When a nation becomes a commodity: The Country Brand Index 2008

by Anna Brones on

We live in an era of global brands. McDonald’s, Starbucks, H&M, Coca Cola, Australia… Wait, what???

You read correctly, Australia recently won the top spot of the 2008 Country Brand Index. Nation branding, as it’s officially referred to, is the theory and practice of measuring and building the reputations of countries; basically applying standard commercial brand management that you’d find with commodities and using it to analyzing everywhere from Austria to Zimbabwe.

The 2008 study conducted by Future Brand, a global brand consulting firm, used rankings from 30 different categories to come up with the final index. Among the categories were History, Standard of Living, Friendly Locals and Environmentalism. It’s like a beauty pageant for countries, with the most well-rounded coming out on top. Here are the top ten:

  1. Australia
  2. Canada
  3. USA
  4. Italy
  5. Switzerland
  6. France
  7. New Zealand
  8. United Kingdom
  9. Japan
  10. Sweden

When you look at that list, referring to countries as specific brands starts to make a little sense. Don’t we all have pretty concrete associations with France for example? Wine, croissants and cheese. And what about Sweden? Meatballs, moose and blondes. Looks like what we once referred to as stereotypes has a new name.

Group vacations – French villas are hot!

by Annie Scott on

Want to make all your friends swoon? Rent out a villa in the south of France for an affordable, peaceful vacation.

Want to make all your friends love you? Take them along!

French villas have become one of the top destinations in the great tradition of group vacations. I love group vacations; it’s like an extended party. Get everyone you like together and watch them interact for a week. It’s fascinating, often scandalous, and makes one feel like they’re in some 17th century comedy of manners, or an old-Hollywood movie.

One villa I recommend is Villa Plantat, near the small town Quissac. Villa Plantat (plantat means “to plant”) is an elegant house set on 400 acres of beautiful grounds with an orangerie and a private spring-fed swimming lake, and is located close to both historic Roman ruins and the Mediterranean sea (just 35 minutes away).

Villa Plantat can provide a private provencal chef for just around $20 per meal, and they also have twice yearly yoga retreats (2 hours of yoga per day plus special events; not yoga boot camp) in May and September. $1380 per person includes accommodations, wine (!), and classes.

Villa Plantat is available year round for $4,200 per week (price drops by $500 for additional weeks) and sleeps thirteen. That’s just $323 per person. Or, for ten people, $420 per week.

Save up your miles and get to the south of France. It’s an idyllic, quaint, and quintessentially lovely experience you won’t forget.
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Paris Art Gallery has Obama Fever

by Josh Lew on

Barack Obama has done what very few Americans have done before. No, not run for president. Get respect from the French.

An art gallery in Paris is running a show that demonstrates just how much street cred the the Democratic candidate has with Europeans. Dorothy’s Gallery, in the Bastille District of Paris (Rue Keller) will be running the show until November 17th. Most of the works on display are by French artists; and most, if not all, cast the Illinois Senator in a positive light. There are sculptures, photographs, sketches, caricatures and photo collages.

I doubt many red-staters are going to put the Dorothy Gallery on their itinerary. I’m sure very few undecided voters are going to be swayed by a visit. And French people aren’t going to head to the polls a week from Tuesday. So the Obama exhibit is more about the way French culture celebrates celebrities and statesmen than it is about politics. No word yet on whether Jerry Lewis will lose his status as top American if Obama pulls out a victory in the elections.

Putting the voodoo in French presidential politics

by Anna Brones on

With the American Presidential election less than two weeks away it’s practically impossible to get away from campaign news, so I figured we could all use a bit of international presidential gossip. And what president is better suited for gossip than Monsieur Nicolas Sarkozy?

Earlier in the year he was the talk of the French nation for dating, and later marrying, ex-supermodel Carla Bruni. Now he’s back on the international radar for threatening to sue a publishing company if it does not get rid of the voodoo doll created in his honor, according to the BBC.

President Sarkozy is not a fan of the doll, which comes with pins and an instruction manual that includes how to put the evil eye on the president himself. The doll is also covered in quotes — which you can poke the pins into — including “get lost you jerk” which Sarkozy said to a bystander who once refused to shake his hand.

You might think that this was a partisan thing, but the publishing company apparently likes to “poke” fun at both sides of the political spectrum; they’ve also produced a similar doll in the for of Segolene Royal, Sarkozy’s Socialist party rival in the last election. She may not hold the same political ideals as Sarkozy, but she does agree with his stance on companies making fun of politicians: she is also threatening legal action.

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Rude Parisians? Not with Paris Greeter

by Anna Brones on

We all know that Parisians have a reputation for being smug and snooty. Want to order a coffee? Better pronounce café au lait with an impeccable French accent or you can forget about good service. But stereotypes are just that: stereotypes. And not all Parisians have a propensity to rudeness, at least not those part of Paris Greeter.

Created by a group of locals intent on showing the good side of the Parisian nature, Paris Greeter is a service that provides the traveler with free tours in nine different languages. Groups of up to six are led by true Parisians that have a love for their city and a love for sharing it with foreigners; the organization’s French name, Parisien d’un jour, Parisien toujours is very fitting.

These aren’t trained tour guides working for big companies, they’re just regular locals that want to give their city a good name. In the words of one of the volunteers, “I’ve always heard my American friends say things like, ‘Paris is wonderful – except for the Parisians. And I always wanted to do something about it.”

[Via World Hum]

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