A comparison between different countries based on Country Branding Index (CBI) and the Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index (NBI)
As it is logical to assume, no global cultural tourism analysis based on country branding can be done, without assessing the perception for economic power, prosperity and international trade relationships of a country.
In the Country Brand Index, the relationships between the international visitor and the local country are viewed from the perspective of how easy is to do business, what is the ideal country for business and many other exciting criteria. On their interactive website you can chose which business characteristic you want to see and it will display the top countries.
In the Anholt-GFK Roper Nation Brands Index, three major categories deal with the business brands of countries: exports and investment/immigration.
In both reports, the United States of America came first in overall branding not only because of President Barack Obama. I believe this first place should be the rule, not an anomaly, as it was in the last years, since the USA is the most powerful country in the world. Let’s not forget, that in spite of the recession, the banking crisis and the real estate bubble, the country still produces 24% of the world GDP. United States still is one of the most appealing countries for travelers worldwide: number 2 in international arrivals in 2008, after France, as per the UNWTO. It still has enormous domestic tourism market: more than 118.3 million of cultural tourism travelers alone, as per the Cultural and Heritage Travel 2009 Report. And if the foreign policy is lead by reason, not by political passions, the country should maintain its leading position as brand number one in the world.
United States are not the only one country whose economic power influences the brand performance. The top positions in both Indexes there is a similar trend: the majority of the countries on the top 10 places are also members of G8. In the Country Brand Index by FutureBrand there are 3 exceptions in the top 10: Australia, New Zealand and Spain, which are not part of G8. In the Nation Brands Index the exceptions are again Australia and Spain plus Switzerland. In both indexes, from the G8 countries is missing Russia.
Russia is not an exception either. In both Indexes, the Eastern and Central European countries are losers, when it comes to the economic dimensions of their brands. In spite that Russia is one of the richest and still very powerful country, the rest of the nations from former Eastern Block are relatively poor countries. They also lack branding management experience and are still trailing the bad image of “communist” countries for more than 20 years after the fall of the Berlin wall. Bulgaria makes an exception in the economic aspects of country branding by securing 5th position in the world in the category “Value for the money” in the Country Brand Index.
From the emerging economies and BRIC, Russia and China score great in NBI: 13 and 17 respectively in the exports section. Similarly, in the Country Brand Index, BRIC countries take top ten places in economic categories: India taking one of the top 10 positions in the categories “Value for the money “Ideal for business” and “New country for business” - number one, nine and four, respectively.
Show me the money
Perceived economic and political power is one aspect of the country brand. Another is the GDP and its relation to the brand. As shown in the table above, from each index, 3 of the richest countries in the world are doing not very well in overall branding. In both CBI and NBI indexes, these are China, Russia and Brazil – all of which are in the top 10 by GDP, but not in the top 10 of country | nation branding.
On the other hand, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Switzerland, which have some of the top 10 positions in the CBI or NBI, are not in the top 10 countries by their GDP.
As a conclusion: economy still plays enormous role in country branding, but is not enough. Charisma of the country leaders, authenticity, friendly locals and other human factors can push up or down a country in the overall country | nation brand ranking. It will take generations and great efforts for some countries to make it to the top ten. Others are already on the rise. The important lesson is to monitor the brand performance and deliver on all aspects of it.
