International Promotional Decisions

Global Advertising and Culture

Advertising is to a large extent a cultural phenomenon. On the one hand, advertising shapes a country’s popular culture. At the same time, the host country’s culture may also influence the creation of an ad campaign and its effectiveness.

As the example in the introduction demonstrated, when advertising appeals are not in sync with the local culture, the ad campaign will falter. In the worst-case scenario, the ad might even stymie the advertised product’s sales or damage the brand image. Effective ad campaigns also do a great job in leveraging local cultural phenomena.

A TV ad created for Unilever’s Vaseline brand in India is an excellent example. The commercial shows the distress of a local woman buying shoes. As the woman prepares to try out a shoe, the salesman spots cracks in her feet and tells her that the shoe is not within her budget.

An onscreen message then asks: “Why should someone peep in your life because of cracks in the skin of your feet?” An image of Vaseline cream follows, with the promise that it will soften hard skin and get rid of cracks. The ad cleverly plays on Indian women’s embarrassment of (1) having cracked feet and (2) not being financially comfortable. Because most advertising has a major verbal component, we first look at the language barriers.

Language Barriers

Language is one of the most daunting barriers that international advertisers need to surmount. Numerous promotional efforts have misfired because of language-related mishaps. Apart from translation, another challenge is the proper interpretation of ideas. The IBM global slogan “Solutions for a Small Planet” became “small world” in Argentina as “planet” failed to convey the desired conceptual thrust there. Given the bewildering variety of languages, advertising copy translation mistakes are easily made. One can identify three different types of translation errors: simple carelessness, multiple-meaning words, and idioms. Some typical instances of translation blunders that can be ascribed to pure carelessness are the following examples:

Original slogan: “It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken.” Translation: “It takes a sexually excited man to make a chick affectionate.”

Original slogan: “Body by Fisher.” Translation: “Corpse by Fisher.”

Original slogan: “When I used this shirt, I felt good.” Translation: “Until I used this shirt, I felt good.”

So, what can be done to overcome language barriers? One obvious solution is to involve local advertising agencies or translators in the development of your promotional campaigns. Their feedback and suggestions are often highly useful.

Another tactic is simply not to translate the slogan into the local language. Instead, the English slogan is used worldwide. The Swiss luxury watchmaker TAG Heuer used the tag line “Don’t crack under pressure” without translating it in each of its markets, even Japan, where over 60% of the

audience had no clue of the slogan’s meaning. Other examples of universally used slogans that were left untranslated are “You and us: UBS,” “Coke is it,” and “United Colors of Benetton.” For TV commercials, one can add subtitles in the local language.

For radio or TV commercials, voice-overs that use local slang often become necessary. However, this rule cannot be generalized. For instance, while Egyptian consumers prefer colloquial Egyptian Arabic in their advertising, use of local slang is less advisable for Gulf Arabs. Finally, meticulous copy research and testing should enable advertisers to pick up translation glitches.

Other Cultural Barriers

Many of the trickiest promotional issues occur in the domain of religion. In Saudi Arabia, for example, only veiled women can be shown in TV commercials, except from the back. As you can imagine, such restrictions lead to horrendous problems for haircare advertisers. Procter & Gamble navigated around that constraint by creating a spot for Pert Plus shampoo that showed the face of a veiled woman and the hair of another woman from the back.

Early 2007, the start of the “Year of the Pig,” CCTV, China’s national broadcaster, banned the use of advertising containing pig images out of respect for the country’s Muslim minority (2% of the population). The ban meant that advertisers would have to reshoot their Chinese New Year spots. Coca-Cola had prepared two spots—one featuring a piglet and another with a panda bear. After a great deal of pressure, CCTV relaxed the ban and decided to review ads on a case-by-case basis.

Political sensibilities can also prove tricky. Toyota ran into trouble in China with a print ad campaign for the Land Cruiser. One of the print ads showed stone lions saluting a passing Land Cruiser. Stone lions are a symbol of power and authority in China. The campaign caused outrage among the Chinese media and public as it was seen as a display of Japanese imperialism.

To celebrate 2016 New Year, Coca-Cola wished its consumers in Russia a happy new year on VK, Russia’s most popular social media platform. The message included a map of Russia that did not include Crimea, a disputed territory. Faced with furious Russian netizens, Coca-Cola published a revised that showed Crimea as part of Russia. Not surprisingly, the new map unleashed furious reactions in Ukraine. In the end, the company gave up and simply dropped the new year’s message.

