BRUSSELS: A top executive at Coca-Cola, Michael Stopford, spends much of his working life guarding its image. But in August, he starts working on an even more powerful global name: NATO. A British-born American, Stopford is a specialist in managing reputations. His career combines time at Coca-Cola and Exxon Mobil with two decades in the public sector, including the United Nations and the British Foreign Office. By hiring Stopford, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has shown how determined it is to revamp its image as it approaches its 60th anniversary in 2009. Eighteen years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and confronted by evidence of ignorance or indifference among many in its 26 member nations, NATO is rethinking how it communicates with the taxpayers who pay for it. For example, at its headquarters here, the alliance has created an Internet-based service called NATO TV and established a media operations center just for Afghanistan, with 14 media officers.
BRUSSELS: A top executive at Coca-Cola, Michael Stopford, spends much of his working life guarding its image. But in August, he starts working on an even more powerful global name: NATO.
A British-born American, Stopford is a specialist in managing reputations. His career combines time at Coca-Cola and Exxon Mobil with two decades in the public sector, including the United Nations and the British Foreign Office.
By hiring Stopford, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has shown how determined it is to revamp its image as it approaches its 60th anniversary in 2009.
Eighteen years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and confronted by evidence of ignorance or indifference among many in its 26 member nations, NATO is rethinking how it communicates with the taxpayers who pay for it.
For example, at its headquarters here, the alliance has created an Internet-based service called NATO TV and established a media operations center just for Afghanistan, with 14 media officers.
Anyway, seems someone forgot to tell certain members of NATO that the Soviet Union is no more. With the Soviet Union gone, maybe NATO has outlived its purpose. Just maybe. "The basis of optimism is sheer terror" - Oscar Wilde
