POT run “POLAND. More than you expected" started on 18 August 2026 on 5 abroad markets, with a budget of PLN 7 million and stars specified as Robert Lewandowski and Jesse Eisenberg. Expert Wojciech Kardyś pointed out that 85 percent of comments were negative, which shows the problem of state promotion of Poland.
Stars alternatively of stories about Poland
The Polish Tourist Organisation launched the global run “POLAND. More than you expected". According to POT itself, the task is carried out on behalf of the Ministry of athletics and Tourism, covers 5 precedence abroad markets and will last until 15 December. The run budget is PLN 7 million.
The place features well-known names: Robert Lewandowski, Jesse Eisenberg, Lech Wałęsa, Maryla Rodowicz and Anja Rubik. They're strong individual brands. Only that Poland is not a product to be set on the site next to the celebrity. A country with a 1000 years of history, safe cities, wonderful nature, Catholic heritage and real experience of freedom deserves more than the assembly of recognizable faces.
Donald Tusk admitted that as a screenwriter he would have built this material differently. Earlier in DN we described how Tusk praised the thought in the place for PLN 7 million. Now even the Prime Minister's careful consequence shows that the government's promotional device itself is not certain of the effect.
85 % of negative assessments
In an interview with Polsat News, social media expert Wojciech Kardyś cited the analysis of Res Futura Data House. According to these data, 85 percent of netizens considered the run of the Polish Tourist Organisation to be an image failure and 15 percent evaluated it positively. It's not a insignificant disagreement. It's a signal that the audience sees the separation between ambition and performance.
Cardy pointed out 3 shortcomings: an idea, proportions and colours. The slogan “More than you expected” was described as a slogan matching a bank, a telekom or a store, not a Polish one. He besides pointed out that about 80 percent of the place were occupied by the faces of known people. Meanwhile, tourists should besides see Mazury, Tatras, Baltic and real Polish panoramas.
That hits the nail. If the state spends public money on promotion, it must know what it wants to tell the world. Today, Poland has assets that the West itself is starting to envy: comparative security, the normality of household life, surviving religion, good cuisine, hospitality and cities in which past has not been turned into a museum slogan. If we cannot show this, the problem lies with the authors of the strategy, not with Poland.
State brand isn't a cabinet toy.
POT defends the campaign, indicating that people visiting Poland measure it better than they previously imagined. That's an crucial point. Poland can indeed be underestimated. Many visitors anticipate a grey and provincial country, and they find modern cities, order, good infrastructure and people attached to their own culture.
It's all the more a shame if the promotion blurs that capital. Poland does not gotta pretend to be Berlin, Paris or London. He does not request to repeat liberal phrases about “openness” as the only language of modernity. Our strength is our own way: the country of Central Europe, which combines improvement with memory, tradition with dynamics, freedom with public order.
Therefore, the problem does not boil down to 1 spot. The question is who manages the image of Poland and according to what hierarchy of values. Do we show Poland as a concrete country, safe, arrogant of culture and attractive to families, pilgrims, tourists and investors? Is it another “creative destination” in the universal language of the advertising agency?
Public money needs control
Cardy emphasized that the number of likes on Instagram is not a measurement of run effectiveness. Conversion, or real impact on tourist decisions, is important. He's right. The state promotion is not about a momentary movement in the network, but about whether the millions spent will benefit Poland: more visitors, better image, stronger association with safety and culture.
In this context, it is worth going back to a case that DN has already described: Lewandowski and Rodowicz in the run for 7 million PLN. With these amounts, citizens have the right to request clear criteria for success. The government and POT should show not only good staff and list of ambassadors, but besides meters, mark groups, cost of reaching and effect for Polish tourism.
Poland deserves to be promoted strong, honest and embedded in its own identity. We're not a celebrity face addition. We are a nation with history, a country inactive safer than many Western metropolises and a place that can give guests experience of normality. If the run for 7 million PLN does not lift it, it must be settled without a discount tariff.
Source: Polsat News, Polish Tourist Organization, Virtual Media, on Topic.
Source: Polsat News
