NEWS: How Strong is Your Nations Brand?

* Australia – the panel’s overall first choice for quality of people, tourism and investment/immigration made this the number one brand. But, low rankings for products and culture are a concern. The latter finding is a surprise given the strength of Australia in popular culture for example, in music and movies.

* France – the first time in the NBI and the country ranks at the lower end of the richer Western nations on just about every count apart from culture, coming in second overall after Italy. A particular concern is the low ranking for how its people are perceived. Ninth overall and 19th on the index of perceived hospitality should be an issue for its tourism industry.

* United States – On investment and quality of products, the U.S. still scores high marks in global opinion (third and second respectively); however, the poll ranks German branded products above American ones – a surprise, considering American brands hugely outnumber German brands. When the international panel was asked how much they trust a country’s government to make responsible decisions on peace and security, the U.S. came 19th just above South Korea, China, and Russia, but below all other Western nations.

* China – on most rankings it is in the bottom third, except in cultural heritage, where it ranks number two after Egypt at number one. Despite its global manufacturing strength, Chinese-branded products come last, below those of India, Russia and Turkey.

* UK – its number four placing makes the UK the only nation in the top five of the NBI to be in the mainstream economically and politically, and the only nuclear power. The quality of its people (third overall) and culture (fourth overall) are key factors, but the UK scores well on products (sixth) and place to invest in (fifth), too.

...when asked to to use a single word to sum up the experience of visiting the UK, respondents came up with "predictable".

"I think a little bit of dullness is absolutely essential for us," said the survey's founder, Simon Anholt. "We are absolutely unique in being a permanent member of the [UN] security council, a nuclear power, a trillion-dollar economy, and we are still up there. It is because we are perceived as being trustworthy, stable, dependable."

Australia, a new addition to the index, performed well, Mr Anholt said, because of its similarities to Sweden, which topped the last poll. Australians were seen as "more Swedish than the Swedes", famed for liberalism, neutrality and democracy. Most respondents described Australia as an exciting place.

The US won few plaudits. Asked to rank countries in terms of how they are governed, the US was placed 19th, just ahead of Turkey, Russia, China and South Korea. The US was placed last for its heritage.

"America is really a cause for concern at the moment," Mr Anholt said. "Unless it is stopped very soon, it could end up being irreversible. It is not just Iraq; America has produced unpopular foreign policy on and off for many years.

"For the first time, areas of most unpopularity in different parts of the American brand seem to coalesce into one negative brand. People seem to be coming to the conclusion that America is not a very nice place."

Britain's rating was welcomed by tourism officials, even if they disagreed with global perceptions.

Subrosa said:
So if I'm looking to buy a country, Australia is totally the one to buy then?

but the UK scores well on products (sixth)

dem_z said:

I'm amazed the UK came fourth. And what the hell do we make anymore?

TBSheets said:
This was probably done before any of them had a chance to taste the new Coca-Cola Zero.

sojobo said:
all those stats are fine and good but the USA has a +14 Axe and hi recovery

Britain's rating was welcomed by tourism officials, even if they disagreed with global perceptions.

TheFuckOffKid said:

We're more Swedish than the Swedes. Safer than fucking Volvo, man.

Thistle said:
Does anyone else find the current trend of understanding every possible aspect of human life in terms of marketability a tad disturbing?

I mean, I'm keenly interested in the way countries are perceived by outsiders, but not because I think we all really need to be making more money in tourism.

RaggedClaws said:

I lived in Sweden for six years. That's six HUNDRED years of your Earth time. Don't worry. No one is ever going to mistake Australia for Sweden.

FreakPirate said:
HA! Take THAT Czech Republic!