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The Anholt City Brands Index
1. The Anholt City Brands Index
How The World
Views Its Cities
Second Edition, 2006
2. The Anholt City Brands Index
How The World
Views Its Cities
Second Edition, 2006
Cities have always been brands, in the Barcelona is culture, Rio de Janeiro is benefit from a positive brand which
Introduction truest sense of the word. fun, and so on. These are the brands of today they do little to deserve.
cities, and they are inextricably tied to
Famous and successful cities are usually the histories and destinies of all these It is crucial for political and business
associated in people’s minds with a sin- places. leaders to understand the brand of their
gle quality, promise, attribute or story. respective cities, and see how they are
That simple brand narrative can have a In today’s globalised, networked world, viewed by potential visitors, investors,
major impact on people’s decision to every place has to compete with every customers and future citizens around
visit the city, to buy its products or serv- other place for its share of the world’s the world. If the image doesn’t match
ices, to do business or relocate there. consumers, tourists, businesses, invest- up to the reality, they need to decide
ment, capital, respect and attention. what to do in order to close up the gap
All decisions, whether they are as trivial Cities, the economic and cultural between the two.
as buying an everyday product or as powerhouses of nations, are increasingly
How We Measure a City Brand
important as relocating a company, are becoming the focus of this international
partly rational and partly emotional. competition for funds, talent and fame.
No human activity is exempt from this Readers who are familiar with our
rule, and the brand images of cities and Yet the international brand of a city quarterly Anholt Nation Brands Index
countries underpin the emotional part isn’t always accurate or up-to-date – (NBI) (www.nationbrandsindex.com)
of every decision, and also strongly especially when seen from a country on know that nation brands are a complex
affect the rational part. the other side of the planet. Some cities mixture of global perceptions of the
don’t attract much investment or the country’s people, its policies, products,
Paris is romance, Milan is style, New right kind of talent because their brand culture, business climate and tourist
York is energy, Washington is power, isn’t as strong or as positive as it attractions. These six aspects of the
Tokyo is modernity, Lagos is corruption, deserves to be, while other cities still nation brand are summed up in the
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Anholt City Brands Index - Second Edition, 2006 2
4. For the 2006 edition of the Anholt City
Brands Index, we have doubled the
number of cities included in the survey,
from 30 to 60.
The new cities included in the survey
are: Melbourne, Montreal, Vancouver,
Overall Results Copenhagen, Munich, Boston, Las
Vegas, Seattle, Chicago, Atlanta,
Dublin, Philadelphia, Oslo, Lisbon,
Overall Rankings
1 Sydney 31 Philadelphia
2 London 32 Oslo Helsinki, Dallas, New Orleans, St. There are probably two reasons for this
3 Paris 33 Lisbon Petersburg, Buenos Aires, Seoul, change. The first is that Sydney’s brand
4 Rome 34 Prague
Reykjavik, Budapest, Shanghai, Warsaw, image has improved slightly during the
5 New York 35 Singapore
Havana, Jerusalem, Bangkok, year. The second is a slight change in
6 Washington DC 36 Helsinki
Dubrovnik, Manila and Nairobi. the methodology of the survey: in the
7 San Francisco 37 Hong Kong
first edition of the Anholt City Brands
8 Melbourne 38 Dallas
9 Barcelona 39 New Orleans The survey was conducted online Index (2005), the question which asked
10 Geneva 40 St Petersburg among 15,255 men and women aged people whether they had actually
11 Amsterdam 41 Rio de Janeiro
18-64 from a wide range of income visited the city was factored into the
12 Madrid 42 Buenos Aires
groups in the following countries: “Presence” score, which gave a slight
13 Montreal 43 Beijing
Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, advantage to the more frequently visited
14 Toronto 44 Seoul
15 Los Angeles 45 Reykjavik Denmark, France, Germany, India, Italy, cities such as London and Paris, and a
16 Vancouver 46 Budapest Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, the slight disadvantage to the less frequently
17 Berlin 47 Shanghai
Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, visited ones such as Sydney. For the
18 Brussels 48 Moscow
Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom 2006 edition, we felt it would be more
19 Milan 49 Johannesburg
and the United States. appropriate not to factor the answers to
20 Copenhagen 50 Mexico City
this question into the city’s scores, as
21 Munich 51 Warsaw
22 Tokyo 52 Havana Since the last time we published the unlike the other questions in the survey,
23 Boston 53 Jerusalem study in December 2005, the top places it is not about people’s perceptions, but
24 Las Vegas 54 Bangkok
have changed: Sydney has climbed two about their behaviour.
