Spain has experienced significant political and economic changes over the centuries. It was once a powerful empire but lost global influence after defeats in the 19th century. The country experienced a civil war in the 1930s and dictatorship under Franco until 1975. Today Spain has a parliamentary monarchy and economy focused on services, tourism, and exports. While internet usage and e-commerce are growing, high unemployment remains a challenge.

1. Vidya Gopalan Amanda Hines Jia Liu Meghan Shoemaker

2. 16th Century Spain was the most powerful nation 1588 English defeat Spain in the “Invincible Armada” 19th Century: Spanish-American War in 1898 where Spain lost Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines to the US. 1936-1939 was the Spanish Civil War where more than 350,000 were killed. 1939 General Francisco Franco led the Nationalists into Madrid and on to victory over the Republican forces. WWII- Spain remains neutral and becomes a very isolate country in Europe 1955 Spain joins UN 1959, under an International Monetary Fund stabilization plan, the country began liberalizing trade and capital flows, particularly in foreign direct investment Source: (Country Watch, 2008)‏

3. Spain is located in Southwestern Europe, bordering the Bay of Biscay, Mediterranean Sea, North Atlantic Ocean, and Pyrenees Mountains, southwest of France. Spain is six hours ahead of Washington, DC and is comprised of two time zones The total area of the country is 504,782 sq km, as a comparison, Spain is roughly the size of the US state of Oregon Spain’s capitol is Madrid Population- As of July 2008 it is estimated that Spain has a population of 40,491,052 people Of that population, 15-64 years: 67.6% (male 13,741,493/ female 13,641,914)‏ Population is comprised of several ethnic groups, the majority however made up by Mediterranean and Nordic types 94% of the country is practicing Roman Catholic Source: (CIA, 2007)‏

4. Currently Spain’s government type is a parliamentary monarchy, before that Spain was under the dictatorship of General Franco for 36 years-ended in 1975. Spain’s chief of state since November 22, 1975 is King Juan Carlos I. The head of government or the President of the Government (Prime Minister equivalent) is Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero (since April 17, 2004). Country is divided into 17 regions Serious domestic issues-For 40 years the Basque separatist group ETA has led to nearly 850 deaths from bombings

5. Spain’s economy boomed from 1986 to 1990 averaging 5% annual growth (CIA, 2007). After a European-wide recession in the early 1990s, the Spanish economy resumed moderate growth starting in 1994, (CIA, 2007). Former President Jose Maria Aznar, who successfully worked to gain admission to the first group of countries launching the European single currency (the euro) on January 1, 1999, (CIA, 2007). The Aznar administration that advocated liberalization, privatization, and deregulation of the economy and introduced several tax reforms. Spain unemployment rate-high at a 7.6% rate Source: (CIA, 2007)‏

6. Economic Growth rate of 3% annually from 2003-2007 The current GDP (purchasing power parity) of Spain is $1.361 Trillion (CIA 2007 EST). The GDP-per capita (PPP) is $33,600 (CIA 2007 est)‏ The population percentage living below the poverty line in Spain is 19.8% (CIA, 2007). Spain’s agriculture-products are: grain, vegetables, olives, wine grapes, sugar beets, citrus; beef, pork, poultry, dairy products; fish. Spain’s industries: textiles and apparel (including footwear), food and beverages, metals and metal manufacturers, chemicals, shipbuilding, automobiles, machine tools, tourism, clay and refractory products, footwear, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment.

7. Spain’s imports: $380.2 billion f.o.b, (CIA 2007 est) Spain exports: 256.7 billion f.o.b, (CIA 2007 est). Spain’s export partners are: France 18.8%, Germany 10.8%, Portugal 8.6%, Italy 8.5%, UK 7.6%, US 4.2%, further Spain’s imports partners are: Germany 15.7%, France 12.7%, Italy 8.4%, China 5.8%, UK 4.8%, Netherlands 4.6%. The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) forecasts that, housing building activity will continue to decline in 2009 and possibly further, owing to a large surplus of unsold homes. By contrast, public consumption and public investment will continue to grow, partly prompted by government’s measures to stem the downturn (though private investment will contract). EIU forecast that GDP will contract by 0.6% in 2009, after edging up by just 0.9% over 2008 as a whole. Real GDP growth is expected to rebound modestly in 2010 (to grow by 1.6%), although there is a possibility that the recovery will be delayed (EIU, 2008)‏

8. http://adage.com/images/random/datacenter/2007/globalmarketing2007.pdf

11. Format: Based on Linux New Media AG Spain Black/White and 4C www.linux-magazine.es/Advertise/Pack/Ratecard_LMES_2008.pdf

12. The only difference between panthers and leopards is color. http://adfuns.com/tags/%25E8%25A5%25BF%25E7%258F%25AD%25E7%2589%2599/ Agency: Sra. Rushmore United (Madrid) Brand: Madrid Zoo When a dolphin finds a hurt dolphin. he helps it stay afloat. Elephants never abandon the elderly.

