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Brand China—for many in the West just white space on the perceptual map—has been filled with fresh meaning.

Unlike the Olympics in Athens or Sydney (which were held in cities and among cultures that many of us in the West are already familiar with), the Beijing Games filled a perceptual void in the hearts and minds of many. This void existed because not many of us in the West have had the kind of first-hand experiences with China that breed familiarity and relevance.

As a result, this “filling of the void” will have a significant long-term impact on the overall nation brand of China. And while it may be too early to track the impact, I am sure that going forward we’ll see a spike in Brand China’s differentiation, energy, and personal relevance.

Throughout the Olympics, Brand China presented itself to the world as the country that can one day, again, become the center of the world—true to its name (the “Middle Kingdom”).

For many of us, the Olympics also dispelled any residual misperceptions about exactly where in the development process China is toward becoming a superpower. (I found that the over-the-top splendor of the Beijing closing ceremonies made London’s 8-minute preview look both charmingly “old-world” and also seriously outdated.)

But while China perfectly stage-managed the Games and maintained stability throughout, media attention not only focused on gold medals, but also tangentially covered granny protests, smog, a little lip-syncing girl, and virtual fireworks among other distracting nuisances.

As Monica mentioned in her blog, the long-term success of Brand China can only be built if the state and private sectors apply the brand management lessons learned during the Olympics.

One important lesson: although you can stage-manage a brand to perfection, you can’t completely control the way people experience and perceive a brand. As a result, you have to be prepared to build transparency and authenticity into how you manage your nation brand, and that, I think, remains one of the stretch goals for Brand China going forward.

But if China is able to do this, I believe that both the (Desti)Nation Brand China and “Made in China” will be experienced by the rest of the world as they are meant to be.