Country of origin

Pastel de Belém

Today we started our class with a case about the Portuguese delicatessen Pastel de Belém. We talked about its competitive advantage, history/heritage, and how/what cultural factors have an affect on its sales. The cultural factors we came up were:

• the cafe culture that exists in Portugal (there is no such thing in Finland)
• rhythm of life, the consumption of the pastries was almost doubled during weekends
• stay and eat at the beautiful traditional cafe or take the pastries with you.

We then talked about adaptation and/or standardization of this pastry when going international. We thought that the packaging and the name should be adapted to be able to sell the product. Branding was the next thing discussed and we thought that since this product has a great history, it should be used to branding of the product. This is called heritage branding. This tasty tart was selected as 15th  on The Guardians list of the most delicious food and where to eat it. On the same list the best place for Nordic food was number 19 with the restaurant Olo in Helsinki, Finland.

MADE IN...

We also got into groups and created mind maps of what the country of origin means for sales and marketing. The reputation of the country is very important when thinking about labeling your product with Made in... sign. How other people perceive products from a certain country can differ a lot based on the image that country has created over the years. There is also a change between generations. We noticed that the brand in our group has a grater effect on the quality image of the product than where the product itself is made. Then there is the effect of perceiving you´r country's products as superior to others. In Finland Finnish products are mostly perceived as great quality and we are proud of them, but in China the Made in China label doesn't have the same patriotic effect. The origin of a product can also falsely effect the image of a product. When you hear that a chocolate is from Belgium, you immediately think that it is of high quality. Well, you don't know anything about the product, but are you ready to say that it is great before tasting it? When it comes to Belgian chocolate - most people are, according to my brief review in out international marketing class.

Many countries have also branded themselves and Finland has had a tough time in this as we are here in the north away from everyone else, or is this our advantage?

CNN listed Rovaniemi, Finland for the second time in row, as the best place to be for Christmas holiday on their list of the 9 best Christmas destinations. This season has for several years been the most profitable for north of Finland, but I don't see  reason why the summers should be any less profitable. The target customers for summer holiday's season may be different, but I would bet that there is a great deal of potential to grow in the summer holiday markets even for the same customers as during the winter/Christmas. The difference in Finnish weather and landscape from winter to summer is so different. It is like coming from darkness to light, without either of these being a bad thing. The summer with light and festivals and the winter with snow in all its glory both have something different and great to give. I hope that Finland realizes this and starts promoting itself as a year around destination for great holidays.

I found this article of Scotland promoting itself with Shetland ponies who wear cardigans. This campaign is from the Scottish Tourism Board promoting the year 2013 as the "Year of Natural Scotland". This is adorable and will definitely make an impact on the people who love horses and nature. This branding of a natural Scotland will definitely make a great impact on people who want to see natural landscapes and unpolluted areas. This is something I think Finland could also promote itself as.