25 Seattle 55 Cairo
places in the index to take the No. 1
26 Stockholm 56 Dubrovnnik
slot from London, which now falls to Several of the cities included for the first
27 Chicago 57 Mumbai
28 Atlanta 58 Manila second place. Paris remains just behind time in 2006 have entered the index in
29 Dublin 59 Lagos London, and is now pushed into third- the Top 20, including Melbourne,
30 Edinburgh 60 Nairobi
place overall. Montreal, Vancouver and Copenhagen.
Anholt City Brands Index - Second Edition, 2006 4
5. This has resulted in pushing Madrid, only at 53rd place overall (a result that three places in ‘Prerequisites’ and
Berlin, Milan and Brussels down the will surprise few readers who read ‘Pulse’, and even one place in
rankings, even though their absolute about Israel’s poor performance in the ‘Potential’. A similar improvement can
scores have remained fairly constant Q4 2006 Anholt Nation Brands Index), be seen in Brazil’s brand in the Anholt
over the course of the year. It is not it nonetheless comes in at 12th place Nation Brands Index over the same
surprising that all of the highest new for ‘Presence’, a clear indicator that period.
entrants should be Canadian, Australian people recognise its global importance,
or Scandinavian cities, since Canada, even if it is not a city they feel offers Washington DC has also posted a very
Australia and the Scandinavian them much as a destination. It should strong improvement since last year, and
countries are always amongst the also be noted that the question about has risen eight places in the ranking.
highest ranking countries in the Anholt the city’s contribution to the world Otherwise, Geneva and San Francisco
Nation Brands Index. deliberately specifies contributions show the biggest gains since last year
made during the last 30 years, so this (up four places each). Los Angeles, on
Similarly, seven other new cities – result has nothing to do with ancient the other hand, shows the biggest
mostly American – have appeared in the history. drop (down five places), followed by
20-30 range of the index, pushing down Amsterdam and Berlin (down four
a number of cities such as Stockholm Boston, on the other hand, enters the places each).
whose scores happen to lie on the index in fourth place for ‘Potential’, just
wrong side of theirs. Again, however, behind London, New York and Sydney,
there has been no absolute decline in and well ahead of its average ranking of
the scores of these cities despite their 23rd. Las Vegas comes in at 13th place
reduced ranking. The relatively high for ‘Pulse’, slightly ahead of Rio de
ranking of these American cities further Janeiro. Its image on this axis is clearly
supports the observation I made in the its primary brand asset, giving the city a
first edition of the Anholt State Brands truly global reputation, even if it is a
Index (www.statebrandsindex.com) - rather narrow one.
that places in the United States are
remarkably familiar to large numbers Rio de Janeiro’s overall ranking in the There are several capitals and major
of people around the world, and very index has dropped from 23rd place out cities of very highly ranked countries in
‘well branded’ compared to cities and of 30 cities in the 2005 CBI to 41st the Anholt Nation Brands Index, which
regions in other countries. place out of 60 in the 2006 edition, score relatively poorly in the CBI.
