Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing

Communications ApproachChris Hackley

Chapter 7International Advertising

Chapter 7 Overview• Cultural practices of communication• Internationalization of marketing• Standardization and localization of marketing communication• The economic case for standardization of marketing and advertising• Protests and controversies surrounding global marketing • The allure of foreignness and country-of-origin effects• Advertising in Asian economies

The specificity of cultural practices of communication

• Advertising is inherently cultural.• Advertising communication is conceptualized from

two perspectives: global and local• Advertising executions for global brands which cross

cultural borders have to achieve this dialectical balancing act, so that the sense of the brand is preserved in a persuasive way but articulated through local cultural communication codes.

McDonald’s Advertising - Japan

http://youtu.be/_UKLncvGxQ8

Internationalization of marketing

• Saturation of domestic markets • Response to competitor initiatives• Ease of technology transfer: national boundaries no longer hinder the

transfer of production capability to low-wage economies • The internationalization of payment systems has created liquidity to

finance foreign ventures • Latent demand for many brands • So, while global markets are far from homogeneous (see Levitt, 1980)

there are considerable opportunities for international brand marketing activity.

Standardization and localization of marketing communication

• The advantages of running the same or similar creative executions all over the world for a single campaign are cost and control– The cost of creating localized campaigns through multiple agencies is

avoided– The control over the way the brand is portrayed internationally is

maximized

• But there are obvious difficulties with creating a single ad which transcends the cultural

boundaries for a given brand

Glocalization • The response favoured by many organizations is to

combine global elements of brand representation with local creative executions

• This is sometimes referred to as ‘glocalization’, inserting global brand themes into local cultural and competitive contexts

Gesture & Communication

• Is non-verbal communication more difficult to manage?

• How do you catalog gestures and other features of non-verbal communication?

• http://youtu.be/fa_GCK-Czqs

StereotypesA sample of 878 Korean television advertisements from the MBC network in 2001 was content analyzed. Findings indicate that women in Korean television advertising were portrayed as young (48.2%), as dependent (37.5%), and as nurturing children (12.1%); they were often depicted in the home (37.2%). These stereotypical images of women have been found in television advertising in many countries. Korean society has changed a great deal in recent decades, but the images we analyzed do not reflect the current situation. Therefore, television commercials are a lagging social indicator of role changes.

How do you catalog stereotypes?What are the practical difficulties?Where are the ethical issues?

Protests and controversies surrounding global marketing

• Global brands attract criticism • McDonald’s has been the focus

of protest in France from people who feel that it clashes with French values of food and corporatism

• Coca-Cola has been involved in controversy in India over its production methods

• In some cases, protests mobilize a sense that global brands are against local national interests

The allure of ‘foreign-ness’ and country-of-origin effects

• In spite of resistance in some quarters, the globalization of major brands seems to gather apace, partly because, for many consumers, foreign brands have a powerful allure

• In many Asian countries, for example, Western brands are widely regarded as more desirable and prestigious than local brands

• The inverse effect is seen as, for example, Asian electronic goods and tourism destinations are seen as highly desirable in Western markets

Advertising in Asian economies • Some Asian economies which are important for Western brands illustrate

well the difficulties of international advertising• Not only is there a language barrier but also cultural practices, signs,

rituals of interaction and conventions of politeness and etiquette are all very different, making advertising narratives for Asian audiences difficult for Western agencies to construct