Advertising 1

ADVERTISING and PR

BRANDING
Background

The relationship between brands and advertising at the international level is crucial. International
advertisements are therefore placed within the management of the organisation and a link
between the philosophy of the organisation (say) Coca Cola and its advertising (say) a global
message of one world harmony. The standardisation/adaptation debate is inescapable. The key
to this theme is viewing this debate in two linked ways:

1. Brand configuration, the building of brands around core products with the addition of
logos, colour, shape and form, words and so on as well as less tangible aspects of the
brand such as communication, including advertising1.
2. Brand strategy that includes endorsement, stand-alone or family choices.

The combination of 1. and 2. results in brand management, or to use a better phrase ‘brand
stewardship’ (Ogilvy and Mather) or ‘brand chartering’ (Chris McCrae).

Mission and vision

The importance of corporate mission and vision which deal respectively with ‘what you are doing’
and ‘where and what you want to be doing’ at some time in the future cannot be overlooked.
Mission should be viewed as a strategic discipline, part of the intellect of the organisation, the
cultural glue that binds the organisations often-disparate elements - in essence the soul of the
organisation and the reason for being. (De Mooij, 1994, has a number of good examples, Levi
and many other ‘missions’ being available on web sites).

Competitive strategy and comparative advantage

This includes the product trade cycle - PLC, trade and investment - and notions of "trickle down"
Vs "waterfall" effects, the latter representing the rapid diffusion of brands internationally. The
configuration and co-ordination of the business and marketing effort are central to this as is the
ease or difficulty of implementing standardised strategy. Key points are:

• Local or global brands. Culture, infrastructure, economic and technological effects.

Economies of scale and global corporate/brand image.

• Branding and advertising in emerging homogenous, single markets. Why develop a

global brand?

• What makes a global brand? Brand cycle and strategies - positioning, personalities.

• Successful brand names and personalities. Linguistics, distinctiveness, adaptability,

international applicability, logos and graphics.

1
Use any marketing management text such as those of Philip Kotler to see conceptualisations of this. The
bare product is usually represented as a core, at the centre of other circles as the product is ‘clothed’ and
becomes a brand. The exception to this might be in fashion where the designer is core and where ’they
can put their name on anything’ and it will sell.
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• The creative process and international branding and advertising.

• National characteristics on brand attributes and culturally plausible advertising platforms.

International and global branding and advertising therefore involves the benefits of advertising
that includes the following:

1. Encourages competition
2. Economies of scale
3. Product development
4. Stimulates economic growth
5. Improved products due to competition amongst brands
6. Lower prices
7. Greater variety.

These are seen to be the case irrespective of whether the economy is centrally planned or
market oriented. Conventional wisdom seems to say that no amount of advertising however good
will enable a poor product to succeed. Besides being used to communicate the benefits and
availability of a product it can explain how a product may be used to best advantage (see Theme
6 for more on the ‘advertising is good/advertising is bad’ debate).

Standardisation/adaptation

At the level of the organisation there are three ‘models’ available to the international advertiser:

1. Central control where advertising is directed from the centre e.g. Unilever Europe
2. Head office acts as a resource centre where the locals are free to develop within central
directives on agencies an media buying e.g. Nestle.
3. Complete autonomy where minimal justification of actions is required e.g. Heinz

This apart, the theme of standardisation/adaptation runs across the subject of international
advertising. Indeed it runs across international business. It is associated with economies of scale
generally but more specifically here with creative production and number of personnel involved.
There are a number of interfaces that branding has domestically and internationally. Key
interfaces are those of culture, legal framework and the media as far a branding is concerned.

Culture is dealt with more fully in Theme 2. The consensus of opinion generally speaking is like
that of The Economist or de Mooij (1994) that likes the idea of ‘plan global - act local’.

There is a lot of discussion around the various nationalities involved whether this be in a ‘selling
in’ or a ‘country of origin’ context. Some examples are:

GERMANS are rational, descriptive, informative.

BRITISH are subtle, understated, ironic, humorous.
FRENCH are innovative, modern, attention-getting.
AMERICANS are emotional, lifestyle obsessed, glamorous.

This of course is stereotyping and is dangerous practice. There is much more to culture, as most
people are well aware from life experiences, such as problems with brand names and language.
Advertising 3

The notion of products being culture-bound is well used in the literature. De Mooij (1994) offers 4
fundamental strategies regarding the relationship between products/brands and communication:

1. Standardised brand/product and standardised communication

2. Standardised brand/product locally adapted communications
3. Locally adapted product/brand and standardised communications
4. Locally adapted product/brand locally adapted communications

Legal framework is the last topic on the original list (Theme 6) and will be dealt with in more
depth later. The notion that advertising is intrinsically good/bad is important here with respect to
different countries and governments' attitude toward it.

Economic groupings like the EU offer an interesting insight into the legalistic wrangles. There are
a number of issues that are important:

• Subsidiarity
• Product issues, usually tobacco, pharmaceuticals, alcohol, financial services
• Comparative advertising
• Associations e.g. contraception in Ireland and British spill-over advertising

The media, especially television, is constantly at the fore of debate. Government attitudes toward
public ownership are important here. In this country the BBC may not survive very
much longer. There is constant debate on the poor/healthy state it is in, and the
likelihood of greater forms of commercialism grows stronger. Per capita ad spend
varies enormously, even within the EU and peak spots available vary widely. It is
worth getting to know the current state of affairs in any number of markets regarding
degree of fragmentation. Italy has highly fragmented TV. More than half of adspend in
France goes on TF1. Satellite (and now cable) has caused change. BskyB has
created a number of target audiences. About half of viewing in the UK is still with the
5 terrestrial channels but this will change.

The press is worth researching in each country market. In the UK there are national tabloids and
broadsheets. Some circulation figures are high e.g. The Sun. Compare this to the much smaller
figures for brioadsheets, for example Le Figaro, a key Paris-based newspaper. Germany has
local regional dailies some of which have more than national broadsheets, e.g. Die Welt
(Hamburg). There are the international titles, mostly American. The FT and The Economist (UK)
are doing well. Readers Digest has a large circulation but the readership is aged 35 plus. It is
particularly strong in the UK, Germany, France and Scandinavia.

And so on and so on ………..and so on. Product and brand advertising has to be carefully
matched to media slots and vehicles and the medium itself. Imagine how complex this is for P&G
or Lever.

Key Issues Summary

• Brand configuration and strategy are the two key issues for marketers, domestically or
otherwise.
• What makes a brand? What makes a global brand? Brand cycle and strategies -
positioning, personalities.
• Successful brand names and personalities. Linguistics, distinctiveness, adaptability,
international applicability, logos and graphics.
• The creative process and international advertising.
• National characteristics on brand attributes and culturally plausible advertising platforms.
 4

• Corporate mission and vision which deal respectively with ‘what you are doing’ and
‘where and what you want to be doing’ at some time in the future.
• Competitive strategy and comparative advantage. This includes the product trade cycle -
PLC, trade and investment - and notions of "trickle down" Vs "waterfall" effects.
• Configuration and co-ordination of the business and marketing effort. The ease and
difficulty of implementing standardised strategy.
• Local or global brands. Interfaces with culture, infrastructure, economic and technological
effects and so on are inevitable. Economies of scale and global corporate/brand image
are important.
• Branding and advertising in emerging homogenous, single markets can be a reality. Why
then consider developing a global brand?

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