It’s Official - Australia is the Friendliest Nation in the World

SYDNEY, Australia (27 October, 2005) - Today Australia has been awarded the title of ‘The World’s Friendliest Nation’ according to the latest Anholt Nation Brands Index (NBI).

Despite the majority of the 10,000 consumers questioned having a soft spot for their homeland, the Aussies were seen as the friendliest folk across the board. We are viewed as mild, moderate and with remarkably few quirks or eccentricities – suggesting that Dame Edna and Steve Irwin have not impacted our reputation overseas!

The Anholt Nation Brands Index is the first analytical ranking of the world’s nation brands. The poll, taken each quarter in 25 developed and developing countries, measures the power and appeal of a nation’s brand image, and identifies how consumers around the world see the character and personality of the brand.

Simon Anholt, a world authority on nation brands and co-founder of the NBI with Internet-based market research solutions provider GMI, was not surprised that most countries ranked their homeland as number one in the poll.

“One of the basic rules of branding in the commercial field is that for a company to build a successful and powerful brand, its employees need to believe in the brand too. The same is surely true for countries: the people of a country are important ambassadors of their homeland, and if they don’t believe in the brand themselves, it doesn’t seem very likely that anybody else will.”

Australians on Australia

• Aussies rate themselves number one in Investment & Immigration, People, Exports, Tourism and Culture & Heritage
• We aren’t very impressed with John Howard – we only rank our government at number three
• ‘Locally produced food’ is a critical factor in Australians’ buying decisions
• Overall, Aussies seem to relate most to the Poms, Canadians, Americans and Kiwis

Australians on the rest of the world

• Interestingly, the Aussies see the Americans as the most cultured nation. It seems the likes of 50 Cent, Bow Wow and Mariah Carey are our cultural icons
• The polls show that Canada would be our first choice as a second home as it appears Canadians are our closest friends
• Aussies rate New Zealand as a country which is “competently, honestly and fairly governed”
• Aussies rank themselves number one in exports, however seem to be open and willing to learn from the Japanese

Other interesting findings from the NBI include:

• The UK, Australia and Canada form a very closely knit trio of mutual admirers – Australia’s top three country brands are Australia, the UK and Canada; Canada’s are Canada, the UK and Australia; the UK’s are the UK, Canada and Australia.
• The Americans, uniquely, put their own country first in every single category of the NBI – whether Exports, Governance, Culture & Heritage, People, Tourism or Investment & Immigration. This highly positive self-view is in stark contrast to the views of many other countries, who tend to rank the United States outside the top 10 in most categories except the ‘hard’ categories of export brands and investment potential.
• The Canadians rank their own country first in every category except culture, where they award first place to the Americans, second to the French, and third to themselves. The Canadians’ self-esteem is a more realistic reflection of the way their country is seen by the rest of the world: Canada regularly gets top-5 rankings in many categories from most other countries.
• The Russians present a fascinating mixture of nationalistic fervour and political despair: they rank themselves top in the world for tourism, culture, people, investment & immigration climate, and even fifth in the world for the quality of their branded exports. Yet, they rank themselves last – 25th out of 25 – for governance. In short, the Russians see themselves as the best people in the world living in the best country in the world, only held back by the worst government in the world.

Notes to Editors:
For more information, go to:
http://www.nationbrandindex.com/
http://www.gmi-mr.com/gmipoll

About the Anholt Nation Brands Index
The Q3 Anholt Nation Brands Index was conducted August 08-17, 2005 on the GMI Poll Platform (www.gmipoll.com), which provides integrated solutions for global public opinion polling research. A 1,000 representative sample (3% margin of error) based on age, gender, and where applicable geographical region, race and ethnicity were collected in each country. For further information about the Anholt Nation Brands Index methodology, please contact GMI, Inc. at http://www.gmi-mr.com/contact/.

About GMI
GMI (Global Market Insite, Inc.) is the only company that provides a complete integrated solution for global Internet-based market research. This includes Net-MR, a suite of software tools to manage and automate research throughout the project lifecycle, 24/7 service bureau capabilities and highly profiled, double opt-in managed panels. GMI offers one of the world’s largest panels, spanning across 200 countries, more than any other supplier. Founded in 1999 with world headquarters in Seattle, Wash., GMI has operations on five continents.

More information is available at www.gmi-mr.com.

About Simon Anholt
Anholt developed the concept of the Nation Brands Index in 2005, and the first Index was published in April 2005. He is recognised as one of the world’s leading authorities on the branding of countries, regions and cities. Anholt advises a number of national governments and UN agencies on brand strategy, public diplomacy, cultural relations, investment and export promotion, tourism and economic development. He is the editor of the quarterly journal, Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, and the author of Brand New Justice, Brand America and several other books.

Download the Q3 NBI Report now.

NBI Q3 Australia Press Release
NBI Q3 Chinese Press Release
NBI Q3 French Press Release
NBI Q3 German Press Release
NBI Q3 Japanese Press Release
NBI Q3 UK Press Release
NBI Q3 USA Press Release

For further information and a copy of the report, please contact:

Vicki Cook/Karen Masters
Upstream Australia Upstream Australia
Tel: (02) 9377 1121 Tel: (02) 9377 1120
vicki@upstreamaustralia.com / karen@upstreamaustralia.com