Incredible India makes it to global Top 10 brands

Brand India is a shining metaphor of authenticity, history, art & culture, business, shopping and value. It is natural to gauge the gung-ho halo around India as a brand these days. But when leading global brand consultant FutureBrands’ Country Brand Index 2006 ranked India along with the top country brand tag, all previous parameters started falling into place. Incredible India figured 7 times across 20 parameters and 45 countries considered in the index. What’s more? India stands tall as the numero uno brand in terms of authenticity, and has improved its position six ranks over the previous year where history is concerned. It has also up-scaled nine notches over the 2005 index insofar as art and culture goes. The index also suggests how Brand India reflects business opportunity as well as value shopping. India fares reasonably well in the index and enjoys the 10 th rank in terms of a country brand. ET tracks the index en route identifying a road map for Brand India. Nowadays, few country brands stand out in fear of narrow-casting or focusing on one core asset. Therefore, many countries go in the reverse direction and link to sweeping and generic words like ‘truly’, ‘amazing’ or ‘incredible’. “This attempt to grab consumers and invite them to think about vacationing has become undifferentiated in a saturated market,” the report states. Only Incredible India, with its plethora of imageries, begs to differ. While Australia tops the chart as the leading country brand, India leads the pack in the ‘authenticity’ category. Perhaps, it’s true that the global desire for authenticity favours countries which tend to have more preserved and unique cultures. However, Mexico, New Zealand, Thailand, Oman and South Africa are high on the authentic quotient too, and are fast closing in on India’s top ranking here. It’s also disturbing to note that among the rising stars highlighted by the survey, China, Croatia, UAE, South Africa and Argentina feature prominently without even a passing mention of India in the top 10. “I’m surprised by India’s exclusion from the rising star category as perceptions are changing with the country moving up from a spiritual order to a new energy tech-oriented sphere,” contends Santosh Desai, a brand analyst with The Future Group. The country brand index draws heavily from global quantitative surveys, expert opinions and external statistics. Over 1,500 respondents drawn from a globally diverse sample participated in a travel survey. These respondents answered questions about behaviour around destination selection, country associations with particular attributes, as well as overall awareness, past visits, intent to visit and willingness to recommend destinations to others. Survey results were aggregated and weighted in proportion to their region’s respective volume of travel consumption. Performance on attributes by country was then considered against expert opinions and secondary statistics in order to generate country rankings.

Over 35 international travel industry experts participated in a one-on-one interview regarding their perceptions of countries as brands. Statistics referenced include travel services import and export data, the number of key art and cultural sites in each country, beach availability/length of coastline, crime per capita, purchase power parity index, foreign direct investment confidence index, and related data. Going forward, India can well improve its ranking in next year’s index if it keeps its message simple. The Incredible India campaign has a myriad imageries, wherein USP alignment is a tough nut to crack. “Australia tops the chart because it is not complex and there’s no paradox—be it cricketers or beer, the country message is outdoorsy and simple. It’s a great no-nonsense fun place, and simplicity works,” says Mr Desai. Tourism advertising seldom works in diversity since the ads are prisoners of other people’s stereotypes, he adds. If India has to succeed, it has to break away from such stereotypes. “India needs to be promoted as sub-brands—Kerala or Rajasthan are better ambassadors to the world than Brand India.”