As the Fourth of July holiday weekend approaches in a presidential election year, there isn’t a better time to look at the brands deemed “Most Patriotic” in a survey that focuses on emotional customer engagement.
According to a new Brand Keys survey of iconic American brands, consumers consider the following brands the most patriotic: Jeep, Disney, Levi Strauss, Ralph Lauren, and Ford.
The survey included 4,750 consumers, from ages 16 to 65. Respondents were asked to evaluate which of the 248 brands included this year resonated the highest in terms of patriotism.
Here is this year’s list of the Top 50 Patriotic brands (percentages indicate brands’ emotional engagement strength for the individual value of patriotism):
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 (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%)
“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,” said Robert Passikoff, founder and president of Brand Keys, Inc., a New York-based brand loyalty and emotional engagement research consultancy. “More importantly, believability and authenticity are key to emotional engagement. The more engaged a consumer is with a particular emotional value and the associated brand, the more likely they’ll 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.”
Passikoff said respondents gave all branches of the armed services an engagement strength of 100% when it came to the value of patriotism.
“We recognize that again this year and thank them all for their service,” he said. “It is important to note that these brand rankings and ‘patriot’ nominations do not mean that other brands or people are not patriotic, or that they don’t possess patriotic resonance or intention. Rational aspects, like being an American company, or being ‘Made in the USA,’ or having nationally directed CSR activities and sponsorships, all play a part in the makeup of any brand. But if you’re a brand that wants to differentiate via emotional values, if there is believability, good marketing just gets better. In most cases, six times better.”
What’s more, Passikoff said that every time his company releases a list of Most Patriotic brands, he receives considerable feedback.
“Every time we post the survey results we receive comments about how some of the top 50 most patriotic brands don’t actually belong because their products aren’t manufactured in the United States,” said Passikoff. “That reflects a reality of the global economy and but one aspect of the rational side of the decision-making process. One thing marketers should have learned about 21st century brands is the ones that can make a meaningful emotional connection with the consumer always have a strategic advantage over competitors when it comes to the battle for the hearts, minds, and loyalty of consumers. Make that connection and consumers will not only stand up and salute, more importantly, they’ll stand up and buy.”