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Communication and Cultural Values

The effectiveness of a communication campaign often depends on the extent to which the values evoked by the campaign match the cultural values of the target audience. One study explored the link between the values portrayed in Benetton advertising and consumers’ values in Norway, Germany, and Italy. The study concludes that when consumers’ values match the values expressed by the advertising, the liking for the brand increases.

Another study examined the effectiveness of antismoking messages targeted to teenagers in different cultures. According to the study, advertisements that are framed in a negative manner by pointing out the threats of smoking are more effective in high UA countries than ads with positive messages. However, positively framed antismoking ads that stress the benefits of cutting smoking may be more effective in low-UA countries such as Denmark, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The schema can also be used to assess the effectiveness of comparative advertising within a particular cultural environment. Such ads favorably compare the promoted brand against the competing brand(s) (identified or unidentified). While forbidden or heavily restricted in many countries, comparative advertising is legal in major markets such as the United States and Japan.

In group-oriented (collectivist) cultures (e.g., Japan and Thailand), comparison with the competition may not be acceptable because the other party risks losing face. In feminine cultures (e.g., Scandinavia and Thailand), comparative advertising could be viewed as too aggressive and bold. In cultures that are a combination of individualistic and feminine values, comparative advertising could work as long as it is done in a subtle, nonaggressive manner.

A good example is the tagline that the Danish beer brand Carlsberg ran until 2011:

“Probably the best beer in the world.” Cultures where comparative advertising is likely to be the most effective are those that embrace masculinity and individualism as values.

Cultures could also differ in terms of the impact of using celebrities in advertising. One 2008 study found that relative to U.S. consumers, Chinese consumers were much more receptive to ads featuring athletic celebrity endorsers. Celebrity endorsement has become very popular in China. According to one study, 32% of the ads in the country used a celebrity spokesperson in 2009 compared to 9% globally.

Not surprisingly, the rising tide of ads featuring celebrities has led to consumer confusion and apathy. One study that looked at sales pitches featuring Liu Xiang, a former Chinese hurdler, found that only Nike was strongly connected with the athlete. Other brands (e.g., Visa and Cadillac) had very low recognition rates as brands promoted by Liu Xiang. Fewer than 20% of the people surveyed indicated that an endorsement by the star would make them buy products from any of the companies except Nike.

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Setting the Global Advertising Budget

One of the delicate issues that marketers must grapple with when planning their communication strategy centers on money. Worldwide advertising spending was estimated to be about $581 billion in 2018 (or $81 per person on the planet), an all-time high.

The key spending questions for global marketers are three-fold: (1) How much should we spend? (2) What budgeting rule shall we use? and (3) How should we allocate our resources across our different markets? Let us first look at the budgeting amount question. Companies rely on different kinds of advertising budgeting rules, notably percentage of sales, competitive parity, and objective-and-task.

Percentage of Sales Method

The rule based on a percentage of sales simply sets the overall advertising budget as a percentage of sales revenue. The base is either past or expected sales revenues. The obvious appeal of this decision rule is its simplicity. One nagging question though is what percentage to choose. The biggest downside of this rule is that sales revenue (past or projected) drives advertising spending, whereas the purpose of advertising is to impact sales. The method is clearly not a sound strategy for markets that were recently entered, especially if the percentage base is historical sales revenue.

One other major issue is that the method overlooks profits. Faced with fierce competition in certain countries, some firms are switching to more sophisticated approaches to set their advertising budgets.

P&G Japan, for example, focuses on the profitability of each hair care brand rather than simply sales. Using a data-driven optimization approach, it shifted media spending from low to higher profit generating brands. It also cut its television advertising budget, eliminated outdoor marketing, and increased spending on digital and magazines for its hair care brands in Japan.

Competitive Parity

The principle of the competitive parity rule is extremely simple: Use your competitors’ advertising spending as a benchmark. For instance, a company could simply match its lead competitor’s spending amount to get a similar amount of share of voice. The rationale for this approach is that the competitors’ collective wisdom signals the “optimal” spending amount.

The competitive parity rule also allows the company to sustain a minimum “share of voice” without rocking the boat. Advertising scholars have pointed out several shortcomings of competitive parity as a budgeting norm. The industry’s spending habits may well be very questionable: collective wisdom is not always a given. In addition, marketers that recently entered a new market probably should spend far more relative to the incumbent brands to break through the clutter.

