Anholt Nation Brands Index: Global Survey Confirms Israel Is the Worst Brand in the World.

Brand Confidence Cracking in the Homeland Too

SEATTLE -- Israel ranked bottom in the Q3 2006 Anholt Nation Brands Index (NBI). Authored by government advisor Simon Anholt and powered by global market intelligence solutions provider GMI (Global Market Insite, Inc.), the Index surveyed 25,903 online consumers across 35 countries about their perceptions of those countries across six areas of national competence: Investment and Immigration, Exports, Culture and Heritage, People, Governance and Tourism. The NBI is the first analytical ranking of the world's nation brands.

"Israel's brand is by a considerable margin the most negative we have ever measured in the NBI, and comes bottom of the ranking on almost every question," states report author Simon Anholt.

Anholt believes that the politics of a nation can affect every single aspect of a person's perception about a country. In the light of the recent announcement that a team has been tasked with re-branding Israel, he comments that to succeed in permanently changing the country's image, the country has to be prepared to change its behavior. He reiterates his strong belief that a reputation cannot be constructed: it has to be earned. He concludes: "If Israel's intention is to promote itself as a desirable place to live and invest in, the challenge appears to be a steep one."

Nation Brands Index Israel highlights

* Israel came last in each area - by a long margin

* Americans ranked Israel just slightly above China in terms of its conduct in the areas of international peace and security

* Of the 36 countries ranked, there is nowhere that respondents would like to visit less than Israel

* Israel's people were also voted the most unwelcoming in the world

U.S. self-confidence waning

The Index underlines, amongst many other factors, the role national politics play in shaping world perceptions about a country. Interestingly, it has also revealed cracks in America's self-perceptions of itself. This quarter, domestic respondents ranked their country sixth for governance - after Canada, Switzerland, the UK, Australia and Sweden. In contrast, just over a year ago - NBI Q3 2005 - Americans ranked themselves top in all six areas of national competence.

In fact, the report reveals a pattern of declining self-confidence amongst Americans:

9(th) place: "this country behaves responsibly towards international concerns over the environment and world poverty,"

18(th) place: "this country has a rich cultural heritage."

Anholt concludes: "At this rate, the U.S. will rank themselves down with the Chinese and the Russians by mid-2007, so perhaps it's a good thing that there have been elections."

The 35 countries polled for this study were:

Argentina uA Australia uA Belgium uA Brazil uA Canada uA China uA Czech Republic uA Denmark uA Egypt uA Estonia uA France uA Germany uA Hungary uA India uA Indonesia uA Ireland uA Italy uA Japan uA Malaysia uA Mexico uA Netherlands uA New Zealand uA Norway uA Poland uA Portugal uA Russia uA Singapore uA South Africa uA South Korea uA Spain uA Sweden uA Switzerland uA Turkey uA UK uA USA

To download a copy of the Q3 2006 NBI executive summary report, please visit www.nationbrandindex.com.

About the Anholt Nation Brands Index

The Q3 2006 Anholt Nation Brands Index was conducted between July 27th and August 18th, 2006 on the GMI platform. A 200-1,000 representative sample based on age, gender, and where applicable, geographical region, race and ethnicity, was collected in each of 35 countries. For further information about the Anholt Nation Brands Index methodology, please contact GMI (Global Market Insite, Inc.) at [e-mail] or visit www.nationbrandindex.com.

About Simon Anholt

Simon Anholt is recognized as the world's leading authority on the branding of countries, regions and cities. He is a member of the UK Government's Public Diplomacy Board, and works as an independent advisor to around 20 other national, regional and city governments on brand strategy and public diplomacy. Anholt developed the concept of the Nation Brands Index in 2005. He is founding editor of the quarterly journal, Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, and the author of Brand New Justice, Brand America and Competitive Identity - the New Brand Management for Nations, Cities and Regions. For further information about Simon Anholt, please visit www.earthspeak.com or email [e-mail].

About GMI

GMI (Global Market Insite, Inc.) is the only provider of comprehensive integrated solutions for global market intelligence for both market research firms and corporate market research departments at Global 2000 companies. Solutions include Net-MR, a suite of software tools to manage and automate research throughout the project lifecycle, desktop analysis tools, 24/7 service bureau capabilities, and one of the world's largest, highly profiled, double opt-in managed panels, spanning across 200 countries. In addition, GMI offers high-value, real-time enterprise feedback solutions for customer, partner and employee programs. Founded in 1999 with world headquarters in Seattle, Wash., GMI has operations on five continents. In 2006, the company ranked #93 in Inc. Magazine's Inc. 500, #4 in Deloitte's Technology Fast 50 for Washington State and #105 in Deloitte's Technology Fast 500 for North America. More information is available at www.gmi-mr.com or email us at [e-mail].