Brands are trying to appear less American in world advertisements in the middle of Trump’s trade war

Can you make my brand less American when we advertise the British?

It was the nature of a request recently presented by Luke Jonas, co-founder of Nest, an advertising agency based in the United Kingdom specializing in brands of electronic commerce to be launched on the market in the United States and American companies abroad.

Jonas said that Fresh Threads, a proudly American clothing brand that often presents young hot things that skate on San Diego walks in his marketing, works with Nest to identify the British creators that he can photograph to lounge in London parks and English gardens for his push in the United Kingdom.

This decision by Fresh Threads is part of a broader trend that sweeps the world of marketing. Huge brands like Coca-Cola and McDonald’s, and small businesses, look at local in their ads. Rather than playing their American roots, many make efforts to embrace local culture when they advertise abroad as geopolitical tensions between the United States and its international counterparts.

Jonas said Nest also saw a big change in the regions that his customers target. During the last month, around two thirds, or 67%, of Nest customers who aimed at the United States with their marketing moved to focus on other countries, the agency assuming that plinth prices were a great motivator. The most common countries in the European Union (60%), followed by the Middle East (20%).

“In 20 years, working in electronic commerce, I have never seen such a dramatic change in brand behavior as the reaction to Trump prices,” said Jonas.

While American prices threaten industries that make products ranging from truck toys, consumers from certain countries have reacted negatively to American brands.

The most brutal example may be Canada, where some consumers refuse to buy American products or visit the United States. In Europe, some buyers use an application called “brandsnap” to help them identify EU alternatives to American products.

With some international consumers who get four to boycott American products, companies explore everything, from the subtle brand change to “full -fledged marketing pivots” in various countries, said Minkyung Kim, assistant marketing professor at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University.

“Brands are locating and” saying “their marketing if necessary, without completely abandoning their identity,” said Kim.

Kraft Heinz wants you to know that its Canadian products are made in Canada

Kraft Heinz is a clear example of the location trend.

The brand could have been a main candidate for a Canadian boycott after closing a large Ontario factory in 2014, which left a persistent resentment towards the country’s business. After President Donald Trump made Canada one of his first prices goals – and even launched the idea of ​​annexing the country – Kraft Heinz Canada gone his marketing response.

He broadcast television advertisements during Canadian emissions from Super Bowl and March Madness, reminding viewers that his KD cheese macaroni contains wheat and Canadian cheese, that Philadelphia cream cheese is 100% Canadian and that peanuts in roofing peanut butter are roasted in Canada.

In January, he released full -page newspaper advertisements declaring that Heinz Ketchup is “made in Canada, by Canadians, using Canadian tomatoes”, in response to the first term of Trump’s country, during which Heinz de Heinz, was “replaced by Trump’s French ketchup because Canadian tomatoes were still Canadian tomatoes in his Ketchup.

A spokesperson for Kraft Heinz said that additional Canadian television advertisements had soon broadcast.

Meanwhile, on the American side of the border, some brands proudly announce their American roots.

Ford last month led a campaign with the “America. For America” ​​slogan. Elsewhere, the American Giant brand recently sent an email to customers, reminding them that its products have been “manufactured here since 2011”.

When geopolitics become difficult, major brands become local

During the calls for results in recent weeks, the leaders of American companies representing Harley-Davidson brands in Skechers in KFC have been dotted with analysts’ questions to find out if they are faced with the international pressure of the anti-American consumer feeling.

McDonald’s said that it had conducted three different global surveys to assess what consumers feel America, the country, America the brand and the McDonald’s brand. The results were bad news for Brand America: McDonald’s said that investigations had found an increase “from eight to 10 points” of anti-American feeling. It was the most pronounced in Northern Europe and Canada. He also found that there was an increase in people saying that they were going to reduce the purchase of American brands.

Ian Borden, financial director of the fast food chain, said that McDonald’s had been able to resist the storm because “our brand was able to adapt in an appropriate manner to the type of cultures and communities in which we do business”.

The CEO of Coca-Cola, James Quincey, underlined his strategy to make the world brands locally relevant.

“In the moments of geopolitical tension, one of the key strategies is to drive and strengthen the fact or to do it,” said Quincey during the recent call for results of the company. “The fact that it is a local company, the factory is at the bottom of the road to you, your neighbors make the product.”

Joey Camire, CEO of the Sylvain Strategy and Design Society, said that if brands should have always considered locating their marketing, it was previously expensive. The rise of AI tools to help things like the translation of language and the use of influencers have contributed to reducing these costs.

“Strategically, it makes sense at the moment” so that brands are locating as much as possible, he said.