Know-How Exchange : Just for Fun

Well, before we could do this, it would be best to know the target market? Are you looking at America as a tourism location, as a place for business investment, etc. For each area, there would be different strengths and weaknesses and different competition.

Hi, Steve...

Since this is just for fun, I recommend that you (no, EVERYONE reading this) buy or rent the Eddie Izzard video "Dress to Kill."

Eddie is a brilliant British comic, and his routine in this show spares no country, including America. I find myself remembering and laughing about key lines in my head more often than I care to admit.

Go, Scooby Doo!

- Shelley

ps. Don't let the tranvestite garb sway you!

I think Gavin's response is on the money.

The person responsible for the brand "USA" in Italy is without a doubt the late Alberto Sordi, with his movie "Un Americano a Roma" (an American in Rome) from the 1950s. In it, he is so enamoured by American culture that he tries to become American, shunning all that is Italian, dreaming of Kansas City (?!) and dressing like an American police officer. He does it so over-the-top that it's hilarious, speaking only a few words of "American" (To American tourists in Rome, asking for directions, he says "Allright, allright!").

He succeeds at convincing everyone he's American until one day he finds himself at lunch in front of a plate of spaghetti. The question is, will he eat the spaghetti or the American hamburger? The famous line, in Roman dialect, is:

"Spaghetto, m'hai provocato. Mo te magno".

Meaning, "Spaghetti, now you've provoked me. I'm going to have to eat you." And shows that he has Italian taste, but American assertiveness.

Although the movie was made in the 1950s, the American love-hate sentiment is still alive in Italy today. Italians love brand USA, but don't necessarily believe in the brand promise.

hi SteveB

America's Brand from various point of view (no pun intended to anyone)

for students
"The Mecca of Higher Learning, Land of MIT, Havard"

for International Relations/Politics
"The Biased Mediator"
"The Hegemonistic SuperPower"
"The Arrogant Neo-Colonial SuperPower"

For Unsuccessful Democracy Struggles
"Partners of Autrocracy"

This specially is true as long as the Autocracy serves the purpose of US. when purpose served, the fate of the autocrate is Manuel Noriega (remember the Panamanian General !!)

for aspiring migrants
"The Land of Dreams"

I like "The Land of Dreams" as the aspect of the US I'd feature. We Americans suffer from a lot of well-deserved negative associations ... arrogance, bigotry, etc. But we are still a land of dreams for millions and millions of citizens, residents, and aspiring immigrants.

We have a positive story to tell that integrates the freedom, education and wealth aspects. Americans can still dream about personal success and fulfillment, about reaching for the stars and coming closer than they could anywhere else on earth. The US is a land of dreams.

If I were trying to position the US for a very broad audience -- domestic and around the world -- I'd build on the "Land of Dreams" approach. Done right, each person can read into that whatever he/she wishes. And it sidesteps all the negative stuff without denying their existence.

If you apply the typical tests for a good positioning statement, it passes: truthful, important, benefit-oriented, competitive (in that it suggests that other places make it harder to realize your dreams), singleminded, etc.

I have just been reading an interesting article about the downfall of the brands of the US since the re-election of Bush.

Apparently a recent survey by GMI World Poll shows that because of the war in Iraq, some 20 percent of consumers outside the US will avoid American Brands!
Could be worrying 4 years for American Brands!
https://www.worldpoll.com/press_room_wppk_pr_10212004.phtml