Question

Topic: Just for Fun

What Is America's Brand?

Posted by Anonymous on 5/12/2008 at 4:02 PM ET 500 Points
If you were writing a marketing brief for America, how would you describe her brand? Position her relative to the competition?

This is a recycled question originally posted by SteveByrneMarketing (original: https://www.marketingprofs.com/ea/qst_question.asp?qstID=3925), but I was curious what people were thinking four years later.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Levon on 5/12/2008 at 4:23 PM Member
    I have a sneaking suspicion that this is one of those questions that is going to pull a lot of anti-American sentiment - which is fine because they are fun to read.
  • Posted by Frank Hurtte on 5/12/2008 at 4:23 PM Accepted
    Coca-Cola, Chevy and the Cowboys...
    Why do they all start with C?
  • Posted by phil.wesel on 5/12/2008 at 4:26 PM Accepted
    Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Chevrolet, They Go Together in the Good ‘Ole USA…... Boy did I get a wake up call. When I looked at Steve's old question, it was worth a whooping 500 points. Now 4 years later, inflationary pressures have evaporated the buying power of all but 25 of our mprofs points.

    The baseball games are still as fun as ever here but steriods scandals have intervened. Say it aint so Joe are all the baseballs made in China?

    The hot dogs are still as tasty as ever. Ball park franks and others but then an occasional processing mishap causes us to reconsider for a few days or weeks.

    Mom's apple pie is as fresh as ever but sometimes the apples come from Chile (especially in the winter).

    So in short, the America Brand is still the same. It is a very hopeful and helpful brand. It is a brand that cares about the little guy and hopes the big guy does well too.

    We forgot what an important part of the brand manufacturing was but we are still absolute tops when it comes to innovation... because we believe that it can be and we liberally borrow from other companies brands when and where it makes sense.

    Her position relative to the competition is more equal than ever. America's number one export during the past four years or so has been HOPE (when we weren't bombing the heck out of someone).

    George the 2nd helped us lose sight of some of our brand promise but the next person, be they republican or democrat, regardless of race, creed or color shall help us get back on track.

    It's still a great brand with a great future as long as we don't close our doors and we open our hearts to the tired, to the poor, and to those folks truly yearning to be free.
  • Posted on 5/12/2008 at 4:27 PM Author
    Levon, isn't that something that we would want to know, though? Perhaps the best way to learn that something is not quite right, might be that outside perspective. Maybe we could even take that outside perception from a marketing standpoint, try to demonstrate the information to our "leaders," and hopefully get a chance to turn things around.

    Negative criticism can be constructive, if read in the proper light.
  • Posted on 5/12/2008 at 4:42 PM Author
    Phil, seems I didn't do a solid click on the 500 points radio button. I had already emailed Val about changing the point value, since there doesn't seem to be a way to edit the original question.

    As for HOPE being our major export, it also seems to be a staying force for the internal perspective. Your forecast for the next president demonstrates that ;)
  • Posted by SteveByrneMarketing on 5/12/2008 at 5:13 PM Accepted
    Thanks for the recycled question credit John.

    Who could argue with Frank's Coca-Cola and Chevy. An updated version could be Google, iPod, Nike and the NBA. I truly believe America has a great branding past AND a great branding future.

    Steve
  • Posted by Levon on 5/12/2008 at 6:00 PM Member
    If the criticism was actually substantiated and perhaps original and not hatefulness disguised as criticism – it would be useful.
  • Posted by phil.wesel on 5/13/2008 at 10:12 AM Accepted
    I really don't follow what you are saying here Levon.

    On the one hand, you indicated that this would be "fun to read" and in fact the post was under "just for fun"

    Next you are back with a dialogue killer regarding "criticism or hatefulness disguised as such."

    A part of Americas Brand is the ability for "self-introspective views". We must always be able to both Monday morning quarterback what we did the previous weekend and plan ahead for the rest of the week.

    Let's let people have their say in a risk free environment without all the rules other than gentlemenly conduct.

    best regards to all
    Phil
  • Posted by Levon on 5/13/2008 at 11:58 AM Member
    Phil,

    I can defend my comments right? That is the whole point of a forum to debate concepts and further knowledge - if we all agreed with you -- we wouldn't be furthering anything - now would we?

    -Levon



  • Posted on 5/13/2008 at 12:12 PM Author
    Quite honestly, I think all of us here are mature adults and can handle a bit of negativity - constructive or otherwise. Perhaps that's one of my marketable attributes and branding of the Upper Midwest - we're willing to take the good with the bad, see what comes of either, and then just keep pushing on.

    If someone wishes to throw hatefulness into the mix here, then let them. As part of founding ideals for this country, we wanted people to voice their opinions without fear of retaliation or condemnation by everyone. Just because we let someone speak up, though, doesn't mean we all have to agree with it.
  • Posted by Levon on 5/13/2008 at 12:28 PM Member
    Point well taken.
  • Posted on 5/15/2008 at 9:34 AM Author
    I just wanted to point out to everyone that may be looking at this question that Carrie was able to get my mistake fixed.

    The points are now what they were supposed to have been: 500. Thanks, Carrie and Val!
  • Posted on 5/16/2008 at 9:44 PM Author
    I wanted to give more people a chance to post an answer to this question, if they'd like. Otherwise, MP's policy will have this thread shutting down in two days.
  • Posted by Chris Blackman on 5/19/2008 at 8:49 PM Accepted
    Joos

    You could think about what America's brand is to internal stakeholders, i.e. within America, the domestic brand, and how America is perceived from outside, i.e. the foreigner's perception.

    I suspect the domestic brand is one of hope that America is still a place where anyone who works hard can still succeed. I'm sure it is perceived as a land of opportunity for those who give life a real go.

    From an external perspective, America is perceived by many as:

    1. The world's peacekeeper, in some ways. Depending on whether you stand in the firing line, or not...
    2. Rich, but spending too much on (1) above
    3. A country where health care is unaffordable for many
    4. A place with over-zealous, under-intelligent airport security (the TSA, who ban from flying everyone with a particular name).
    5. Run by someone who if not for his provenance might be well-suited for a role in the TSA
    6. A land where anyone, regardless of their ability, can reach the highest level (amply-evidenced by GWB)
    7. A place where almost everyone seems to own a firearm.
    8. Oprah and Dr. Phil. (deeply admired by most)

    For me, from a musical perspective, the US brand is epitomised in Lynyrd Skynrd's "Sweet Home Alabama", America's "Ventura Highway, and Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah".

    Hope that helps.

    ChrisB


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