globaladvertisingculturespecific.docx

7/29/2019 Globaladvertisingculturespecific.docx

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Q short note on local flavour advertising or what is local flavour ad and what are

advantages

One of the major challenges that international marketers face is the cultural environment of eachcountry. Cultural variables that are major challenges for marketers are language, customs, tastes,

attitudes, lifestyles, values, ethical and moral standards. .

Culture shapes and affects individual behaviour and each country has its own different culture.Cultural misunderstanding can upset the best business plans .Culture influences the way peoplecomprehend and respond to the advertisement messages. Hence while advertising, the advertisermust see to it that the message is suited to the prevailing culture in the country where theproduct is promoted. In other words the advertisement must be culture specific.

When a global brand is marketed in India the marketer ensures that the advertisements are madedistinctly Indian since India has a long traditional culture and distinctly different from westernculture. i.e add a local flavor to the ad so that it can directly connect with the local people.

Local flavour advertising means incorporating the likes, dislikes, values , beliefs and attitudes of the

local people. It is adapted to their way of life, thinking and their lifestyles . The most apt example

will be the award winning Fevicol ads. Local flavour advertising makes the messages culture

specific. Other example

the ‘Idea’ ad which has a Sumo wrestler buying vegetables. To add local flavour , they showed

a sumo wrestler buying vegetables in a typically Indian vegetable market. He is talking

to the grocer and finding out the rates, which is a very typical Indian way of buying

vegetables and how the rates are brought down.

when fast food giant McDonald’s entered the Indian market, they not only diversified their

product adding the McAloo Tikki Burger, a humble potato burger, and other variants for the

vegetarian customer but also added local flavor to their ads. So, the latest ad features a

look-alike of popular movie icon Dharmendra, his star son Sunny Deol back to the good old

days when prices were low - as low as their McAloo Tikki Burger - Very Indian, very local in

its appeal - and an instant connect with the average Indian.

When we see a spoofy campaign for McDonald’s with look-alikes of the stars of yesteryearslike Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar and Dharmendra making us laugh, it immediately connects usto our very own Bollywood in such a way that we forget that McDonald’s is an internationalbrand,

Brands like Pizza Hut, Coke, Mentos, Alpenliebe, Lays and Pepsi are all using local flavors intheir advertisements.

As multinationals target India’s booming middle class, estimated to be anything between 150-350million, with its increasing spending power, they are also modifying their marketing strategy formaximum appeal. The burger advertisements are classic examples of the current trend in Indianbranding and advertising industry - “think globally, act locally” - called glocalization – a product of globalization and the local reaction to it.

Till just a few years ago, advertisements for global brands in India were mere translations of theircampaigns in the west in local languages. Indians masses, could not connect to their alien contentbecause they did not reflect traditional lifestyles. Today we have many global brands with local

flavor.



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The advantages of local flavor in ads are local people like these ads .They are familiar with what isshown and are able to easily connect with them.

Q. Cross Cultural Advertising – write note on

Cultures differ from country to country and also within a country there are different cultures.

Consumers are exposed to different cultures through their own initiatives, their travel, workingin foreign countries, immigration to a different country, movies, theatre, art and exposure tounfamiliar and different products. People are also exposed to different cultures through massmedia by marketers and advertisers .

Cross cultural advertising is a type of marketing that aims to produce the same results with

different cultures and races. In other words, it is advertising in a universal language. Properly

creating this form of advertisement should eliminate or at least minimize the negative effects of

various races and cultures. If a company isn’t careful, its advertisement may offend the practices,

religion or even a whole society which would result in the opposite of the desired effect of this ad

Cross- cultural advertising is a responsible effort to adapt to various cultural ways .Advertiserslearn about the different cultures world wide if a brand has to be sold in a foreign country..

There are two types of knowledge, factual knowledge about culture which is obvious and mustbe learnt. Different meanings of colour, different tastes and other traits specific to a culture arefacts that an advertiser can study and absorb. The other is interpretative knowledge, an abilityto understand and fully appreciate the meanings of different cultural traits and patterns eg themeaning of time, attitudes towards other people and certain objects, the understanding of one’srole in the society can differ considerably from one culture to another and require more than factualknowledge.

