Rule Britannia - Patriotism or cashing in on a Diamond Year?

Whilst out recently I wandered into a coffee shop and ordered my usual…..absorbed in conversation with a friend I only looked up when I heard “skinny cappuccino” shouted out by the barista, at which point I was greeted with foam covered in a giant chocolate union jack flag!  Now this made me smile on an already great day but got me thinking has this year brought out our extreme patriotism or is every company just using it as an excuse to jump on the bandwagon to tug on our marketing heart strings and boost their coffers?

The steady rise in all things ‘British’ can’t have been missed in this bumper year of excuses to celebrate all things great and good about this fine nation – what with the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics!  At last, the waiting over, a Brit in the final at Wimbledon – the nation held its collective breath in anticipation……

You can’t escape the current onslaught – every advert and window display is an Olympic reference or a riot of union jack flags and oversized cardboard medals.  There’s doesn’t seem to be a company out there not latching on to the great 2012 marketing opportunity but is this a bad thing?  Will we all suffer ‘Jingoistic’ fatigue before the Olympic flame is extinguished or is it a great chance for  companies to boost their profits and the economy, whilst the public enjoy a lift in their spirits during in one of the wettest ‘summers’ on records during these times of austerity.

Is there a business that isn’t marketing itself using even the most  tenuous link to the Olympics,  shouting out that it’s a sponsor for the biggest sporting event this country has ever seen, to pottery and porcelin celebrating 60 years on the throne.  Everyone’s getting in on the act with even the high end brands giving their products a facelift for this historic year – think Mulberry and their classic Bayswater now with a union jack on the clasp face and Links doing a roaring trade by allowing you to design your own Wimbledon or Olympic bracelet.

I guess the more cynical amongst us (or perhaps the realists?) would say it’s all just a big marketing ploy – which of course it is.  Case in point I found myself almost buying some Beefeater gin at the airport last week even though I don’t drink it just because I loved the shiny red bottle with ‘Made in London’ written down the side.  I like to take the ‘glass half full’ viewpoint - I think it’s made the companies raise their game.  We live in a world where consumers are harder than ever to impress, they have so much choice and the landscape of advertising is changing constantly.   Over the past few months I’ve seen some phenomenal marketing, and window campaigns that have made me stop and take photos, so if a ‘patriotic’ cappuccino can put a smile of my face then I say 2012 is a great year to feel proud to be British.