but this fall is deceptive: It is simply Mumbai, for example, remains almost
Looking at the individual points of the because 18 of the newly included cities at the bottom of the CBI (it came 29th
hexagon rather than the overall brand happen to have stronger brands and out of 30 cities in 2005, and comes
scores, some of the newcomers to the have entered the index above Rio. In 57th out of 60 this year), yet India
index show considerable strength in fact, Rio is one of the cities that has performs somewhat better in the NBI,
certain areas. Take Jerusalem, for gained significant brand equity over coming 25th out of 36 in the Q3 2006
example: Although it enters the CBI the year, rising two places in ‘Presence’, edition. This positions it relatively high
Anholt City Brands Index - Second Edition, 2006 5
6. among the developing countries, “From what you know about the city, widespread reports of lawlessness after
between Mexico and Singapore. Yet it how important has its contribution to the disaster, New Orleans still ranks
appears 22 places lower than Singapore the world been over the last 30 years – very high for perceptions of its citizens,
in the CBI (Singapore appears both in for example in culture, science, or the ranking 18th on the question “How
the CBI and the NBI), and seven places way cities are governed?” welcome do you think people would
below Mexico City. This may have make you feel in the city?”, making it
something to do with low awareness of The American cities in the index fall the third friendliest American city in the
the ‘new’ name of the city – this kind of into three clearly defined groups: the CBI. New Orleans ranks nine places
‘rebranding’ inevitably causes some loss global megabrands (New York, above Seattle for its welcome, 12 above
of brand equity. Washington DC, San Francisco and Los Atlanta, 16 above Philadelphia, Boston
Angeles), all of which perform strongly and Dallas, 21 above Chicago and Los
in the global Top 20 cities; the second- Angeles, 29 above Washington DC, and
tier city brands which are highly rated fully 32 places above New York. New
by U.S. respondents, and are well York City, at 50th place on this ques-
known, but not generally seen as world- tion, still seems unable to rid itself of
beating in other countries (Boston, Las an old reputation for unfriendliness.
Vegas, Seattle, Chicago and Atlanta);
Social Integration: Where Would I Fit in?
and the third-tier cities which are poorly
or moderately ranked by Americans and
slightly or little known by respondents On the question of social integration,
Prague appears to be the most positively in other countries (Philadelphia, Dallas, most of the North American and both
viewed city from any middle-income or New Orleans). The first- and second-tier Australian cities score very well. In
developing country in the CBI, whereas cities are also those most commonly response to the question “Do you think
the Czech Republic itself ranks fairly visited by foreigners – the only excep- you would find a community of people
low in the same bracket in the NBI. This tion to this pattern is New Orleans, the who share your language and culture,
suggests that Prague has a significantly lowest-ranking of any U.S. city in the and with whom you could easily fit
stronger reputation than its own country. index. Here, there are indications that in?”, the top half of the index is domi-
the widely publicised aftermath of nated by Anglophone cities: New York
Apart from Jerusalem, the lowest-rank- Hurricane Katrina is to blame for New comes first overall, followed by London,
ing city in any high-income country is Orleans’ weak brand: in questions
Reykjavik, which enters the ranking at relating to availability of public services,
45th place. Unlike Jerusalem, this is transport, personal safety, business
certainly the result of a lack of profile, opportunities and the physical appeal
rather than any negative brand equity: of the city, New Orleans ranks well
Reykjavik ranks 58th on the question below other major cities in developed
“Whether or not you have visited the countries.
city, please tell us how much you know
about it”, and 56th for the question However, the news isn’t all bad: despite
Anholt City Brands Index - Second Edition, 2006 6
7. Sun and the City
Sydney, San Francisco, Los Angeles,
Toronto, Washington DC, Chicago,
Boston, Vancouver, Montreal, Whether people live in a warm or cold
Melbourne, Seattle and Philadelphia. climate, it seems that their ideal climate
is still a warm one: Paris and Geneva
The non-Anglophone world only gets are the only cooler cities that rank in
a look-in at 15th place with Amsterdam. the Top 20 on this question. Such is the
It is clearly a deeply rooted global appeal of warmer weather that several
perception that the most desirable desti- cities make virtually their only Top 20
nations for immigration are all in North appearance in the CBI as a result of this
America and the English-speaking world. particular question, such as Buenos
Aires, Johannesburg, Mexico City and
The Beauty Parade
It’s also noticeable that some of the Havana.
