The Seattle-based company Anhalt-GMI runs an interesting international survey, the Nation Brands Index (NBI), claimed to be "the first analytical ranking of nation brands based on worldwide public perceptions of a country’s cultural, political, commercial and human assets, investment potential and tourist appeal." It seeks to be a measure of a country’s overall “brand strength” in the minds of foreigners. This year Australia displaced Sweden in the No. 1 spot, followed by Canada, Switzerland and the UK. The shifts since last year were more the result of the inclusion of several new countries than any dramatic shifts in thinking.

The report can be downloaded as a PDF file (free subscription required) from http://www.gmi-mr.com/gmipoll/press_...08012005.phtml.

This year’s ranking is as follows:
1. Australia
2. Canada
3. Switzerland
4. UK
5. Sweden
6. Italy
7. Germany
8. Netherlands
9. France
10. New Zealand
11. United States
12. Spain
13. Ireland
14. Japan
15. Brazil
16. Mexico
17. Egypt
18. India
19. Poland
20. South Korea
21. China
22. South Africa
23. Czech Republic
24. Russia
25. Turkey

As with any market research survey, one should ask who was surveyed (e.g.,barflys, college students, etc), who paid for the survey (risk of skewing toward patron), and how many were surveyed.
I'm surprised India beat out Czech Rep; by how many votes?

And as with any survey -

Exactly what questions were asked (and in the positive or the negative)?

Did the questions elicit merely an opinion or the value of the opinion (I may violently dislike one thing about a place - but it's not the reason I go there so doesn;t affect may intent to visit)?

What kind of rating scale (how many points and even or odd number) was used - and how were the answers grouped?

Without all this info - who knows what the answers really mean?

I am quite surprised to see that Canada occupies the number two spot. It is huge, it is diverse, and it is known for many things but not one thing. I love Canada, but as a recognizable brand it lacks coherence. IMHO.

Neil, thank you for posting this interesting information. I went to the website and got the report. The same company also has some very interesting reaction data from "Hurricane Katrina" polls.

Apparently, the number one brand-sensitive attribute is stability, and Canada's spot on the list makes sense in that respect! The panelists in 20 representative countries were emailed their questionnaires and, according to the marketing company, a statistically significant number replied to it.

I look forward to reading the survey, and especially the way in which the questions were asked, in detail. Again, thanks for this post!

Honestly, this American is hard-pressed to conjure up <i>any</i> Australian product that is regularly used and highly regarded. Aside from Fosters beer (don't really like), wine (some very good), the occasional steak (good too) or the odd pair of shoes. Offhand, those things are all that come to mind. Now Sweden -- I love my cars, bed, furniture and electronics.

You should be very proud, though, of your 2 Nobel prize winners!

Hi, kswl. This was mentioned on the Australia forum (no surprises there) but thought it might be of general interest. The survey is designed to measure attitudes in respect of people, culture and heritage, investment &amp; immigration, governance, exports and tourism.

Personally I'm not all that surprised by the results - for example that France rated highly on culture and lifestyle but not on &quot;people&quot;, that Australia didn't score highly on &quot;culture&quot;, that New Zealand has a &quot;clean, green&quot; image or that the US score was dragged down by negative perceptions of its government.

Incidentally, the participants weren't surveyed about their own countries.

tomboy, college students might be a problem - but what have you got against barflies?

With perceptions of the government included, I'm shocked that the U.S. was as high as 11.