Global Marketing Strategy

University Degree Business and Administrative studies

Name：HUIYING FU

University:ECA

Date:07/03/2008

Multicultural diversity exists in today’s international business. National boundaries are blurred because of globalisation. Complications brought about by differences in cultural identity may make it difficult for business people to communicate among themselves. National culture can be viewed as the norms, values, and beliefs shared by individuals from a particular nation that distinguish it from other nations (Appreciating Cultural Diversity n.d.). Differences in culture do affect the way people act especially when they do not have the pertinent information regarding a specific culture. Often, that ignorance leads to prejudice and stereotyping.

The Internet has propelled the globalisation of products. It has broken down barriers formerly preventing products from gaining more recognition all over the world. The physical boundaries that separate countries are breached because of the Internet. Although it has stretched the worldwide scope of products, the “global branding strategy should actually be a local plan for each component market, as to apply a standard approach worldwide without considering local preferences and cultural differences is doomed to failure” (Dennis & Harris 2002, p.142).

When choosing an advertising firm to take care of global promotional needs, companies should consider: the available budget; the promotional message; the complexity of the product or service; market size and location; distribution channels; life cycle and competition (Proctor 2000, pp.227-228). If the nature of company’s operation is global, it is wise to choose an advertising agency that specializes in this type of campaign. McAllister (1997, p. 39) explains why it is more prudent to use global campaigns:

Unlike "multinational" advertising, where the marketer shapes individual campaigns for individual cultures, "global" advertising attempts to create one "universal" ad that would work in all cultures…The advertising agency only needs to create one campaign for 100 cultures versus 100 campaigns for 100 cultures. Advertisers can also strengthen the identity of a particular product brand by a global advertising blitz.

Employing a global advertising company may be initially expensive but in the long term, it is more cost-effective than randomly picking ad agencies in countries where Great Foods Inc. intends to do business. Employing a global advertising firm ensures that the company maintains a single image or entity across the globe.

When Coca-Cola Company introduced the “Coke Side of Life” campaign in 2006, it continued with the tradition of the company of offering simple messages with universal appeal. According to Summerfield (2002), Coca-cola had since moved away from a global marketing campaign and took a more regional approach. In the latest campaign launched, expect that the same theme will take on local flavour. According to the company’s press release, “the company is using its global resources to drive a multi-media, multi-cultural platform in markets across the world” (Coca-Cola Company News Release 2006). The company are aware and respects the local connections ...

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In 2002, after an unsuccessful campaign using the theme “Life tastes good,” the company revised its approach to marketing. The Atlanta group now focused on developing campaigns according to the unique needs of each market. The branding and market positioning of the company will be consistent across all markets. However, how they are implemented will be dependent on “what was best for each market” (Summerfield 2002).

Critical Reading of Coca Cola Company’s Global Marketing Campaigns

Theodore Leavitt coined the word “globalization.” He believed that traditional firms would not survive the demands of a global market. He also advocated for standardization. Leavitt posited that companies that produce a variety of products that served many customers would be unable to survive globalization. However, with the development of new technologies, it is possible to create smaller scale production and deliver to specialized products. This contradicted Leavitt’s position for complete standardization of products and operations. Several companies like Coca-cola found that operating centrally and standardized practices slowed down the progress of the company. This situation disproved the Leavitt theory of “one size fits all.”

Critics of purported global companies believed that “the onward global march of brands such as [Coca Cola] boils down to nothing less than the relentless spread of junk food, junk drink and junk culture” (Mitchell 2000, p.89). Others see them as a new form American imperialism. Quelch (1999) listed the common features of a company that qualifies as a global one. These include: 1) strong in the home market; 2) geographical balance in sales; 3) addresses similar consumer needs worldwide; 4) consistent positioning; 5) consumers value the country of origin; 6) product category focus; and 7) corporate name (pp.2-3).

By localizing marketing and advertising campaigns, it is most possible that the “nexus of international popular culture and national culture is the locus of negotiation in which meanings, values, and norms are reinforced, fragmented, and created anew.” (Murray 2006, p.1079) A successful local campaign must “mesh with the lived habitus of the target market. The generative dispositions of habitus must be accommodated and newly created dispositions—brand switching or new behavioral scripts—must be modeled within the context of existing habitus” (p.1083).

In the ‘Coke Side of Life’ campaign, several images were used in the advertisement that clearly established country of origin. For example, hints at the product coming from the United States were shown through images of skyscraper and the snow scene. The final scene where the product is delivered through the vending machine, however, gives the local culture an opportunity to input local culture and traditions. The advertisement’s approach though may not be acceptable in all cultures without some form of ‘negotiation’. It is also apparent that Coca Cola has always been consistent through the years especially with the use of color and company logo.

