“Made in Germany” or “Habibi, come to Dubai” are known brandings of a nation. However, Nation Branding is often mistaken for marketing, but in reality it goes much deeper, says Haya Mvita, who leads this field at the Diplomatic World Institute in Brussels. It is about building long-term trust, not only in a country’s external relations, but also within the nation itself. Especially in times of global transformation, further accelerated by technological progress, nation branding is becoming increasingly important. In conversation with Dieter Brockmeyer and Alexander Pinker, she explores the full spectrum of what this concept entails, including the role of AI and innovation as new soft- or smart power. She proposes the term Structural Power as new category instead. Potentially transformative and not without risk for International Relations are big tech-companies developing a kind of competitive sovereignty of their own.