Conflict arises if one possesses factual knowledge but little interpretative knowledge. Taiwaneseemphasise the collective while the westerners emphasise the individual. Emphasis on the collectiveresults in a close-knit, supportive teams and creates a mind set which does not work with thewestern client. The problem is that when the local staff acts humble and cautious the westernerperceives the humility as ignorance or lack of knowledge.

For cross cultural advertising the advertiser recognizes both the factual knowledge of culture andthe interpretative knowledge and incorporates them in their ad.

An example of a good cross cultural advertising is the ‘Idea’ ad which has a Sumo wrestler buying

vegetables. That was a fantastic way of advertising a foreign product in a country. ‘Idea’ wantedto go local in India. For that they showed a sumo wrestler buying vegetables in a typically Indianvegetable market. He is talking to the grocer and finding out the rates, which a very typical Indianway of buying vegetables and how the rates are brought down.

Language in cross- culture advertising : :

Language is key to effective cross cultural advertising. If the advertiser fail to check linguisticimplications of company or product name and slogans, the result could be disastrous. EgFord’s introduction of the ‘Pinto’ in Brazil. After seeing sales fail, they soon realised that this wasdue to the fact that Brazilians did not want to be seen driving a car meaning ‘tiny male genitals’.

Language must also be analysed for its cultural suitability. For example, the slogan employed by thecomputer games manufacturer, EA Sports, "Challenge Everything" raised objections from religious



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or hierarchical societies where harmonious relationships are maintained through respect and non-confrontation.

It is necessary therefore that language be examined carefully in any cross cultural advertisingcampaign

Communication Style in Cross Cultural Advertising

this involves understanding the way in which other cultures communicate . For example, in USA,the communicator assumes the listener is unaware of background information or related issues tothe topic of discussion and therefore provides it themselves. In Japan however. The communicatorassumes the listener is well informed on the subject and minimises information

Colours, Numbers and Images in Cross Cultural Advertising

Colours, numbers, symbols and images do not all translate well across cultures.

In some cultures there are lucky colours, such as red in China and unlucky colours, such as black in Japan. Some colours have certain significance; green is considered a special colour in Islam andsome colours have tribal associations in parts of Africa.

Many hotels in the USA or UK do not have a room 13 or a 13th floor. Similarly, Nippon Airwaysin Japan do not have the seat numbers 4 or 9. If there are numbers with negative connotationsabroad, presenting or packaging products in those numbers when advertising should be avoided.

Images are also culturally sensitive. Whereas it is common to see pictures of women in bikinis onadvertising posters on the streets of London, such images would cause outrage in the Middle East.

Cultural Values in Cross Cultural Advertising

In cross-cultural advertising the cultural values must be analysed carefully.For example, advertising that focuses on individual success, independence and stressing theword "I" would be received negatively in countries where teamwork is considered a positive qualitylike Japan .

Cross cultural advertising is simply about using common sense and analysing how the differentelements of an advertising campaign are impacted by culture and modifying them to best speak tothe target audience.

Q Cross cultural psychological segmentation

Although cultures differ, there are cross-cultural groups of people who belong to different culturesor nationalities but nevertheless share common sets of needs, values and attitudes. No matterwhere they live, consumer groups such as new mothers, computer users, international businesstravellers, high-end photographers and so on represent groups with similar needs and wants,Because babies bottoms are the same everywhere, diapers such as Pampers can use the samemarketing and advertising strategies worldwide.



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Global segments can be identified using psychographic research. Studies in Germany, UK andFrance reveal similarities and differences. All the three countries had four types, or segments of women labelled

traditional homemaker

contemporary homemakerappearance-consciousspontaneous

While a common ad strategy may be possible for these countries, it would be advisable foradvertisers to take into account difference in the countries. .

