Simon Anholt
National reputation drives investment, talent, tourism and political influence, and very few governments or multinational organisations have a measured, repeatable approach to it. The usual response is a logo, a tagline and a tourism campaign, which changes nothing about how the country is actually perceived. The people who do this well tend to treat national identity, domestic policy and global contribution as a single system, not three separate marketing briefs.
Simon Anholt is the policy advisor who coined “nation brand” in 1998 and built the Good Country Index, helping governments and international organisations connect national reputation, policy choice and global contribution as a single strategy.
Full Profile
Why organisations work with Simon Anholt
- Twenty years of direct advisory work with Presidents, Prime Ministers, monarchs and governments across more than 60 countries gives him a breadth of comparative case material that no academic or agency can match.
- The Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index, one of the largest social surveys ever conducted and running since 2005, gives his analysis a measured baseline rather than an anecdotal one.
- The Good Country Index reframed nation performance from domestic output to global contribution and has become a reference point for governments, NGOs and multilateral institutions.
- His book The Good Country Equation was described by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights as “a masterpiece”, and his earlier books Competitive Identity, Brand America and Brand New Justice are among the standard texts on place branding and its implications.
- He founded the Journal of Place Brand and Public Diplomacy, anchoring him inside the academic community that now studies the field he defined.
Biography highlights
- Independent policy advisor; Anholt & Co. has worked with governments of more than 60 countries
- Coined the term “nation brand” in 1998; founder of the field of place branding
- Founder of the Good Country Index (2014) and the Global Vote (2016)
- Founder of the Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index (2005-); 300 billion+ data points analysed
- Honorary Professor at the University of East Anglia
- Author of Brand New Justice, Brand America, Competitive Identity, Places and The Good Country Equation
- Founding and emeritus editor of the Journal of Place Brand and Public Diplomacy
Biography
National reputation is one of the most consequential and least-understood assets a country owns, and Simon Anholt has spent more than two decades making it measurable. He coined the term “nation brand” in 1998, founded the Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index in 2005, and has since advised more than sixty governments, Presidents, Prime Ministers and monarchs on how to build the kind of international reputation that actually shifts investment, talent and political influence.
His central argument is that reputation is earned through what a country does, not what it says. That thesis became the Good Country Index in 2014, an annual ranking of how much each country contributes to humanity and the planet, built from 35 indicators drawn largely from United Nations and World Bank datasets. It has since become a reference point in international policy discussions, and a rare example of a league table that leaders take seriously.
The Global Vote project, which he launched in 2016, extends the same argument into electoral politics, allowing international participation in national elections on the basis of candidates’ potential contribution to humanity. His books, Brand New Justice, Brand America, Competitive Identity, Places and The Good Country Equation, set out the academic and practical foundations of the field, with the latter described by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights as “a masterpiece”.
He holds an Honorary Professorship at the University of East Anglia and founded the Journal of Place Brand and Public Diplomacy, the academic journal that now carries the field he defined. For governments, national agencies, multilateral institutions and multinationals working on the intersection of reputation, policy and global cooperation, Anholt offers a combination of comparative advisory experience, independent data and a coherent ethical frame that is difficult to find elsewhere.
Key speaking topics
- The Good Country Index and the case for global cooperation
- Nation branding and place branding
- Reputation, policy and national competitiveness
- Governance and the global consequences of domestic decisions
- Big data and national identity
- Tourism, trade and investment promotion strategy
Ideal for
- Governments, heads of state offices, ministries and national agencies working on reputation, investment and tourism
- Multilateral institutions, NGOs and policy forums focused on international cooperation and the SDG agenda
- Multinationals with significant place-branding or country-of-origin exposure
- International conferences on geopolitics, development and public diplomacy
Audience outcomes
- A measurable framework for national reputation drawn from the Nation Brands Index and the Good Country Index
- A clearer view of the policy decisions that genuinely move international perception, versus those that do not
- Comparative case material from more than 60 countries advised by Anholt & Co.
- Reference texts in Competitive Identity and The Good Country Equation for internal and programme follow-up
- A framing of national strategy that integrates reputation, policy and global contribution rather than treating them as separate agendas
Talks
Anholt’s most-booked keynote, delivered in 14 countries, on how nations and leaders can design policy for both national interest and global contribution.
Key takeaways:
- Why the zero-sum frame in international relations is failing and what replaces it
- The evidence from the Good Country Index on which national strategies actually produce contribution
- Specific policy and reputation moves that both domestic and international audiences reward
A session on how decades of nation-brand survey data reframe how countries should think about their international standing.
Key takeaways:
- What 300 billion data points show about how countries are actually perceived
- The gap between how governments think they are seen and how they are seen
- Implications for investment promotion, tourism and public diplomacy strategy
A session on what the next phase of globalisation looks like and what it requires of countries.
Key takeaways:
- The structural shifts in trade, migration and reputation that define the next cycle
- A reframing of national competitiveness in the post-linear-globalisation era
- Specific tests for whether a government’s strategy is adapted to current conditions
A session on when cooperation outperforms competition in international and commercial life.
Key takeaways:
- Evidence that collaborative strategies produce stronger reputation and economic outcomes
- Specific examples from governments and multinationals that have rebalanced toward cooperation
- A practical framework for when to compete, when to collaborate and when to do both
Videos
Fees
| EUR | GBP | USD | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home Country | €12000 to €40000 | £10,001 - £35,000 | $15000 - $50000 |
| Asia Pacific | €40000 to €90000 | £35,001 - £75,000 | $50000 - $100000 |
| Europe | €40000 to €90000 | £35,001 - £75,000 | $50000 - $100000 |
| Middle East & Africa | €40000 to €90000 | £35,001 - £75,000 | $50000 - $100000 |
| South America | €40000 to €90000 | £35,001 - £75,000 | $50000 - $100000 |
| United Kingdom | €12000 to €40000 | £10,001 - £35,000 | $15000 - $50000 |
| US East Coast | €40000 to €90000 | £35,001 - £75,000 | $50000 - $100000 |
| US West Coast | €40000 to €90000 | £35,001 - £75,000 | $50000 - $100000 |
| Virtual | Please enquire | Please enquire | Please enquire |