American-made campaign: Milwaukee group tries convincing consumers to 'buy American'

Motivated by the massive loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs to foreign outsourcing, a Milwaukee group is in the midst of a national campaign to convince consumers to buy American-made products.

We Employ America is using television and print advertisements to deliver its message. Locally produced advertisements already have aired on CNN.

The campaign is the brainchild of Jeff Cowie, who retired in 2002 as vice president of sales and marketing at Johnson Level & Tool Manufacturing Co., a Mequon hand-tool manufacturer. Cowie worked for 15 years at Johnson Level & Tool, the last six of which the company spent "strongly fighting off Asian imports," he said.

The first TV ads for We Employ America aired July 22 on "Lou Dobbs Tonight," a program on CNN whose host has been highly critical of American companies that outsource production and jobs.

The initial 30-second television spot features rapid-fire images of abandoned factories and downtrodden workers as a solemn-voice narrator states: "Since 2001, millions of our own have been lost overseas, never to be seen again. Where are the monuments built in their memory? You're looking at one."

We Employ America is designed to pool the resources of American manufacturers to urge consumers to purchase American-made products in order to support U.S. jobs and economic stability, even if it means paying more, Cowie said.

"You need to get the message to consumers. The only way to do that is to advertise," Cowie said. "This is the consumers' call to arms."

Cowie has been busy spreading the We Employ America message. He appeared via live feed Aug. 18 on CNBC's morning talk show, "Squawk Box."

After taking early retirement, Cowie, 51, did consulting work for Catral Doyle Creative Inc., a Milwaukee public relations firm.

Cowie and Catral Doyle Creative owner Susan Catral were preparing to call on a prospective client in April 2003 only to learn that the Milwaukee-area manufacturer, which Cowie declined to name, had decided to close its local plant and outsource all of its production.

Cowie, with support from Catral, decided he needed to do something to halt the loss of American manufacturing jobs.

"We needed to create a hard-hitting message that conveys to the consumer this crisis," he said.

The United States has lost 2.9 million manufacturing jobs, or 17 percent of total manufacturing jobs, over the past four years, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

In order to qualify for membership in We Employ America, companies must produce at least 65 percent of a given product in the United States. Membership allows companies to place a prominent "We Employ America" tag on the product. Companies that operate overseas plants aren't excluded from membership, as long as they also maintain production in the United States.

"We don't take a protectionist attitude," Cowie said. "We recognize this is a global marketplace."

Membership fees for finished-goods producers are $10,000 for companies with annual revenue of less than $100 million; $20,000 for those with yearly sales of more than $100 million.

For an additional $8,000, companies can sponsor a specific ad, which allows them to pitch their products at the end of the We Employ American television spot.

The group also offers lower-priced memberships ranging from $500 to $2,000 for suppliers that provide parts to finished goods producers. Suppliers aren't able to place a We Employ America tag on the parts they produce. However, such companies can use the tag on their letterhead, business forms, even their delivery vehicles, Cowie said.

Cowie and Catral have funded the group's operations to this point. Cowie declined to provide the group's start-up budget. We Employ America shares office space with Catral Doyle Creative in Milwaukee's 3rd Ward.

Thus far, only three companies have signed on as members: Mr. LongArm Inc., a Greenwood, Mo., manufacturer of extendable paint rollers and janitorial supplies; HD Hudson Manufacturing Co., a Chicago-based maker of garden sprayers and dusters; and Badger Metal Tech Inc., a small Menomonee Falls firm specializing in die surface treatments for new and used tooling.

We Employ America is working with several Milwaukee companies to spread its message. The initial television spot was filmed by Purple Onion, a Milwaukee video production house. The Lynne Broydrick Group is serving as the group's public relations firm and M2C Inc. is its media buyer.

Getting consumers to look beyond price is key to the We Employ America campaign, said Jerald Skoff, chief executive officer of Badger Metal Tech.

"The American public has taken the mind-set of 'buy it cheaper,' " Skoff said. "People used to brag about how much they paid for something. Now they brag about how little they pay. We're slitting our own throats."

Last year, Skoff co-founded the Wisconsin Chapter of Save American Manufacturing. Unlike We Employ America, Skoff's group has taken a strong stance on U.S. trade policies, urging the United States to withdraw from the World Trade Organization and to rescind China's status as a "most favored nation" trading partner.

Cowie is scheduled to speak at the Manufacturing & Economic Recovery Conference in Chicago Sept. 13-15.

"The crisis in manufacturing is deep and long," said Peggy Smedley, an organizer of the conference and publisher of Start, a Carol Stream, Ill., magazine designed for manufacturing executives.

"You have to become one voice to become louder," Smedley said. "The louder the voice, the more dramatic the message."

the way to tell where a vehicle is made is to check the VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) - which you an get before you buy. The first digit gives country of manufacture:
Here is the key:

http://www.vinguard.org/vin.htm

How to read a VIN

1st character- Identifies the country in which the vehicle was manufactured.
For example: U.S.A.(1or 4), Canada(2), Mexico(3), Japan(J), Korea(K), England(S), Germany(W), Italy(Z)

2nd character- Identifies the manufacturer. For example; Audi(A),
BMW(B), Buick(4), Cadillac(6), Chevrolet(1), Chrysler(C), Dodge(B),
Ford(F), GM Canada(7), General Motors(G), Honda(H), Jaquar(A), Lincoln(L), Mercedes Benz(D), Mercury(M), Nissan(N), Oldsmobile(3), Pontiac(2or5), Plymouth(P), Saturn(8), Toyota(T), VW(V), Volvo(V).

3rd character- Identifies vehicle type or manufacturing division.

4th to 8th characters- VDS - Vehicle Descriptor Section. These 5 characters occupy positions 4 through 8 of the VIN and may be used by the manufacturer to identify attributes of the vehicle. Identifies vehicle features such as body style, engine type, model, series, etc.

9th Character - The check digit "character or digit 9" in the sequence of a vehicle identification number (VIN) built beginning with model year 1981 (when the 17 character digit format was established) can best be described as identifying the VIN accuracy.

A check digit shall be part of each vin (since 1981) and shall appear in position
nine (9) of the VIN on the vehicle and on any transfer documents containing
the vin prepared by the manufacturer to be given to the first owner for purposes
other than resale. Thus, the vins of any two vehicles manufactured within a 30
year period shall not be identical. The check digit means a single number or letter
"x" used to verify the accuracy of the transcription of the vehicle identification
number.

After all other characters in the VIN have been determined by the manufacturer
the check digit is calculated by carrying out a mathematical computation
specified. This is based on vin position, sample vin, assigned value code,
weight factor and multiply assigned value times weight factors. The values are added and the total is divided by 11. The remainder is the check digit number.
The correct numeric remainder - zero through nine (0-9) will appear.
However, if the remainder is 10 the letter "X" is used to designate the check
digit value/number.

10th character- Identifies the model year. For example: 1988(J), 1989(K), 1990(L), 1991(M), 1992(N), 1993(P), 1994(R), 1995(S), 1996(T),
1997(V), 1998(W), 1999(X), 2000(Y)------2001(1), 2002(2), 2003(3)

11th character- Identifies the assembly plant for the vehicle.

12th to 17th characters- VIS - Vehicle Identifier Section. The last 8 characters of the VIN are used for the identification a of specific vehicle. The last four characters shall always be numeric. Identifies the sequence of the vehicle for production as it rolled off the manufacturers assembly line.

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