Agencies have attempted to find common “Euro-Consumer” segments and found four lifestylegroups common across western Europe-

successful Idealistsaffluent materialistscomfortable belongersdisaffected strivers

Other researchers put 95% of the population into one of the five global segments.

Strivers –Young, success-seeking, Materialistic, pleasure-oriented, seek instant gratificationand convenience.

Achievers - Slightly older, already successful, affluent. Opinion-leaders, status conscious. Seek to buy quality

Pressured - mostly women facing financial or familial pressure. Highly stressed Adapters- Older, with somewhat traditional values but open-minded, Living comfortably in their

golden years

Traditionals - conservative, prefer to stick to the familiar and established in their personallives and their consumption patterns.

There are many other very interesting differences and patterns both within and across countries.

In Japan, for instance, there appear to be major differences in value-orientation betweenmen and women, and between the older and the younger consumers. Men believemore in traditional family roles than women and the younger are more materialistic andconsumption-oriented.

Many Japanese and American women work outside of the home (which enhances the needfor many convenience and time saving products) Japanese women have been slower to

embrace the liberated attitudes of their counter part in the US One has to treat Japaneseand American women differently.

We also have the VALS psychographic segmentation where the population is grouped into 8sections; Innovators, thinkers, achievers, Believers, Strivers, experiencers, Survivors and Makers.

But humans are both deeply the same and obviously different. Cultural differences are of greatimportance to advertisers.

Many of the global psychological segmentation schemes are between five to seven or eightgroupings of consumers, varying chiefly on the dimensions of income, desire for material success

and social acceptance and personal or social idealism. Each country has its rich, middle-classand poor . who live their lives ‘keeping up withy the Joneses and those who are dreamers and



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rebels.Since human nature are essentially the same no matter where one lives.

The challenge facing a global advertiser is in not only knowing the global psychological segment towhich the target consumer belongs but also the local differences that make that same consumer

different in one country than in another;

There is a need to focus on both simultaneously. An understanding of the similarities anddifferences that exists between nations is critical the foreign advertisers, who have to deviseappropriate strategies to reach specific foreign markets. The greater the similarities betweennations, the more feasible it is to use relatively similar strategies in each nation.

Similarity in psychographics across countries creates similarities that do not exist. Severalnationalities can speak the same language or have similar psychographics, race and heritage butthat does not mean that similarities exist in other respects- that a product acceptable to one culturewill be readily acceptable to the other or that a promotional message that succeeds in one countrywill succeed in the other. A common psychographics across countries does not guarantee a similarinterpretation of word or phrases.

An economically unified Europe does not mean a common set of consumer wants and needs.Cultural differences among the members of the EU are the product of centuries of history. The USA has many subcultures that even today defy complete homogenization

Advertising thus has to both standardise and to localise due to the many differences that existacross countries, cultures and markets. Ad campaigns for food and beverage products are often thehardest to standardise and it is easier to standardise campaigns across western markets than acrosswestern and eastern markets. It is easier to standardize on the core positioning platform for thebrand and adapting to local conditions.

Thus Oil of Olay uses the same positioning- a moisturizing cream for mature women-eventhough the name, packaging, formulation can vary slightly across markets

There are many who see global advertising as impossible, due to the many differences that existacross countries, cultures and markets. The solution is to modify global brands just enough in

local markets to make them strong in those local markets, but to maintain whatever uniformity ispossible across multiple markets. This is often called glocalization or “planning globally but actinglocally” It is true that the world is moving toward a common culture and with television channels like MTVand CNN and STAR TV being aired across the globe, with more people travelling and vacationingin other countries and with fast food franchises appearing at street corners all over the world, itappears that we are indeed all moving toward one common global community. Teenagers, theworld over, are more exposed to cultural influences from other countries through fashions, music,clothing, food, personal appearance and sports.. Traditional role of women as mother/wife/homemaker is changing .However it is also a fact that still the consumer needs and wants tend to be different across theglobe because of the cultural differences. Advertisers need to therefore make advertising messagesculture specific



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