Culture Chameleons: Brands that Borrow the Best of Another Society.

Some brands sound and are packaged like they come from one place, when they actually come from another. This is fairly common, actually, when you look at labels for food or clothing. Italian-sounding clothing brands can come from the Far East or Mexico, or even the U.S. Ditto some pasta and Mexican food brands. With clothing and food, the price point or subtleties of the package usually gives a fake away for what it is. But not always.

This week I was in a local Barnes & Noble Café, and noticed a decorative display of beautifully packaged tea that I was sure was imported from England. It looked like a two-foot wide vertical slice of Fortnum & Mason’s Piccadilly store. The packaging was sumptuous, with lavish detail and typography. And was that a royal crest or warrant on the front of the elegantly designed tin? I was sure it was from the U.K. Only it wasn’t imported from England. The tea comes from Harney & Sons, native to Connecticut.

Is brand pedigree relevant anymore?

It got me to thinking again about the relevance of pedigree to the success of a brand. Can you invent it? Is a transatlantic brand something that a talented package designer can create from whole cloth? The answer is yes. And no.

Yes, you can copy the look and feel of an established brand. And with food you can even simulate its taste. But there is one thing you cannot co-opt, at least not without identity theft, or as they call it in the recording and fashion industry, counterfeiting.

A brand is more than its design, physical implementation or sensual experience. A brand is a relationship based on trust – expectations met or exceeded over time. If Harney’s was a storied purveyor of tea to the Royal Family, it would benefit from the more than one million U.K. adults living in the U.S. who might act as "brand ombudsmen," not only using the item in their homes, but recommending or even giving it to their American friends as a way to introduce them to something wonderfully British.

While Harney’s tea is no doubt a pleasing experience, it’s not an established English brand. I’m not particularly offended, but I wonder if consumers who figure this out after they’ve brought the tea home feel hoodwinked – or maybe they don’t know any better, and are just pleased with a beautiful presentation of delicious tea.

Harney's begs some important questions for consumer packaged goods and food marketers.

Would Harney's be even more successful had it licensed an established UK brand, enhancing it and translating its attributes for our market? Is a true transatlantic brand more valuable than one that's been invented?  Comment on SwelledHead.com or write to let us know what you think.

TransAtlantic Brands Marketing Public Relations

Comments

[Michael Harney]

Dear Ken,

Thanks for the comments. We are an American tea company. We make no pretense of having of having any English blood or roots. The crest represents my father and my brother and myself. Also it is a allusion to the famous tea "bud and two leaves". The sign of good tea. Coming from New England and having started in 1983, we tend to the classic look. Our thoughts were not to borrow from another tea culture. Rather, we have helped to develop the current American tea culture.

Thanks for thinking of us.

Michael Harney