Branding Beyond Culture

Mahreen Mamoon1 and M Sohel Iqbal2

Over time, culture has been defined in many different ways. In essence, however, it is the set of values and the patterns of learned behaviour that develop as a result of living within a particular society. The concept is therefore, a broad one since it embraces every part of a persons life and has a direct effect upon patterns of behaviour. Conducting business across national boundaries inevitably leads to interaction with people and their organisations who have been brought up in a different cultural environment and who as a consequence have a different set of values and expectations. These differences in attitudes, beliefs and perception, together with the many other cultural characteristics, are of fundamental importance is the international marketer and have a direct and pervasive influence upon the nature of the marketing programme.

Key Words: Culture, Communication, International Marketing, Branding.

1.0 Introduction
In todays increasingly sophisticated global marketplace, competitiveness of a global brand depends not only on its ability to timely address rapid, sudden and complex changes in business environments but also on ability to understand and cope with diversity and intricacy of various cultures and sub-cultures around the world (Lee, 2005). Global companies should even consider cultural differences among different ethnic groups when communicating products in a country (Lindridge, 2002). All the leading global companies in the world achieved remarkable success for their ability to break through cultural barriers by means of communicating a range of messages about value, quality, reliability and brand image understandable to a whole variety of culture-specific target audiences.
Ignorance of the impact of cultural diversity led many multinational companies to rely on one communication strategy to establish brand image, which instead resulted their ultimate withdrawal from many international markets. For example, Wal-Mart failed to impress German customers with their brand image, which resulted in their ultimate withdrawal of German operation (Case 2). Benettons world-wide communication campaign in the 1980s became highly controversial and unsuccessful. Based on the theme united colours of Benetton, its print ads and posters featured such unusual and disturbing images as a white child wearing angels wings alongside a black child sporting devils horns, a priest kissing a nun, an AIDS patient and his family in the hospital and 56 close up photos of male and female genitalia. This campaign labelled by critic as truly shocking, resulted in Benetton products being banned in many parts of the world. When Parker Pen marketed a ball-point pen in Mexico, its ads were supposed to say it wont leak in your pocket and embarrass you. Instead the ads said it wont leak in your pocket and make you pregnant. In Chinese, the KFC slogan fingerlickin good came out as eat your fingers off. In Taiwan, the translation of the Pepsi slogan Come alive with the Pepsi Generation came out as Pepsi will bring your ancestors back
1

Senior Lecturer of Marketing, American International University-Bangladesh. MSc International Marketing and Management. 2 Protocol Officer of Australian High Commission of Bangladesh.

Page 1 of 10

from the dead. Frank Perdues slogan, it takes a tough man to make a tender chicken, was translated as it takes a hard man to get a chicken aroused in Mexico (Roy 1998). These examples illustrates that multinational companies often commit such grave errors with brand communication strategies when they rush into new markets without assessing crosscultural value systems. Such mistakes often cost them a lot in terms of investment and effort, which become difficult to recover later on. A brand marketer should have the ability to understand cultural differences, especially cultural factors that affect consumers patterns of behaviour. It means not only satisfying culturally learned needs of target customers, but also focusing communication effort to accommodate gathered knowledge of social and cultural factors influencing customers purchase behaviour. Any global brand will only be successful if it rises to the challenge of understanding culture and how it affects planning and implementation of brand communication across cultural boundaries (Lee, 2005). The scope of this essay would be to find out whether well planned and effective international marketing communications can create strong global brand irrespective of cultural boundaries. What role marketing communication could play in determining a brands global image (figure 1)? What are the real life examples of successful or unsuccessful brand communication strategies? The essay will explain in detail relevant theoretical background explaining cases of successful as well as unsuccessful brand communication strategies of a few strong global brands. 1.0 Objectives of the essay

The objectives of the essay include: Understand why and how cultural differences affect brand marketing communications Importance of integrating marketing communications to build strong brand image Standardization versus adaptation arguments of marketing communications strategies Characteristics of strong global brands Case studies of a successful and unsuccessful global brands Last but not the least, draw a conclusion as to whether international marketing communications create strong global brands across various cultures. 2.0 2.1 Theoretical understanding Global cultural diversity and marketing communication

According to Hofstede (1984), culture is the collective programming of mind which distinguishes members of one group from another. Hofstede's research on cultural diversity has provided an 'edge of understanding' for multinationals in developing communication strategies to establish their brands across cultures.

