Brand America
It used to be a joke, and not a subtle one: AmericaTM, the world's
greatest democracy reduced to a catchy trade name. Today "Brand
America" is used without embarrassment. Branding is the new
federal mega-project, as serious as the guns-and-ammo war on terrorism
or the quest to inflate a new bull market.
The challenge, as adman Allen Rosenshine has put it, is that
millions of non-Americans are "still in the process of being
taught to hate us." This is the starting point of the Brand
America project: There is nothing wrong with the actual product.
It's just an image thing.
It's "probably the most complex (brand) positioning problem
of all time," according to marketing experts Steve Silver
and Sam Hill, writing in the Journal of Business Strategy. To
study the problem, they depict America as a meta-brand composed
of mega-brands, like a galaxy of galaxies. In the chart (see above),
the larger the type, the greater the importance to the "purchase
decision." Negative associations appear here in black; neutral
in light gray; positive in outlined dark gray. Sub-brands relate
to one another (for example, Levi's is positioned near Marlboro,
the U.S. dollar close to the flag) and are linked to Brand America
by thick or thin lines, representing strong (e.g., Israel) or
weak (e.g., United Nations) bonds.
If you drew your own Brand America "molecule," it might
include Hiroshima, "The Simpsons," serial killers, Sonny
Rollins, the First Amendment and sweatshop labor.
Such charts diagram how one can simultaneously hold contradictory
views of the United States, such as respect for its entrepreneurial
nature and loathing of its culture of instant gratification.
But complexity is not the point. The point is that each sub-brand
can be massaged, managed and manipulated to make the overall brand
stronger. Sell MTV to kids in Uganda, and American democracy scores
points for cool. Move Playboy into China, and it's another feather
of freedom in the Yankee cap.
The challenge is to reach the target market, in this case, the
Islamic world. Brand America's warriors have done their polling:
The good news is that they found that an estimated 900 million
Muslims -- more than 85 percent of the Islamic world -- disagree
with the militant agenda of al Qaeda and other violent fundamentalists.
The bad news is that nearly half of the Islamic world distrusts
America. So the way to move forward is clear: Keep spinning the
people who are open to American values and keep trying to "build
the brand" with every Muslim who might not like President
Bush (but who isn't on Osama bin Laden's fund-raiser mailing list).
As Madison Avenue will tell you, the final step is to deliver
the message, which is . . . complicated. Madison Avenue advises
delivering "this message consistently in word and deed."
It's the "deed" part that's sticky.
The brand barons have settled on three big themes -- opportunity,
democracy and freedom -- to sell America to the world, but the
White House can't seem to get excited about democracy in Saudi
Arabia, or opportunity in North Africa or freedom in the Occupied
Territories. "To the Arab world, the lack of a Palestinian
state in 2001 is what taxation without representation was to us
in 1776," pollster John Zogby told Ad Age magazine. "You're
not going to address it by using Julia Roberts to sell the West."
But we will try. "The propaganda war is the most integrated
part of the new war," says Nancy Snow, author of "Propaganda,
Inc.: Selling America's Culture to the World." "It's
the part of the war on terrorism that is probably the most hidden
from view, but the most pervasive."
Since Sept. 11, the brand warriors have created the Office of
Global Communications (under executive order of President Bush)
and the Coalition Information Center (set up last year); scored
a $520 million appropriation for overseas PR, which pays for,
among other things, a 24-hour Arabic-language news and music network
called Radio Sawa. The effort is headed up by Charlotte Beers
(the "queen of branding") as undersecretary of state
for public diplomacy and public affairs.
So how are sales? Beers visited Egypt a year ago to start feeling
out Arab opinion-makers, who, it turns out, wanted to talk about
American policy. Beers and her team preferred to talk about opportunity,
democracy and freedom -- hold the details. "No matter how
hard you try to make them understand, they don't," said one
Egyptian newspaper editor.
The real message is difficult to miss these days, what with the
beating of war drums. What song is America singing? Tune the dial
to Nashville and listen to country music star Toby Keith belting
out "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue." The song
went to No. 1 in the Land of the Free.
Maybe they haven't heard it in Lebanon. Maybe they don't know
the lyrics in Kazakstan. But don't worry. You can bet they're
getting the message: .
You'll be sorry that you messed with the U.S. of A.
'Cuz we'll put a boot in your ass --
It's the American way.
(1/27/2003)
By James MacKinnon, San Francisco Chronicle
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