Advertise On EU-Digest

Annual Advertising Rates

2/27/06

Expatica: Holland 'brand' 10th in ranking of financial value

For the full report go to Expatica

Holland 'brand' 10th in ranking of financial value

AMSTERDAM — The Dutch see Holland as the number one country brand, while a new survey of 35 countries puts the Holland brand in 12th place. Britain is the world's top national brand, according to the fourth edition of the Anholt Nations Brand Index. The survey was created by Simon Anholt and is conducted by Global Market Insite (GMI).

This survey covers the first quarter of 2005. GMI said the index, launched at the beginning of last year, is the first analytical ranking of the world's nation brands. It questions a worldwide panel of almost 26,000 consumers every quarter on their perceptions of the cultural, political, commercial and human assets, investment potential and tourist appeal of 35 developed and developing countries.The top ten countries in the list of nation brands are: the UK, Switzerland, Canada, Italy, Sweden, Germany, Japan, France, Australia and the United States. Turkey is at the bottom of the list. Simon Anholt notes the tendency of the top 15 countries - the top 10 plus Spain, Holland, Noway, Denmark and New Zealand – to see themselves as the number one brand. He ponders whether the much lower self-rankings of the less powerfully branded countries is simply a realistic appraisal of the country's modest assets or is a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. "It is noticeable that the two countries in the bottom 20 that do buck the trend and rank themselves first are also two of the fastest-growing economies: India (26) and Ireland (17)." While Holland is just outside the overall top 10 country brands, its showing does not indicate it has a huge appeal. "Holland's ranking is still mainly due to the lack of negatives and the rather generic positives (which all the wealthy, democratic European countries appear to acquire by default) rather than anything more exciting or positive," Anholt said. or the first time the report measures country brands in monetary terms. Not surprisingly the US is the undisputed winner in this category, with an estimated value of USD 17,893 billion.

Japan comes second with an estimated value of USD 6,205 billion. Germany is third with on USD 4,582 billion. The UK is fourth place on USD 3,475 billion. Holland as a brand name is worth USD 792 billion (EUR 664 billion), putting it in 10th place in this list.

No comments: