. . . but Budweiser isn’t even in the top 50, according to Brand Keys, the marketing consultancy that interviewed 4,750 consumers to find which of 248 brands were viewed by consumers as most patriotic.
“The resonance for the single value of “patriotism” for Bud was only 60%, which ranked them #47 of a possible 51 spots, accounting for ties,” Robert Passikoff, founder/president of Brand Keys told us.
That should be deeply disturbing to the folks at Anheuser-Busch InBev, which this year is turning out millions of cans in which the Budweiser name is replaced with America. The ranking is somewhat surprising, to us at least, in that Budweiser routinely donates large sums to support American servicemembers, veterans and their families as well as donating water to communities hit by natural disaster and likes to note that its Anheuser-Busch subsidiary is America’s largest brewer.
We thought the reason Budweiser isn’t on the list might be that it’s not an American-owned company, since InBev acquired Anheuser-Busch Cos. But that’s not the case, Brand Keys says, noting that Jeep isNo. 1 on the list. Jeep is a product of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, which is headquartered in Amsterdam, Holland.
When it comes to engaging consumers, waving an American flag and having an authentic foundation for being able to wave the flag are entirely different things, and the consumer knows it, says Passikoff.
Believability and authenticity are key to emotional engagement, he says. The more engaged a consumer with a particular emotional value and the associated brand, the more likely a consumer will act positively on that belief. Where a brand can establish real emotional connections, consumers are six times more likely to believe and behave positively toward the brand, he says, adding:
“Values are how consumers define what they expect from a brand. Meet or exceed those expectations and you have a differentiated brand, an engaged customer and, pretty much always, increased sales.“ ”
Here’s the list:
1 Jeep/Disney (98%)
2 Levi Strauss (96%)
3 Ralph Lauren (95%)
4 Ford (94%)
5 Coca-Cola/Jack Daniels (93%)
6 Harley Davidson/Gillette (92%)
7 Apple/Coors/Sam Adams (91%)
8 Gatorade/Amazon (90%)
9 Zippo/Hershey’s/Kellogg’s (89%)
10 American Express/Wrigley’s (87%)
11 Colgate/Starbucks (88%)
12 Coach/New Balance (86%)
13 AT&T/Google (85%)
14 Marlboro/Converse (84%)
15 L.L. Bean/Facebook/J. Crew (83%)
16 McDonald’s/Kraft/KFC (82%)
17 John Deere/Louisville Slugger/Walmart/ABC TV/Nike (81%)
18 Craftsman Tools/GE/Wells Fargo (80%)
19 49ers/Cowboys/NFL/Patriots/MLB/NY Yankees/Wrangler/Wilson Sporting Goods/Old Navy (79%)