Technological Changes Have Allowed Brands to Successfully Adapt to Different Cultures - Coursework Example

In the context of cross-cultural brand assemblage, technological changes have allowed brands to successfully adapt to different cultures Author’s Name Grade course Institution Tutor Date Introduction The history of branding can be dated back to as early as the 19th century, with the advent of packaged goods (Wengrow 2008, p. 9). Branding has become a very important aspect of businesses today and it plays a great role on whether a business runs into losses or makes a profit. Only a handful of businesses today have mastered the art of branding and these are the few successful businesses. However, the world today has become a global village and the interconnectedness has increased massively. It is not like five decades ago where manufactures in the United States did not know the preferences of people in say Africa or Australia. Globalisation has changed the way people do businesses today and the choices consumers make before settling on a certain product. Globalisation thus gave rise to the concept of cross-cultural branding. Cross-cultural branding is a branch of advertising where businesses try to make a single product appeal to a variety of consumers across the globe with their respective into consideration. As early as 1960, companies and manufactures started to go global in an effort to increase their market share given the increasing competition in their parent countries (Cavusgi, Deligonul & Yaprak 2005, p. 13). The most notable companies that went global were The Coca Cola Company and McDonald’s. Going global has its challenges from the high costs involved in setting up to hiring of staff. However, one major challenge stands out that gives businesses a nightmare and it is how they can brand a single product differently so as to appeal to different cultural backgrounds (Chekitan 2012, p. 18). Even though businesses still face these challenges, the emergence of technology has made cross-cultural branding a bit easier. This paper will thus look at the different stages cross-cultural branding has gone through, from the emergence of the concept to today and the role that technology has played in its growth. Assemblage of Cross-Cultural Branding As well articulated in the introduction part, branding started in the 19th century. Prior to this, people buyers and sellers were more concerned with producing and buying quality products respectively (Wengrow 2008, p. 17). Manufacturers were of the opinion that all was needed to make a profit in business was just a quality product for the consumer; superior quality was the perfect means for one to beat competition. In early 1900s, consumers were well capable of discerning quality products from mediocre products. As time wore on, businesses realized that competition was becoming high and rivals were producing similarly quality products (Chekitan 2012, p. 16). This was the birth of branding where businesses started to develop ways that their products could stand out from competition. The ‘war’ to make consumers base their purchasing decisions mainly on brand name rather than on quality had began. At this point in time, businesses had taken an all-inclusive branding strategy which basically meant that products were not differentiated according to consumer demographics. One major reason for this all-inclusive approach was the fact that a majority of business operations were more or less localized (Lillis & Tian 2010, p. 106). The emergence of formal companies was just taking root and most all were operating locally. Local operations did not require product differentiation based on culture. Manufactures thus produced products for consumers who were not different culturally and thus advertising on the lines of culture did not make any sense at all (Lillis & Tian 2010, p. 110). Branding also required understanding the target market in order to produce products that would create an emotional attachment with the consumer (Chekitan 2012, p. 12). Understanding target market requires marketing research which is expensive today and must have been expensive too then since it was a new concept. There existed no prior data for businesses to rely on and they had to start from scratch. This means that it was way more expensive back then. As such, it was not possible to carry out market research for both local market and the across foreign markets even if foreign markets meant markets within the country (Cavusgi, Deligonul & Yaprak 2005, p. 9).. In the United States for instance, culture across most states differed greatly and therefore it was not easy to conduct market research across these borders. An all-inclusive advertising approach proved to be an advantage to bigger companies due to the fact that it was easy to cover wider markets with a single strategy (Chekitan 2012, p. 19). For instance, the time it would take for businesses to brand and advertise a product for consumers in the state of Texas would be shorter compared to when the same company decided to brand its product based on say religion or taste. Although this approach is still used today to an extent, it was widely used when branding first emerged because businesses had not started operating across borders where different cultures existed (Wengrow 2008, p. 22). What is important to mention at this point is that most businesses used print media as a means to advertise their products. Technological change in Branding The advancement of technology changed the landscape of advertising a great