Objective-and-task Method

The most popular budgeting rule is the so-called objective-and-task method. Conceptually, this is also the most appealing budgeting rule: it treats promotional efforts as a means to achieve the advertiser’s stated objectives. This method was found to be used by almost two-thirds of the respondents in the same survey mentioned earlier. The concept of this budgeting rule is very straightforward.

The first step of the procedure is to spell out the goals of the communication strategy. The next step is to determine the tasks that are needed to achieve the desired objectives. The planned budget is then the overall costs that the completion of these tasks will amount to. The objective-and-task method necessitates a solid understanding of the relationship between advertising spending and the stated objectives (e.g., market share and brand awareness).

One way to assess these linkages is to use field experiments. With experimentation, the advertiser systematically manipulates the spending amount in different areas within the country to measure the impact of advertising on the key objectives of the campaign (e.g., brand awareness, sales volume, and market share).

Resource Allocation

The budgeting process also involves the allocation of resources across the different countries or regions in which the company operates. There are three approaches that companies use to make advertising allocation decisions. At one extreme are companies like Microsoft and FedEx where each country subsidiary independently determines how much should be spent within its market and then requests the desired resources from headquarters. This is known as bottom-up budgeting. Top-down budgeting is the opposite approach. Here headquarters sets the overall budget and then splits up the

pie among its different affiliates. The company puts its budget together centrally and then allocates it depending on regional and local needs. A third approach, which is becoming increasingly more common, takes a regional angle. Each region decides the amount of resources that are needed to achieve its planned objectives and then proposes its budget to headquarters.

Within each country, a firm must also decide how to allocate its resources between above-the-line (ATL) and below-the-line (BTL) communications. ATL communications refer to traditional mass media advertising (e.g., television, radio, and print, internet).

BTL communications refer to one-on-one activities (e.g., direct mail, personal selling, point-of-sale promotions, free samples, and roadshows). The specific mix will hinge on factors such as the power of the channel (typically the more powerful, the more BTL), stage of the product life cycle, size of the total budget, strategies used by key competitors, profile of the target customer, and nature of the product.

Clearly, these factors will vary from country to country, and hence also the most suitable ATL–BTL mix will differ. For instance, promoting wine in emerging markets like India or Brazil would be less effective using traditional mass media such as television or radio. Instead, a company introducing wine in these markets would probably engage more in one-on-one BTL activities (e.g., wine tasting sessions, in-store promotions, and referral programs) to educate target customers about the category.

In extreme cases, a brand may allocate its entire budget on BTL activities. One example is Aesop, an Australian skincare niche brand with 60 stores globally. Throughout its entire history, the brand has never advertised. Instead, the brand spends its marketing budget on arts and cultural event sponsorship and strategic product placement (e.g., as the signature toiletries brand in Cathay Pacific’s first-class cabin). Also within a country, conditions could vary (e.g., rural versus urban areas in countries like India and Brazil) and as a result also the balance between ATL and BTL.

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Creative Strategy

The “standardization” Versus “adaptation” Debate

On March 4, 2009, Visa rolled out its first-ever global ad campaign for its debit card. The $140 million campaign, which ran in the United States and 43 countries (e.g., India, Mexico, and Japan), was designed to persuade consumers that debit cards are more convenient and safer than cash.

The ads promote the use of Visa card for small purchase transactions: “Our prime objective was to create a campaign that would migrate consumer and business spending from cash and cheques to the better form of electronic payment, Visa. We also wanted a campaign that would work on a global scale while also connecting locally, and ‘Go’ is one of those few universal words that is broadly understood around the world.”

In Asia, the ads show people from different places enjoying what the world has to offer. One of the thorniest issues that marketers face when developing a communication strategy is the choice of a proper advertising theme.

Companies that sell the same product in multiple markets need to establish to what degree their advertising campaign should be standardized. Standardization means that the key elements (e.g., positioning, tagline) of the campaign are kept the same across borders. The major elements of a campaign are the message (strategy, selling proposition, platform) and the execution.

The issue of standardize-versus-adapt has sparked a fierce debate in advertising circles. A truly global campaign is uniform in message and often also in execution (at least, in terms of visuals). When necessary, minor changes must be made in the execution to comply with local regulations or to make the ad more appealing to local audiences (voice-overs, local actors). Typically, global campaigns heavily rely on global or pan-regional media channels. “Truly” global campaigns are still relatively rare.

Merits of Standardization

What makes the case of standardization so compelling in the eyes of many global marketers? A variety of reasons have been offered to defend global, if not pan-regional, advertising campaigns. The major ones are listed here.

