It’s a fair bet that lots of consumers are looking forward
to this celebrating upcoming weekend. It’s the Fourth of July. Independence
Day. A celebration of our battle for independence. A celebration of pride. And
freedom. Accompanied by flag waving and patriotic music, picnics in town
squares, parades and fireworks, and all varieties of red-white-and-blue
decorations. A day off too. American consumers know how to throw a party, so what’s
not to look forward to?
Marketers look forward to Independence Day too because it
gives them an opportunity to “help” citizens celebrate. Brands cue the marching
bands and majorettes, hire the Uncle Sam look-alikes, adopt red-white-and-blue leitmotifs,
and generally look to squeeze as much of the patriotic emotions that symbolize
America out of the holiday that they can. But while some of these tactics are in
aid of the celebration of freedom and independence, most are simply in aid of,
well, sales.
Too cynical for the 4th of July? Well, for today’s
consumers, saying it, doing it, and doing it believably are three entirely
different things, whether they have a 3-day weekend or not. So to determine
which brands actually led when it comes to patriotism, Brand Keys did a
statistical “drill-down” to identify which of this year’s list of 225 brands
were more associated with the value of “patriotism.”
Statistical and face validity have shown that today, brand
engagement is more emotional than it is rational, and while many emotional
values drive engagement, and the study asked 4,680 consumers, ages 16 to 65, to
evaluate a collection of 35 values, we focused on the value of “patriotism” to
see which brands were more (or less) likely to get consumers to stand up and
salute.
Today, when it comes to engaging consumers, waving an
American flag and actually having an authentic foundation for being able to
wave the flag are two entirely different things and the consumer knows it. More
importantly, believability is key to the engagement paradigm. The more engaged
a consumer is with a particular emotional value and the more they are able to
associate the brand with that value, the more likely they’ll trust that emotion
and act positively on that belief.
The ranking of the top-50 most patriotic brands, including
ties, follow. The percentages indicate the emotional engagement strength for
the individual value of ‘patriotism,’ versus an Ideal of 100%. Only the U.S.
Armed Services – the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marines, and Navy – rated
that high, and we take this opportunity to note that and also thank them for
their service.
2014
- Jeep (98%)
- Levi Strauss (97%)
- Coca-Cola (95%)
- Colgate/Disney/ Wrigley’s/Zippo (93%)
- Ford/Harley Davidson/ Ralph Lauren (91%)
- Apple/Gillette (90%)
- Hershey’s/Walmart (89%)
- Amazon (88%)
- New Balance (87%)
- A T&T/Google (86%)
- Gatorade/Marlboro/ Sam Adams (85%)
- Budweiser (84%)
- Louisville Slugger/ Smith & Wesson (83%)
- American Express/Coors (81%)
- John Deere/L.L. Bean (80%)
- Facebook/GE (79%)
- 49ers/Cowboys/ NFL/Patriots/ (78%)
- Wrangler/Yankees (77%)
- Walgreens/ Wilson Sporting Goods (76%)
- Craftsman Tools/ Jack Daniels/Kodak (75%)
- Campbell’s/ Gibson (74%)
- eBay (73%)
- Heinz/Sears (72%)
- McDonald’s/KFC (71%)
- Kellogg’s/ Tide (70%)
It’s not surprising that many brands in the top-50 are true American
Icons. It is worth noting, however, which brands in particular moved up the
list into this year’s top-50: Apple, Amazon, Google, Sam Adams, American Express,
Facebook, and eBay.
None of this should suggest that other brands are not
patriotic, or that they don’t possess any patriotic resonance. Rational aspects
like being an American company, or being “Made in the USA,” or having
nationally directed CSR activities and sponsorships all play a part in the
make-up of any brand, particularly as it regards its patriotic nature and
public face. But if you want to differentiate via brand values, especially one
this emotional, if there are high levels of believability, good marketing just
gets better, along with brand sales and profits.
Last year, when the 2013 Most Patriotic Brands list was
published, some readers posted comments how some of the brands didn’t belong on
the list because their products weren’t actually manufactured in the United States.
Alas, foreign production is something that’s become more-and-more a reality in today’s
global economy. But then, it’s also worth remembering that’s the rational side
of the decision-making coin, which isn’t making as big a contribution to brand
engagement as it used to. And if you’re talking “brand,” emotion always trumps
rational. Always.
One lesson marketers should have learned about brands over
the past couple of decades is, more-and-more, brands, and what they “mean” and
what they are able to stand for, have become surrogates for added-value. Those
brands that can make the emotional connection with the consumer will always
have a strategic – and sometimes even, tactical – advantage over competitors when
it come to the marketplace battle for the hearts, minds, and loyalty of
consumers. Kind of like the Thirteen Colonies and the British Empire!
Happy 4th of July!
Connect with Robert on LinkedIn.
Find out more about what makes customer loyalty happen and how Brand Keys metrics is able to predict future consumer behavior: brandkeys.com. Visit our YouTube channel to learn more about Brand Keys methodology, applications and case studies.
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