Banter Like A Brit
Assimilating into a national culture can help brands grow: How, when, and how best to do so in an age of rising nationalism
By Samira Brophy • 10 mins read
Contents
In an age of rising nationalism and flag waving, leaning into national identity might sound daunting. But tapping into universally held, positive traits of a country's identity can create meaningful brand connections and growth.
What marketers need to know about growing sales and delivering growth by assimilating into a national culture are:
1
Assimilating into national culture is a powerful marketing effectiveness lever. Brands benefit from a +43% boost in Brand Closeness from going native without losing their identity. Brand closeness is a cornerstone of long-term brand health in Ipsos brand tracking.
2
Global or local, big or small, the benefits extend to all brands. Finding the intersection between your brand’s guiding principles and those of the relevant nation is how you can access the closeness boost for your brand.
3
Thinking specifically about brands operating in Britain, there are three things marketers can check activations against to be highly effective:
- The creative tension in Britishness is between heritage and originality. Traditional with a twist is a recipe for effective appeal.
- Be confident, not arrogant. Studies show that tipping into arrogance is a no go for brands in Britain, but this doesn't mean you can't have swagger. The Effie case studies illustrate the nuance of this further on in this piece.
- Be culture-first but think about how you can shape it, rather than ape it. Being enduring is one of Brand Britain's three defining traits. You can flex and be reactive to current events to make something memorable but don't shatter you brand identity.
1
Assimilating into national culture is a powerful marketing effectiveness lever. Brands benefit from a +43% boost in Brand Closeness from going native without losing their identity. Brand closeness is a cornerstone of long-term brand health in Ipsos brand tracking.
2
Global or local, big or small, the benefits extend to all brands. Finding the intersection between your brand’s guiding principles and those of the relevant nation is how you can access the closeness boost for your brand.
3
Thinking specifically about brands operating in Britain, there are three things marketers can check activations against to be highly effective:
- The creative tension in Britishness is between heritage and originality. Traditional with a twist is a recipe for effective appeal.
- Be confident, not arrogant. Studies show that tipping into arrogance is a no go for brands in Britain, but this doesn't mean you cannot have swagger. The Effie case studies illustrate the nuance of this further on in this piece.
- Be culture-first but think about how you can shape it, rather than ape it. Being enduring is one of Brand Britain's three defining traits. You can flex and be reactive to current events to make something memorables but don't shatter you brand identity.
Introduction
Nationalism has been called “the ideology of our age”. And with the United States’ Make America Great Again agenda now sparking counter calls to Make Europe Great Again, and other efforts to reassert national identity taking off in countries elsewhere around the globe, this has never felt truer. But what does this mean for brands?
Brand owners have long sought to align their brands through their marketing with national culture. For brands born of a particular national culture, and for brands born outside it, this can be a powerful and effective way to reinforce a brand’s credentials, connect with consumers – such as through a sense of ‘we-ness’, build trust, and engage.
Yet with globalisation now in retreat, nationalism on the rise, and polarised opinions as people in a growing number of countries ask: ‘Just what does my national identity stand for now, anyway?’. Answers to questions such as whether or not a brand should align with a particular national identity, when, and how best to do so are anything but clear cut.
Earlier this year, Ipsos, in collaboration with JKR, surveyed the state of Brand Britain in Be Distinctive Britain. Now, in partnership with Effie, we are building on this with a deep dive into Effie award-winning work from brands that successfully integrate into a national culture. We’ll explore the fundamentals of effective cultural assimilation, draw on important lessons on the benefits of effectively harnessing national identity, and unpack how a brand assimilates with a national culture while also holding on to its own distinctive identity.
Our focus is on Britain and British identity:
BRITISHNESS.
What's going on?
For a brand to assimilate into a national culture, such as Britishness, it must understand the nature of that culture – what it is and stands for, what’s changed over time, and what hasn’t; which aspects of this to lean into and align with; and how best to bring this to life.
Britishness and what it means to brands now
Britishness isn’t just about being British made or owned.
It’s about becoming part of everyday life and sharing particular characteristics that are recognisable and distinctive. Your brand may not be British, but you can engage an audience by empathising with that audience in a British way if they see their identity reflected back in your marketing, making your brand feel ‘of this place’.
In branding, perception is reality. It is hard work to button down three tight attributes that define and guide you, and any good marketer knows this positioning clarity is critical.
Consider this though the lens of What3words. (The geocodes system designed to identify any location on the earth’s surface by dividing the world into 3m x 3m squares and assigning each square a unique combination of three words.)
