Stronger as a Whole

For the second quarter of 2006, we decided to devote the 'guest slot' not to a country, but to the European Union (EU). 14 of the 25 EU member states are already included in the NBI, so we have a clear picture of how they rank as individual 'brands', but no sense of worldwide attitudes towards 'Brand Europe' as a whole. Therefore this quarter, we chose to use GMI's extensive panel of consumers around the world to measure Europe's brand health.

From the point-of-view of our 25,903 consumers in 35 countries, a large and diverse region is a rather different proposition than a nation-state. Accordingly, it is more difficult to offer general opinions about it. Nonetheless, a fascinating picture emerges of how the world sees Europe.

The clear verdict is: very favorably indeed. Some may find this to be a surprising result, especially those within Europe itself, where the EU is not always thought of as an admired global brand. In fact, the European Union takes first place in the ranking of 'nation' brands in the NBI above the United Kingdom, which was the previous quarter's top scorer. The region scores no top rankings on any of the individual points of the Nation Brand Hexagon, but its performance is sufficiently strong and consistent to give it a higher overall score than any of the other 35 countries in the list.

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Nation Branding Master Class
September 8^th, 2006 | Langham Hotel | London
Presented by the inter national ist and BBC World
Powered by GMI

Strong country, city and regional brands attract investment, manufacturing, political influence and tourism. Many places spend significant amounts on advertising and media to enhance their potential in the world, when they could benefit more from using place branding research to uncover their strengths and successfully transform their image. Countries, regions and cities need to compete in the global market by building their brands.

The Nation Branding Master Class is essential for businesses and governments in emerging and industrial countries; for people in the international development sector; for marketers and ad agencies with any place, travel or development accounts; and for anyone who is interested in practical solutions for branding countries, cities or regions. Tourist boards, industrial development groups, and hotel and business consortiums can all directly benefit from this class as well.

To register now, click here.

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The "Data, Dogma and Division" roundtable, hosted by Baroness Falkner of Margravine and held at the House of Lords in London on July 18th, was a lively debate. The discussion centered on the results of a new study powered by GMI on behalf of Dr. Colin Irwin from the Institute of Governance, Queen's University, Belfast; the Institute of Irish Studies, University of Liverpool; and Ms. Shaista Gohir from Muslim Voice UK, an online polling organization that aims to bring Muslim opinion in the UK to the fore to foster a greater understanding of UK Muslims. A representative sample of 1,360 UK respondents (ages 18+), including 506 Muslims, were surveyed online from April 13th to May 2nd, 2006 on their attitudes and experience of Islamophobia, discrimination and integration, the Muslim community, relations between the West and Muslim states, and extremism and the "war on terror".

Dr. Colin Irwin and Ms. Shaista Gohir respectively analyzed the results of the research and subsequently produced their own separate reports and recommendations.

Dr. Colin Irwin makes the point that the UK Government is failing to learn and apply lessons learned from the Northern Ireland peace process to how it could better manage Muslim affairs in the UK. He said: "A failure to identify and deal with the problems at the heart of conflicts can lead to increased violence as the UK Government knows from the Troubles. Employing methods pioneered in Northern Ireland, regular peace polling that puts under the microscope both problems and solutions to relations between communities, can help develop policies that will progress understanding and stability..."

Ms. Shaista Gohir sets out a Ten-Point Action Plan based on the research. Recommendations include: action by the Muslim community and police; breaking down barriers to integration and misunderstandings; tackling discrimination and Islamophobia; measures to deal with extremism; reviewing foreign policy; protecting human rights and more responsible reporting by the media.

For the executive summaries and full versions of both reports, click here.

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