Branding the image of a fox : the psychological profile of EU president Herman Van Rompuy

This article presents the branding case of EU president Herman Van Rompuy. The branding of the political image is at the heart of being “in control.” Political candidates, even those with a damaged reputation, are therefore challenged to produce an image that projects nothing but the positive side of their characters or the traits that fit the position they desire. Which are the personality traits required, in the given context, from a chief executive of the European Union? And which are the traits projected by Van Rompuy? This article introduces the psychological profiling technique by Immelman (2004) as a political marketing technique. Thanks to this personality assessment that refers to the public image, it becomes possible to brand the profile of the current EU president and to compare the personal profile with the desired one.