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Brands using country of origin as a marketing tool

19th March 2021, 18:08 by Chirag Moro

But what I have observed is most new brands that have come to India are using this more than before. Their whole advertising campaign is based on the country of origin.

BHPian EightSix recently shared this with other BHPians.

Previously, we have discussed whether BHPians would buy a car if a particular celebrity endorses it in supremeBaleno's thread. Even if enthusiasts like us do not base our car-purchase decisions on celebrity endorsements, it is very effective to grab the buyer's attention. A more recent trick used by manufacturers is advertising the country of their origin.

Some cars have characteristics associated with their country of origin. (Check out VWAllstar’s cool thread on the same). Anyhow, this practice is perfectly fine and is known as the country-of-origin effect. It refers to the practice of marketers and consumers associating brands with countries and making buying decisions made on the country of origin of the product.

Brands can use country of origin effectively to market their products. There is nothing wrong with this practice. But what I have observed is most new brands that have come to India are using this more than before. Their whole advertising campaign is based on the country of origin. It looks like automakers are trying to repeatedly drill the fact into our brains that they are from a certain country.

Check out one of the Citroën C5 Aircross's advertisements that informs us about its launch date. Notice the French flag up there?

The French marque's other advertisements include the word Bonjour.

The best example of this is MG. The brand is big on British pedigree and its Chinese owner doesn't forget to take the advantage of this even once. The British Union Jack, the adverts - they are all stale news.

A recent update on MG is that they trademarked the name Astor for their upcoming model.

Here is what a fellow BHPian - Sanidhya mukund - had to say to this:

Seems like they have named it after Nancy Astor, who was the first ever woman to sit in the British House of Commons.
I must really appreciate the kind of research their marketing team actually does to make their cars sound British. Hector, Gloster, And now Astor.

Up next in this list, we have Volvo. Look at the Swedish flag on its seats. It doesn't serve any purpose. But it's there. It reminds you of Volvo’s Scandinavian heritage, while at the same time it is modest and subtle. Ergo, I don’t have any problem with this one.

We also have the Fiat 500’s floormats and the Alpine A110’s doors - which according to Automotive News Europe, is a ”way to show national pride”. Is that it? Or is it a trick to get buyers? If yes, how?

Image Source: Automotive News Europe

And as consumers, we are getting affected by the country of origin trend too. People have willingly displayed flags of their car make's country of origin on their license plates.