Introduction: 
Given the fluctuations in a world driven by ongoing competition and international interactions, there is a growing need for innovative approaches to enhance the image of countries. A country's image on the global stage can be improved through various methods. Among these, national branding campaigns serve as a key tool for elevating a country’s standing internationally, offering numerous benefits such as attracting foreign investors, promoting tourism, enhancing soft power, and fostering sustainable development across all dimensions. To achieve acceptable performance in these campaigns and secure their wide-ranging advantages, it is essential to address operational challenges in their managerial and executive processes. This requires a thorough understanding of the complex intra-system functional interactions as well as inter-system dynamics. Recognizing the roles played by institutions responsible for national branding in the managerial and executive processes of such campaigns can be pivotal in resolving these challenges and, consequently, in ensuring the success of countries. However, to date, there has been limited understanding of these functions within the managerial and executive processes of national branding campaigns, particularly for countries like Iran, which face numerous internal and external challenges. This lack of precise knowledge about these functions can lead to resource wastage, inefficiencies in campaigns, and reduced effectiveness. On the other hand, the strategic and executive management of national branding campaigns is a complex and multifaceted process that demands coordination among various governmental institutions, non-governmental organizations, and private entities—each with their own interests, agendas, and stakeholders. Understanding the interactions between these organizations in this process can be a challenging endeavor.  Therefore, examining and analyzing functional interactions within an optimal managerial and executive process for national branding campaigns, using an institutional mapping approach, appears to be a significant topic. Such an approach can assist policymakers and stakeholders in aligning their goals and executive plans effectively with available resources, the mindset of all stakeholders, and the current global context across all dimensions. Through such integration, a coherent image of the country can be crafted, one that reflects its positive values and attributes .Despite the importance of this issue, a clear framework and systematic analysis that distinctly outlines the institutions, their roles, and their functional interactions within the managerial and executive system of a national branding campaign in Iran—a country classified among developing nations—has yet to be established. To address this gap, the present study aims to provide, through institutional mapping, an optimal configuration of the national branding campaign system, the roles and interactions of key actors in this domain, and the relationships among critical stakeholders in the context of Iran. To achieve this objective, the present study seeks to answer the following questions:
1-Which actors can directly or indirectly contribute to the optimal performance of the strategic and executive management of a national branding campaign?
2-What will the structural and functional characteristics of this desirable and optimal mapping look like?
Addressing these questions and understanding the structure and behavior of stakeholders and key actors involved in the optimal process of a national branding campaign can enhance the country’s performance in this area, thereby contributing to strengthening the country’s strategic image and increasing its competitive advantages
 Methodology:
The research paradigm of the present study is interpretive, and the type of research is qualitative. Additionally, the study is applied in terms of its purpose and descriptive-analytical in terms of its executive strategy. The time frame of the research is cross-sectional. Data were collected through library studies, examination of upstream documents, and interviews with experts. Furthermore, the research adopts a qualitative approach, utilizing institutional mapping and thematic analysis among the various methods within this approach. Accordingly, the desirable functional-process structure of the national branding campaign was first identified using thematic analysis. Subsequently, with the aid of institutional mapping, the key institutions in this domain were identified within the functional-process structure established in the previous stage. Finally, based on their functional interactions, a desirable process model for the strategic and executive management of the national branding campaign was mapped out.
Results and Discussion:
The findings indicate that the process model for the optimal strategic and executive management of a national branding campaign can consist of five main themes: directive functions, policymaking, infrastructure development, operationalization, and evaluation and monitoring.
Conclusion:
The results of this research contribute to a better understanding of how countries can strategically present their image and reputation to the world. They also provide insights into decision-making processes for effectively managing national branding campaigns, which can be utilized by policymakers, marketers, and other relevant institutions in their efforts to build a national brand image.