Nation Brand Index (NBI), a Roper global survey asking people what they think of the United States of America and other nations (based on Exports, Governance, Culture, People, Tourism and Immigration/Investment) was eye-opening. Brand USA came in at No. 7, barely into the list of the G7 peers overall, reports Media Daily.
Xiaoyan Zhao, senior VP and director of the study, says that even before our current crisis, the world had judged our economic condition as "declining." Fifteen percent of respondents said so--twice as much as the percentage that said the same of the world's advanced economies. Zhao called it "a little alarming."
For the first time, the 2008 Anholt-GfK Roper NBI involved GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media--a division of GfK Custom Research North America. Zhao said comparisons with the two previous studies would be out of line, since this year respondents included a "more balanced example of developed and underdeveloped countries."
Germany is viewed as the best overall "brand," receiving the highest ranking of the 50 nations measured, followed by France, UK, Canada, Japan, Italy, U.S., Switzerland, Australia and Sweden.
"Our environmental record also is not good," says Zhao. "We would expect to see technology breakthroughs and America bringing solutions to the world, but we rank very low in terms of behaving responsibly [in terms of] protecting the environment."
On the plus side, our country’s economic power is still recognized. The U.S. ranks second only to Japan in the Exports aspect. "Part of a country's reputation comes from export, economic prowess," Zhao says, adding this note of caution: "National image does not change overnight. Image is something that you guard very, very closely. Citizens of the world don't look at a given country's performance on a daily basis. Our economic power is still recognized, as is the quality of our products and services."
