That’s right — it’s Chinese. The Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) acquired the brand and the rights to all its past models for US$140 million.
The acquisition sends a clear signal that cultural links between brands and the countries that produced them are in jeopardy. Consider IBM’s ThinkPad or Miller Lite. These two American brand icons are owned by the Chinese and South Africans. The Swiss Toblerone is no longer Swiss. In fact, the heritage of many brands is changing shape as ownership alters across national borders.
But how does this affect the brand? First ask yourself this: does the notion that ThinkPad and Rover are Chinese cause you to rethink your ideas about brands’ quality and authenticity? Would you think twice about buying a Toblerone because it no longer comes from the land of chocolate? My guess is that you answered ‘no’ to these questions.
The fact is that country of origin has a strong influence on a brand during its birth and childhood. Then, once the image of the country has been embedded into the brand’s personality, fashioning its identity and influencing its consumers’ perceptions, it seems to leave its stamp on the brand for good.
So, should you leverage your native country as a branding statement? And, if so, how? It’s not an easy path to forge and one which you treat with care, because it isn’t necessarily all good. Once, a Danish brand called Sun Top was an enormous success in the Middle East. The brand based its entire identity on being Danish. Because of its great success, the company was happily bought by local owners in Saudi Arabia.
But then the controversial cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohammad appeared in a Danish newspaper. In the consumer’s mind, Sun Top was still so strongly associated with Denmark that its reputation became tarnished in the Middle East along with that of Denmark. The crisis resulted in a total halt on sales and the company is now struggling to survive.
Now for the upside of country of origin branding. Many companies have found great value in fostering an association with the brand’s nationality. In Switzerland, the world’s first country brand board was formed with the sole purpose of supervising the use of the ‘Made in Switzerland’ tagline and of the iconic Swiss flag. Today, no one can adopt ‘Made in Switzerland’ without having strong links to the country.
As a web user, however, you have absolutely no idea about many websites’ countries or origin. How does all this bear on your own brand’s website? Should it remain an emanation from anywhere or should it claim a national identity? Well, that depends. If you’re selling food or clothes from France or Italy, encourage your brand’s French or Italian flavour to ring through to the audience. If you sell technology or promote innovation, the fact that you’re from the US, Japan or Germany could be a strength. Then again, if it doesn’t add positively to your brand’s value proposition, nationality should be given a low profile. Your audience is international and no country is in everyone’s good books all the time.
So, before you plaster your nation’s flag all over your website, ask yourself if it would add emotional value to your product or service. Beware — your conclusion itself may be emotional, despite the fact that we live in a supposedly global community.
Martin Lindstrom is the author of Brand Sense