deal (Goldsmith 2004, p. 10). The most common mode that businesses used to advertise was through print media. Although pictures and words are very important when it comes to advertising, the strength of audio-visual media cannot be disputed. The introduction of television and radio was revolutionary to the manner in which businesses conducted business (Keane, Fung & Moran 2007, p. 83). Having been founded in 1892, The Coca Cola Company, a soft drink company, relied on print media solely in its advertisements in the United States. However, the company was one of the first companies to go global and it began doing this as early as 1926. The main reason for going global was for the company to capture new markets. Despite this early globalization, Coca Cola’s first audio-visual advertisement appeared in 1950. Its television advertisements appealed to consumers all over the world. Most importantly, Coca Cola decided to brand its product during this time with the tag line "Things Go Better with Coke." These words were readily accepted translated into any language and as such was the first step towards cross-cultural branding (Carolyn 2000, p. 87). With the forces of society changing, technology was taking over (Cayla & Arnould 2008, p. 91). Most families in the United States and other parts of the developing world had access to television or radio and therefore companies could now individualize their brands to meet their consumers’ needs. Technology had shifted the focus of businesses from the product to the consumer. Individualization of products was aimed at making a company’s product appeal to the different cultures around the world (Keller & Lehmann 2006, p. 756). Consumers could now hear as well as see what advertisements were telling them. This thus forced companies to be careful with their translations as a simple mistake would lead to loss of consumers in that particular market (Keane, Fung, & Moran 2007, p. 90). This thus led to widespread market research of a foreign market’s culture. Via audio-visual advertising, cross-cultural branding began to spread widely and this trend has continued to present day. The major advantage brought about by technology during the globalization period is the fact that consumers, no irrespective of where they were, could interact with a product without necessarily purchasing it. Importantly, technology thus allowed foreign consumers adequate time to study a new product/brand and make decisions as to whether it respects their culture as well as meets their needs (Carolyn 2000, p. 93). Additionally, the concept of franchising emerged. Companies that were going global had to deal with a lot of challenges in trying to capture these new markets (Cayla & Arnould 2008, p. 109). However, instead of going through the trouble of having their employees learn new languages and cultures, several companies decided that they would have locals buy a piece of the business, get trained on how to run it and run the business as their own. This was termed as franchising. It can be said that with the advent of the computer, franchising got a foot hold like it had never done before. This concept is today wide spread and rather than incur cost of setting up new business premises, hire employees, train these employees and conduct extensive market research, companies see franchising as a cheaper way of going global (Goldsmith 2004, p. 16). The uniformity with which franchises run their businesses all comes down to the technological systems installed in such businesses. Franchising is very common with fast food companies and just like any company that goes global encounters operational challenges, McDonald’s was not a special case. McDonald’s is today, the world’s largest fast food company in the world. It has managed to achieve this by basically franchising from the onset of their operations. McDonald’s brand has thrived from the services it offers with the most important being the convenience it brings to consumers. For McDonald’s, technology enabled it from early on, serve quality fast food quickly and swiftly to waiting customers. As it sought for foreign markets, McDonald’s demanded the same consistency in its outlets abroad. Consequently, franchisees were required to be technologically savvy in their operations so that service provision in McDonald’s outlets would all be the consistent all around the world. The ability for franchisees also to use computer technology to print advertising banners and posters and packages in a language that locals could understand and according to the prevailing culture, has made cross-cultural branding easier (Keane, Fung, & Moran 2007, p. 96). Technology thus played a major role in the emergence of franchises as it is known today. The drive-in fast food restaurants dotting cities all around the world are all operationalised by technology. Additionally, advertising to different cultures has been made possible with the emergence of technology (Goldsmith 2004, p. 17). Consumers could now feel part of a product, they could understand a product well before making a purchase and they could as well relate with the product irrespective of where the product was manufactured. A single product could now be consumed worldwide by different nationalities, races and cultures without fear of a backlash from foreign consumers. Interactive Digital Communication and Cross-Cultural Branding As years have gone by, technology has maintained its dynamism as different fields have continued to rely on it to better performance (Marshall, Moncrief, Rudd & Lee 