13. Marca incorporated their new logo of telecom company, Movistar , into their main headline http://www.newsdesigner.com/archives/002142.php

14. http://www.cmdglobal.com/database/N/20647010/20647011?1=1&blockid=20647012&blocktemplateid=827895 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwVoK7znMaM

16. http://www.cmdglobal.com/database/A/Adidas_Techfit/Famous_faces_fight_their_shadow?1=1&blockid=24267534&blocktemplateid=827895

18. Expo Reclam 2008: International advertising & promotional gift show Held in Madrid on a yearly basis Attracts all the manufacturers, importers and wholesalers in the promotional and advertising gift sector Provides its professional visitors with the broadest possible range of promotional products and services, with the presence of a large number of international exhibitors

19. Viscom Sign Spain Focuses on visual communications Held in Madrid once per year The only trade fair totally geared towards the visual communication and advertising market Covers both the creative and technological aspects of the visual communication production process

20. Earlier this year, the city of Madrid had announced it’s bid to be the host city for the 2016 Summer Olympic games http://www.madrid2016.es/EN/prensa/notasprensa/Paginas/Default.aspx

21. San Fermín is perhaps the most popular festival in Spain; most profitable event for the Navarre region of Spain Nine day festival held in Pamplona; concludes with ‘Running of the Bulls’ Promoted through travel Web sites, ‘Chamber of Commerce’, blogs & other new media

22. Public relations is not a country-wide term used to describe communications between an organization and its’ publics The term “corporate communications” has held steadfast in the country of Spain and continues to divide those involved in corporate messaging and relationships with the public

23. Alfredo Arceo titled, “ Public relations in Spain: an Introduction.” “… Yet, most public relations practitioners are only using their field techniques to solve specific client problems. Thus, they define their know-how using such terminology as corporate image, corporate communication, reputation management, and the like, rather than using a public relations concept as their intellectual domain.” “… only activity of a public relations department is based on writing and sending press releases and, later, doing clippings.”

24. Scott Cutlip and Allen Center define public relations in their book Effective Public Relations as: “…the planned effort to influence opinion through good character and responsible performance, based upon mutually satisfactory two-way communications.” Evidence of increasing number of internal communications departments within companies (65%) and view communication as a strategic function (72%)‏ Once companies realize it’s value, public relations will successfully lead them to prosperous relationships and valuable dialogue with their publics

25. According to the Nielsen Net ratings there are 21,772,334 Internet users in Spain as of June 2007 i.e. 48.4% of the population of that country There is a huge monopoly of Telefonica in Spain, which still maintains the telephones lines and makes it difficult for the competitions to enter the market Year Users Population % Pop. Usage Source 2000 5,387,800 40,827,300 13.2 % ITU 2004 14,095,451 43,435,136 32.5 % Nielsen//Net Ratings 2006 19,765,032 45,003,663 43.9 % Nielsen//Net Ratings 2007 21,772,334 45,003,663 48.4 % Nielsen//Net Ratings

26. http://www.terra.es/ Local search engines in Spain http://es.abacho.com/ http://www.buscadorespanol.com/ http://www.google.es/intl/es/ - Google in Spanish. http://es.yahoo.com/ - Yahoo in Spanish. Some of the popular websites in Spain http://www.enredados.com/ http://www.promocionweb.es/ http://www.planavanza.es/ Social Networking Sites http://www.tuenti.com/

27. Property May 2008, June 2008 % Change Total Internet 15,967 16,245 2% Hi5.com 1,797 2,279 27% Vodafone Group 1,045 1,263 21% Hotusa Group 752 906 20% Facebook.com 1,018 1,164 14% Tuenti.com 2,490 2,843 14% Sony Online 971 1,055 9% Musica.com 1,365 1,451 6% Badoo.com 883 937 6% Startvg.com 1,096 1,160 6% Renfe.es 1,063 1,121 5% Source: comScore

29. 44% growth in Internet use 62% are men 38% are women Average age of people making online purchase is between 26 and 35 Airline ticket purchases increased by 58.5%