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29 March 2024

UAE ranked as world's third strongest nation brand

Published
By Vicky Kapur

The UAE has been ranked as the world's third strongest nation brand in 2015, after Singapore and Switzerland, according to a recent study published by Brand Finance, an independent brand valuation and strategy consultancy.

It maintains that a nation’s brand value is reliant upon GDP, i.e. revenues associated with the brand.

As a clear sign of the growing importance of the region, the UAE’s GCC peer Qatar also makes it at No. 9 among the Top 10 Strongest Nation Brands this year.

The UAE has consistently improved its ranking over the past few years, having been ranked No. 19 in 2013 and No. 8 in the 2014 list.

‘‘In a global marketplace, a nation brand is one of the most important assets of any state, encouraging inward investment, adding value to exports and attracting tourists,” says David Haigh, CEO, Brand Finance.

“There is no doubt that Dubai, Abu Dhabi and increasingly Doha have vast appeal for investors, highly skilled ex-patriate workers and tourists from Europe, Asia and the Middle East,” Brand Finance says in its report.

“As a consequence both the UAE and Qatar now feature in the top ten for nation brand strength, a remarkable achievement for such small and young nations,” it maintains.

The consultancy maintains that while Qatar’s ranking among the Top 10 is largely because of its appeal as an investment destination, “the UAE is an even more remarkable third place with an overall score of 86. The highly favourable tax regime, for which it is the top ranked country on the BSI [brand strength index], make investment its strong suit too.”

Brand Finance says ‘Nation Brand Strength’ is the part of its analysis most directly and easily influenced by those responsible for their country’s nation brand campaigns.

It is determined by reference to performance on dozens of data points across three key ‘pillars’; Goods & Services, Investment and Society.

These are divided into sub-pillars; Tourism, Market, Governance and People & Skills.

According to the report, the UAE’s scores for Goods & Services is not far behind, and its tourism score is on a regular upwards trajectory.

And even as tourism is one of the UAE’s top draws, with the countries cities dotted by attractions including waterparks, upmarket resorts, attractions such as Ferrari World at Yas Island and by cultural attractions such as Abu Dhabi’s Louvre, the report says that the broader Goods & Services pillar will see accelerating benefits over the next five years thanks to Dubai Expo 2020.

The GCC cities of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha are “international transportation hubs with large, modern airports that serve as the base world leading airlines: Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airlines,” says the report.

“These act as flag carriers for their national and sub-national brands,” it states.

Top 10 Strongest Nation Brands

Top 10 Strongest Nation Brands

Rank

Country

BSI Score/100

Brand Value 2015

1

Singapore

88.0

$412bn

2

Switzerland

85.9

$1,024bn

3

United Arab Emirates

85.9

$403bn

4

Finland

85.7

$289bn

5

New Zealand

85.6

$200bn

6

Hong Kong SAR

85.4

$325bn

7

Netherlands

84.5

$1,000bn

8

Luxembourg

83.5

$60bn

9

Qatar

82.7

$235bn

10

Norway

82.6

$388bn

Source: Brand Finance