Sale to the Chief

Visiting New York I’m surrounded by brands. On clothes and bags and the windows of stores. Plastered on poles and walls and boards at construction sites. Branding is a new thing; but under a different name, the story, it’s old news. It explains how crowds, tribes, countries respond.

New York also put me in mind, unavoidably, of The Donald. Trump defines the art of the clear message.

Madison Ave., so quintessentially New York, is all about messages. It changed the face of American politics
back in Ike’s day. And we need its help again.

We are competing to sell Brand America to the world. Eyeballs, voters, patriots, revolutionaries, suicide bombers. All are consumers of a brand story, a narrative. It’s all about aspiration and inspiration and associating with the brand. Being a member of the brand’s tribe.

This is to say that no amount of weapons holds a country, or its empire, together. It’s the story. Whether divine right or social justice or laissez-faire, it’s about the explanation for doing things the way we are doing things. For Brand America, I would humbly suggest, the brand story is basically our Bill of Rights.

Which leads naturally to the President appearing on Meet the Press Sunday. What’s the message? How’s Brand America doing? In other words, is what we are doing working as an advertising campaign?

According to a piece in the International Herald Tribune January 19th, “Happily for American multinational marketers, what consumers say and what they do often seem very different. Europeans may express frustration over U.S. foreign policy when asked about their perception of U.S. companies, but when it's time to spend, they apparently tend to stick with the brands they know and love.”

So we’re doing OK in Europe, basically. But the trends show that we are having trouble even there with our message. That we could do a better sales pitch. High negatives, a noticeable drop in the popularity of all things American

And some places we are doing a lot worse. Mostly in poorer places. Consider, for contrast, Mexican fans chanting of “Osama, Osama” at a recent soccer game. I presume these folks are beneficiaries of NAFTA. They hear us talk of a rising tide, while they do better, but see that in America you have freedoms and luxuries they can only dream of.

What exactly does it say about our brand that they chant Osama? For one thing, that they feel unfairly treated by the folks we do business with there. Right or wrong, that’s how they see it. And that the revolution of rising expectations comes, not from material betterment, but from the increased ability to get information about how Brand America lives and does business. So if we want to make them feel part of the solution, the tribe, we better do all we can to guarantee that if you work for Brand America, you get treated like an American. (Yes, workplace standards, human and civil rights, environmental standards must all be part of trade agreements and political alliances.)

Brand America’s campaign has gotten confused of late. Lost the laser clarity required of modern message mongering. This is the ultimate responsibility, where the buck stops, for our Brand-Steward-in-Chief.

Now is the time to consider the impact of all things American on our brand identity in the eyes of the world. They are the buyers we are selling our message to. Whether the face of America is Coke or Halliburton or the US Army, we need a new consistency to our actions. One, for instance, that imposes a requirement for following our Bill of Rights in your country, if you want to do business with us.

This is not about cultural sensitivity; this is not about doing business “their way.” This is about being clear in our message, of what Brand America stands for. The Donald doesn’t sell stuff that is cheap. Clarity.

Wouldn’t it be nice if our Brand-Steward-in-Chief just said, “Brand America doesn’t bully and doesn’t do business with totalitarians who deprive people of their Bill of Rights.” A message that would fit in a 30-second spot, or on a cookie’s fortune. Simple to understand, easy to follow. ¶ 9:09 AM