Survey on Brand Japan published

Following the March 11 disaster, Interbrand conducted a survey to understand changes in the way “Brand Japan” is perceived overseas. The survey looked at changes in perceptions about Japan before and after the disaster among consumers in the United States, the United Kingdom, and China. The survey covered five industries: automotive, consumer electronics, cosmetics and…

Japan’s involuntary re-branding

Japan’s reputation as a safe and efficiently-governed country has been negatively altered since the multiple disasters of March this year, but it would be a myopic mistake to think that things were fine before then. The truth is that Japan’s image has been taking a beating from well before that day when the Earth moved…

Top Gear – Mexico episode highlights power of nation brands

The recent episode about BBC’s motor show Top Gear’s remarks on Mexico, Mexicans and Mexican products highlights the sometimes under-valued power of nation brands. The episode vividly showed to what extent countries are haunted by stereotypes and cliches, and how commercial brands and products are many times judged by their country of origin rather than…

Defining a post-crisis nation brand for Ireland

We’ve touched the issue of before (see our ‘Economic crisis may force countries to re-brand’ post). Small economies like Dubai, Greece and Iceland among others have undergone massive preassures in the last couple of years, and their image, their nation brand so to speak, has been more or less damaged. More recently, Ireland has been…

Belarus to discuss nation branding

As one could intuitively tell, Belarus has several image issues. But Belarusians have noted that the country’s image is sometimes more a liability than an asset, and want to turn the situation upside down. In order to discuss nation branding approaches to improve Belarus’ international image, a forum will be held on November 25-26 in…