|
|
|
|
|
|
Marketing Trends: Europeans Take Kindly to the American Flag
By Allan Mustard
Here’s a word to the wise U.S. exporter who’s looking for promotional concepts: Uncle Sam sells European products. At least, that is the message one gets looking at many wrappers, labels and advertising of European-origin foods.
For example, Schoeller’s frozen
novelty line includes a "Manhattan Ice Dream" series,
with the Stars and Stripes waving in the background of the
wrapper. "Manhattan Ice Dream" is made in Germany.
Hungary aspires to membership in the European Union, not statehood in America, but at least one candy manufacturer there finds a better selling point in an implied link to Yankee Doodle rather than to Europe. Stollwerk’s "Americana" candy bar is produced in Budapest.
It is no mistake that the Spar Market chain’s European-produced house brand of cola beverages is named "American Cola," or that a trip to America features prominently as the prize in Spar’s sweepstakes competition.
Especially curious is the "American Snack" sold in some supermarkets: a red-white-and-blue paper lunch bag containing a microwaveable cheeseburger, a brownie and a can of soda.
The fascination with things American extends beyond packaged foods and into the food service and entertainment sector.
"Papa Joe’s Saloon & Steakhouse" in Sopron, Hungary, features an atmosphere of the 1880s Wild West with its "elegant Saloon, smoky smithery (sic), general store, attic of the junkman and the taproom of the tired rancheros." Just "hand in your colt at the entrance" to enjoy a (local Hungarian) steak or one of a hundred different brands of whiskey.
In Murska Sobota, a rural town in Slovenia, one finds the Gostilna Pri Amerikancu, or "American Restaurant." The owner, Martin Doma, lived for several years in...Toronto. He returned to Slovenia and opened a "Canadian Restaurant" which nearly failed. On the advice of friends, he renamed the eatery. The result? Reservations are now strongly recommended, and Doma has a packed house every weekend.
Even Austrian cigarettes trade on the American theme. Austria Tabak’s "Memphis Blue" line harkens back not to an ancient Egyptian city, but to the American South with its emblem of the American eagle strumming a banjo next to the logo "E Pluribus Unum." One ad campaign for this cigarette features America’s premiere World War II fighter plane, the P-51 Mustang.
The message is clear: to attract attention in the European market, it doesn’t hurt to wrap your product in the American flag.
__________________________________
The author is the U.S. agricultural counselor with the
American Embassy in Vienna, Austria. Tel.: (431) 31-339-2249;
Fax: (431) 310-8208; E-Mail: agvienna@fas.usda.gov
|
|