The UN Climate Change Conference will be in Copenhagen in December, bringing together leaders from 192 countries in an effort to solve the world’s climate issues. But will ordinary citizens have any influence on preceedings?

Hopenhagen would like to think so. And a postive influence at that. Created by the UN and the International Advertising Association, it hopes to create a global community that will lead our leaders into making the right decisions.

Simply visit the site and add your message of hope to the list.

Recently I was invited to Iceland to talk at a conference about the country’s image, in particular in relation to its current financial struggles. The conference was hosted by the Trade Council of Iceland, the Public Relations Society of Iceland, the Icelandic Tourist Board and others. I was one of several speakers, foreign and local. (Read a report about the conference.)

One of the highlights of the conference was the announcement of the results of a survey about the image of Iceland as a travel destination. In the following weeks, some travel websites reported on the survey findings.

Here are links to some of them:
enewswire
Icenews
Holiday Hypermarket
Travelmole
Travelbite
Opodo

As you’ll see, some of these reports attribute the survey to Eye for Image. However, I’d like to put the record straight by saying that the actual survey carried out in Denmark, Germany and the UK on Iceland as a travel destination was carried out by the Icelandic consultancy, ParX Business Consulting.

My own contribution to the conference was to give an “outsider’s” impression of the brand of Iceland based on what people and media around the world had been saying. I carried out my own research and media monitoring in the weeks leading up to the conference. I then offered some perspectives on what this might mean to the brand of Iceland as the country looks to recover from its struggles.

Despite the confusion about who did the travel destination survey, I was quoted in several news reports. And I can confirm that I did say these things!

If you’d like to know more, you’re welcome to get in touch with me.

Looks like there’s more bad news for Iceland. Not only has the country’s economy taken a battering, but now it’s been knocked off the top of the Global Peace Index by New Zealand. In fact, Iceland has dropped to fourth in the rankings, behind Denmark and Norway.

The Index uses 23 criteria to grand the countries, from involvement in foreign wars to number of murders. And the Scandinavian countries have done well again in the list (Sweden is in the top ten). Makes you feel safe, doesn’t it?

(Our very own David Hoskin visited Iceland recently to speak at a Trade Council of Iceland symposuim and came back unharmed, so it’s not that dangerous.)