BrandFinance has recently released a new report, ranking the value of nation brands around the world. The research called ‘BrandFinance Nation Brands’ revealed that the value of nation brands continues to grow at a faster pace than GDP, with a 13% rise in the total brand value of the top 100 countries in the world.
Several countries performed well on the study, with Switzerland, United Kingdom, Ireland, Sri Lanka, and Turkey experiencing significant growth. Here is an overview of the findings.
Research Findings
Statistics from BrandFinance reveal that the United States, the world's number 1 nation brand, and China, the number 2, are responsible for much of the growth, with their value increasing by 23% and 26% respectively. Despite their debt ceiling and the recent government shutdown, the United States dominates the rest of the world, with a nation brand greater in value than China, the UK, Germany, France and Japan combined.
Switzerland, now the 14th most valuable brand, has beaten Singapore to become the strongest nation brand in the world, with a score of 76 on the Brand Strength Index, or BSI. Their brand value growth was valued at 9%.
The UK performed well according to the research, and is now valued as the world's 4th biggest brand, with 8% growth. A number of high-profile global events like the London Olympics and the Queen's Jubilee have contributed to their placing.
While Britain's growth was deemed as impressive, Japan's brand dropped in value by 11%, with the country making fifth place on the list. Fallout from the tsunami in 2011, and the economic competition from other technology exporting nations like South Korea are given as reasons for their falling in the rankings.
Success Stories
Other successes include Sri Lanka, who grew up 46%, Kazakhstan, who grew by 37%, and New Zealand, with 36% growth. Turkey and Australia also did well, with 41% and 32% growth respectively. Turkey has performed well across a number of criteria, including people and skills, goods and services, investment, and tourism, despite criticism over certain domestic economic policies.
Ireland was one of the countries hit the hardest by the recession but has since turned a corner, attracting investments thanks to skilled English-speaking workforce and a favorable tax regime in place.
Sri Lanka continues to build on the confidence and stability brought on by their peace dividend, making it the top mover in the tourism criterion on the BrandFinance Nation Brand Impact Framework. The country rose 18 points in the tourism input.
Methodology
The BrandFinance Nation Brands 100 details the value that a nation can add to a country through four criteria which are of interest to business leaders and governments. The study measures the value and strength of nation brands using a royalty relief method in order to ascertain the most valuable countries.
The comprehensive report uses a number of factors to come up with the results, including monitoring economic and political trends. Each nation brand was awarded with a brand rating, used to measure the financial strength of a nation. Similar to a credit rating, each nation brand was assigned a rating between AAA, indicating a very strong brand, to DDD, indicating a failing brand, to make up the Brand Finance Brand Strength Index. Meanwhile, nations were compared on a number of "inputs", such as tourism, product, talent, and investment, making up 33% of the overall BSI. Other factors make up the BSI, including the efficiency of a country's workforce, their ability to attract foreign investment and workers, quality of life, and their projected GDP growth in the future.
Brand Finance combined consensus forecasts, analyst projections and government statistics and quantified these variables and assigned each country with an overall brand rating. Four segments are used to come up with the Brand Finance Brand Impact, used to identify the potential economic value within a country's nation brand. These segments are people and skills, tourism, investment, and products and services, and each have a vital role in improving a nation brand's ability to enhance their GDP growth.
Top 10 Most Valuable Nation Brands:
1/ United States
2/ China
3/ Germany
4/ United Kingdom
5/ Japan
6/ France
7/ Canada
8/ Brazil
9/ India
10/ Australia