This article was originally published alongside the Brand Finance Nation Brand Value 2026 ranking and subsequently included in the Brand Finance Global Soft Power Index 2026.
Chairman,
Brand Finance
In 2005, Brand Finance was asked by Simon Anholt, the independent policy adviser and academic, who pioneered nation and place branding, to build on his annual perceptual research study into nation brands by putting a dollar value on the nation brands covered by his research.
Simon wanted this because, while his perceptual research made interesting reading for governmental policy makers, he felt that hard dollar values are much more likely to shift the investment behaviour of politicians. If a strong nation brand can demonstrably increase tourism, trade, talent attraction, and foreign direct investment, thereby increasing GDP, wealth and tax revenues then his advice about how to build nation brands would be more readily accepted.
By 2026 we will have been putting dollar values on individual nation brands for 22 years and we think it is interesting to see the trends in nation brand building which have developed over the period.
Firstly, it is very noticeable that most nations, not just in the developed world, now regularly refer to nation brand building and seem clear that it is possible to improve national pride, social cohesion, stability and economic growth by developing and investing in strong nation, city, and place brands.
Incredible India, Malaysia Truly Asia, 100% Pure New Zealand, Germany – Simply Inspiring, Make it iconic – Choose France, Made in China to Created in China, Singapore – Passion Made Possible, Innovation is GREAT in the UK, and Pura Vida in Costa Rica are just a few of the straplines created over the years to spearhead nation brand campaigns. Some are just tourism related but others cover more of the four key economic effects.
Recognition that nation branding drives economic growth is now universal although some countries have gone further and faster towards creating nation brand organizations with the full suite of marketing tools at their disposal and budgets to match. South Korea, New Zealand, UAE, Saudi Arabia, China, and many developing countries are investing heavily in building nation brands.
Brand Finance now runs the most extensive perceptual research study of nation brands – Global Soft Power Index – to drive the results of its Nation Brand Value study and it is notable that those countries which have structured their marketing in a professional way, and have invested properly and consistently, have performed particularly well economically over the last 22 years.
Investment is not just in communications spend but also in major initiatives, including cultural, sporting, and business events and festivals, such as the FIFA World Cup, the Olympics, Cannes Festivals, World Economic Forum in Davos etc.
Brand Finance has run a Nation Brand Forum in London nearly every year for the last 20 years and it is notable that the audiences have developed from interested policy advisers and diplomatic staff to professional destination marketing officers and place brand experts.
We expect to see this trend accelerate not least because there is increasing evidence that a strong nation brand with appropriate values and associations has a direct impact on the success of national corporate brands seeking to export and grow abroad.
Germany is known for engineering, Britain for education, Denmark for pharma, China for technology, France for luxury, India for IT, and Italy for food and drink. Nation brand activities reinforce a virtuous circle where the nation brand elevates the individual brands and vice versa.
The hard part is now for policy makers and their marketing colleagues to segment the world and profile the activities and industries in their countries to decide on an overarching positioning and marketing plan to craft the nation and place brand strategy to grow economic activity in the most effective way. In a complex environment where there are multiple products and services and there are nearly 200 target countries it is incumbent on place brand marketers to make choices.
This is where Brand Finance’s detailed analysis of perceptual strengths, drivers insight, and economic impact can be helpful for targeting polices in the best possible way. Many destination management organisations now use our data to refine and direct their marketing to reap the greatest rewards from their nation and place brand campaigns.