most diverse cities in the world find
Paris 1 Dubrovnik 51
themselves in the bottom end of the This aspect of the city’s brand image is
Rome 2 Havana 52
ranking on this question, such as most important for tourism and immi-
Sydney 3 Johannesburg 53
Bangkok, Cairo and Nairobi: evidence gration, and cities that lack this natural
London 4 Seoul 54
of still more stories that need to be advantage need to develop significant
Barcelona 5 Mexico City 55
better told. brand appeal in terms of their society,
Madrid 6 Dallas 56
culture or economy in order to compete
St Petersburg 7 Mumbai 57
New York 1 Bangkok 51 effectively for visitors and new resi-
Amsterdam 8 Lagos 58
London 2 Manila 52 dents. In other words, they need to find
Prague 9 Nairobi 59
Sydney 3 Seoul 53 other ways of warming the place up.
San Francisco 10 Manila 60
San Francisco 4 Beijing 54
Rio de Janeiro 1 Edinburgh 51
Los Angeles 5 Shanghai 55
Table 3: quot;Thinking in particular about
Sydney 2 Nairobi 52
Toronto 6 Mumbai 56
the buildings and parks, how physically
Barcelona 3 London 53
Washington DC 7 Cairo 57
attractive do you think the city is?quot;
Los Angeles 4 Stockholm 54
Chicago 8 Dubrovnik 58
Madrid 5 Warsaw 55
Boston 9 Nairobi 59
There is nothing particularly surprising
Rome 6 Helsinki 56
Vancouver 10 Lagos 60
about finding Paris and Rome heading
Havana 7 Oslo 57
the ranking on beauty, as it has long
Melbourne 8 St Petersburg 58
Table 1: quot;Think about how people in
been part of the narrative of these two
San Francisco 9 Reykjavik 59
general would behave towards you -
cities that they rank amongst the world’s
Buenos Aires 10 Moscow 60
about whether for example they might
most attractive.
be warm and friendly, cold or show
Table 2: quot;Thinking about the climate in
prejudice towards you. How welcome
the city throughout the year, how would
do you think people in general would
you assess it in general?quot;
make you feel in the city?quot;
Anholt City Brands Index - Second Edition, 2006 7
8. Sydney – a pleasant enough city with relocation rather than a short business which often favours the less prestigious
two striking landmarks – shows, as or leisure visit. and less populous cities.
usual, how its phenomenal brand
strength enables it to punch far above However, the degree to which a city Cities such as London, Los Angeles,
its weight in almost every part of the has managed to keep pollution to a Paris, New York and Tokyo all find
Anholt City Brands Index. It is also minimum is increasingly seen as a themselves at the bottom of the ranking,
reassuring to see that St Petersburg has proxy for its overall modernity and despite achieving very high scores in
regained something of its pre-commu- competence. No matter how important other parts of the index. It could be
nist fame, and Prague is clearly building and powerful a city might be, if it is argued that both ends of the ranking
a world-class reputation. perceived to be heavily polluted, this on this question represent different
appears to diminish its overall brand perceptions of value: the bottom end
But what is more astonishing than any strength. Conversely, however, low reflects a view that the cities are
of the top 20 rankings is the presence of pollution is not sufficient to create a deservedly expensive, while the top
Dubrovnik, one of the most stunningly powerful city brand in its own right. end suggests lower prestige, but better
beautiful cities in Europe, and a affordability. The cities that are believed
UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the Geneva 1 New York 51 to offer less value tend to be clustered
bottom 10 of the world’s most beautiful Oslo 2 Rio de Janeiro 52 in the middle of the index.