Economies of Scale

Of the factors encouraging companies to standardize their advertising campaigns, the most appealing one is the positive impact on the advertiser’s bottom line. The savings coming from the economies of scale of a single campaign (as opposed to multiple country-level ones) can be quite eye-catching.

Levi Strauss reportedly saved around $2.2 million by shooting a single TV ad covering six European markets. Several factors lie behind such savings. Producing a single commercial is often far cheaper than making several different ones for each individual market. Savings are also realized because firms can assign fewer executives to develop the campaign at the global or pan-regional level.

Consistent Image

For many companies that sell the same product in multiple markets, having a consistent brand image is extremely important. Consistency was one of the prime motives behind the pan-European campaign that Blistex, a U.S.-based lipcare manufacturer, started to run in 1995.

Prior to the campaign, advertising themes varied from country to country, often highlighting only one item of Blistex’s product line. The entire product range consists of three items, each one standing for a different need. In many of its markets, brand awareness was dismally low. The objectives for the pan-European campaign were (1) to increase brand awareness and (2) have the same positioning theme by communicating the so-called care-to-cure concept behind Blistex’ product line.

Globalization of Media

Another force that drives global communication campaigns is the rise of global media groups. Global conglomerates dominate almost all media forms: television (e.g., Time Warner, News Corp., and Viacom), print (e.g., News Corp., Time Warner, Condé Nast, and Pearson), cinema (e.g., AMC Cinemas), and outdoor (Clear Channel and JCDecaux).

Global Consumer Segments

Cross-cultural similarities are a major catalyst behind efforts toward a stand- ardized advertising approach. The “global village” argument often pops up in discussions on the merits of global or pan-regional advertising campaigns. The argument of cultural binding especially has clout with respect to product categories that appeal to the elites or youngsters.

As one consultant put it: “The young and the rich have very similar tastes the world over, and that’s what’s driving the convergences in advertising and media.” High-tech and business-to-business (B2B) products and services typically also have global customer needs.

Mastercard’s “Priceless” campaign has been running for more than two decades. The platform was inspired by the insight that experi- ences matter more than things for most people. The basic message of the cam- paign is that the Mastercard brand connects people to priceless possibilities.

Creative Talent

Creative talent in the advertising industry is a scarce supply. It is not uncommon that the most talented people within the agency are assigned to big accounts, leaving small accounts with junior staff. The talent issue matters especially in countries that are plagued with a shortage of highly skilled advertising staff. By running a global campaign, small markets can reap the benefit of having the same high-quality, creative ads as larger ones have.

Cross-fertilization

More and more companies try to take advantage of their global scope by fostering cross-fertilization. In the domain of advertising, cross-fertilization means that marketers encourage their affiliates to adopt, or at least consider, advertising ideas that have proven successful in other markets. This process of exploiting “good” ideas does not even need to be restricted to global brands.

Nestlé used the idea of a serialized “soap-mercial” that it was running for the Nescafé brand in the United Kingdom for its Tasters Choice coffee brand in the United States. The campaigns, chronicling a relationship between two neighbours that centred on coffee, were phenomenally successful in both markets.

Likewise, a Johnnie Walker campaign (“Pact”) developed in China was adapted for other countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The campaign involved a five-part series of spots, shown on television and a designated website, and targeted 25 to 35-year-old males. Its storyline centred on a young architect who pursued his dream to become a film director with the support of his close friends.

The use of the “Pact” campaign in other Asian countries was driven by the insight that the themes of personal fulfilment and goal achievement through friendship also resonate in those countries. Coming up with a good idea is typically very time-consuming. Once the marketer has hit on a creative idea, it is just common sense to try to leverage it by considering how it can be transplanted to other countries.

In addition to these motivations, there are other considerations that might justify standardized multinational advertising. A survey conducted among ad agency executives found that the uniform brand image factor was singled out as the most important driver for standardizing multinational advertising. Two other critical factors are time pressure and corporate organizational setup.

Obviously, developing a single campaign is less time-consuming than creating several ones. The firm’s organizational setup also plays a major role, in particular the locus of control. In general, if the multinational’s control is highly centralized, it is extremely likely that theme development is largely standardized.

Advertising is usually very localized in decentralized organisations. Also, for many small companies, local advertising is typically the responsibility of local distributors or franchisees. The shift toward regional organizational structures is definitely one of the major drivers behind the growing popularity of regional campaigns.

Barriers to Standardization

Faced with the arguments listed above for standardization, advocates of adaptation can easily bring forward an equally compelling list to build up the case for adaptation. The four major barriers to standardization relate to (1) cultural differences, (2) advertising regulations, (3) differences in the degree of market development, and (4) the “Not Invented Here” (NIH) syndrome.