A Brand or Brand name is commonly used in advertising as a means of identifying or classifying goods or objects in the market. Frequently, many companies rely on a brand name for customer’s product name recall. Brand names are used in differentiation strategies of companies competing in the market. A strong brand name usually assists companies in establishing a niche in the market. The acquisition of a strong brand name signals the success of a product in the market. It enables the company to do a trial run of their product in the market and eventually, distribution for the new product. Kotler et al. provide the following pragmatic definition of a brand: “A brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, design, or a combination of these which is used to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of the competitors” (Dennis & Harris 2002, p.131).

Maintaining a brand is not merely having a name. Sometimes, images associated with the product of a company carry more meaning to consumers. For example, McDonald’s, aside from its name has the “golden arches” and Ronald McDonald as part of the marketing strategy of the company. There are various mechanisms companies can adopt to ensure that products gain recognition and patronage. They include brand name, logo, trade name or trade mark. A brand name “is the part of a brand that can be spoken and which includes letters, numbers or symbols, such as Coca-Cola, VW, or Yahoo.” (Dennis & Harris 2002, p.138) It can be emphasized with the use of colour and some other devices that will distinguish the product from millions of products available in the market. A trade name on the other hand is the legal name of the company that sells the product. It does not necessarily follow that the trade name is also the brand name of the product being sold. A logo is the element of a brand. It only infrequently includes words or letters, being more usually made of symbols or pictures. The logo can also be termed a brand mark; examples include the golden arches known the world over as the symbol of McDonald's, or the four coloured squares that have come to symbolize Microsoft Windows (Dennis & Harris 2002, p.139).

In the case of Coca Cola, despite adopting a strategy that considered local culture, the company has already built brand recognition throughout the years. At the sight of the prominent red colour, the curvy bottle, the wave devices on the logo, all provided familiar grounds where people from every culture are able to relate. Brand recognition contributed for the marketing strategy to be successful. It is important, therefore, for global companies to build brand recognition more aggressively.

Coca Cola recognised how ineffective standardised marketing campaigns are after one of their previous campaigns failed to increase sales. The decision of the company to modify their campaigns to accommodate local culture in countries where they market their products was an important move. The company also appropriately combined global and local resources to ensure that brand recognition is retained.

The company also had to ‘negotiate’ the meanings, values, and norms so it would coincide with the company’s business goals and the local culture was recognized. It is not enough that the company invests in expensive advertising or promotional campaigns to improve performance. As seen in the Coca Cola experience, brand recognition, built and cultivated all throughout the years the company had been selling the product, was an important consideration. Coca Cola is assured of continued patronage of their products because of their consistency. Although the “Coke Side of Life” campaign appealed to audiences from western countries, it was flexible enough to accommodate the local consumers’ culture.

Bibliography

Appreciating Cultural Diversity n.d., [Online] Available at: [Accessed 02 March 2008]

Coca-Cola Company News Release 2006, Welcome to 'The Coke Side Of Life': New Global Campaign Invites the World to Choose Coca-Cola and Live on the Positive Side of Life, [Online] Available at: http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/presscenter/nr_20060330_coke_side_of_life.html [Accessed 02 March 2008]

Dennis, C. & Harris, L. 2002, Marketing the E-Business, London: Routledge.

McAllister, M.P. 1997, “Chapter 3: Sponsorship, Globalization and the Summer Olympics,” in Undressing the Ad: Reading Culture in Advertising, Katherine Toland Frith (ed.), New York: Peter Lang.

Mitchell, A. 2000, “Invited Presentation: Global Brands or Global Blands?” Journal of Consumer Studies and Home Economics, Volume 24, Issue 2, pp. 85-93.

Murray, N. 2006, “Pepsiman! Toward a Theory of Symbolic Morphosis in Global Advertising,” The Journal of Popular Culture, Volume 39, No. 6, pp.1077-1092.

Proctor, T. 2000, Strategic Marketing: An Introduction, London: Routledge.

Quelch, J. 1999, “Global Brands: Taking Stock,” Business Strategy Review, Volume 10, Issue 1, pp. 1-14.

Summerfield, P. 2002, Global Advertising isn't Always the Best Strategy - Product Category Should Be Key Factor in Decision, [Online] Available at: http://www.poststone.com/issues/product_category.asp [Accessed 02 March 2008]