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Mar 5, 2008, 1:25 AM
'Brand Vancouver' ranks high among urban centres
Richard Warnica
Canwest News Service
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Canada's big cities may be cold, crowded and underfunded. But viewed from Beijing, Amsterdam and Istanbul, they don't look half bad.
Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto all placed high in a recent survey of how the world sees its urban centres. But according to the man who conducted the research, Canada's high rankings may have more to do with ignorance than bliss.
"Most people's perceptions of Canada and its cities are based largely on expectation, extrapolation, guesswork and imagination," said Simon Anholt, the man behind the 2007 Anholt City Brands Index, released Sunday.
So while Vancouver may have the eighth-strongest "brand" of the 40 cities Anholt surveyed this year, that's mostly a measure of Canada's nebulous - if largely positive - global image, said Anholt, a London-based government adviser.
Anholt ranks cities based on data collected from more than 10,000 respondents in 20 countries. In a series of surveys conducted in December of last year, each respondent was asked to rate 40 cities based on six broad categories, including physical geography, public amenities, lifestyle and how friendly the people are. Anholt then crunched the numbers into a single score for each city.
For the second year in a row, Sydney, Australia, topped the list with a score of 65.6 out of a possible 80.
Vancouver, however, rose the fastest, at least among cities ranked in the top 20. The 2010 Olympic host's score vaulted 1.2 per cent to 62.45, good enough to bump the city from 21st to eighth place.
The comparison between years isn't perfect, though. Anholt surveyed fewer cities in 2007 than he did in 2006, dropping several of the cities ranked ahead of Vancouver last year.
Montreal (10th place) and Toronto (11th) also saw modest gains over their 2006 scores and rankings.
Canadian cities are perceived to be everything that American cities are not, Anholt said, explaining the Canuck performances - clean, environmentally friendly, tolerant, safe, modern and liberal. And in the current climate of anti-Americanism, that image, real or not, is helping boost their global image.
But the fact that the image of Canada's cities is improving doesn't mean the cities themselves are getting any better, he added.
In fact, Anholt said, how the rest of the world sees Canadian cities, is largely a "fantasy" based on a fuzzy image of open spaces and tolerant people.
Anholt attributed Vancouver's jump in the standings more to the coming Winter Games than to any deliberate marketing or promotion.
"There is no demonstrable link between branding activities and the images of cities and countries," he said. "Such things can be useful for promoting tourism, but they don't do anything for the overall image of the place. The Olympics might."
And while Vancouver has likely benefited from a pre-Games bump, the effect might not be permanent, Anholt said.
"The simple fact of hosting the Games only has a very-short-term effect on the profile of a host city," he added. "What counts is how memorable the event is, and how well it captures and communicates the essence of the place, and how well it's followed up with other events in other sectors - not just sport, but culture, commerce, politics, tourism, and so on."
rwarnica@canwest.com
The top twenty city brands in 2007, according to the Anholt City Brands Index
1) Sydney
2) London
3) Paris
4) New York
5) Rome
6) Melbourne
7) Barcelona
8) Vancouver
9) Amsterdam
10) Montreal
11) Toronto
12) Berlin
13) Madrid
14) Geneva
15) Milan
16) Copenhagen
17) Stockholm
18) Brussels
19) Auckland
20) Tokyo
© Canwest News Service
Richard Warnica
Canwest News Service
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Canada's big cities may be cold, crowded and underfunded. But viewed from Beijing, Amsterdam and Istanbul, they don't look half bad.
Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto all placed high in a recent survey of how the world sees its urban centres. But according to the man who conducted the research, Canada's high rankings may have more to do with ignorance than bliss.
"Most people's perceptions of Canada and its cities are based largely on expectation, extrapolation, guesswork and imagination," said Simon Anholt, the man behind the 2007 Anholt City Brands Index, released Sunday.
So while Vancouver may have the eighth-strongest "brand" of the 40 cities Anholt surveyed this year, that's mostly a measure of Canada's nebulous - if largely positive - global image, said Anholt, a London-based government adviser.
Anholt ranks cities based on data collected from more than 10,000 respondents in 20 countries. In a series of surveys conducted in December of last year, each respondent was asked to rate 40 cities based on six broad categories, including physical geography, public amenities, lifestyle and how friendly the people are. Anholt then crunched the numbers into a single score for each city.
For the second year in a row, Sydney, Australia, topped the list with a score of 65.6 out of a possible 80.
Vancouver, however, rose the fastest, at least among cities ranked in the top 20. The 2010 Olympic host's score vaulted 1.2 per cent to 62.45, good enough to bump the city from 21st to eighth place.
The comparison between years isn't perfect, though. Anholt surveyed fewer cities in 2007 than he did in 2006, dropping several of the cities ranked ahead of Vancouver last year.
Montreal (10th place) and Toronto (11th) also saw modest gains over their 2006 scores and rankings.
Canadian cities are perceived to be everything that American cities are not, Anholt said, explaining the Canuck performances - clean, environmentally friendly, tolerant, safe, modern and liberal. And in the current climate of anti-Americanism, that image, real or not, is helping boost their global image.
But the fact that the image of Canada's cities is improving doesn't mean the cities themselves are getting any better, he added.
In fact, Anholt said, how the rest of the world sees Canadian cities, is largely a "fantasy" based on a fuzzy image of open spaces and tolerant people.
Anholt attributed Vancouver's jump in the standings more to the coming Winter Games than to any deliberate marketing or promotion.
"There is no demonstrable link between branding activities and the images of cities and countries," he said. "Such things can be useful for promoting tourism, but they don't do anything for the overall image of the place. The Olympics might."
And while Vancouver has likely benefited from a pre-Games bump, the effect might not be permanent, Anholt said.
"The simple fact of hosting the Games only has a very-short-term effect on the profile of a host city," he added. "What counts is how memorable the event is, and how well it captures and communicates the essence of the place, and how well it's followed up with other events in other sectors - not just sport, but culture, commerce, politics, tourism, and so on."
rwarnica@canwest.com
The top twenty city brands in 2007, according to the Anholt City Brands Index
1) Sydney
2) London
3) Paris
4) New York
5) Rome
6) Melbourne
7) Barcelona
8) Vancouver
9) Amsterdam
10) Montreal
11) Toronto
12) Berlin
13) Madrid
14) Geneva
15) Milan
16) Copenhagen
17) Stockholm
18) Brussels
19) Auckland
20) Tokyo
© Canwest News Service
