Does the USA Need a Branding Firm?

The issue of America’s image abroad was a campaign platform for Barack Obama, who said in a foreign policy speech in April, “We all know that these are not the best of times for America’s reputation in the world.”

That’s not to say that the last administration was unaware of the nation’s image problems.

According to New York Times writer Jim Arango, shortly after the September 11 terrorist attacks, a number of very senior media executives, including the heads of every major studio, met several times with White House officials to discuss how the entertainment industry could help improve the image of the United States overseas. One of the best ideas to emerge, the participants agreed, was to distribute American TV shows and movies to foreign audiences — especially in the Muslim world.

It worked … sort of … but not the way they expected. “In the last eight years, American pop culture, already popular, has boomed around the globe while opinions of America itself have soured,” Arango writes. The latest (2006) data from the Pew Global Attitudes Project shows that the image of the United States remained negative in the 24 countries in which Pew conducted its surveys.

Bryce Zabel, a TV producer and participant in the 2001 meetings with the White House, argued then that the United States needed to regard itself like a consumer brand.
“Products like Coca-Cola are far more effectively branded around the globe than the United States itself,” he wrote in a memo that was circulated around Hollywood.

Maybe the next administration should consider a pro bono partnership with an experienced branding firm or a public relations/marketing firm with expertise in corporate identity campaigns to do for the USA what has been done for other long-term quality brands that care about their image and reputation.

Branding the Professional Services Firm

Uh-oh. Real GDP is not expected to “grow much, if at all, over the first half of 2008 and could even contract slightly,” Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke recently told Congress's Joint Economic Committee.

You can’t afford to let short-term economic conditions compromise long-term goals … especially if you operate in the professional services space — e.g., as an accountancy, law, wealth management and personal finance advisory firm. Look at tough economic pressures as a growth opportunity and consider the following seven brand-building strategies for your organization.

1. Concentrate on core values. Understand who you are and what you offer and communicate simply and directly.
2. Make a commitment to investment. Establish an adequate budget. Consider retaining an outside specialist firm to execute.
3. Prioritize your constituencies. You can’t reach everybody. Hone in on your most important constituencies.
4. Focus on your clients’ needs. Forget features; promote benefits.
5. Take a holistic approach. Integrate your marketing, advertising, customer service and product development teams.
6. Think inside out. Your employees are the vanguard of your branding efforts. Enlist their support.
7. Follow through. Don’t falter. You can’t afford to lose ground!

The bottom line? Using PR to preserve and protect your brand can mean growth for your bottom line … even in the most challenging of economic times.

A Reputational Roller Coaster Ride for Accountants

The accounting industry has successfully redeemed its reputation from its rock-bottom low in 2002, according to Gallup’s most recent Business & Industry Sector Ratings. But even now, complacency represents a serious threat … witness the effect of the subprime mortgage scandal on Bear Stearns. While the reputation of its management may have been besmirched, the credibility of its independent auditor, Deloitte & Touche, was not … largely because its statements, in an audit released last year, warned investors of the potential problem, according to WebCPA, citing a BusinessWeek story on the topic.

It’s my view that every accounting firm PR program should have a strong component dedicated to highlighting ethical standards. After all, do any of us truly believe — to the extent that we did seven years ago — that accountants provide a rock-solid guarantee of the honesty and accuracy of the financial statements that they audit? Enron was a watershed in this respect, and public relations must take this into account.