About 300 million years ago, shifting of the Earth’s tectonic plates produced an ovoid body of water roughly 800 nautical miles wide. If you never took Geology 101 in college, tectonic plates are those colossal puzzle pieces of the Earth’s crust that have been slowly moving around for the last 4 billion years. That body of water, formerly named the “Gulf of Mexico,” became the “Gulf of America” by executive order of President Donald Trump on January 20, 2025. Two interesting notes: 1) The U.S. did not first name it the “Gulf of Mexico.” The original name appeared on a world map in 1550; and 2) The “Mexico” in the original naming referred not to the country we know as modern-day Mexico but to the ancient Mexicana people, better known as the Aztecs, and was written down as such by some random mapmaker in the 16th century.

America appears to be in a moment of rebranding. Old ideas of who we are and what we stand for are now being met with new ideas on how we should position ourselves in the global marketplace. What President Calvin Coolidge said back in 1925 is truer than ever: “The chief business of the American people is business.” Anyone who has been through a corporate rebranding knows that it can be a painful process. Sometimes the baby tries to come out feet first. It can take a lot of negotiating to get the kid-oriented right so it comes out head first and pink and healthy so that life can go on.

I think we have to acknowledge that heretofore much of the American brand has revolved around the concept of patriotism. I had to go to my dictionary to articulate exactly what that word meant. Patriotism is defined as “love or devotion for one’s country.” That love and devotion, however, has evolved considerably since the Greatest Generation—those born during the Great Depression and World War II. For that generation, their patriotism was informed by the American Revolution and two world wars. After 1950, there was a shift. Now patriotism was informed by Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, The Iraq War, and Afghanistan. A fault line appeared in Brand America with patriots on one side and those who questioned our participation in some of those wars on the other. That transition gave birth to brand slogans like, “America—Love It or Leave It.” The iconic “peace sign” and images of a dove became the logos of the opposition.

Seminal ad man Bill Bernbach said that branding was telling the truth about your product (even if it’s not entirely positive) in a memorable and artistic way. Bernbach was also big on the key differentiator. What makes America unique among every other nation on Earth? And here come the options. Back to the “business” thing, we’re successful. Through capitalism, we have generated tremendous wealth. We could base our branding on freedom—America is a free country with freedoms guaranteed in our Bill of Rights. Another option: America is the land of unbridled potential, overflowing with natural resources, human capital in the form of entrepreneurial talent. And yet another option: America: Land of Scenic Beauty. What other country on Earth can boast The Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, The Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, and The Everglades between its shores?

I also looked at a number of slogans America has used to describe itself:

“America the Beautiful”

“The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave”

“America First”

“In God We Trust”

“United We Stand; Divided We Fall”

“Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death”

“Sweet Land of Liberty”

“Liberty Isn’t Free”

“America—Land of Opportunity”

“Let Freedom Ring”

Most of these, in marketing terms, sounds a bit antiquated. I can almost predict the discussion if these were put on boards in front of a focus group. “America the Beautiful”: Participant 6 says, “But what about the parts of America that aren’t beautiful? The crime, the smog, all that litter along the highway… ?” Or “Sweet Land of Liberty”: Participant 12 (a calorie-challenged man in his 60s) says, “My doctor told me to watch my sweets.” Or “In God We Trust”: Participant 2 (a slight, intense woman in her 40s) says, “I wonder how people who don’t believe in God would feel about that.” And so it goes. 

But Participant 2 does have a point. For this new American brand to be successful, we have to tell a brand story we can all get behind. That’s where Bernbach’s admonition to tell the truth won’t yet align with our contemporary reality. Our reality is that America, after almost 250 years in business, is still trying to figure out the truth about itself. And the good news (or the bad news, depending on your point of view) is that determining that truth won’t be up to some marketing company, a highly-paid Beltway consultant, or even a word slinger like yours truly. The truth will come—come hell or high water—from us, the people.