Refer to header: International advertising and culture Advertising to come extent a cultural phenomenon. When advertising appeals are not in sync with the local culture, the campaign will falter. In the worst-case scenario, the advertisement might even stymie the advertised product’s sales. Effective advertisement campaigns also do a great job in leveraging local culture phenomena.
Refer to header: International advertising and culture As you have seen in previous chapters, language is one of the most formidable barriers that international advertisers need to surmount. Many marketing communication efforts have misfired because of language-related mishaps. Apart from translation another challenge is the proper interpretation of ideas.
Refer to header: International advertising and culture Many of the trickiest marketing communication issues occur in the domain of religion. In Saudi Arabia, for example, because of Islamic practices for feminine modesty, face veils are used. Hence, only veiled women can be shown from the front in television advertisements. As you can imagine, such restrictions lead to horrendous problems for hair care advertisers.
Refer to header: International advertising and culture Political sensitivities are also crucial. Just as with language barriers, advertisers can escape falling into cultural traps by getting input from local staff, distributors or advertising agency people. One framework that helps with studying the influence of culture on international advertising is the Hofstede cultural grid discussed in Chapter 4. Although such cultural schemes can be useful, it is important to bear in mind that value systems change over time. Otherwise, marketers risk falling into the trap of cultural stereotyping.
Refer to header: International advertising and culture This figure shows how, for instance, the Hofstede grid can be handled to assess the suitability of comparative advertising campaigns where one brand is contrasted with a competing brand. The upper left-hand quadrant is the combination of collectivism/feminine values. In group orientated culture, comparison with the competition is not acceptable because the other party risk losing face. For feminine cultures, comparative advertising is too aggressive. Moving to the right there is mixture of collectivism and masculinity. Overt comparative advertising that focuses on competing brands is again limited because of the ‘losing face’ issue.
Refer to header: Setting the international advertising budget One of the delicate decision that marketers face when planning their communication strategy centres around the ‘money’ issue. In 2008, global media spending was US$459 billion, of which $162 was spent on media in the United States, $115 billion in western Europe and $116 billion in Asia-Pacific markets.
Refer to header: Setting the international advertising budget The rule based on percentage of sales is the most widely used method as it simply sets the overall advertising budget as a percentage of sales. The base is either past or expected sales revenues. The principle of the competitive parity rule is extremely simple: use the competitors advertising spending as a benchmark. Share of Voice – brand advertising as a share of total advertising
Refer to header: Setting the international advertising budget The most widely used budgeting method is the so-called objective-and-task method. Conceptually, this is also the most appealing budgeting rule: marketing communication efforts are treated here as a means to achieve the advertiser’s stated objectives. The budgeting process also involves the allocation of resources across the different countries. At one extreme are organisations such as Microsoft and FedEx, where each country subsidiary independently determines how much should be spent within its market and then request the desired resources from headquarters. This is known as bottom-up budgeting. Top-down budgeting is the opposite approach, whereby head-quarters sets the overall budget and then splits up the pie among its different affiliates.
Refer to header: Creative strategy One of the thorniest issues that marketers face when developing a communication strategy is the choice of a proper advertising theme. The major elements of a campaign are the message (strategy, selling proposition, platform) and the execution.
Refer to header: Creative strategy This table highlights some advantages and disadvantages of global advertising. Organisations that sell the same product in multiple markets need to establish how much their advertising campaign should be standardised. Standardisation means the one or more elements of the communication campaign are kept the same.
Refer to header: Creative strategy What makes the case for standardisation so compelling in the eyes of many marketers? A variety of reason have been offered to defend global, if not pan regional advertising campaigns. The major ones are: Economies of scale Consistent image Global consumer segments Cross fertilisation
Refer to header: Creative strategy Given the list of arguments for standardisation, advocates of adaptation can easily compile an equally compelling list for adaptation. The four major barriers to standardisation relate to cultural differences, advertising regulations, differences in the degree of market development and the ‘not invented here’ (NIH) syndrome.
Refer to header: Creative strategy Marketers may adopt several approaches to create international advertisements. At one extreme, the entire process may be left to the local autonomous subsidiary or distributor, with only minimal guidance from headquarters. At the other extreme, global or regional headquarters makes all the decision, including all the nitty-gritty details surrounding the development of advertising campaigns. Universal advertising – most often, the creative strategy is produced by an advertising agency from its head office and then ‘universally’ adopted without, or with little, local office inputs. Prototype advertising – detailed advertising guidelines concerning the advertising’s execution are given to the local or regional affiliates.
Refer to header: Creative strategy With platform advertising, headquarters spells out guidelines on the positioning theme (platform) and the brand identity to be used in the advertisements.
Refer to header: International media decisions Another task that international marketers need to confront is the choice of the media in each of the countries where the organisation is doing business. In some countries, media decisions are much more critical than the creative aspects of the campaign.
Refer to header: International media decisions Availability of media is a major limitation in many markets. The lack of standard media options challenges marketers to use their imagination by coming up with ‘creative’ options. Pinpointing some major trends illustrates the rapid changes in the media landscape. Growing commercialisation and deregulation of mass media. Shift from radio and print to television advertising Rise of global and regional media Growing spread of interactive marketing Growing popularity of text messaging Improved monitoring Improved television viewership
Refer to header: Advertising regulation International advertising in unfamiliar environments can be a minefield for potential advertisers. A major roadblock that global marketers face is the bewildering set of advertising regulations they need to cope with in foreign markets.
Refer to header: Choosing an advertising agency Most multinational corporations rely heavily on the expertise of an advertising agency to develop large advertising campaigns in consultation with in-house marketing departments. In selecting an agency, the international marketer has several options: Work with the agency that handles the advertising in the organisation’s home market Pick a purely local agency in the foreign market Choose the local office of a large international agency Select an international network of advertisement agencies that spans the globe
Refer to header: Coordinating international advertising International advertising approaches often require a great deal of coordination and communication among the various subsidiaries. Several mechanisms that can be used to make this easier are: Monetary incentives Advertising manuals International global meetings
Refer to header: Other elements of the marketing communication mix For most organisations, media advertising is only one part of the marketing communication package. Although advertising is the most visible form, other communication tools often play a vital role in an organisation's international marketing communication mix strategy.
Refer to header: Other elements of the marketing communication mix Sales promotions refer to a collection of short-term incentive tools that lead to quicker or larger sales of a particular product by consumers or the trade.
Refer to header: Other elements of the marketing communication mix For most organisation, the sales promotion policy is a local affair. Several rationales explain the local character of promotions: Economic development Market maturity Cultural perceptions Trade structure Government regulations
Refer to header: Other elements of the marketing communication mix Direct marketing presents various forms of interactive marketing where the organisation uses media that enable it to gain direct access to the end-consumer and to establish a one-to-one relationship.
Refer to header: Other elements of the marketing communication mix Direct marketing is growing rapidly internationally, and many organisations have been able to successfully transplant their direct marketing model to other markets.
Refer to header: Other elements of the marketing communication mix Sponsorship is one of the fastest-growing promotional tools. Major sponsors of the 2010 Long Olympic Games paid many millions for their sponsorship rights. Why? The Olympic Games is the biggest sporting spectacle in the world. Its worldwide partners include: Acer, Coca-Cola, General Electric, McDonalds, Omega, Panasonic, Samsung and Visa.
Refer to header: Other elements of the marketing communication mix Trade shows (also trade fairs or trade exhibitions) are a vital part of the communication package for many international business-to-business marketers. Trade shows tend to have a small direct sales effect – the sales coming from visitors of the trade show booth – and large indirect impacts on the exhibitions’ sales.
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