Understanding National Image

Abstract

One of the components of brand management that is most valuable to governments in creating their longer-term plans is the analysis of brand image, and this process of assessing, measuring and tracking national image and reputation – if suitably adapted for the purposes of national rather than corporate image – is a key component of the Competitive Identity strategy. Given the growing importance of the field, it’s no longer good enough to venture opinions about which nation’s brand image is stronger than another, which is declining and which is on the rise; and, more importantly, it is not acceptable for governments to be spending taxpayers’ and donors’ money on an exercise that can’t be measured, tracked, or made accountable. It was for these reasons that I launched the Nation Brands Index,5 the first analytical study of ordinary people’s perceptions of the brand images of countries. I quoted earlier from J.P. Morgan: “A man always buys something for two reasons: a good reason, and the real reason.” It seemed to me that there were hundreds of surveys looking at the good reasons why people might choose to invest in a certain country, buy its products, go on holiday there, respect its government or take an interest in its culture and heritage, but nothing that explained the real reasons: those instantaneous, emotional, deep-rooted good or bad feelings that we all have about places. In short, there was plenty of information about what ought to go on in people’s heads but nothing to tell us what goes on in their hearts. So each quarter I poll a sample of the 5 million consumers in the worldwide online panel run by Global Market Insite in Seattle, and track their perceptions of the cultural, political, commercial and human assets, investment potential and tourist appeal of 36 developed and developing countries. This adds up to an index of national brand power, a barometer of global preference. The ranking of the top ten countries in the final 2005 survey were as shown overleaf.