Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index published its 2014 results a couple of days ago. I guess it is that time of the year that scholars start sharing their views on the issue. Nick Cull recently did so on CPD Blog, and let me chime in as well.
This year’s report backs up my two biggest concerns about the index:
1- Are we measuring perception or performance (or exposure)?
2- What do the rankings actually mean?
What if Germany scored 8 goals against Brazil?
Today, I went to the press conference organized by the Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index (NBI) to unveil their latest survey, NBI 2011. With the United States being at the top of the list third year in a row, NBI listed a total of 50 countries’ brands. In the table below, you can see the top 10 countries from 2008 to 2011.
As I have mentioned earlier, I have several doubts about NBI as a robust measurement scale. Below, I’ll try to organize my ideas under three headings:
– What is NBI good for? When should NBI be used?
– Why doesn’t NBI measure ‘nation brands’?
– Why is NBI’s understanding of nation brands incomplete (if not entirely wrong)?
Reaching the Public 