Where you from?(On Marketing)

WHICH WOULD YOU CONSIDER to be more "American"--the Ford Mustang or the Toyota Camry?

Certainly the Mustang has the classic American heritage and media persona going for it. In fact, you could argue that the Mustang seems as American as anything on the road. The 1968 Mustang GT 390 Fastback, for example, was the ride of choice for Steve McQueen's character in "Bullitt." We're talking Steve McQueen here, people. Why, in a mere 23-word description of the Mustang Coupe on the Ford Web site, the very word American is used twice.

Ignoring manufacturers' claims and intangibles such as style and history, there is a more objective measure--the source of a coifs guts--for determining its point of origin. The American Automobile Labeling Act set a cutoff of 75 percent American- or Canadian-made parts plus final assembly in the U.S. before a vehicle may be advertised as "Made in the USA."

The most recent analysis of vehicles sold in the U.S., compiled by Autobytel.com and posted on its Web site, demonstrates the global nature of auto production, assembly and marketing.

The Toyota Camry has 80 percent American and/or Canadian parts content and is assembled at a 7,000-employee plant in Georgetown, Ky. The Ford Mustang has only 60 percent American and/or Canadian parts content. According to the standard of 75 percent domestic content, then, the Camry is classified as a domestic vehicle here in the U.S. while the Mustang is an "import."

I found this fact almost as shocking as the news that Sir Paul McCartney had planted a kiss on the cheek of Yoko Ono at a show premiere two weeks ago.

But does this stuff even matter in today's global melting pot of manufacturing and its complex web of distribution?

Many American consumers will tell you that it does. A July 5 article in the Tucson Citizen reports that 60 percent of domestic online car shoppers said they would be more likely to buy a vehicle built by U.S. workers, and 30 percent consider the designation of an American-built car to be "very important" to them when purchasing a vehicle.

Many academics, on the other hand, will tell you that the so-called "country-of-origin" (COO) effect carries far less weight in the marketplace today. In the European Management Review, Jean-Claude Usunier of the University of Lausanne recently reviewed a number of issues regarding COO; he concludes that since the mid-1960s there is less relevant COO information available to consumers, more influence from other factors and thus less importance assigned to COO by consumers. (Underscoring Usunier's conclusion is this fact: Fewer than 10 percent of Americans who are current car shoppers are even aware of the existence of American Automobile Labeling Act data. It's difficult to be influenced by stuff you don't know.)

So--as they say in my hometown of Swainsboro "Yougotthatright," Ga.--where you from? And what should that answer mean to your marketing efforts?

Consumer surveys seem to indicate that "where you're from" carries less weight than does "what you're about." A 2006 national survey commissioned by the National Consumers League and Fleishman-Hilliard International Communications indicated that 65 percent of Americans believe it's "extremely important" or "very important" to buy from companies that share their values and priorities. Nearly half of the respondents said they have actively used the Internet to learn the extent to which companies are socially responsible. Further, most tend to define social responsibility in their own terms rather than rely on advocacy groups to define it for them.

That survey, and many others, shows that a growing number of Americans care about the companies they support with their purchases and investments. And they don't need experts, scales or indexes to tell them which companies are in sync with them.

So if you're considered to be an American company that also shares your customers' priorities, concerns and aspirations ... well, that's as powerful as bringing Paul and Yoko together.

Jim Karrh, Ph. D., is chief marketing officer of Mountain Valley Spring Co. of Hot Springs. E-mail him at jkarrh@mountainvalleyspring.com