It’s not a chocolate bar or favourite shop, but the place you live has a nation brand, just like companies and products.
This is the premise of the Anholt Ipsos Nation Brands Index, which has been assessing how citizens of the world view its nations, cities and regions since 2008. And it finds that Germany tops the ranking of 60 economies for the fifth year in a row in 2021.
The Index measures the power and quality of the nation brand of each country by looking at six factors: exports, governance, culture, tourism, people, and immigration and investment.
Germany is the nation brand winner
It’s the seventh time overall Germany has topped the rankings.
“Global respondents feel particularly positive about buying German products, the appeal of investing in German businesses, the employability of German people, the German government’s work to fight poverty, and excelling in sports.
Anholt Ipsos Nation Brands Index
The other top 10 places for their brand appeal are Canada, Japan, Italy, United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, the United States, Sweden and Australia.
My Takeaway
I moved to Germany in 2012 (after living 8 years in Shanghai, China), and I have to admit I didn’t know much about what life was like here. We all learn about the key historical figures and dates (Gutenberg’s Bible, Martin Luther’s Protestant Reform, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony) but that’s it.
After landing here, I discovered that the wealth of its nation brand comes from its strong principles and ethics, like a Social Market Economy, how it champions Small and Medium Businesses, a progressive taxation system protects the poor.