Page 2 of 10

Country PD IDV MAS UA LTO China 80 20 66 40 118 India 77 48 56 40 61 Nigeria 77 20 46 54 16 Singapore 74 20 48 8 48 Brazil 69 38 49 76 65 France 68 71 43 86 Hong Kong 68 25 57 29 96 South Korea 60 18 39 85 75 Taiwan 58 17 45 69 87 Japan 54 46 95 92 80 United States 40 91 62 46 29 Netherlands 38 80 14 53 44 Australia 36 90 61 51 31 Germany 35 67 66 65 31 United Kingdom 35 89 66 35 25 Norway 31 69 8 50 20 Sweden 31 71 5 29 33 New Zealand 22 79 58 49 30 Table 1: World-wide Index of Hofstedes cultural dimension (source: http://www.clearlycultural.com/)

Any national culture can be described according to the five dimension analysis of Hofstede. Power Distance (PD) measures inequality in society, indicating difference between less powerful members of a society with more powerful member. Germany has 35 on PD scale, which means there is no large gap between wealthy and poor, but believes in equality for all. Individualism (IDV) explains relationship between individuals in society. With score 89 Germany is considered as highly individualistic. Masculinity (MAS) refers to the distribution of roles between male and female. For example, Japan is a highly masculine society. Uncertainty Avoidance (UA) refers to societys tolerance for uncertainty, ambiguity and attitude towards risks. Japans UA score is 92, meaning that Japanese are not too keen on uncertainty; by planning everything carefully they try to avoid uncertainty. Long-Term Orientation (LTO) was added to distinguish the difference in thinking between East and West. China has the highest LTO (118), which is quite true for all Asian cultures. LTO indicates a society's time perspective and an attitude of persevering, i.e. overcoming obstacles with time, if not with will and strength (source: www.geert-hofstede.com). Hofstedes cultural dimension has emphasised the need to focus on cultural diversity between countries. For example, many Asian countries i.e. China is rated highly in PD and collectivism, meaning that purchase decision of products are made by a few but for the greater interests of all members of that group. Any brand communication should consider such power making units to be able to have lasting impression on them. Customers in high UA countries are less risk taker and more sensitive to the consequence of risk taking. Brand marketer should communicate their products in such a way, so that customers develop positive perception

Page 3 of 10

about the product and thus take risk by purchasing that product. In a highly masculine culture, such as in Japan, where individual achievement and status are regarded as appealing, brand communication objective should be to enhance perceptions of masculinity and greatness. According to Hall, language is one of the most important components of a culture as people understand and communicate using their own language. For example, Japanese and German are two different languages and so their cultures also differ (Lee, 2005). It means success of communication depend on the context of a culture, i.e. level of emphasis placed on situational factors or elements involved in understanding any particular message. The greater the contextual emphasis, the more difficult it is for a multinational company to communicate the right brand message to its target audience in that country. Japan is a high context culture; as such it has a highly complex method of communication. On the other hand Germany is a low context culture, meaning that customers prefer clarity and precision from product communications. Multinational companies often fail to understand the context of a particular culture as they rush in with their offer in that country. They feel that the strategy which had delivered them success in their home culture, will replicate in other cultures. P&G made this mistake when they tried to sell Camay in Japan. It aired a popular European advertisement showing a woman bathing. In the ad the husband entered the bathroom and touched her approvingly. The Japanese however considered such behaviour to be very inappropriate and of poor taste. Interpretation of this advertisement was negative to the Japanese customers. Gillette however became extremely successful in Japan when they considered Japanese contextual differences in developing communication campaign (case 1). Case 1: The Gillette SensorExcel: a success story of a Global brand in Japan The Gillette SensorExcel for women razor was introduced in the US in 1996 and later in Japan. The target customers for this product in both countries were the beauty conscious young females. Gillette started to advertise in top US newspapers with the title Introducing the New SensorExcel For Women but in Japan the same advertising appeared in a modified version with the title, (Its a) different Prettiness, Good feeling, Gillette Lady SensorExcel. The tone of the US ad was to give product related specific information but in Japan the tone appeared as indirect, leaving most of the information vague and unsaid (for example, you will feel the difference). Even the uses of words were different in the ads. In Japan the word

