In a study of college students by research firm Anderson Analytics, it was found that a large number of them didn't know the origin of the brand they were interested in.
One example cited by marketing charts.com was that 53 percent of students thought the Finnish cell phone company Nokia was Japanese.
“Marketers need to realize that country of origin can have a positive impact on their brand equity, particularly if they are a luxury goods or automobile manufacturer,” said Tom H. C. Anderson, Managing Partner, Anderson Analytics. “But if no action is taken to educate the new generation of American consumers, this impact may be lost.”
The major reason for the importance of country of origin for brands is the connection to quality, exclusivity or exoticness.
With the IKEA, the students who thought it was made in the U.S. rated it lower as a brand than those that knew it was from Sweden. The same thing happened with the French Hermes, which when correctly identified as French versus a UK brand, was given a higher rating by 23 percent.
If we serve luxury markets, we absolutely need to educate our customers on the origin of the country our brand comes from. It is a key element of perception and buying decisions by consumers.
Couple this insight with another major insight about luxory items - especially those in magazines and online - that you must include high-quality photos and/or videos as part of the user experience, and you have another piece of the puzzle of successfully branding and marketing high-end products or services.
Not surprisingly, the countries cited as having the highest quality products are Germany, the U.S. and Japan.
Comment Preview