Cultural Differences

Contrary to the “global village” (or “flat world”) cliché, cultural differences still persist for many product categories. Cultural gaps between countries may exist in terms of lifestyles, benefits sought, usage contexts, and so forth. A case in point is the use of references to sex in ad campaigns.

While references to sex are not unusual in many Western ads, sex is rarely used in Asia to promote products, due to both regulations and market acceptance. The U.S. version of an ad for personal care brand Herbal Essences, full of sexual innuendo, was also used in Australia. However, the ad was reshot for Thailand, showing girls having a fun time rather than an erotic experience. Unless it is done in a funny manner, sex is not used in Thai advertising for it runs counter to Buddhist values and Thai culture.

Cultural gaps may even prevail for goods that cater toward global segments. A case in point involves luxury goods that target global elites. The user benefits of cognac are by and large the same worldwide. The usage context, however, varies a lot: in the United States, cognac is consumed as a stand-alone drink; in Europe, often as an after-dinner drink; and in China, it is consumed with a glass of water during dinner. As a result, Hennessy cognac adapts its appeals according to local customs while promoting the same brand image.

Advertising Regulations

Local advertising regulations pose another barrier for standardization. Regulations usually affect the execution of the commercial. Countries like

Malaysia and Indonesia impose restrictions on foreign-made ads to protect their local advertising industries. Ray-Ban had to adapt a pan-Asian cam- paign in Malaysia by reshooting the commercials with local talent. In addi- tion, Caucasians were not allowed to appear in Malaysian TV commercials and had to be edited out. In China, a shot of girl on a table was deemed too sexy. Later in this chapter, we cover the regulations hurdle in more detail.

Market Maturity

Differences in the degree of market maturity also hamper a standardized strategy. Gaps in cross-market maturity levels mandate different advertising approaches. When Snapple, the U.S.-based “New Age” beverage, first entered the European market, the biggest challenge was to overcome initial skepticism among consumers about the concept of “iced tea.”

Typically, in markets that were entered very recently, one of the main objectives is to create brand awareness. As brand awareness builds up, other advertising goals gain prominence. Products that are relatively new to the entered market also demand education of the customers on what benefits the product or service can deliver and how to use it.

Thus, typically in countries where the category is still relatively new, there will be more emphasis on functional attributes (e.g., product features) instead of the emotional benefits of the offering.

“Not Invented Here” (NIH) Syndrome

Finally, efforts to implement a standardized campaign often also need to cope with the NIH syndrome. Local subsidiaries and/or local advertising agen- cies could block attempts at standardization. Local offices generally have a hard time accepting creative materials from other countries. Later on in this chapter, we will suggest some guidelines that can be used to overcome NIH attitudes.

Approaches to Creating Advertising Copy

Marketers adopt several approaches to create multinational ads. At one extreme, the entire process may be left to the local subsidiary or distributor, with only a minimum of guidance from headquarters. At the other extreme, global or regional headquarters makes all the decisions, including all the nitty-gritty surrounding the development of ad campaigns.

The direction the multinational company (MNC) takes depends on the locus of control and corporate headquarters’ familiarity with the foreign market. MNCs that fail to adopt a learning orientation about their foreign markets risk being challenged by the local subsidiaries when they attempt to impose a standardized campaign. In any event, most MNCs adopt an approach that falls somewhere in between a purely standardized and purely localized campaign.

McDonald’s China, for instance, ran an ad campaign to promote beef that mimicked a famous U.S. TV commercial that featured basketball legends Michael Jordan and Larry Bird. The Chinese version showed a duo of Chinese basketball stars, Yi Jian and Zhu Fang Yu, engaged in a friendly competition. Although the commercials were very similar, local celebrities were used for the Chinese version. Let us look at the main approaches for developing and executing global concepts.

Complete Localization

With complete localization, every country subsidiary simply follows its own course developing its own ads based on what the local affiliate thinks works best in its market. There is no or very little cross-country coordination. This is usually the case for multinationals that have a highly decentralized organisational structure. It is also common for firms that only recently started entering the global marketplace and still largely rely on their local partners (e.g., distributors) in the foreign markets for marketing the product.

Export Advertising

With export advertising, the creative strategy is produced in-house or by a centrally located ad agency and then “exported” without inputs from the foreign markets. Usually, the ad agency is based in the advertiser’s home country. A universal copy is developed for all markets. The same positioning theme is used worldwide. Visuals and most other aspects of the execution are also the same. Minor allowances are made for local sensitivities, but by and large the same copy is used in each of the company’s markets.