Page 4 of 10

Lady replaced the word Female, which carries a positive connotation. The main purpose of using the word Lady was to communicate the value proposition that Gillette Lady SensorExcel was the appropriate shaver for ladies, i.e. women who see themselves as wellgroomed and who aspire to holding high social status. The visual presentation i.e. use of colour, formats of texts and so on also differed in the ads. The Gillette ad became extremely successful in Japan and sales of SensorExcel exceeded the target. The Gillette example illustrates how a Global brand could become successful even in a high context culture accommodating local language differences and cultural sensitiveness. Case 2: Cross-cultural business failure: why Wal-Mart had to pull out of German market Wal-Marts exit from the German market in 2006 illustrates a case of how an established global brand could fail due to lack of understanding of local cultural value system. Many experts believe that it was Wal-Marts cultural insensitivity, which has led to its failure in Germany. The same mistake was being repeated by Wal-Mart in Korea, Japan, China and Mexico that resulted in subsequent pull out or reduction of operations. In the late 1990s, WalMart entered the German market as part of its international expansion strategy. Germany is the third largest retail market in the world and accounts for 15% of Europes approximately $2 trillion-a year retail market3. Germany was a critical market to enter, not only because of its own importance, but also because Germany provides a gateway to Eastern European markets. Wal-Marts communication theme Every Day Low Prices became unsuccessful as other German hard discounters, i.e. as Aldi and Netto, already had a strong market position and customers are accustomed to buying with very low prices from them. Wal-Mart confronted hard-nosed customer for whom every day low prices meant little when they could be undercut at the neighbourhood-based discounter. This inability to realize the local cultural complexity in a context very different from that of Anglo-American, made Wal-Marts entire marketing communication effort unsuccessful. The fundamental problem that lies with WalMarts global expansion plan was to replicate business operations of home country, USA. The biggest mistake of Wal-Mart was to ignore the local cultural diversity and customer buying habits. Christopherson (2007) described Wal-Marts brand communication as ethnocentric, as Wal-Mart failed to come out of its distinctive image and origin of being an American retail

Source: Why did Wal-Mart fail in Germany? by Andreas Knorr and Andreas Arndt, 2003, for IWIM - Institut fr Weltwirtschaft und Internationales Management Universitt Bremen (http://www.iwim.uni-bremen.de)

Page 5 of 10

brand.

Wal-Marts tendency to repeat its successful US marketing communication strategy in the German market resulted in terrible failure in what was thought to be a potential heaven of opportunity. Moreover, it failed to offer the German customers any compelling value proposition. Wrong communication led to unresponsive customers who were unwilling to change their old-fashioned shopping habits. Many experts also criticized Wal-Marts inconsistent advertising campaign in German Media, which failed to create any lasting impression among the German customers. We understand from Wal-Mart example that cross-cultural brand management is a challenge even for the biggest companies. Companies have to be sensitive to local cultures and tailor their marketing communications to the needs of local customers. Global companies need to measure effectiveness of brand positioning efforts, which helps to make adequate adaptation in their culture-specific brand communication strategies & tactics. Many other cultural researchers including Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner: behaviour and value patterns; Schwartz Value Inventory; Gudykunst and Ting-Toomay: verbal communications typology (Lee, 2005) have shown strong link between cultural value system and consumer behaviour. Successful Global marketers develop communications that speak to their audiences at local levels, leading to more decentralized approach to the brand, while maintaining high level of global visibility (Lee, 2005). Successful multinationals intelligently take account of local cultural value system to develop effective international marketing communication framework that help them to create strong global brands. 2.2 International marketing communications: standardization or adaptation?

According to Lee (2005), global marketing communications evolves from a centrally mandated message handed down to the regions where it often has little resonance- to a highly decentralized local message that varies widely around the world. In fact most of the successful global brands (table 2) depend on localized communication strategies to promote their brand on a global scale. There has been a lot of debate as to whether to sell an identical product throughout the world using common global marketing communication or to establish a global product, using

Page 6 of 10

modified localized marketing communication, accommodating sensitivity to local cultural values (de Mooij, 1998). Levitt argued that by standardization companies could reap the benefits of economies of scale and could build a uniform global brand image. Proponents of Levitts theory argued about the possibility of developing a uniform advertising that crosses international boundaries, cutting across all lines of culture, nationality, race, religion, values and customs. However, critics argued that Levitts standardization is actually not effective (de Mooij, 2003). According to Ohmae4 it doesnt mean that the appeal of operating globally removes the obligation to localize products. The lure of a universal product is a false allure. Ohmaes argument is supported by worldwide branding strategies of global companies such as Coca-cola and McDonalds. A successful Global company outsmarts competitors by building distinctive brand image that are specific to the needs of local customers. Such brand image is communicated in such a way so that every target audience could understand the central appeal of the brand (Keller, 2007).

Cultural value systems

Sender

Encoding

Message

Decoding

Receiver

Media

Noise Feedback Response

Brand Communication success

Kenichi Ohmae is one of the world's leading business and corporate strategists. He made these comments in his book, The Borderless World, (1999), Harper Collins Publisher, NY, USA.

Page 7 of 10

Brand communication process (source: Keller, 2007)

Expert studies found that to develop a consistent brand image international marketing communications need to be coordinated in such a way so that it is cost effective but works across all cultures. Successful global brands such as McDonalds extensively exploit knowledge gathered from different countries of the world and applied that knowledge to enter a new market with the same brand image. Integrated marketing communication adopted by McDonalds is based on a creative strategy which appeals to all target customers irrespective of cultural differences. Many other successful global companies applied such creative strategies (figure 3) to establish their brands globally.

