Made in America: Still the Sales Driver It Once Was?

Posted by Abe Sauer on October 13, 2010 10:00 AM

It's a marketing strategy that's never really gone out of style: Nationalism.

From Harley-Davidson to Laotian beer, "Made in (Your Locale Here)" has always appealed to politically-engaged consumers. That is especially true today.

In the post-Cold War, battles were fought by whipping out one's nuclear arsenal and measuring it. Today, size still matters, but it's all about the size of GDP. Nations don't mean to annihilate a competitor's front line, they mean to annihilate its bottom line. So, it comes as no surprise that a new Harris Poll finds that USA! USA! USA! is as much propaganda as pocketbook.

"Three in five Americans (61%) say they are more likely to purchase something when the ad touts it is "Made in America," claims the poll. (Three percent, who decided it would be fun to mess with Harris, said it was less likely they'd buy "Made American.")

But is less than two-thirds a reassuring percentage? While stories of a resurgence in American automotive brand quality have become common, 61% as a true-blue American expenditure "likelihood" seems low, if reassuring to those "Made in America" brands.

Worse? Harris: "Three-quarters of (75%) U.S. adults 55 and over say an ad emphasizing a product is "Made in America" would make them more likely to buy that product as would two-thirds (66%) of those 45-54 and three in five (61%) of those 35-44. This number drops considerably for the youngest Americans, with just 44% of those ages 18-34 saying an ad emphasizing a product is "Made in America" would make them more likely to purchase it while over half (52%) say it would make them neither more nor less likely to do so."

Welcome to the new world brand order.

More about: Made in America, Place Brands

Deb Budd says:

Once, "Made in the USA" was a promise of quality. Today, with overseas competition driving down prices (and profits), cutting corners on quality is almost a given. It's also A) almost impossible to find goods (particularly clothing) that are made in the USA; and B) usually not something I check unless I'm already in the final stage of the purchase funnel. There, it can be a deciding factor. Also, while people say they're influenced by a "made in" claim, the reality is that a final decision at the checkout counter tends to be based on price. Welcome to the new economy...

October 14, 2010 11:27 AM #

Michael Woods says:

Very good, and timely article, and a wake up call for all first world nations who used to manufacture many items locally - from shoes to lawn mowers, clothes to cars.
We handed this mantle onto the developing world in the last half of the 20th Century, and now still have some expectation consumers will buy American, British or Australian brands and labels that were 'designed locally but produced elsewhere!'
How many consumers really expect many 'manufactured' items to be made locally anymore anyways?
So this strategy can really only be used succesfully on products and services where you have a real or perceived USP over the foreign product.
One good news story and possible lesson to learn is from the Australian seafood industry who suffered fierce competition for years from cheap 'sea-farming' imports of prawns and other oceanic delights from Asia.
They finally woke up and now brand all local seafood as such, Pacific Prawns, Queensland Mud Crabs, Sydney Rock Oysters - almost subliminally instilling confidence (and local pride) in the consumer's mind that they can rely on fresh produce caught in the clean blue oceans surrounding the continent v.s. cheaper imports from some prawn farm in Vietnam or Thailand.
The strategy has worked extremely well with local producers now able to not just compete but charge a premium for 'Australian' produce.

October 14, 2010 06:18 PM #