O Canada - Our Country Brand Ranking # 6 - We can do Better!

The Country Brand Index 2007 is out and Canada ranked 6th (not all that bad considering that there are over 200 countries in the world). Congrats to Australia the country that came out on top of everyone else. I am green with envy, but hey the Aussies do have a great brand and a great place to visit. But back to Canada.

In the rankings published by Futurebrand.com (a brand building company with offices around the world) Canada scored well in various attributes as follows:

5th in resort and lodging options

2nd in providing diverse activities and offerings for families

3d in best conditions, terrain and topography for land or water sports

4th in striking topography and physical assets (how can this be? New Zealand, Australia and the Maldives scored higher)

7th in environmental responsibility/practices

10th in the ideal array of rejuvenation and tranquil activities

2nd in considered most stable and secure (safety) We used to be #1, but New Zealand has bumped us to 2nd (we better get our act together eradicating gangs in our major cities or we will lose more and more ground in this category)

8th in accessible, diverse and abundant retail choices (The US is #1)

7th in a good place to extend a business visit

8th in preferred off-site/convention destination

2nd in friendly locals (Australia took 1st place)
3d in welcoming and facilitating business culture (US again #1 here)

1st in where most people would choose to live, outside of their home country

While our showing is not really bad, I think Canada can do much better. It will take time, but perhaps Canada's leadership in Tourism 2.0 (RadarDDB and the CTC's strategies to spread the word about Canada and Canadian destinations and be part of the conversations about Canada in cyberspace and in people's offline lives) and the publicity around the 2010 Games in BC will do the trick. Areas of big concern: we did not make it to the top ten in the Authenticity, Fine Dining and Nightlife categories. OK Nightlife would be a stretch given the competition and the cultural differences with other destinations when it comes to partying - e.g. #1 Spain, #2 USA, #3 Brazil, #6 Australia, #7 UK and #8 Mexico - but fine dining in Canada has come a long way in the last 10 years - and if the United Kingdom made it to 6th place in this category, wel my gosh, we must do better - pass me the poutine!

If you want to learn more about the Country Brand Index visit their website.

Cheers,

Jaime