United Kingdom, Ltd.

Which nation has the top brand name? It seems strange to think of the branding of nations, but upon reflection we do it all the time. When we think of a country like Australia, Iran, Switzerland or Sudan we associate certain positive or negative qualities to each nation.

A recent study reveals that the nations with the top brand names are the following (with apologies to Kevin): (1) United Kingdom; (2) Germany; (3) France; (4) Canada; (5) Switzerland; (6) Sweden; (7) Italy; (8) Australia; (9) Japan; and (10) the United States.

You can download the full report here. The report argues “globalization means that countries compete with each other for the attention, respect and trust of potential cunsumers, investors, tourists, immigrants, the media and governments of other nations.” The brand of a country depends on tourism, exports, governance, investment and immigration, culture and heritage, people, and tourism. The rankings don’t surprise me at all, although I would not rank them in exactly that order.

Incidentally, the same is true of cities. Cities have brand names too, although the top ranked city in the world will probably surprise you. (The answer is below). According to the report, the United States is unusually blessed with cities that have great brand names. Based on a ranking of sixty cities globally, we have four global “megabrand” cities: New York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and San Francisco. We also have five second-tier cities: Boston, Las Vegas, Seattle, Chicago, and Atlanta. (The third-tier cities in the rankings were Philadelphia, Dallas, and New Orleans).

For example, my city of Los Angeles (they don’t rank Malibu) does extremely well in numerous categories. It has a “sun and city” ranking of four, a business ranking of four, a social integration (would I fit in?) ranking of five, a “pulse” (is the city exciting?) ranking of nine, and an overall ranking of fifteen.

Finally, the same organization has a state branding index. Can you guess the top five brand names for U.S. states? (Hint: New Jersey doesn’t make the cut).