Reputation Institute says this is a wake-up call
Last year, as Canada celebrated its 150th birthday, its reputation was at an all-time high, but things have changed.
Canada’s ranking as the world’s most reputable country has been dented by falling perception of government, economy, and environment.
The Reputation Institute's annual Country RepTrak® rankings, based on more than 58,000 individual ratings among the general public in the G8 economies, sees Canada not only lose its top ranking but fall to 7th place.
That means we are now considered less reputable than Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, Finland, and the new leader Sweden.
“Since reputation has a huge economic impact, so do changes in the perceptions of potential visitors and investors," said Daniel Tisch, President and CEO of Argyle Public Relationships, one of Canada's foremost reputation management experts. "While Canada remains widely respected and admired, this is a wake-up call that we can never take our global reputation for granted."
Where has it gone wrong?
The government element of the poll saw Canada’s largest drop at 2.9 points; the overall score declined 3.5 points to 79.2.
"Canada's reputation is still strong, but the drop correlates with a decline in perceptions of effective government and a lessening of the belief that Canada has an advanced economy that can compete on a global scale," said Stephen Hahn-Griffiths, Chief Reputation Officer at the Reputation Institute. "Not only did the reputation of Canada fall among the general population who reside in other leading economies, but it also fell amongst Canadians."
Mixed results for the United States
The brands and technology of the United States remain strong, the poll shows; but the US has real perception issues for ethics, transparency and corruption; the effectiveness of its government; and efficiency.
While the new rankings have seen some improvement, the reputation of the US is down almost 8 points since President Trump was elected.
The 10 most reputable countries
- Sweden
- Finland
- Switzerland
- Norway
- New Zealand
- Australia
- Canada
- Japan
- Denmark
- Netherlands
