Why Brands Should Care That South Africa Climbed the BAV Best Countries Report

Brand Asset Valuator (BAV) recently dropped the latest edition of its annual Best Countries Report. South Africa improved by six positions, but there’s still work to be done. Here’s what SA’s ranking means for local brands.

After achieving its worst-ever position in the previous Brand Asset Valuator (BAV) Best Countries Index – 46th place – South Africa bounced back in the latest edition. Global respondents ranked South Africa 40th best country, while African respondents ranked South Africa 21st. South African respondents ranked their country 13th best country in the world, showing optimism from within SA’s borders. In contrast, North Americans ranked the USA five positions lower than the rest of the world.

Encouragingly, South Africa improved notably in metrics associated with GDP and investment. South Africa also scored highly in athleticism, where it ranked fourth, as well as climate and geographic attractions, coming in at 15th in each.

What Is the BAV Best Countries Report?

WPP’s Brand Asset Valuator (BAV) was developed in partnership with Columbia Business School, MIT, Dartmouth and the University of Washington, and now works with leading institutions including London Business School, Wharton Business School and the University of California.

It’s the world’s biggest and longest running consumer study of brands and has been growing steadily since launching in 1993 (and joining WPP in 2000). It now includes 16 billion data points covering 52 markets and 63 000 brands, both big and small.

But BAV doesn’t only look at brands that fit the obvious definition. It also analyses perceptions of countries as brands. These results are published in the annual BAV Best Countries Report, now in its ninth year.

Countries are selected for inclusion based on gross domestic product (top 100), foreign direct investment inflows (top 100), international tourism receipts (top 100), and UN’s Human Development Index (top 150). Out of the 89 countries selected, eight African countries made the list in the latest study – including South Africa.

For this year’s report, nearly 17 000 people in 89 countries were surveyed – from business decision-makers and informed citizens to the general public. They ranked countries across 73 descriptive attributes, which were grouped into ten key dimensions:

1/ Power – influence on the world stage

2/ Agility – how adaptable and forward-thinking a country is perceived to be

3/ Cultural influence – how it influences global culture and conversations

4/ Entrepreneurship – the degree to which it supports entrepreneurs and pioneers

5/ Heritage – how strong its history and traditions are

6/ Social purpose – how caring, sustainable and equitable it is

7/ Quality of life – how citizens are treated through all phases of life

8/ Movers – up-and-coming economies known for dynamism and unique value

9/ Adventure – how attractive it is for thrills and natural beauty for leisure

10/ Open for business – Ensuring how well the environment is set up for businesses to flourish

For the first time in the study’s history, the category “Movers” emerged as the biggest driver of GDP. Meanwhile, “Agility” was found to be the biggest driver of investment. “Cultural Influence” was found to be the biggest driver of tourism and the second biggest driver of business. South Africa improved by 10 points in the Movers category and rose five points in the Agility category.

Strong Countries Fuel Strong Brands

Nations need to stand for something differentiating to succeed on the global stage and if a country doesn’t control its own narrative, stereotypes will drive perception. This is important not only for countries themselves, but also for its brands.

How a country is viewed around the world can have a big impact on the brands that originate there. Consider the words, “Made in …”. Whatever comes next can immediately influence the perception of a brand’s quality and reliability by association. It can influence a potential customer to buy if the connotation is positive – such as “reliable” or “excellent workmanship”. But it can also be an instant turn-off if the association is negative – such as poor safety standards, social issues or workers’ rights.

In this year’s survey, 77% of global respondents agreed the country a product is made in impacts their purchase preference – and that percentage increased to 81% for business decision makers. Additionally, 86% of respondents said they feel proud of brands that represent their home country.

And it goes the other way, too – how prominent brands are perceived in other countries can influence people’s perception of their country of origin, which in turn can influence investment and tourism.

Perception Gap

Unsurprisingly perhaps, there’s often a perception gap between how a country is perceived by its citizens and how the rest of the world perceives it. But nowhere is that gap wider than in sub-Saharan Africa, where citizens rank their countries on average 21 places higher than the global ranking.

This suggests a disconnect between the lived reality of people on the ground and how the world experiences the region through the media. This discrepancy is not only frustrating but also damaging. Africa No Filter estimates that negative stereotypes cost the continent US$4.2 billion annually.

Changing the Narrative of South Africa

While South Africa’s improvement year-on-year is good news, the discrepancy between how South Africans rank themselves and how the world ranks South Africa suggests there are important stories that need to be told. These include:

South Africa is forward-thinking: Looking at the difference between how the world rated South Africa compared with how South Africa rated itself in the “Movers” category, it’s evident that the world underestimates the level of innovation that exists within South Africa.

Entrepreneurship is driving South Africa: The world also fails to recognise the talent and entrepreneurial spirit of South Africa’s youth. There’s scope to change this perception through CSR initiatives that support youth entrepreneurship programmes and sharing success stories of local entrepreneurs.

South Africa has cultural influence: South Africa as an international power is dwarfed by big global powers. However, the world fails to perceive the influence South Africa holds on the continent. By highlighting this, South Africa can be recognised as being more influential.

We’re making progress: From steps towards renewable energy to digital transformation, there are positive reforms happening in South Africa that can be celebrated. Sharing these stories of positive growth can have a meaningful and tangible effect. Going more than 200 days without load shedding helped grow the SA economy by 2%.

It’s not all bad: It was clear from the “Quality of Life” index that South Africa’s challenges overshadow the country’s successes in global perception. While South Africa rated itself highly on factors such as natural beauty, the world seems unaware of what South Africa has to offer in in this regard, giving the country an average rating. It’s important for South Africans to take control of the narrative and balance the bad news coming out of the country with the good.

No one is going to speak up on South Africa’s behalf. If we’re going to attract foreign investment and grow our economy, South Africans must be more cognizant of the national brand we’re building through the messages we choose to focus on. We must be the ones to champion our country on the global stage.