cities. It would appear that very few Stockholm 3 Nairobi 53
people have any idea what kind of Helsinki 4 Beijing 54 Melbourne 1 Los Angeles 51
place Dubrovnik is, and there is clearly Copenhagen 5 Shanghai 55 Vancouver 2 London 52
a good deal of work to be done before Reykjavik 6 Mumbai 56 Lisbon 3 Beijing 53
Dubrovnik achieves the international Sydney 7 Manila 57 Sydney 4 Shanghai 54
recognition it deserves. Vancouver 8 Cairo 58 Montreal 5 Paris 55
Montreal 9 Bangkok 59 Amsterdam 6 Jerusalem 56
What Does Green Mean? Melbourne 10 Mexico City 60 Seattle 7 Hong Kong 57
Dublin 8 Moscow 58
Table 4: quot;The environments of cities
As the green agenda rises in impor- Prague 9 New York 59
tance, and ordinary people become vary in terms of air, visual and other Atlanta 10 Tokyo 60
more and more conscious of climate types of pollution. How clean or dirty
Table 5: quot;How easy do you think it
change, perceptions of the ecology of do you think the city is?quot;
the city play an increasing part of the would be to find satisfactory, affordable
The Affordability Index
city’s overall image and reputation. accommodation in the city?quot;
Air pollution can, of course, be an
Public Services and the City Brand
important personal factor when people This question in the Anholt City Brands
are deciding where to travel – although Index is something of a double-edged
it is more likely to be taken seriously sword, as cities tend to benefit from This question is obviously of consider-
into consideration for long-term the perception that they are affordable, able importance to anyone thinking of
Anholt City Brands Index - Second Edition, 2006 8
9. moving to a city for work, study and for The old idea that associates a warm
Sydney 1 Jerusalem 51
short-term business and leisure visits, climate with a warm welcome seems
Geneva 2 Bangkok 52
and is always worth considering as strong as ever, and the cities that
London 3 Rio de Janeiro 53
alongside the previous question of perform well on this question are very
Paris 4 Mumbai 54
affordability. People want cities where often in warmer climates. The excep-
Stockholm 5 Mexico City 55
things work properly, but not if this tions are Canadian cities: Canadians
Toronto 6 Havana 56
makes life unaffordable for the majority have an enviable reputation for toler-
Tokyo 7 Cairo 57
of people. ance and warm-heartedness, which
Montreal 8 Lagos 58
enables them to compete well on this
Washington DC 9 Manila 59
Again, there is plenty of evidence question with the Latin and
Oslo 10 Nairobi 60
of traditional perceptions of Swiss, Mediterranean peoples. At the other
Canadian and Scandinavian compe- end of the scale, cities in hot countries
Table 6: quot;What do you think the general
tence, but Sydney’s top ranking is really such as Lagos, Johannesburg, Cairo and
standard of public amenities – schools,
quite remarkable, as such qualities have Nairobi clearly don’t benefit at all from
hospitals, public transport, sports
never traditionally formed part of the this rather superficial association.
facilities – is like?quot;
world’s perceptions of Australia
You’re Welcome to My City
(Melbourne comes 11th, an equally Of all the questions in the CBI, this one
striking result for a city which our most starkly illustrates the unfairness
respondents rank 39th for its contribu- Sydney 1 Cairo 51 of common perceptions. In reality, of
tion to the world, and 28th for how Rio de Janeiro 2 Paris 52 course, as long as the visitor behaves
well they feel they know it). As I have Barcelona 3 Warsaw 53 well, he or she is equally likely to
described in previous editions of the Melbourne 4 Nairobi 54 receive a warm welcome from any
CBI and NBI, much of Australia and Rome 5 Shanghai 55 one of the cities in the list, but the fact
Sydney’s strong image comes from the Madrid 6 Johannesburg 56 remains that some places have managed
Sydney Olympics, which is still warmly Vancouver 7 Beijing 57 to make themselves famous for their
recalled by a large majority of our Las Vegas 8 Lagos 58 welcome, and some haven’t.