For example Apple, who consistently deliver ‘Think different’ with Simplicity, Creativity and Humanity. Apple are a highly effective and iconic brand but have also faced an outcry from one of their core communities - creatives - when they drifted from the Creativity pillar.
Think about a nation as a brand and it has its own What3words-style position, too. When indexed against eight other countries by the British public, Britain’s three defining characteristics and how it delivers its identity are: ‘traditional’, ‘enduring’, and ‘witty.’ And this three-word summary is true across generations.
Britishness and what it means to brands now
Britishness isn’t just about being British made or owned.
It’s about becoming part of everyday life and sharing particular characteristics that are recognisable and distinctive. Your brand may not be British, but you can engage an audience by empathising with that audience in a British way if they see their identity reflected back in your marketing, making your brand feel ‘of this place’.
In branding, perception is reality. It is hard work to button down three tight attributes that define and guide you, and any good marketer knows this positioning clarity is critical.
Consider this though the lens of What3words. (The geocodes system designed to identify any location on the earth’s surface by dividing the world into 3m x 3m squares and assigning each square a unique combination of three words.)
For example, Apple who are Cannes Lions marketer of the year in 2025, deliver ‘Think different’ with Simplicity, Creativity and Humanity. Apple are a highly effective and iconic brand but have also faced an outcry from one of their core communities - creatives - when they drifted from the Creativity pillar.
Think about a nation as a brand and it has its own What3words-style position, too. When indexed against eight other countries by the British public, Britain’s three defining characteristics and how it delivers its identity are: ‘traditional’, ‘enduring’, and ‘witty.’ And this three-word summary is true across generations.
The value of knowing national characteristics
Knowing national characteristics is not just useful for a brand, it provides a powerful business lever.
To understand the cumulative effect of British origin on Britishness we performed a Decision Tree analysis to understand the lifts brands receive towards perceptions of Britishness from different ‘types’ of British origin (originated in GB, made in GB, British HQ, British Owners) as reported by people. We then performed bivariate and multivariate regressions on respondent level brand responses to uncover the predictive power of Britishness towards brand closeness.
Tapping into Britishness delivers a +43% boost in brand closeness.
Brand closeness has increased in importance vs category performance as an influence on brand desire over the past 15 years, Ipsos brand tracking data shows. Some of the biggest jumps in closeness via Britishness are for brands in (arguably) low engagement categories like telco, energy and banking – for brands such as Shell, EE, Barclays. In categories such as these, where consumer engagement can be a struggle, Britishness might just help you achieve it.
How a brand can 'play' Britishness
As previously noted, Britain delivers its identity with ‘traditional’, ‘witty’, and ‘enduring’. And depending on a brand’s local or global provenance, this can be played with a straight bat or remixed.
Finding a brand’s ‘inner Brit’ can help communicate effectively and empathetically with a British audience. Originating from Britain is the strongest indicator of a brand’s Britishness, but a brand doesn’t have to be a British brand for this to work. The prominence of global brands like Heinz and McDonald's in our everyday lives plays a role as well. Being a big local employer and having a local tone of voice supports perceptions of Britishness too.
Uplifts that brands receive towards perceptions of Britishness from different 'types' of British Origin
The importance of considering the outside-in view, too
How the world sees a nation – its defining characteristics, its core strengths – is an important piece of the puzzle for a brand to understand to leverage assimilation to its advantage.
Business leaders see Britain’s enduring influence as cultural over economic or political.
Globally, Britain ranks 4th when it comes to culture. It’s not all Charli XCX either, UK authors won the highest number of Nobel Prizes for Literature in 2023, and UK actors won the second highest number of Academy Awards for acting.
Culture that is contemporary and exciting alongside a rich and traditional history is what makes Britain interesting, and this provides brands with another powerful lever.
It's also worth pointing out the biggest negative trait as judged by the rest of the world is arrogance, which gives a clue to brands about how not to speak.
History is tradition and culture is our twist. Let’s see how that can play out.
Alongside analysing our content we conduct regular surveys, ethnographies and online communities into the mood of the nation - looking as much at what's uniting us as dividing us. Throughout our research we have uncovered enduring characteristics of the British identity"
Lucy Irving Senior Cultural Strategist, ITV
Brand x national culture assimilation in action
Britishness can be leveraged in different ways beyond the traditional core.
By overlaying the different attributes for Britain with well-known brands and mapping how closely they match in personality, five clusters emerge – some that lend themselves to Britishness more than others, often with a mix of global and local brands in each cluster.
