USA, Russia suffer the greatest reputation drops; Brexit plans hurt UK's reputation

TORONTO, June 29, 2017 /CNW/ - A few days before its 150^th anniversary, Canada got an early birthday present with news that it has regained the top spot in the annual ranking of the world's most reputable countries. The Country RepTrak^® study, released by the Reputation Institute today, is the world's largest annual survey of country reputations.

The Reputation Institute's Country RepTrak^® report measures the reputation of the 55 countries with the highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP), based on the evaluation of 17 variables grouped into the following three dimensions: Effective Government, Advanced Economy and Appealing Environment. The study, which took place this March, consists of more than 39,000 ratings by G8 citizens.

"A country's reputation has a direct impact on tourism, its exports and foreign investment", said Fernando Prado, managing partner at Reputation Institute. "The striking thing about Canada is that the nation's reputation is equally strong both inside and outside its borders — which should be a source of pride on its 150^th birthday."

Respondents who perceive a country as having a strong reputation report being more likely to visit it for business or leisure, or to recommend living in, working in, investing in, studying in or buying products from that country.

The Top 10 countries in the 2017 Country RepTrak^® are:

"Is it heartening to see Canada recognized with such distinction on the global stage, particularly in light of our country's ambitious international trade agenda," said the Honourable Perrin Beatty, President and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, who took part in a global webinar announcing the ranking today. "There is even greater opportunity ahead if we can harness the power of this strong sentiment towards our values of openness, diversity and inclusion, to give ourselves the tools to be even more competitive internationally."

In 2017, Greece's reputation has seen the biggest improvement (+14.3%), followed by the United Arab Emirates (+13.6%), and Egypt (+10.7%). On the other hand, the United States (-8.1%), Russia (-6.4%), and Nigeria (-5.4%) show the most diminished reputations.

Australia is the country most valued by G8 citizens in the Appealing Environment dimension, with Japan as leader in Advanced Economy and Sweden in Effective Government.

"While Canadians are known for moderation and modesty, our confidence in our place in the world is on the rise, with the highest self-image — or internal reputation — of any nation," said Daniel Tisch, President and CEO of Argyle Public Relationships, a leading Canadian expert in reputation management. "While we celebrate our achievements as a nation with Canada 150 just around the corner, our biggest challenge will be to guard against complacency and continue to look outwardly to grow our economy."

Other key findings of the 2017 Country RepTrak^® survey include:

• Donald Trump's presidency is having serious consequences for America's global reputation. The United States is not only experiencing the worst reputation loss in terms of percentage, but also in terms of ranking index positions, dropping from 28th in 2016 to 38th in 2017. The main setbacks for the reputation of the United States are concentrated in the variables "is run by an effective government" (-21.6%), "has adopted progressive social and economic policies" (-11.8%), "ethical country with high transparency and low corruption" (-11.0%), "is a responsible participant in the global community" (-9.2%), and "operates efficiently" (-5.8%).
  
  
• Brexit, the United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union (EU), is taking its toll on the country's reputation, which has sunk five places. The consequences of Brexit are affecting supportive behaviours towards the country, with significant drops in intentions to "invest", "work" and "buy". In an interesting contrast, the United Kingdom's self-image has noticeably improved by 7.5%.
  
• Russia's increasing international activity hasn't won over G8 citizens, who have ranked the country lower (-6.3%) after the recovery it achieved in the 2016 ranking index. Russia's biggest losses in terms of reputation can be seen in the Effective Government dimension, in "ethical and transparent country" and "responsible participant in the global community."
  
  
• Although some of its reputation indicators are very low, China's reputation has been maintaining steady growth in recent years as it assumes its role as a key player on the
  world stage.

The full list of the most reputable countries in the world can be found online at:
https://www.reputationinstitute.com/research/Country-RepTrak.aspx

About Reputation Institute

Reputation Institute's RepTrak^® methodology is the gold standard in the science of reputation. Reputation Institute helps global companies unlock the power of their reputations for competitive advantage. Reputation Institute has conducted research over the last 20 years on 7,000 companies across 40 countries developing the largest global normative database in the world on reputation management, KPI's, benchmarks, metrics and best practices.

Learn more at: www.reputationinstitute.com

About Argyle Public Relationships™

For more than 35 years, Argyle has been chosen by some of the world's biggest brands, put big ideas onto the public agenda, and grown to become one of Canada's largest independent communications firms. Argyle builds relationships in many sectors, in many ways. The firm's specialties include consumer and trade marketing, corporate communications, healthcare communications, government and public affairs, digital communications and branding and design.

Learn more at: www.argylepr.com

SOURCE Argyle Public Relationships

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