Country Brand Awards: Morocco tops Africa ranking for “Overall Category”

Morocco stands out in the field of country branding, topping the Africa ranking of the “Country Brand Awards” for the “Overall Category”, according to the organizers of this award, which covers several areas including the attraction of foreign investment, tourism promotion, and doing business. This year, the organizers added a new category, namely the management of the coronavirus pandemic.

 

Morocco stood out in Africa in the “Overall Category” by winning the gold award ahead of South Africa (silver award) and Egypt (bronze award), according to the results posted on the official website of the award.

Worldwide, New Zealand takes the lead in this category ahead of Singapore and South Korea.

 

The Country Brand Awards independently assess three categories: “Tourism Promotion”, “Doing Business” and “Overall Category”. In the “tourism promotion” category, Morocco comes second in Africa behind Kenya, while Egypt is third. In the doing business category, the Kingdom and South Africa both hold the first rank ahead of Kenya and Senegal.

 

These categories cover three fundamental elements in building a Country Brand, namely the ability to generate an economic brand by attracting foreign investment, talent and promoting exports; the ability to create a tourism brand; and an exceptional new axis, which corresponds to the management of the COVID-19 crisis.

 

The last axis covers the management of the coronavirus pandemic by countries and takes into account key elements such as health security.

 

A jury of experts, chaired by Gemma Lagae, author of the book “Marque Pays, un Pays comme Marque”, assessed these parameters.

The jury, made up of communication professionals and diplomats, including Moroccan Fathallah Sijilmassi, former Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), recognized the success of the award-winning countries in promoting their country brand.