Marketing the National flag:

Patriotism and real value can win

"Love for one's country" is taken as being a good characteristic for any individual to possess, no matter which part of the world you live in. In any country, the government is the biggest promoter of patriotism.

Politicians love to make patriotic speeches, and call upon citizens to be patriotic and present themselves as shining examples of patriotism. One political party trying to outdo the other in terms of levels of devotion, is a common phenomenon in Sri Lanka.

Patriotism, State and marketeers

The State, through appeals for patriotism, inculcates an attachment to the State. The State advocates complete and absolute obedience to the dictates of its leaders as a sign of love for one's country.

Sri Lankan marketeers attempt to foster the idea of "my country, right or wrong" as a prime example of patriotism falls short of the ideal. Any rational, clear thinking individual can see the foolishness of "my country, right or wrong," and that it is a recipe for disaster!

Is 'patriotism' good and easy business?

While the concept of marketing is about satisfying individual customer-needs and wants, the concept of patriotism is about collective thinking and action. Patriotism demands that the individual subjugates his desires keeping the collective interest of the nation in mind to the extent of sacrificing himself, his family, and even friends to achieve this end.

We see an increasing number of marketeers in Sri Lanka joining the 'patriotism' bandwagon and riding free for business and marketing reasons.

The synergies due to single-minded positioning thus communicated and influences over consumer choice providing the rationale for this platform.

As few people question as to whether this type of 'patriotism' is in their own interest.

Consumer asked to sacrifice?

My focus is not politics but business and marketing.

In the recent past, the consumer has been forced to indulge in 'patriotic' products and service brand attributes to achieve business goals. In many cases, 'patriotism' is used as a cover-up product or service gaps to exploit the patriotic feelings of the consumer to influence purchasing decisions.

Many companies use patriotism as a last resort to market their products rather than focuss on the right value proposition that will naturally sell.

For the consumer, purchasing local products and services is a good way of expressing his or her love for the country. Most 'patriotic' consumers exhibit an emotional attachment to the brands that offer 'patriotic' attributes.

If patriotism has any value, it would be a friendly competition between equals who have the same rights, where one hopes that all competitors do well, but hopes that his side does better!

Merits

From an economic perspective the merits of patriotism are numerous. However, 'patriotism' is a tool of the state. Most States in the world use it to demand blind, unthinking obedience to the dictates of leaders.

But consumer behaviour in Sri Lanka is 'funny'. Every patriotic Sri Lankan consumer expects everyone else to buy 'local', while he buys what offers are valuable to him.

The market share split in every industry bears ample testimony to this. You may search, analyse and be convinced - more importantly use it to formulate winning business strategies.

My conclusion is Patriotism + Real value can make you win; not 'patriotism' alone.