Nation Brand Index: the United States conquers the first place

The results of the 2009 survey were presented by Simon Anholt at TTG Incontri, the business to business tourism exhibition in Rimini, Italy 

The Obama effect rewards the USA. During his presentation at TTG Incontri, Simon Anholt, brand management guru, illustrated the ranking of the most loved (and most hated) country brands in the world. 

October 2009 – The 2009 edition of the Nation Brand Index, with substantial novelties at the top of the ranking, was presented at TTG Incontri, the main business to business tourism exhibition in Rimini. The United States has conquered the first place, gaining six positions compared to the previous year. A surprising result, rewarding the election of Barack Obama as President. 

Germany loses two places and is now third, whereas France confirms its second place. Italy, confirms its sixth place after the United Kingdom and Japan. 


“The United States' great result is to be attributed mainly to the popularity of President Barack Obama, who allowed the country to regain the trust that had been lost during the Bush administration - Simon Anholt stated during the seminar at TTG Incontri . The USA has always been perceived as having a very strong image, and in 2009 it reasserted its status as a leading country”. 

As for Italy, the result confirms the strengths and weaknesses of the country. The judgement is extremely positive as for tourism (first absolute place), culture and the friendliness of the people, whereas negative data is reported as for economy, politics and education. 

The resulting outline is that of a country exerting a strong appeal on the rest of the world, but with steady declining trends. “The most flattering judgements come from India, Brazil and South Korea, countries that are geographically and culturally distant, with no deep knowledge of Italy”. A trend that is confirmed by the negative opinions expressed by nearer countries such as France and the United Kingdom. 

The Nation Brand Index is based upon a sample of 20 thousand people from 20 different countries, representing 60% of the population and 77% of the economy. 

Once gathered, the data is organised into six macro-categories: exportations, governance, culture, population, tourism, immigration and investments: each category makes up a symbolic geometric model named Nation Brand Hexagon. 

Thus we discover that the technologically advanced products from Japan and Germany hugely contributed to the affirmation of these countries' image. As for politics, Canada and Switzerland enjoy an unparalleled reputation about the treatment of their citizens and the safeguard of human rights. 

Culture is an important variable of the Index. An area of excellence in Italy, where the need for the country to innovate and propose new cultural models is however apparent. “Culture does not only mean history and glories of the past – Anholt explains. The popular culture plays an important role in the perception of a country: just think of Hollywood, the best advertising agency for the US brand”. 

The Nation Brand Index is therefore an important tool for the world of tourism, it allows to understand the current trends and the prospects for the future. A model finding its full shape in the Nation Brand Hexagon, visual synthesis of the strengths and weaknesses of each country: a perfectly balanced hexagon for Germany and the United Kingdom, unbalanced as for politics and economy for Italy and Spain, and strongly asymmetric for Japan and China. 

Culture and economy aside, Beijing shares an embarrassing primacy with another nation: Iran, ranking last in almost all categories of the Index. 


“This is a proof of how, in spite of a millenarian cultural tradition, political and social factors exert a fundamental influence on the perception of the image of a country in the world”. 

As a conclusion to his presentation at TTG Incontri, Simon Anholt proposed some useful suggestions to relaunch brand Italy: “Actively taking part in the global debate on the environment, developing a deeper interest in innovation and learning English: this is the world's operating system”. 


For information: 

TTG Italia Spa – Press office: Sabina Fornasari, Elisabetta Bertalot; press@ttgitalia.com; 0039 011 4366300 ext. 4