So why are we having such difficult economic times? Why did Detroit almost drive off a cliff? Why did the banks need bailing out? Why are some corporate legends such as Kodak, Nokia, Yahoo, Johnson & Johnson, Sears, Budweiser and even General Electric having problems? Sure, you can point to the dramatic increase in global competition which makes mistakes so costly. But there are books about how to deal with competition and I even wrote one of them. (Marketing Warfare.) One can only say “It’s a puzzlement.”

While there are a few shining examples of brilliant leadership, there aren’t enough.
Many people believe that the basic issue in marketing is convincing the prospect that they have a better product or service. They say to themselves, “We might not be first but we’re going to be better.”

That may be true, but if you’re late into a market space and have to do battle with large, well-established competitors, then your marketing strategy is probably faulty. Me-too just won’t cut it.

Consider the efforts of Pepsi in the lemon-lime category. Even though supermarket soda aisles were overcrowded and sales growth was flat, Pepsi launched Sierra Mist, a competitor to Sprite and 7Up. This is after two failed prior attempts (Slice and a product called “Storm”).
Well, not surprisingly, that didn’t work out as planned. Today, Sierra Mist doesn’t make the top ten soft drinks and they have moved away from lemon-lime to “Natural” and flavors like cranberry. Good luck.

Another disadvantage of being a me-too is that the name of the first brand to market often becomes generic. Xerox, Kleenex, Coke, Scotch tape, Gore-Tex, Krazy Glue and Q-tips all have an enormous advantage over competitive me-too products.

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Brand Marketing Mistakes Leaders Must Avoid

Many brand marketers have been unprepared to re-think the structures of their enterprises and flow with the changing times, while new, more agile competitors are doing it for them. Brand strategy is no longer about differentiating brands within a category, but rather designing a whole new category your brand can own.

There are two dynamic realities brand marketers face in this new economy:

1) ideas are more important than process.

2) move up the value chain, or be cast aside.

Nature, in the form of our current economic realities, has had a wonderful way of clearing the dead wood in the system to make room for more innovative players to grow and prosper. Amazingly, as the rules of the game change in real time, improvisation and flexibility is now a useful strategic skill within organizations.

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Brand Strategy And The Power Of Design

But I would add that there is more to “everything” than this would imply, and it’s what determines how much a brand is actually worth. If a brand is shaped by everything its owner does, it is also shaped by everything else associated with the brand in the minds of its customers.

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A Brand Is Bigger Than Performance

In a 2006 interview with an MIT newspaper, Wozniak was asked again about the rationale behind the Apple name. Wozniak confirmed that it was Job’s creation, and that he came up with the name after spending a few months working on an apple orchard. “After trying to think of better and more technical names, both Jobs and I realized that Apple was a good fit,” he told the newspaper.

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How Did Apple Computer Get Its Brand Name?

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Brand Marketing And The New Consumer Profile

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Brand Building And Aesthetics

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Many of us preach comms planning but few practise it

Next, I would look at the percent of a brand’s revenues that are devoted to marketing. I would compare this by country. I think the stronger US consumer brands understand that brand building is an investment that requires significant funding. A smaller brand that spends 5% of its revenues on brand building will have a very difficult time of gaining mindshare over a larger brand that spends 10% of its revenues on brand building, especially if the larger brand is at least as sophisticated and effective in its marketing spend as the smaller brand is.
I would also explore the history of advertising. While brands and marketing have been around (in one form or another) since the beginning of recorded history, it wasn’t until the industrial revolution, which blossomed in the US, that modern day mass advertising came into existence. For instance, many American brands (such as Coca-Cola and Marlborough) pioneered the 30-second television commercial decades ago.

I hope these areas of exploration will help you answer your paper’s central question. I wish you much success with the assignment. I would be interested in reading about your conclusions if you are willing to share them.

To our readers, what do you think? Why are many of the world’s leading brands American?
Branding Strategy Insider welcomes and answers marketing questions of all types. Today’s question comes from Petra, a third-year marketing student in Copenhagen, Denmark. She asks:

“For a key assignment I must uncover why many of the top brands in the world are American. Please tell me, is there something within the American culture that gives brands an edge? Are the market conditions different? How come American brands are so successful?”

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Why Are The World’s Top Brands American?

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Hungry birds star in Peckish TV debut

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The Imperative Of Brand Ritual