Measuring and Positioning Nation Brands: A Comparative Brand Personality Approach

This research explores the extent to which personality traits can be used to identify, differentiate and position a nation. Specifically, the personality metaphor was used to examine differences in the nation brand personalities of the United States and Canada in China. Extensive exploratory and descriptive studies were carried out to identify a relevant set of personality traits that are directly applicable to nations. Results indicate that, compared with the United States, Canada enjoys a more approachable and a less arrogant image in China, while, in turn, the United States projects a much more vibrant personality than that of Canada. The paper contributes to the nation branding literature, which has so far been limited mostly to conceptual and qualitative studies, by putting forth an empirically derived and tested quantitative approach to measuring nation brand personality for use in positioning nation brands.