The Country Brand Index has recently named Canada as the best branded country on the map. The title is given by a New York-based consulting firm called FutureBrand.
In 2009 Canada ranked a distant 12th place, but after the Olympic spirit made our country its home just over 8 months ago (though it seems like years), global tourists clearly have a whole new view on our great country–something I’ve always known to be true. However, as a consulting firm and not a specifically a tourist servie, FutureBrand has really concentrated on the brand that Canada and Canadians have established for themselves. Apparently, the effort to improve our national brand was well underway well before the 2010 games came to Vancouver. Canada had to work hard to reposition itself from the long engrained preconceptions about natural beauty, cold weather and all those other great Canadian truisms. And don’t think that these things aren’t true or attractive, they really are. But, Canada didn’t exactly have a sexy side to show off to the world like it does today. With the help of some strong brand management skills courtesy of the Canadian government and tourism services this repositioning was made not only possible, but completely succesful, as shown by the ranking from FutureBrand. A full article about the survey and Canada’s rise can be seen here.
Now Canada is no longer to be known simply as the source of a great dogsledding expedition, friendly people, fishing/camping/hiking grounds, or hockey games.
Now Canada is new. Now Canada is fresh. Now Canada is the best.
Come visit for wine tours, shopping oppurtunities, film festivals, unique wild-life viewings, and of course, topped off with a ‘Gold Medal’ Olympic experience if you’re lucky. And don’t worry, just because we’re new, doesn’t mean we’ve lost our old style friendliness and hospitality. 
So if you thought that the government could only help out with politics, or that something as big as a country like Canada couldn’t be branded, let alone rebranded (not to mention so quickly and effectively), you may want to think again–never underestimate that beautiful flag.