Germany has been named the country using the best "brand image" according to a new study of 50 countries. The USA, which held the name before has been leapfrogged by it. The Nation Brands Index, conducted in conjunction with separate policy advisor Simon Anholt, conducts what it says is the world's most comprehensive worldwide nation branding survey, combining six dimensions: government, exports, people, culture & heritage, tourism, and investment and immigration. It considers factors such as how folks perceive the wellbeing, business environment, tolerance as well as the public picture of a nation's products and services of a country. The poll measured "the power and quality of every nation's 'brand image," according to DW.com.
Talking to The Independent, Anholt said: "You will find more than 50 announcements about each of the 50 nations in the index, reflecting views on their landscape, people, tourist attraction, economy, government, educational system, goods, culture, and more besides. Each year to around 20,000 people in 20 countries, picked using UN data to pick a typical sample of the general population, we have delivered this questionnaire because 2005. It is used by more than 40 governments who want to keep track of the country's international standing." Although the US dropped all the way from first, Germany moved up having been second in 2016. This was attributed in part to the "Trump effect" - the notion that Donald Trump's policies and personality may have harmed America's image overseas. The USA slipped from 19 to 23 for "governance" - something which the survey said was because of the Trump effect. Sigmar Gabriel, Germany's Foreign Minister, was very happy with the result, stating: "Germany's picture no longer rests on our economic strength. People today believe we're capable of much on earth." On the USA's decrease, Anholt told The Independent, "It ends up that we do not mostly respect different nations for being powerful or rich or strong: we mostly admire the states that contribute the most to the planet we live in. That is the reason why I launched the Great Country Indicator. "One of the effects of President Trump's often-repeated America First credo, and the policies that have stemmed from it, would be to send a powerful signal that the US no longer wants to become a Good nation. Therefore it's not surprising that this has damaged the country's standing. That is terrible news for the US when it continues because there is a national standing itself one of the key drivers of commerce, tourism, foreign investment and much else besides. Trump's efforts to boost US trade by focusing on US needs could, paradoxically, have precisely the opposite effect, by reducing the 'brand value' of the nation and consequently everything it sells and does." The United Kingdom remained in the Nation Brands Index at third, despite anxieties over its standing following the Brexit referendum result, while Italy dropped from sixth and France rose to second. Switzerland, Canada, Australia, and Sweden all remained in their 2016 places at fourth, eight, ninth and tenth respectively.
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February 2019
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