can watch the whole interview here: https://www.maximbehar.com/en/video/446/maxim-behar-eurovision-is-an-opportunity-to-position-bulgaria-globally