Making a National Brand

Abstract

‘If we were looking at the US as a brand we would say this is the time to relaunch the brand’ says Keith Reinhard, group leader of Business for Diplomatic Action (BDA). Reinhard is Chairman of DDB, an advertising agency within Omnicom — the world’s largest marketing and communications business. BDA is very concerned that ‘political developments — including opposition to the Iraq war — are eroding the global appeal of US brands from McDonald’s to Microsoft and MTV’. So senior imagemakers have embarked on an experiment in private sector foreign policy that is designed to rehabilitate the US national brand. Arguing that business can do things that governments cannot, the group is seeking to create a corporate united front that would counter anti-Americanism through means including the promotion of higher-quality cultural exports, says the FT article.