Do British Brands share the attributes of Brand Britain, and are some leveraging different aspects beyond its traditional core?
Consider if you could fit your brand into one of the four clusters which have a stronger alignment with Britishness, the detailed nature of which are as follows:
Personality clusters based on common personality traits
Exemplar Brands: Brands that are trusted as gold standards in their industries. They understand that their success hinges on empowerment of their customers, helping make their lives better. Exemplar Brands excel in efficiency and reliability. Even though their personalities may be more muted, they rise to the top in other areas.
Examples of such brands include Lloyds and O2.
Sophisticated Trailblazers: Brands that combine stylish, sophisticated aesthetics with pioneering approaches, committed to quality and excellence. Heritage and authenticity balance local identity with global appeal. More than brands, they are a statement.
Examples of such brands include Paul Smith and Jaguar.
Creative Originals: Brands that focus on self-expression, offering fashion statements and everyday essentials with a twist. Consumers aren’t just buying a product – they’re embracing an attitude, experience and individuality. Creative Originals deliver something different. They’re seen as ‘fun’, ‘creative’, and ‘unique’, underpinned with authenticity.
Examples of such brands include Vivienne Westwood, Marmite, and Mini.
British Heartland: Brands that resonate with British people by expressing ‘tradition’, ‘warmth’ and ‘dependability’. Trusted for generations, they are welcoming and as they embody ‘generosity’ and ‘community’ they earn a lasting place in British homes.
Examples of such brands include Yorkshire Tea and McDonalds.
The British pride themselves on their sense of humour. It is cheeky, subversive, playful, provocative, sometimes combative or even downright crude"
Darren Hawkins McCann Worldgroup, Head of Effectiveness (Eruope/UK)
5 ways brands can navigate aligning with national identity
Analysis of Effie award-winning campaigns demonstrate how brands that excel at assimilating into national culture have created meaningful connections, sales and growth. Each of the following examples also demonstrates one of five important lessons other brand owners can follow:
What next?
With brands able to achieve a +43% boost in Brand Closeness from going native, they set themselves up well for building equity in the long term. Assimilating into national culture without losing their own identity is a powerful marketing effectiveness lever.
To get the best results, brands need to remember:
1
Consider a brand through the What3words lens to know the brand’s guiding principles so as to best align the brand with those of the relevant nation. Clarity and alignment matter regardless of a brand’s provenance or scale.
2
Be confident, not arrogant. Channel British traditions but be mindful and sensitive of how you interpret them. Do channel Shakespearean drama and energy with a fresh twist. Don’t tell bombastic and historically inaccurate tales of Agincourt as an example of British exceptionalism.
3
Britain’s creative tension is between heritage and originality. Traditional with a twist is a recipe for effective appeal. British eccentricity is a dynamic concept and is something brands can lean into. Ipsos Misfits research is a great effectiveness guide to help you maximise tension for creative that is both relevant and divergent.
4
Be culture-first but shape it, don’t ape it. Being enduring is one of Brand Britain’s three defining traits. This doesn’t mean don’t respond to current events, but it’s important that how you respond is coherent to your brand and in line with its three defining traits. Flex but don’t shatter your brand identity when you experiment across new channels, formats and platforms, and make something memorable.
Sources
- Ipsos Be Distinctive Britain Survey. Base: 3000 GB adults aged 18-65, interviewed online 30 July-5 Aug 2024
- BCC Insights Unit Brand Britain Survey. Base: 1125 business participants, Interviewed online 08 July – 09 August 2024
- How the world views the UK Anholt Nation Brands Index 2024, VisitBritain Research, November 2024. https://www.visitbritain.org/research-insights/uks-image-overseas
- The arts in the UK: Seeing the big picture A perspective on how to gauge and sustain the UK arts sector’s full impact https://www.mckinsey.com/uk/~/media/mckinsey/locations/europe%20and%20middle%20east/united%20kingdom/our%20insights/the%20arts%20in%20the%20uk%20seeing%20the%20big%20picture/the-arts-in-the-uk-seeing-the-big-picture_final.pdf?shouldIndex=falseMisfits | Ipsos
Samira Brophy
Senior Director, Ipsos samira.brophy@ipsos.com
Samira is an Ipsos expert on brand and communication work, with 20 years of experience spanning creative and research roles. She leads Ipsos’ earlystage campaign development offer, is a thought leader on ad effectiveness, and works with clients to adopt a misfit mindset and make bolder, highly creative campaigns that audiences value.
