Anholt-GMI Nation Brands Index: World Consumers Vote Yes On American Business - No On American...

SEATTLE -- Expanded Second Anholt-GMI Nation Brands Index Ranks Power and Appeal of 25 Nations - America Ranks #1 Country to Do Business, but the Absolute Worst #25, on Cultural Heritage

The latest quarterly findings of the Anholt-GMI Nation Brand Index (NBI) reveal that the United States

is the best place to expand business operations, but severely lacks in cultural heritage, coming in last after such countries as Canada and New Zealand. The U.S. also ranked high in brands and exports, coming in second after Germany. Overall, the U.S. ranked eleventh out of 25, whereas Australia is first and Canada is second in the NBI.

The U.S. rankings indicate that "Brand America" is still envied, but the love affair is waning. The NBI finds that the country is still recognized as the leading place to do business, the home of desirable brands and popular culture and an attractive tourist destination. What surprises Anholt are the low scores for cultural heritage and people, which can have grave consequences for business.

"In many respects the low culture score is more disturbing and more unexpected than the low governance score because it provides a real indication of how the world truly views American society, American people and the American spirit," said Simon Anholt, NBI co-author and leading expert on nation branding. "To be a top nation brand it not only helps if you are a liberal, Western democracy, but also perceived as being neutral. Australia replacing Sweden as the top brand could come down to Australia's brand image being more Swedish than even Sweden itself."

U.S. Global Rankings in All Areas

Investment & Immigration Overall   3
       Live & Work                 7
       Expand Business             1
Tourism                            6
People                             5
       Hiring                      5
       Hospitality                13
Cultural & Heritage Overall       21
       Popular Culture             4
       Cultural Heritage          25
Governance                        16
Exports - Brands/Products          2

Anholt concludes: "Nation brand is an important concept in today's world. A powerful and positive nation brand provides a crucial competitive advantage in the global marketplace, where countries compete with each other for the attention, respect and trust of investors, tourists, consumers, donors, immigrants, the governments of other nations and the media."

"The NBI is just one example of how technology can help poll a broad base of the world's population to get an accurate reading on something as important as global opinion of nation brands," said Mitch Eggers, Ph.D, chief operating officer and demographer of GMI. "As this becomes one of the world's largest regular polls, gauging consumer attitudes in detail and quality, the more valuable it will become as a tool to help governments and organizations develop a plan of action to address these strongly held perceptions."

For more information and full rankings, visit

http://www.nationbrandindex.com/

About Anholt-GMI Nation Brands Index

Each quarter GMI polls 10,000 consumers from its worldwide five million-strong market research panel on their perceptions of the cultural, political, commercial and human assets, investment potential and tourist appeal of several countries. The gathered data is designed to get a clear measurement of national brand power and is a unique barometer of global opinion.

Consumers in the following countries were polled about their opinion on these nation brands: USA, UK, India, Germany, South Korea, Canada, France, Japan, Denmark and China. Representative samples of 1,000 consumers (3% margin of error) were collected in each country for a total of 10,000 consumers surveyed. Consumers were not asked questions about their own country.

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 recognized 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.

GMI (Global Market Insite, Inc.)

Global Market Insite (GMI) is the only company that provides a full spectrum of integrated solutions for global market research, including Net-MR advanced software, managed global panels, and service bureau capabilities. GMI's double opt-in managed panels are the world's largest, with more than 200 participating countries and five million respondents. Its customers include the world's largest market research companies and Fortune 500 companies. Founded in 1999, GMI has operations on five continents. More information is available at www.gmi-mr.com.