Nation branding is a field of theory and practice which aims to measure, build and manage the reputation of countries (closely related to place branding). It applies some approaches from commercial brand management practice to countries, in an effort to build, change, or protect their international reputations. It is based on the observation that the "brand images" of countries are just as important to their success in the global marketplace as those of products and services. Increasing interconnectivity through advances in information technology, coupled with an increasing importance of the symbolic value of products, have led countries to emphasis their distinctive characteristics. The branding and image of a nation-state "and the successful transference of this image to its exports - is just as important as what they actually produce and sell.

Simon Anholt is normally credited as a pioneer in the field. He regularly conducts two global surveys known as the Anholt Nation Brands Index and Anholt City Brands Index. There is one professional/academic journal in the field, Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, published by Palgrave Macmillan and edited by Simon Anholt.

Nation branding appears to be practised by many states, including the United States and United Kingdom (where it is officially referred to as Public Diplomacy), South Africa, New Zealand, and most Western European countries. There is increasing interest in the concept from poorer states on the grounds that an enhanced image might create more favorable conditions for foreign direct investment, tourism, trade and even political relations with other states.

Anti-globalisation proponents often claim that globalisation diminishes and threatens local diversity, but there is evidence that in order to compete against the backdrop of global cultural homogenity, nations strive to accentuate and promote the distinctiveness of local characteristics and competitive advantages.

Nation Brands Index

The concept of measuring the global perception of a country in several spheres has been developed by Simon Anholt. A subsequent ranking of nations following his surveys was first released in 2005 known as Anholt Nation Brands Index and was initially published four times a year.

Since 2008 research activities from GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media and Simon Anholt are joined and resulted in an expanded version of the index which is since then known as the Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index (NBI).

Published on an annual base, 20,157 interviews have been conducted with approximately 1,000 interviews per country for the 2008 Index to determine how countries are perceived by others. Adults at the age 18 or over have been interviewed in twenty core countries such as U.S.A, Canada, U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, Russia, Poland, Turkey, Japan, China, India, South Korea, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Egypt, South Africa. The criteria underlying the NBI ranking are:

People: Measures the population's reputation for competence, education, openness and friendliness and other qualities, as well as perceived levels of potential hostility and discrimination.

Governance: Measures public opinion regarding the level of national government competency and fairness and describes individuals' beliefs about each country's government, as well as its perceived commitment to global issues such as democracy, justice, poverty and the environment.

Exports: Determines the public's image of products and services from each country and the extent to which consumers proactively seek or avoid products from each country-of-origin.

Tourism: Captures the level of interest in visiting a country and the draw of natural and man-made tourist attractions.

Culture & Heritage: Reveals global perceptions of each nation's heritage and appreciation for its contemporary culture, including film, music, art, sport and literature.

Investment & Immigration Determines the power to attract people to live, work or study in each country and reveals how people perceive a country's economic and social situation.

References

Further reading

• OLINS, Wally. 2002. Branding the nation – the historical context. In Journal of Brand Management, 9(4-5).
• FAN, Y. 2006. “Nation branding: what is being branded?” Journal of Vacation Marketing, 12:1, 5-14, available at http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/1286
• Backgrounder on Nation Branding from Council on Foreign Relations, November 9, 2007
• Entry on Nation Branding from Center for Media & Democracy's Sourcewatch
• Nation Branding : San Marino developing into a brand by Meike Eitel, Marie Spiekermann, 2005
• Boston Globe article By Clay Risen, March 13, 2005
• Feature by Eric Weiner on National Public Radio's "Day to Day", January 11, 2006
• Time Magazine article by Peter Gumbel, May 29 2005
• Article in New York Times entitled "Branding Nations" by Clay Risen, Dec 11 2005
• Author unknown: "National Branding - The new sort of beauty contest." The Economist, Nov 11th 2006
• RENDON, Jim: “When Nations Need a Little Marketing.” New York Times, November 23, 2003.
• ANHOLT, Simon. Brand New Justice: the upside of global branding. Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford, 2003.
• ANHOLT, Simon with Jeremy Hildreth, Brand America: The Mother of All Brands. London: Cyan Books, 2004.
• JOHANSSON, Johny K. In Your Face: How American Marketing Fuels Anti-Americanism. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Financial Times/Prentice-Hall, 2004.
• KOTLER, Philip; Jatusripitak, Somkid; Maesincee, Suvit: The Marketing of Nations. A Strategic Approach To Building National Wealth. The Free Press, New York, 1997.
• TRUE, Jacqui. 2006. "Globalisation and Identity." In Raymond Miller (ed.) New Zealand Government and Politics (Melbourne: Oxford University Press).

External links

• Emory Brand Institute at Emory University
• Corporate Sector Role in Place Branding
• How Germany won the World Cup of Nation Branding Analysis of Germany's Nation Branding Program at the FIFA World Cup 2006
• USC Public Diplomacy
• Anholt Nation Brands Index
• Branding Greece: Greece as a Brand The non-governmental Greek project for national branding
• Nation-Branding.info Portal with nation branding news and articles
• Association for Place Branding and Public Diplomacy website