If you agree Israel’s marketing program, successfully promoted through beauty and consumerism, is working to dispel the mass media myths of a warmongering nation, what are other countries doing to brand themselves?
Who are the counterparts to Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition cover girl Bar Refaeli? She’s proud of her Israeli identity and flaunts it, as 1.7 million viewers over two weeks can attest:
As Barack Obama molds his Cabinet and senior advisors, should he create, as Keith Ferrazzi suggested for President Bush in January 2008, a chief marketing officer?
Friends and clients who run global companies abroad, along with officials of other governments, tell me it’s getting harder to publicly support America. The world, they say, which once saw us as liberators, innovators, bearers of economic well-being and personal hope, now sees us as ‘America the Bully,’ with more money and weapons than sense, only “pretending” to serve others for our own narrow self-interest.
In all fairness, this is not totally new. For a lot of people, America hasn’t stood for apple pie in a long, long time. Consider how reflexively anti-American Europe was in the 1970s and 1980s. The rocky relationship that America has had with the outside world for a while now is something that needs and can be addressed.
How can we improve the branding of America beyond our borders? Is it the role of government to lead a marketing effort, as both Israel and Ferrazzi agree? Or, should it be the role of me and you to emulate Bar Refaeli and be brand ambassadors for our countries?
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Comments:
Ari Herzog is an online media strategist and Newburyport City Councilor-Elect.
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Great Post, Ari! This is something I’ve spoken about among friends many times in recent years and I believe that a position like a CMO is something that our nation desperately needs right now.
Without getting too political; Brand: America is severely tarnished. Time was that “America” was one, if not THE, most powerful brands in the world. Indeed, it still carries significant weight. Even in parts of the world where America is “officially” hated, large numbers of the population still loves the idea of what we once were. We need to restore that, not just by our “marketing” but by our actions.
Personally, I think we need something like a Peace Corps 2.0. Teams of highly trained roving “Ambassadors” who would travel throughout countries, mobilizing the populations, and essentially do (for lack of a better phrase) Nation Building. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what we “say,” but what we “do” that will restore our brand. It’s bringing the clean water, and the medicines, and the schools that will carry Brand: America into the future.
Fortunately, even if he doesn’t carry the title of CMO (he’s got a better one, anyway), President Obama seems to understand that he is fulfilling that role. More power to him.
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Reacting to your last paragraph alone, Neal, is it the role of the president (or the presidency) to be marketing or branding officer, or the role of the people?
Intriguing concept you raise about roving nation builders. Should it be through the US, though, dating to the Marshall Plan; or more of a UNESCO-like program?
The second choice. I agree with Neal W, especially when he writes “ultimately, it doesn’t matter what we “say,” but what we “do” that will restore our brand. ” Let’s ratify the Kyoto protocol. Let’s uphold Geneva and get rid of institutionalized torture in detention centers.
I think hiring a person specifically to hawk the American image would be counterproductive, as I think many would consider it money frivolously and cynically spent. Fortunately I think we already have a great spokesperson for America in Obama.
edited – I posted before I saw your comment, Ari.
The role of the President is to lead the country. However, in this modern era, to lead also requires the President to be a more visible and engaged Leader then the previous occupant of the Oval Office. This means that the President must not only lead by example, but must be Seen leading. He (or eventually, she) not only sets the standards, but must challenge the citizenry to be more then they believe they can be. This requires someone who can “sell” their ideas to the country. In other words, be a communicator, not just a ‘decider.’
Re your second question, I’m not too up on the history of the Peace Corps, but it is a uniquely American institution which has not received enough support. The Peace Corps’ mission has three simple goals:
1. Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.
2. Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
3. Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.
In this flattening world, and considering the damage to America’s Brand in recent years, it’s more important than ever that we engage the peoples of other nations and let them know that, while we are indeed not perfect and make plenty of mistakes, we still remember and hold dear what it means to be called “Americans.”
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These are interesting questions that you bring up in interesting times (for the US as well as for Israel). There is a need for a government to have a CMO or some equivalent of it. But I think that it is also the role of the people.
A CMO appointed by the government surely represents the government views and opinions whereas the people actually represent the people and their thoughts and that is sometimes different than what the government tries to portray. I think that this combination is needed.
Moreover, the government CMO will (and should) be affected by the branding messages sent by the people and obviously the people who want to promote the brand according the the regime in power, will follow the lead of the CMO. As we know, the people do most of the time follow the leader.
I am not American, but reading the comments above I was thinking: I am not sure America’s branding should be to go back to what it stood for. It should just aim to be a new brand that others look upto, and not necessarily for the same reason they did before.
Given Bar Rafaeli’s previous comments about how she doesn’t believe in fighting for her country, I’m surprised she’s become such an icon to the Israeli people. She’s a swimsuit model, and a rather plain one at that. I sincerely hope America doesn’t follow in Israel’s footsteps! What a shame that would be.
I would much rather see ordinary folks like you and me changing the world’s view of America. The Peace Corps is doing just that (at least in some of its locations); the number of Peace Corps members I met during the two years I lived in Morocco enjoyed great friendships during their period of service. And other low-key expatriates like myself shared similar experiences. Travelers can have the same effect if they do it right.
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