Dive Brief:
- Nine food and beverage brands made Brand Keys' annual list of the 50 Most Patriotic Brands in America, based on a national survey of 4,750 consumers.
- Those brands include Coca-Cola and Jack Daniels (No. 5 tied, 93%) Coors and Sam Adams (No. 7 tied, 91%), Gatorade (No. 8, 90%), Hershey and Kellogg (No. 9 tied, 89%), Wrigley (No. 10, 87%), and Kraft (No. 16, 82%).
- Two of these brands were among the top five in terms of improving their positions from last year, including Kellogg (up 13 positions) and Sam Adams (up 9 positions).
Dive Insight:
"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," Brand Keys founder and president Robert Passikoff said in a statement. "More importantly, believability and authenticity are key to emotional engagement."
One theme across several brands is a visible affiliation with a particular city or region: Jack Daniels and Tennessee, Coors and the Rocky Mountains, Sam Adams and Boston, and Hershey and Hershey, PA. Identifying with a region either through branding or ingredients sourcing is one way manufacturers can appeal to consumers' demand for authenticity and localized products.
A majority of these brands have been part of the fabric of homegrown corporate America for more than a century, including Coors (1873), Jack Daniel's (1875), Coca-Cola (1886), Wrigley (1891), Hershey (1894), and Kellogg (1906). The staying power of these brands is notable among those in the industry but also among consumers who have seen these brands on grocery store shelves their entire lives.
Startups are driving much of the change and innovation in the industry today, and legacy brands are often slower (or perceived as slower) to adapt to change. And as more major manufacturers launch venture arms to take startups under their wing, these up-and-coming brands have a front seat to see what it takes to become a patriotic brand.
Coca-Cola is tied for the most patriotic food and beverage brand. It is now an international corporation, and U.S. sales comprised less than half (46%) of Coca-Cola's global sales in 2015. But the company makes a concerted effort to appeal to its American consumer base, such as through the patriotic cans promotion Coca-Cola is running through July 4th. The cans feature the American flag to honor the 75th anniversary of its partnership with United Service Organizations and the "I'm Proud to Be an American" lyric as part of its "Share a Coke and a Song" campaign.
Between marketing and product development strategies, patriotic efforts have appeared industrywide in 2016, a year in which marketers can tie products to the Olympics and a presidential election.