First time in 238 years: A ‘Brand USA’ push

Last week I had the opportunity of experiencing Jim Evans, the Chief Executive of Brand USA, launch the first-ever tourism campaign to push Brand USA into the eight key markets globally. This was the first time in the history of USA that such a strong campaign was launched on this agenda.

Rozanne Cash, the daughter of famed American singer Johnny Cash, was selected to sing the beautiful song ‘Land of Dreams,’ which sure rang a bell in my ear on what Sri Lanka requires today, as we move to into a hostile week in Geneva.

Brand USA is worth $ 14.6 trillion?

As per the latest brand value survey done by Brand Finance, Brand USA is valued at $ 14,641 trillion and ranked number one globally. Though the USA remained in its position number one, 2011 was a dramatic year for the country. In 2011, the brand value of the iconic USA declined dramatically by -4.8%.

Though the brand value was raised with the appointment of President Barack Obama in 2008, attributes like political freedom, stable legal environment and freedom of speech have suffered declines in perception by 2011. Even the recession was officially over by 2010, most of the Americans had a perception that the country was still undergoing the recession.

Nation Brand Index?

Very simply, the Nation Brand Index measures the power and the appeal that a country has globally. Conducted annually, it uses the work of a top policy advisor and consultant to many governments, Simon Anholt.

The Nation Brands Index examines the image of 50 nations. Each year, approximately 20,000 adults aged 18 and up are interviewed in 20 core panel countries. The Anholt-Roper Nation Brands Index looks at a country’s image by examining six dimensions of national competence, all of which are treated equally with no weighting. This gives an overall sense of a country’s reputation as a whole.

Why the USA fell in 2011

There may have been many reasons why the value of Brand USA fell in 2011 by 1.2 trillion dollars. Some of the key reasons that have been unearthed are as follows:

In the year 2010 the effect of Obama began to wear off and country’s CBI index lowered from number three to four.

The gloomy economic climate continued in 2010, 2011 and 2012 in the United States and the Euro Zone and this reflected in the falling brand value of the US

2011 was the adversely hit year for the US and Brand Finance downgraded its brand rating from AA to AA- and brand value change was negative 4.8% compared to 2010  Brand value is affected negatively due to the high inflation, high cost of capital, higher employment rate and tarnished image abroad, low consumer spending, static property market and sovereign debt, credit downgrading.

US problems began at the beginning of the millennium with the 9/11 incident. The post tactics used to eradicate terrorism has tarnished the reputation of the US internally and worldwide.

The international banking crisis in 2008 also badly hit the US economy with the subprime mortgage crisis and led to unprecedented $ 700 billion bailout of the US financial system

However, despite slower growth in employment and GDP, the US has shown some improvements in perception around the globe with positive business climate including regulatory changes, skilled workforce and positive investment climate in 2012. This has helped to increase the brand strength from 67 to 74 The tourism climate also slightly improved with the increase perception in culture and heritage during 2012.

Brand USA push

There is also a push from all ends to reduce the spiralling poverty rate that is at a staggering 16% in the USA. If I am to use the Anholt model of the elements that make a nation a strong brand the position is as follows:

1) Tourism

The USA is the second largest tourist arrival nation in the world while France was the best in terms of attracting tourists and Spain and China followed in third and fourth positions. Even though during 2011 the brand value goes down, tourism arrivals grew by 3.8 % – a lower growth rate – while in 2012 it grew 4.6 %. This is a remarkable growth rate while BRICS countries and Asia region have been growing in terms of numbers of arrivals of international tourists. With 9/11 attack tourist attraction slowed down while affecting the brand equity of the country. The assassination of the main terrorist Osama Bin Laden shows a turning point towards increasing tourism in 2011.

2) Export

The US is known as global competitive supplier of many of the goods and services, reached by a rapidly developing economy. Though GDP increases in the USA annually, the rate of growth is lower year by year, threatening the down rating of the economy and the brand equity. Exports of the USA in 2011 reached $ 2.1 trillion while service itself reached $ 608 billion.

