Article Analysis: The Global Brand Face-Off by Raman, Thompson, Aaker, Manwani, and Kotabe - Essay Example

Article Analysis V: The Global Brand Face-Off For one of the regions discussed in the article, what care must be taken to ensure that there is nothing offensive in “naming” or “packaging” for the cultures and languages of the region? Please analyze the impact of culture and language on marketing based on the discussion in the article. Analyze the problems of communicating brand identity in different cultures and recommend promotional strategies for one region discussed in the article, providing a rationale. An important part of successful marketing is “how to activate the brand” i.e. how best to deliver the company’s intended message to the consumer. Thus it is a matter of effective communication. This is easier done in the language and culture of the consumer. In other words, the company must acquaint itself with the language and culture of consumers in order to communicate with them. In this regards, the packaging of the item being marketed also plays an important role. Standard packaging helps to create a brand identity. In the movie industry for example, dubbing is often done in local languages and this practice has improved in international studios. Differences in language and culture “have a significant impact on the way a product may be used in a market, its brand name and the advertising campaign” (Bhushan) as McDonald’s learnt for example, when they failed to appreciate the social cultural dimensions of the market in India. This makes the market hard to break into. To illustrate the problem of language in another region, the sound of Coca-Cola for example, translates into Chinese as ‘A thirsty mouthful of candle wax’. To get round this, the product is known as ‘Kee Kou Keele’ in China, which means ‘Joyful tastes and happiness’. Espoir Cosmetics is an international cosmetics company that wanted to create a new global branding initiative. Natasha Singh who is the executive vice president and global marketing officer of Espoir observes, “A global strategy will resonate in India in some cases, but I doubt if we will be able to do away with local marketing initiatives. It’s tough to overcome cultural differences.” Thus, she makes it clear that a brand identity must be created in the local region. And, this requires communicating in the language and culture of the region. In this way, the ‘packaging’ is properly targeted. But this is not without some difficulties. The problem with a standard global strategy is that there is a tendency towards ‘overstandardization’ or ‘oversimplification’, which also discourages local innovation. So a promotional campaign on this basis could very well turn out to be a waste of money. Instead, Singh advised Espoir, “We will save costs by building brands through global strategies and allowing local initiatives to drive sales.” Johnson also claims that he has yet to see any economies of scale from global projects. This may reinforce the brand’s equity but such global promotions don’t tend to work so effectively. Singh recommends that promotional strategies have the following characteristics: Local teams - Local teams should be involved in global marketing. In PepsiCo Beverages International for example, the chief marketing officer leads a worldwide network of managers. Together, they “share best practices and choose ideas that the global team or a region should implement.” According to Singh, sharing ideas helps to ‘source global ideas from her network rather than trying to impose HQ’s ideas.” Shared vision - A shared vision can define ‘nonnegotiable areas’ in which there will be a global consistency e.g. with respect to name. Look, positioning and quality standards. Managers in the field can then have their say in areas such as price, pack strategy, selection of local colors and channel strategy. So there is a “need for flexibility to address local tastes with different seasonings and even to allow use of acquired strong local brands.” Menu for local choices – A global promotional platform coupled with scope for country variations can maximize the buy-in of ideas. For instance, Natasha persuaded her company to bring out a range of lipsticks in purple and this worked for India though the palette “was alien to Espoir’. Quantification of benefits and costs of global consistency – A comparison of costs with local promotions can help to consider the feasibility of using a global program due to the savings on production and other costs. “That additional media muscle would be a compelling argument in favor of adoption.” Successful marketing then means “achieving both global scale and local relevance”, which requires time and flexibility of approach. At Espoir, Singh’s global program is supplemented by a local initiative by Mazur in India who “knows the retailers and the local competition”. The tension between the need to create a global brand and to remain focused on the local consumers is common to many multinationals. This first requires that the “definition of a global brand is widely understood within the organization.” A common understanding enables local managers to work more effectively as a team. This also gives it a common goal and identity. The local managers can then concentrate on making decisions to manage the brand. At Espoir, the brand image is of a ‘smart and independent woman’. The problem is that this has different connotations in different regions of the world. For example, being smart and independent may not be conflicting with taking part in a beauty contest in the US, but it is in Eastern Europe. The gist is that marketing should be carried out at three levels viz. globally, regionally and locally. Some brands including Espoir have been successful in creating universal appeal but “brand equity has to be managed more coherently than it used to be in terms of positioning, communication, packaging, and even pricing.” A uniform identity “forces managers to make trade-offs between the benefits of addressing markets through a coherent brand and the advantages of adapting it to address each market differently. The trick is striking the right balance between being mindlessly global and hopelessly local.” This requires innovation not only at a local level but also globally and regionally as advertising must be consistent in managing a brand globally. References Bhushan, Amarendra. (n.d.). Marketing Environment. Retrieved Apr. 1, 2009 from: http://www.wholesale-suppliers.net/cars-trucks-automotive/cars_trucks_235.php. Raman, A.P., Thompson, P.M., Aaker, J.L., Manwani, H., Gift, S., & Kotabe, M. (2003). The global brand face-off. Harvard Business Review, 81(6). (AN 9943706). Read More