respondents around the world. Toronto 9 Jerusalem 59
However, there is still something of a Amsterdam 10 Moscow 60 It’s trivial and superficial, and yet the
mystery about how a country and a expectation of welcome is also one
Table 7: quot;Think about how people in
city can become so universally and of the most significant aspects of the
absolutely admired on the basis of general would behave towards you - brand: if you believe that you will be
relatively little evidence. about whether for example they might treated coldly by the people you meet,
be warm and friendly, cold or show you are far less likely to consider mov-
prejudice towards you. How welcome ing to or even visiting a city.
do you think people in general would
make you feel in the city?quot;
Anholt City Brands Index - Second Edition, 2006 9
10. Safe as Houses? and much else besides (again, it is
Geneva 1 Bangkok 51
possible that if we had given the city its
Oslo 2 Moscow 52
The safest cities in the world are older name of Bombay, the results might
Stockholm 3 Mumbai 53
believed to be Geneva, Oslo, have been different); Reykjavik, one of
Sydney 4 Lagos 54
Stockholm, Sydney and Copenhagen, Northern Europe’s most popular
Copenhagen 5 Rio de Janeiro 55
and there is a predictably high number destinations for clubbing, bachelor
Melbourne 6 Cairo 56
of Scandinavian, Australian and parties and other varieties of high-
Montreal 7 Manila 57
Canadian cities in the Safety Top 20. energy short breaks. Long eulogies
Helsinki 8 Mexico City 58
The advantage that this perception gives could also be written about Warsaw’s
Vancouver 9 Nairobi 59
these cities as they attempt to attract club scene, the glittering social life of
Brussels 10 Jerusalem 60
tourists, investors, business travelers, Seoul at the heart of the ‘Asian Wave’,
students and talent, is very significant. and so on. Hardly any of these cities
Table 8: quot;How safe would you feel in
actually deserve the reputations they
the city?quot;
The bottom 20 are, unsurprisingly, the appear to have, but for one reason or
cities most commonly quoted in the another, they have somehow failed to
The Pulse Parade
media as having high rates for violence let the world know that they are worth
and murder (such as Johannesburg and The perfume manufacturers are certainly visiting.
Mexico City), for general lawlessness right to carry on putting “Paris – Rome –
(such as Moscow and Rio de Janeiro), London – New York” on their bottles, as Paris 1 Seoul 51
for poverty (such as Nairobi, Mumbai these are perceived as the four most Rome 2 Dallas 52
and Lagos), or for bombings and mili- exciting cities in the world, providing London 3 Warsaw 53
tary action (Jerusalem). It goes without unlimited entertainment whether for a New York 4 Johannesburg 54
saying that several of these cities are short visit or for a longer period. Perhaps Sydney 5 Reykjavik 55
actually safer than these perceptions it’s time for more of them to add San Francisco 6 Dubrovnik 56
suggest, and suffer merely from being ‘Sydney’ for a touch of extra glamour. Madrid 7 Mumbai 57
little known and situated in poorer The bottom ten aren’t necessarily in this Barcelona 8 Manila 58
countries. bracket because people think of them as Los Angeles 9 Nairobi 59
the most boring cities in the world. It is Amsterdam 10 Lagos 60
more likely that a majority of respon-
Table 9: quot;If you had a week of free time
dents know relatively little about them
and find it difficult to imagine that living in the city, how easy do you think it
there would be very exciting. would be to find interesting things to fill
that time?quot;; quot;If you lived in the city, do
Nonetheless, it is still surprising to find you think there would always be new
Havana so low in the list, with its strong things to discover or would you become
reputation for nightlife, music and bored with it after a time?quot;
vibrant Latin culture; Mumbai, capital
of the world’s largest movie industry
Anholt City Brands Index - Second Edition, 2006 10
