Global Survey Confirms Britain as The Reluctant European
Anholt Nation Brands Index Reveals Gulf in Attitudes with Britons Ranking Japan Ahead of its European Partners as Top Nation Brands
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London, October 27th 2005 - The UK Government has long recognised the importance of promoting Brand Britain abroad and the UK’s current presidency of the EU further strengthens its position as a modern nation. However, the latest Anholt Nation Brands Index (NBI), a worldwide survey of consumers’ perceptions of 25 nations, found the British still regarding themselves as ‘reluctant Europeans’ who rank English-speaking, and particularly Commonwealth states and even Japan, above their European neighbours as the most favoured nations.
The NBI, which polled a 10,000-strong global panel for perceptions about the commercial, political and cultural assets of 25 nations, found that the 1000 UK respondents heavily favoured Commonwealth states such as Australia and Canada when asked about nations’ political, social, cultural and commercial appeal. Canada and Australia also strongly favoured each other and the UK in their rankings. This suggests that Britain is closer to its allies and attitudes of 50 years ago than to its modern, European contemporaries, and that these opinions are even more deep-set than previously thought.
By contrast, most other European countries show either a preference for or strong ‘comfort’ level with their direct European neighbours. They include five, six or seven European countries in their Top Ten Nation Brands; the UK only lists three EU members in its Top Ten, one of which is Ireland. The UK panel also ranked France, Germany and Spain lower than most other countries did. The UK put France at 14th; the UK put Germany 8th overall.
Interestingly, Britons have a more favourable view of Japan (ranked number six) than any of its European neighbours including Ireland. The least favoured nation for the British is South Korea despite its growth as a major supplier of popular consumer technology in the UK.
The survey also asked respondents to rate their own national brand. The champions of self-esteem were the USA and Canada. The USA ranks itself top in every category including Culture and Heritage. Other nations including Britain rate themselves highly. There are exceptions with Polish respondents ranking their country 12th in the world.
However, national politicians can’t be complacent. Several countries including the UK, whose quality of government and politics is highly rated by foreigners, ranked their own governments and political process lower than outsiders do. Incidentally, the British continue to rank the USA a lowly 14th for quality of government.
The NBI also found a very polarised view of Britain globally. Britain was ranked either 2nd or 3rd overall by countries such as Canada, the USA, Japan, Austria, Holland, South Korea and Russia, confirming the strength of the British brand. In stark contrast, Germany, France, Mexico and Brazil ranked Britain between 8th and 11th place.
Simon Anholt, creator of the Anholt Nation Brands Index with Internet-based market research solutions provider GMI, explains: “It is not surprising that the UK is a reluctant European and some popular prejudices are confirmed by the NBI polling. But, the depth of antipathy is striking when the UK’s opinion of its closest neighbours is so much lower than the global average despite closer geographic, political and economic ties with Europe. Brand Britain itself does well in the rest of the world, but the worldview of the British remains oddly old-fashioned”.
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 Simon Anholt
Simon 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. He advises a number of national governments including the UK government and UN agencies on brand strategy, public diplomacy, cultural relations, investment and export promotion, tourism and economic development. He is editor of the quarterly journal, Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, and the author of Brand New Justice, Brand America and several other books.
For more information, go to:
http://www.nationbrandindex.com/
http://www.gmi-mr.com/gmipoll
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 http://www.gmi-mr.com.
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
Media contacts:
Helen Ablett/ Sebastian Townsend
GBC
+44 (0) 208 322 1922
helena@gbc.co.uk/ sebastiant@gbc.co.uk
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