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.
James MacKinnon writes for Adbusters Media Foundation in Vancouver, B.C.
©2003 San Francisco Chronicle
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