It’s not news that the historically strong U.S. Dollar has been taking a beating lately.  I’m not a finance guy and I don’t trade currency –as I always say you don’t get rich playing another man’s game— but I can’t resist the dollar for what it tells us about branding!

The U.S. Dollar arguably is the strongest brand on the planet and even though it’s been losing value recently, it is still considered the worldwide currency standard.  Like any brand it took a long time to get there! 

Many things about the dollar have changed over the years, but one thing that has remained the same since the Civil War is the color: green.  Did you know that green was chosen because it was considered a symbol of stability?  Or that the bill’s size was established over seven decades ago?   Here’s a brief history of the dollar for more!

Like the best brands, attention paid to the branding details of the dollar early on helped establish it and let it grow –these details re-enforced core brand characteristics over the long haul.  Green was a great choice!  What could be more important for a currency than stability!  And what economy has been more historically stable than the United States?  Green expressed a core brand characteristic.    And it didn’t hurt that by the late seventies the standard for purchasing oil was the dollar when only the British pound (and the German Mark) could come close to its currency strength!

But like any brand, the dollar still has to consider the comptetition!  I’ve always been bullish on America long-term!  But what the U.S. dollar shows is that while a strong brand won’t lose its position overnight, things can still chip away at that dominance.  The fact that a supermodel, Gisele Bundchen, and a rap star, Jaz-Z, are making a show of the importance of the Euro (Gisele insisting on being paid only in Euros and Jaz-Z flashing Euros instead of “Benjamins” in a recent video) clearly says something about how the dollar brand is perceived has changed!  Here’s that story.

It will take a lot more than a few celebrity defections to topple the dollar.  Still, if the dollar’s going to reverse this trend and get stronger, the world will have to have no doubt that the dollar is still true to its brand.  In the dollar’s case, this means showing that the stability always suggested by the green in the greenback is matched by the U.S. economy itself.  If the history of the dollar is any guide, this will happen when our economy’s traditional resilience and strong growth becomes apparent again and not because of a brand-building marketing campaign (or hiring Jay-Z to flash dollars again instead of Euros)!  But you never know!

And remember, it’s always easier if you keep marketing in mind.