During the great recession the subprime mortgage led to all banks being in crisis till 2010. Still the housing is in a deep slump, along with consumption, which represents 70 % of the economy. In 2008 exports were $ 800 billion and President Obama’s 2010 January speech to the State of the Union referred to doubling exports over the next five years. However, it only rose to 12% in 2010 and 2011. To double exports it needs a 15% increase, which seemed a difficult task with uneven economic conditions. Brand USA took the top place in the product segment rising to first from eighth in 2011. This was driven by Brand USA’s having the highest growth in this segment, reaching 73 out of 100 from 67 in 2011.

3) Governance

The USA’s brand equity is largely affected with the continuous war initiated after the 11 September 2001 attack. Expenditure of one trillion dollars has been incurred during the post 9/11 war period for Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries like Libya. In 2011 the operation ‘Enduring freedom’ in Afghanistan (2001 to 2010) cost $ 321 billion dollars. The impact of the cost of war as a percentage of GDP was 0.7% in the peak period and as a percentage of total defence expenses, 4.9%. At the end of 2010, which was the peak of the war, this financial effect lowered the brand value in 2011 and overall brand ranking AA- from AA. Similarly in the case of the Iraq war as a percentage of GDP 1% and total percentage of defence expenses 4.3% were a sub fact for the great recession in 2008.

4) Culture

The nation of America consists of people who came from many different homelands. They are white, black or African, Indian, Alaska native, native Hawaii and Pacific Islander belongs to six main races. It is indeed a variety of customs, traditions and foods while they do share many of the same values and their citizens care about individual freedom, equal opportunities, fair treatment of people regardless of differences private ownership of property, and education.

More than 70% of Americans are members of religious groups. The international popularity of American music is an example of the globalisation of culture. The united nature of the all-cultural group is uplifting the brand equity of the USA.

For decades, Hollywood has been a big part of brand America, and US movies continue to break box office records around the world. Over the past year, blockbusters like ‘The Avengers’ and ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ have earned over half a billion dollars outside the United States. Walt Disney is the USA film icon of increased brand value of the nation while it is a business of approximately US$ 36 billion in revenue in the 2010 financial year.

Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational software corporation and it develops, manufactures, licenses and supports a wide range of products and services related to computing. The company was founded by Bill Gates in 1975. Microsoft is considered as the world’s largest software maker measured by revenues. It is also one of the world’s most valuable companies contributing to the brand value of the USA.

5) People

Human development is defined as the process of enlarging people’s freedoms and opportunities and improving their wellbeing. Human development is about the real freedom of ordinary people to decide who to be, what to do, and how to live. The Human Development Index is continuously growing in the USA, which shows that the nation is more concerned about the people’s education, health and living standards.  The literacy level of American is 99% in the case of both males and females. Total expenditure of US$ 972 billion has been dedicated for education in both the private and government sector. One of the best education systems in the world is implemented by the USA. The private sector provides 10.4 % education under stringent government control while the government controls the rest. Among the adult population, over 85% have completed high school and 27% have received bachelors’ degrees.

Way forward

Whilst the USA is driving the tourism agenda, it must focus and develop the service sector business once lost to the Bangalore Silicon Valley, especially because poverty levels were as high as 16% in 2012.

(The writer is a multiple award winning marketer and business leader. The thoughts expressed are his personal observations and not the views of any organisation he serves. He is a recipient of the Global Business Leadership Award recently in Singapore.)



The ratio of college-educated adults entering the work force to general population is 33%, slightly below other developed countries (35%). Maybe the USA can change the curriculum to fit the needs of the business community and thereby drive economic growth and reduce unemployment levels.

The USA’s strategy on war is believed to be linked to the business of selling weapons and technology. Whilst accepting the fact that comparative advantage is the basis for trade globally, it adversely affects the value of Brand USA. This needs to be managed whilst driving the ‘Land of Dreams’ imagery globally.

The greener concept was developed by USA and it is the champion for protecting the environment globally, but it is alleged that it is the biggest polluter in the world due to high industrialisation and emission of carbon. This creates a contradictory imagery globally and affects the image of Brand USA. This needs to be corrected as how a nation behaves is how they are perceived globally and not by advertising campaigns.

The law of free use of weapons by the public is creating a dangerous environment in the USA, which affects and tarnishes the imagery that a campaign like ‘Land of Dreams’ communicates. Gun control must be lived rather than be on paper.

With the recession the unemployment rate was 7.8% in the USA in 2012 and this is the problem of the 12.1 million people in USA who are affected. The only way forward is to invest in R&D and develop products that create competitive advantage and thus employment.