2012, p. 352). Advertising and more specifically, branding, has continued to take advantage of the interactive of communication platforms offered by technological change. One of these changes is the emergence of interactive digital media that take the form of social media platforms, mobile and computer applications and mobile messaging (Martínez-López, Sousa & Gázquez-Abad 2011, p. 66). Slightly over a decade ago, social media platform usage was not at the level it is today. The ability for consumers to take part in conversations in real time wherever in the world they are has seen businesses make strategic decisions on how to tap into this form of wide spread mode of communication (Morse 1998). Companies today have social media accounts where they can interact with their consumers directly and get important responses in real time (Emery and Tian 2002, p. 221). Social media networks offer connection to millions and millions of people worldwide. This interconnectedness is what companies have taken seriously due to the possibility of a brand being liked/disliked by a person by the virtue that his friend liked/disliked the brand. Companies are thus today on their toes trying to impress consumers and asking for opinions on how a certain product can be improved (Moncrief, Rudd & Lee 2012, p. 358). Currently, the way a company would interact with a consumer from the United States is not the same way it would interact with a consumer in Taiwan. The difference in cultures has forced major companies to employ social media managers in different countries to enable it communicate better and faster (Martínez-López, Sousa & Gázquez-Abad 2011, p. 72). The consequence of this is that these companies are able to reply to feedback, inquiries and complains in record time so as to retain and attract more customers. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram are all being used by global companies such as Samsung, Sony, Coca Cola, Pepsi, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Nike, Addidas etc. Successful brands use social media platforms to create long lasting relationships with their audiences. The way that they have managed to do this is by creating content that consumers are willing to share with friends (Emery and Tian 2002, p. 224). Such content have high share value which in most cases would be termed as having a viral effect in the digital world. In the last Oscar Awards, Samsung gained mileage due to the viral nature of the celebrity picture taken using a Samsung phone by the show’s host. The brand’s social media account grew massively in terms of new members and followers all over the world. This is because people could share the picture with friends who did not see the show. The amount of social media interaction and internet surfing has also opened doors to ‘information digging’ by companies (Lowry, Cao & Everard 2011, p. 165). As people continue to surf the internet widely, there are technologies today that allow companies to dig information on consumer preferences and personal information just from the browsing data stored in these platforms. Using this information, companies have been able to personalize advertisements depending on what a consumer likes check on the internet, his location, his language and a host of other factors (Lowry, Cao & Everard 2011, p. 171). Once a company gets hold of such information, it becomes easy for it to advertise its brand across different cultures. Digital media analytics has also been adopted by companies to measure how successful their brand is in the internet (Marshall, Moncrief, Rudd & Lee 2012, p. 361). These analytics measure the extent to which a brand is popular with consumers. A common way that companies do this is by analysing the number of times content is shared via the various social media platforms. A high number shows that a brand is popular while a low number shows that a product is not popular and that strategies should be changed. Search engines also offer an opportunity for brands to be easily visible on the web and today companies use search engine optimization software to elevate their presence. Search engine optimizers allow content to appear on the first page of most search engines thereby increasing the likelihood of surfers looking for more information on such content (Marshall, Moncrief, Rudd & Lee 2012, p. 362). A brand that finds itself on the first page of a search engine is the first piece of evidence that it is doing better than a brand that finds itself on the second and third page. Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, Instagram are all part of companies’ strategic planning because they cannot afford to miss out on the opportunities offered by these platforms. The level of consumer interaction between consumers and brands is at an all time high and it is not going to stop there. Companies have realized that the only way they can retain the technology savvy consumer is by treating him as a human being on social media and not just a metric to measure the success of its brand. Conclusion Advertising and branding across different cultures has come a long way and given the dynamic nature of the world we live in today, companies have their work cut out for them. The different stages of branding goes to show that nothing in business is static and only companies that stay in touch with the consumers and understand them will succeed. Basically this means that the business today and in the future is consumer centric and not product centric. 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