First the Olympics, now this

London Is The World’s Favourite City Brand

London is the world’s favourite city brand according to the Anholt-GMI City Brands Index, an annual survey which measures the strength of a city’s brand. The Index was co-created by branding expert Simon Anholt and global market research solutions provider GMI (Global Market Insite, Inc.) The Index is unique because it demonstrates how we respond to city brands in exactly the same way as when we're shopping for cars or clothing brands. Second place in the survey went to Paris and third place went to Sydney. The highest American entry was New York in seventh place behind Rome (4th), Barcelona (5th) and Amsterdam (6th).

Hmm... 7th?! One spot ahead of L.A.? And behind a bunchof European cities?

Yeah, right. Oh well; it's interesting how the "17,502 respondents worldwide" (GMI, which is apparently a consulting firm, doesn't give much of a methodology) perceived New York:

-New York’s overall position was boosted by its high marks as a place for higher education (ranked second [behind London]) and for the diversity and variety of languages it offers (also ranked second [behind London]).

-New York came in first place for [how much the city has contributed to culture, science and how cities are governed].

-In addition to having a good reputation for its cultural contributions, New York is America’s city of opportunity, coming in second place in the Potential category after London.

-On the flip side, the “Big Apple” was also seen as both ‘dirty’ (ranked 26th out of 30) and unwelcoming or cold toward visitors (28th). Lagos, Nigeria and Johannesburg, South Africa both ranked better in terms of cleanliness.

-American cities fared the worst when panels were asked, “How safe would you feel in this city?”

I don't think any serious person would rank New York below third in a survey of the world's greatest city. London and Paris are its only real peers, with traditionally Rome and Tokyo the other members of this group of five (poor Tokyo was rated #19 in this survey, behind Edinburgh). And I would say with the ugly underbelly of French racism that's being exposed nowadays, it really is a two-city race against London.

But in terms of actual importance to the world, there's no question it's New York, with London Scottie Pippen to our Michael Jordan.