Key to British Market Lies in Research

Britons and Americans might speak the same language, but popular U.S. products such as tacos, Cross pens and Royal Caribbean cruises seemed very foreign to the British market until recently.

Changing Britons’ minds about them has been a tricky business, complicated by the U.S. recession, a fluctuating dollar and cultural differences that Americans tended to underestimate, experts say.

“Because your product sells successfully in the United States, it’s no guarantee that your product is going to succeed profitably in the U.K.,” said Richard Onion, business development director of the Jenks Group, a sales, marketing and distribution company.

Nonetheless, American companies are eager to tap Britain’s 55 million consumers and use the country as a base after 1992, when Europe is to become one giant marketplace of 340 million consumers.

A recent workshop sponsored by the American Chamber of Commerce explored those goals.

Onion, though, remains cautious: “It’s a crowded gateway and fiercely competitive.”

Britain already accounts for a quarter of American exports to the European Community--worth $23.5 billion, according to Peter Travis, a managing director of Travis Dale and Partners, an advertising agency specializing in U.S. products abroad.

Travis said big successes are unusual, but he blamed lack of commitment from some American companies. “It’s never easy at first but if you stick to it, success can come in a big way,” he said.

Kieran Crowley, general manager of the British subsidiary of A. T. Cross Co., said another problem is that Americans think they understand the British market better than they actually do.

Jennifer Brown, a director for the Royal Caribbean cruise line, said she’s noted an improvement in recent years, but she complained: “Because of the size of the American market and because of its dominance in international trade, it can be somewhat insular in its thinking.”

A key to success is researching the British market well, Travis said.

He noted, for example, that market research showed most Britons didn’t know what a taco was, and many of those willing to try one had asked for a knife and fork.

Pet Inc. succeeded at marketing its Old El Paso Mexican foods in Britain by explaining in television and print advertisements what tacos were and how to make them, Travis said. In the more mature U.S. market, Pet was boasting that its taco shells were less likely to break.

After six years, Old El Paso dominates the British market. Its sales grew 30% to $16.3 million last year, Travis said.

Campbell Soup Co. successfully marketed its Godiva chocolate on both sides of the Atlantic--targeting female chocolate fanatics, Travis said. Using the same approach saved the company money, he said.

Meanwhile, Unilever N.V., which got the Ragu spaghetti sauce brand through its acquisition of U.S.-based Chesebrough-Pond’s Inc., decided to market it as an authentic Italian product. “The British believe the Americans are no better than we are at making food,” Travis explained.

Launched 2 1/2 years go, Ragu sales now total more than $16.3 million a year.

Crowley said Cross felt it had to prove its pedigree, something it doesn’t need to do in the United States. So its ads featured the company’s heritage and stressed service, including a lifetime guarantee.

Royal Caribbean overcame the British reluctance to cruise with Americans by offering free flights to Miami, where many of its cruises begin, Brown said.