Doug's Dynamic Drivel

I received this email today from one of my oldest friends

My friends,

For eight years, Republican business leaders have looked the other way while the Bush administration systematically dismantled the value of The American Brand in the international marketplace.

150 billion dollars of American goods and services are sold to loyal customers outside of America every month. Nearly 2 trillion dollars a year of high-margin export sales that is a foundation stone in a strong American economy.

Everything from Apple computers to ZZ Top concerts:
– Washington apples
– California wine
– Intel chips
– Hunt’s Ketchup
– Grey’s Anatomy re-runs
– The Harlem Globetrotters
– Harley-Davidson motorcycles

All the quality products that Americans proudly label as “American-made” and position America as a world leader in culture, civility and innovation.

A brand is described as “a collection of symbols, experiences and associations connected with a product, a service, a person or any other artifact or entity.” Brands have become increasingly important components of culture and the economy, now being described as “cultural accessories and personal philosophies”.

Research by McKinsey & Company, a global consulting firm, in 2000 suggested that strong, well-leveraged brands produce higher returns to shareholders than weaker, narrower brands. Taken together, this means that brands seriously impact shareholder value, which ultimately makes branding a CEO responsibility.

As America’s “CEO-In Chief,” Bush must accept responsibility for the failure of American brand asset management. His positioning of The American Brand has caused a serious financial hit to America’s most valuable asset. And when the day is done and all the chips are cashed in, that’s all that is left of his legacy.

The backlash against the American brand is not just you and I getting surly service from a hotel desk clerk in Frankfort because of our accent. Or the threat of being kidnapped off the streets of Karachi. Or even the billion of dollars American has spent on the US embassy compound in Baghdad, built to protect us against the ‘bad guys’ who don’t like The American Brand.

The American Brand is a real and valuable national asset measurable in real dollars. In real American jobs. And in real value to how the world views America.

To help pull America out of it’s economic woes, we need to renew and re-launch The American Brand. And as we now enter this “time of change,” let Americans pray that the new Obama administration can restore the integrity and value of The American Brand.

Yes we can.

Peace,

Ken

(Ken McCormick is an American advertising creative director living in Oslo, Norway.)

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