A potential new paradigm for exporters in food and drink branding

There is a significant body of academic literature on the role of country of origin (COO) influencing consumer product choices in the context of other influencing factors. However, in terms of creating a sense of origin in a specified place: a) there is little data on best practice to enhancing export sales and consumption b) there is little on how, based on distance and knowledge in the target export market, to set what level of specificity works best - country vs region / town / sub region / hectare etc. c) there is information on individual brands from individual countries but little on what, if any, sense of universality emerges from an aggregate review on best practice in COO branding d) images supporting COO in F&D are often idealised bucolic perfection suggesting a rural idyll which may or may not be an authentic reflection of the actual place or method of production. To add meaningfully to the extant body of knowledge, my research is based on testing a hypothesis to get preliminary insights and then carry out more detailed research work thereafter. The hypothesis is that for food & drink brands, what is effective in terms of exporting is a set of universal characteristics related to a specific place and the people therein and less the specifics of a particular place of origin. This is counter much of the current literature and also counters the current practitioner use of projecting national stereotypes as a short cut to communicate COO effectively. Should this hypothesis be correct, it would be the foundation of a fundamentally different way to look at developing F&D brands for export / international consumption and move best practice away from a nationalist paradigm for brand creation to more universal values of appeal supported by evidence in a particular locale of origin. If the findings show the hypothesis to be incorrect, there will still be valuable learnings on how the usage of marketing a brand from a place affects the consumer gaze from afar.