Posted on : 2024-01-14 20:17:23
Article : Good Morning Monday Management solution to TASK 276 – Understanding of the local cultural differences is of immense need for brands global marketing irrespective of product segments…
For global brand marketers- localization to suit the native’s tastes are very important for the brands success. All the more when it comes to food industry we can understand the reality on how global brands market their products successfully using ‘local flavoring’ strategy with good success. Similarly, it has to be applied in all categories of products and segments of businesses. Now we will discuss on few brands how they used the local preferred marketing strategies and succeeded.
In much of Asia, Domino’s Pizza uses sea food for its toppings while in India they use curry. Dunkin Donuts have used flavors according to local preferences- in Russia it’s marketed as Dunclairs, in Korea as Grapefruit Coolata and Mango Chocolate Donut in Lebanon while in China they serve dry pork and seaweed donuts. MacDonald’s varies its menu according to local tastes- the Green Chilli Cheeseburger (Mexico), bulgogi burgers (South Korea), McArabia (for Arab nations).
Japanese automobile manufacturer Suzuki has come up with several variants of its SX-4 model first as a hatch back for European markets, then as an SUV in US markets, subsequently as Sedan in India and S-Cross over in different markets. The engine power, fuel variants, design specifications were all altered in different countries to suit local tastes. This has made it the much talked about automobile in the past 10 years since its launch.
When going for branding across different countries, it is better to do some global marketing research on what the word or words mean in that country. In Spain, Chevrolet’s Nova failed miserably not because it was a bad product but No-Va means ‘no-go’ in Spanish. Colgate toothpaste brand “Cue” couldn’t make much headway in France as it was the name of a popular pornographic magazine, Vicks cough drops was a failure in Germany as ‘V’ is pronounced as ‘F’ making it slang for sexual intercourse. Nike had to recall its products that featured an illustration resembling Allah in Arabic. An improper brand name in a particular cultural or linguistic milieu can cause huge damage to the company and its marketing efforts may go down the drain.
So a good understanding of the local market is a pre-requisite for success and the best way to ensure is through a joint venture global marketing partnerships or marketing tie-up with a local partner in the same business. Proven test of this principle is tie-up of Honda with Hero, Renault with Mahindra, Suzuki with Maruti. Swedish firm Forbes launched vacuum cleaner in India in 1980’s Eureka Forbes through a joint venture in India, Starbucks with Tatas, Sharp with Kalyani and several global brands established their foothold in India through tie-ups with local companies. When Hero severed its ties with Honda for two wheelers, Renault for cars with Mahindra the companies concerned launched their own products.
Until a few years ago, it was not easy to have multi-locational operations to deliver a product. Now with advances in technology, better logistics and economies of scale it is possible for the parent company to design a product in their headquarters or in an emerging market, get them fabricated in a different country, do the manufacturing there and export it other countries. Many global brands such as HP, Toshiba, Acer follow this strategy of manufacturing in China, Taiwan, Thailand or some other nation where it is cheaper to manufacture and it is shipped to the consuming country and still enables good margins on sale of products.
Coming to the product unit pricing, emerging markets are very price sensitive while it may not be so in developed markets. For example, shampoos and oils are normally sold in bottles of 250 or 500 ml, but in emerging markets like India, China, Philippines, Korea and Indonesia we find to have to have smaller sachet packs of 50 or 100 ml to cater to lower income segments or those living in rural areas. Many MNC ‘s have already adopted such localization techniques effectively. Sample tooth paste sachet packs with 50 gm or even less content are also now being marketed in such regions.
End point- Considering the diversity of global markets, understanding each region may be a daunting task. Many a time companies think of other markets as extension of the home markets and hence fail to make major inroads into other territories. Even in mass media campaigns simple translation strategy may not work and hence new campaigns with local themes set in the country’s social milieu has to be done to attain good results. The translation team needs to understand the goals of the organization and what brand value is being intended to be conveyed to the consumers. Even Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has to be adapted to different countries and regions which means the ‘one size fits all’ will not work for online campaigns too.
Log on to www.wingsofmanagement.com to know more about our Management consultancy’s versatile capabilities, clients and to read our previous weekly posts and our projects.