Format

Positioning

Appeal

Creative strategy

Music

Tone

Figure 5: creative strategy applied by many successful multinationals (source: Lee and Carter, 2005)

Chinese Fast food market was mainly dominated by KFC and other local fast food companies until McDonalds decided to go for extensive marketing to establish itself. Based on the success in other parts of the world, it extensively used local adaptation to develop brand appeal in China. McDonalds now enjoys the maximum market share in Chinese fast food market (McChronicles, 2007). A strong global brand is the one which has the same recognizable identity and ability to translate its value across cultures (Lee, 2005). A successful global brand is available in most countries and shares the same strategic principles, positioning and marketing in every market throughout the world. It has substantial market share in all countries and comparable brand loyalty and it carries the same brand name/logo (Keller, 2007).

Page 8 of 10

McDonalds offers its services through more than 30,000 distribution points in 119 countries, serving more than 47 million customers each day. McDonalds logo and colour combination is recognizable around the world. As explained earlier, McDonalds success as a strong global brand depends on its ability to maintain brand image and consistent service standards through localized advertising and product offering. For a long time Coca-colas main slogan was Always, everywhere coca-cola. In the year 2000, coca-cola decided to get closer to local markets because of declining profitability. Coca-colas CEO Douglas Daft once commented, for us local sensitivity had become absolutely essential to success. We had no alternative but to adapt advertising to respect local culture. We had to make our advertising as relevant as possible to the local market in order to keep our position as the brand leader. Since competitive environment of markets varies, brand adaptations are often needed to position in various cultures. Yet real leadership brands aspire to be the leadership brands in all markets (de Mooij, 2003). Another important characteristic of a global brand is its product mix including promotional strategies, which varies depending on local cultural and competitive requirements. For example, both Coca-cola and Pepsi-Cola increased the wetness of their drinks in Middle-East where consumers prefer a sweeter drink. Therefore, marketing communication was focused on wetness aspect of customers preferences (Keller, 2007). For a strong global brand, other marketing mix (such as price, promotion, appeal, media, distribution channels, and tactics) strategies also considers culture. McDonalds promotional strategy in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia considers Halal aspects of their foods in order to accommodate Muslim customers sensitivity. Successful Global brands carry one brand name and/or logo in all parts of the world. A global brand can carry one name or logo and thus be recognized world-wide, but the product may not be standard at all (Shocker et al, 2007). Knorr soups and sauces use package with same brand name/logo, found in supermarkets around the world, but the contents always follow local tastes. Marketing communications of Knorr focuses not only on brand image but also on the product contents made according to local tastes and preferences. 3.0 Conclusion

Worlds top brands have the same recognizable identity and the ability to translate their values across cultures (Lee, 2005). As such, millions of people in the world now easily recognize brand names such as Coca-cola, McDonalds, IMB, Microsoft, Sony, BMW or Nokia. What do these phenomenally successful brands have in common? All of them positioned their brands accommodating local cultural differences in planning and executing their marketing

Page 9 of 10

communication process without changing the core benefits, quality, identity or imagery of the products. Smartly planned and executed international marketing communication strategies has enabled brand originated from the so-called developing countries to dominate the world market, which was for many years the playing ground for brands originated from the developed world. One such example is Haier, a Chinese national pride which is gradually overtaking names like Sony and Samsung in the world electronics market. The same localized communication strategy was applied by giant brand like McDonalds when they first entered into the highly competitive Chinese fast food markets. All these real life examples make us to conclude that carefully planned and executed international marketing communications strategy could enable any emerging brand to establish itself as a strong brand irrespective of cultural barriers faced when entering into any new world market.

References

1. David Kenny and John F. Marshall, The Lure of Global Branding, Harvard Business Review on Marketing. (Harvard Business School Press) p. 87. 2. E.W. Cundiff and M.T Hilger, Marketing in the International Environment (Prentice hall, 1984), p.327. 3. George P. Murdock, The Common Denominator of Cultures, in Ralph Linton (ed), The science of Man in the World Crises (Columbia University Press, 1945), pp.123-42. 4. Kiefer Lee and Steve Carter, Global Marketing Management (Oxford University Press) 2005, p.64-85, 278-307. 5. Kimmel, Allan, J. Marketing Communication: New Approaches, Technologies, and Styles New York 2005 6. P.W. Turnbull, The Image and Reputation of British Suppliers in Western Europe, European Journal of Marketing, vol 19, no6 (1985), p.39. 7. S.C. Jain, International Marketing Management (Kent Publishing co.. 1984), p.462. 8. Theodore Levitt, Globalization of Markets Harvard Business Review, 1983.

Page 10 of 10