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raymikematt posted in a different thread a link to a study done by the Anholt City Brands Index ranking 60 world cities in order of perception by people in the international community. It's a study that was done in 2006, and seems interesting enough to merit it's own thread.
It states that the study was done by surveying "15,255 men and women aged 18-64 from a wide range of income groups in the following countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States."
The 6 areas of a city that the study looked at to make up the City Brand Index were: 1) the presence, 2) the place, 3) the potential, 4) the pulse, 5) the people, 6) the prerequisites.
1) Sydney
2) London
3) Paris
4) Rome 5) New York 6) Washington D.C. 7) San Francisco
8) Melbourne
9) Barcelona
10) Geneva
11) Amsterdam
12) Madrid
13) Montreal
14) Toronto 15) Los Angeles
16) Vancouver
17) Berlin
18) Brussels
19) Milan
20) Copenhagen
21) Munich
22) Tokyo 23) Boston 24) Las Vegas 25) Seattle
26) Stockholm 27) Chicago 28) Atlanta
29) Dublin
30) Edinburgh 31) Philadelphia
32) Oslo
33) Lisborn
34) Prague
35) Singapore
36) Helsinki
37) Hong Kong 38) Dallas 39) New Orleans
40) St. Petersburg
41) Rio de Janeiro
42) Buenos Aires
43) Beijing
44) Seoul
45) Reykjavik
46) Budapest
47) Shanghai
48) Moscow
49) Johannesburg
50) Mexico City
51) Warsaw
52) Havana
53) Jerusalem
54) Bangkok
55) Cairo
56) Dubrovnnik
57) Mumbai
58) Manila
59) Lagos
60) Nairobi
Last edited by tenken627; 08-07-2007 at 12:18 AM..
Surprised that Sydney and San Francisco are so high. Would have expected LA, Tokyo, and Hong Kong to all be higher than they are.
Same here Fuzz.
From what I gather from other people more knowledgable than me, it's not about how well-known a city is, but how it's been marketed to make a well perceived brand name for itself within the international community. Sydney has been doing a good job of that ever since it hosted the Olympics.
If you actually read some of the study, it asked questions such as what kind of reception by the population you would receive if you were a newcomer or if you had a global business, where would you want to locate it. They have some rankings on how people answered on those questions as well.
Here is Simon Anholt's rankings for the 50 states in the United States according to branding or perception by others in the international community as well as by people living in the United States.
The study says it surveyed over 21,000 people in 16 countries on different aspects of each state.
The state brands index criteria, like the city brands index, are: 1) the presence (how big is the brand?), 2) the place (what's it like there?), 3) the potential (what's in it for me?), 4) the pulse (will I have fun?), 5) the people (who lives there?), 6) the prerequisites (how well does it all work?).
Note: The study clearly states that one of the largest mix-ups in global perceptions is that Washington D.C. is the state of Washington, which gives the state a large boost in the overall rankings as well as the different areas. The confusion has also given the state of Washington poor rankings in other categories.
Overall Rankings
1) California
2) Florida
3) Hawaii
4) New York
5) Washington
6) North Carolina
7) Virginia
8) Kentucky
9) Colorado
10) Texas
11) Oregon
12) New Mexico
13) Tennessee
14) Vermont
15) Missouri
16) Alaska
17) South Carolina
18) Montana
19) Nevada
20) Ohio
21) Maine
22) Arizona
23) Maryland
24) Utah
25) Wyoming
26) Connecticut
27) West Virginia
28) Oklahoma
29) Massachussetts
30) New Hampshire
31) Idaho
32) Pennsylvania
33) Georgia
34) Minnesota
25) Rhode Island
36) Kansas
37) Wisconsin
38) Iowa
39) South Dakota
40) Illinois
41) Louisiana
42) Indiana
43) Nebraska
44) Mississippi
45) North Dakota
46) Arkansas
47) Delaware
48) Michigan
49) Alabama
50) New Jersey
In the How The World Views Its Cities report, the caption for Table 1 (page 7) is actually incorrect. It is the same caption as under Table 7, but if you read the text for Table 1 (above), the question asked is really about finding a community of your own language and culture, i.e. a question of diversity, rather than general welcoming/acceptance (which is what Table 7 shows).
It is important to note that many of the questions are subjective, and all the responses are people's perceptions, not necessarily reality. For instance, Table 5 shows the response to "How easy do you think it would be to find affordable accommodation?" Vancouver is 7 places higher than Prague -- that is simply people's perceptions, whereas in reality, Prague may well be cheaper than Vancouver.
A very interesting study nonetheless. It seems that Sydney has really launched a marketing offensive to improve it's image in the world and it seems to have worked -- it places very highly on all fronts.
It would be interesting to know how many respondents there were from each country and how each country's residents voted.
Sydney is on the water, is pretty, and has great weather. San Francisco ranks high because it is in an amazing location, is a great place to visit, and has an amazing economy. The international community (as do most people) values asthetics more than the people on this board.
Could this be any more full of b.s. Are you kidding me? How valid is a list that it doesn't even include Miami or Houston? Two of our nation's top cities? This sample of 15,000 plus people must not know their stuff.
I mean, Boston and Seattle over Chicago??? Atlanta one number under Chicago, itself? Yeah right.
Sydney is on the water, is pretty, and has great weather.
You are right -- Sydney is a great place. My point is that say 5-10 years ago, Sydney was not that big on the international radar screen that it seems to be now, based on that survey. Did Sydney really change that much, or was it people's perceptions?
How valid is a list that it doesn't even include Miami or Houston? Two of our nation's top cities? This sample of 15,000 plus people must not know their stuff.
It is valid because that's what people voted. The questions were very simple, and people answered. Just because respondents to a survey don't agree with you doesn't mean they don't "know their stuff".
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