How do you measure the strength of a country’s national brand? How can you compare one country’s brand to another’s in a quantitative manner? What elements are judged in comparing one country to another? A project run jointly by Simon Anholt and polling firm Global Market Insight set to answer these questions and create a National Brand Index.
The National Brand Index is “the only major source for numerical data on the relative strengths of national brands,”[1] and is considered “one of the most relevant tools to measure the nature and power of a nation brand.”[2] This project set to divide a nation’s brand into six fields for analysis: tourism, exports, governance, people, culture and heritage, and investment and immigration. The result of the project was to give an impression of the strength of international opinion on a specific country. The index was compiled through surveys given to people throughout 20 major developed and developing countries.
The following is the 2008 and 2009 Overall Brand Ranking for the Top 10 nations:
It is important to note that the United States moved from ranking 7th to 1st with in one year. What do you think happened in this time period to cause such a high jump?
What are your reactions? Do you think this is a strong brand image?
One factor why Australia kept its branding constant all through the years could be the 2000 Olympics. Australia hosted a world event, and with that they promoted their goods and services to individuals from everywhere including Australians, which gave everyone the opportunity to experience and to learn more about Australian products. This might have strengthen their brand name.
ReplyDeleteProfessor Robles
ReplyDeleteThe Australian approach is interesting to study and also offers an example of inconsistency in the communications strategy. I explain,
1. The value proposition is that Australia is its people. I think that this is a great approach as people have personality and one can relate to people emotionally (like/dislike).
2. The tag line refers to the country- a land of unlimited opportunities.
3. the story is 50% about people but 50% about the land.
In conclusion, I do not know what to take out of this example as it raises some fundamental questions about nation brand concepts.
Do people define a nations brand?
Do land and its characteristics define a nations brand?
Do we want to define a nation or a country? or both?