When it comes to making a good impression, no one does it better than Singapore.
So says a survey of 200 countries and territories, which ranked the Republic tops in a ‘nation brand perception’ exercise done last year. The first-time study, named the East West Global Index 200 and released last Tuesday, was based on an analysis of news coverage in leading media.
Hong Kong was in second place and Malaysia in third. China ranked 32nd, the United States was in 131st place while Afghanistan rounded up the long list.
East West Communications, a Washington-based consultancy which specialises in nation branding and government communication, analysed references to all the countries and territories in various news sources from the second to last quarter of last year.
Its president Thomas Cromwell said the indexes help a country see how it is viewed in the world compared to other nations.
‘Perceptions drive decision- making. They affect everything from how a country is treated on the world stage, to investment flows, exports and tourism,’ he said in a press statement.
The survey was carried out using an algorithm developed by Ohio-based company Perception Metrics that analyses the tone of articles and identifies if they are positive or negative, based on a dictionary of 16,000 words and phrases.
For example, positive words that are often used to describe a country’s tourism industry are ‘warm’, ‘friendly’ and ‘beautiful’. A score is then tabulated based on the number of good and bad mentions every quarter.
Much can change in a year. The US was ranked 34th in the second quarter of last year, buoyed by the improving situation in Iraq. But as the financial crisis gathered pace, its ranking dropped to 155th in the third quarter.
In 2005, Singapore was also rated among the 10 ‘best country brands’ for doing business and holding conventions, in a study by international brand consultancy FutureBrand and global public relations firm Weber Shandwick.
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Singapore makes best global impression
By Tan Dawn Wei
15 February 2009
When it comes to making a good impression, no one does it better than Singapore.
So says a survey of 200 countries and territories, which ranked the Republic tops in a ‘nation brand perception’ exercise done last year. The first-time study, named the East West Global Index 200 and released last Tuesday, was based on an analysis of news coverage in leading media.
Hong Kong was in second place and Malaysia in third. China ranked 32nd, the United States was in 131st place while Afghanistan rounded up the long list.
East West Communications, a Washington-based consultancy which specialises in nation branding and government communication, analysed references to all the countries and territories in various news sources from the second to last quarter of last year.
Its president Thomas Cromwell said the indexes help a country see how it is viewed in the world compared to other nations.
‘Perceptions drive decision- making. They affect everything from how a country is treated on the world stage, to investment flows, exports and tourism,’ he said in a press statement.
The survey was carried out using an algorithm developed by Ohio-based company Perception Metrics that analyses the tone of articles and identifies if they are positive or negative, based on a dictionary of 16,000 words and phrases.
For example, positive words that are often used to describe a country’s tourism industry are ‘warm’, ‘friendly’ and ‘beautiful’. A score is then tabulated based on the number of good and bad mentions every quarter.
Much can change in a year. The US was ranked 34th in the second quarter of last year, buoyed by the improving situation in Iraq. But as the financial crisis gathered pace, its ranking dropped to 155th in the third quarter.
In 2005, Singapore was also rated among the 10 ‘best country brands’ for doing business and holding conventions, in a study by international brand consultancy FutureBrand and global public relations firm Weber Shandwick.
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