Obviously, export advertising delivers all the benefits of standardized campaigns: (1) the same brand image and identity worldwide, (2) no confusion among customers, (3) substantial savings, and (4) strict control over the planning and execution of the global communication strategy.

On the creative front, a centralized message demands a universal positioning theme that travels worldwide. The Visa “More People Go with Visa” 2009 global ad campaign, for instance, tapped in the global need for security and safety.

Prototype Standardization

With prototype standardization, the key elements (e.g., the theme, core values, and slogan) of the advertisements are the same across countries. However, some flexibility is allowed for language (e.g., local voice-over) and cultural barriers. For instance, commercials could be reshot with local celebrities. Typically, advertising instructions are given to the local affiliates and/ or ad agencies concerning the execution of the advertising.

These guidelines are conveyed via the company’s website, manuals, or multimedia materials (e.g., DVD and CD-ROM). Mercedes used a handbook to communicate its advertising guidelines to the local subsidiaries and sales agents. Instructions are given on the format, visual treatment, print to be employed for head-lines, and so on. Likewise, the Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer had a series of guidebooks covering all the nuts and bolts of their communication approach, including rules on business card design.

Concept Cooperation

With concept cooperation, headquarters spells out guidelines on the positioning theme (platform) and the brand identity to be used in the ads. Worldwide brand values are mapped out centrally. Responsibility for the execution, however, is left largely to the local affiliates and/or ad agencies. That way, brand consistency is sustained without sacrificing the relevance of the ad campaign to local consumers.

Similar to the prototype standardization approach, instructions on proper positioning themes and concepts are shared with the local marketing partners and subsidiaries through manuals, DVD, or other communication tools. Nestlé’s classic “Have a break, have a Kit Kat” campaign is a good illustration of this approach.

Originally, the slogan referred to the institutionalized British tea break at 11 a.m. This notion did not apply to consumers in other countries where the “Have a break” concept was extended. Instead, different interpretations of the break con- cept were developed in the various countries where the campaign was run.

One approach that companies and ad agencies increasingly use to strike the balance between thinking global and acting local is the modular approach. With this approach, the in-house advertising team or the ad agency develops several variations of the campaign around the same theme. A global Intel campaign that aired in 2005 showed combinations of six celebrities sitting on the laps of ordinary laptop-computer users. Country affiliates could choose which celebrities to use for their campaigns.

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Global Media Decisions

Another task that international marketers need to confront is the choice of the media in each of the country where the company is doing business. In some countries, media decisions are much more critical than the creative aspects of the communication campaign. In Japan, for instance, media buying is crucial in view of the scarce supply of advertising space. Given the choice between an ad agency that possesses good creative skills and one that has enormous media-buying clout, most advertisers in Japan would pick the latter.

International media planners have to surmount a wide range of issues. The media landscape varies dramatically across countries or even between regions within a country. Differences in the media infrastructure exist in terms of media availability, accessibility, media costs, and media habits.

Media Infrastructure

Most developed countries offer an incredible abundance of media choices. New media channels emerge continuously. Given this embarrassment of riches, the marketer’s task is to decide how to allocate the company’s promotional dollars to get the biggest bang for the buck.

In other countries, though, the range of media channels is extremely limited. Many of the media vehicles that exist in the marketer’s home country (e.g., broadband and digital TV) are simply not available in the foreign market. Government controls in a host of countries can heavily restrict access to mass media options, such as television. In Germany, for instance, TV advertising is only allowed during limited time frames of the day.

Worldwide, television used to be the most popular platform for advertising is the fastest-growing ad format now (see Exhibit 4). It is expected that in 2021, digital as a whole will contribute to half of total media ad spending worldwide. The media infrastructure can differ dramatically from country to country, even within the same region.

Whereas TV viewers in the West can surf an abundance of 150 TV channels, many audiences in many African countries can access only two or three channels. Likewise, while the internet is a global phenomenon, broadband access is still very limited (or hugely expensive) in many parts of the planet. The standard media vehicles such as radio, cinema, and TV are well established in most countries.

New media, such as cable, the internet, mobile phones, satellite TV, and pay TV, are steadily growing. Given the media diversity, advertisers are often forced to adapt their media schedule to the parameters set by the local environment.

Media Limitations

One of the major limitations in many markets is media availability. The lack of standard media options challenges marketers to use their imagination by coming up with “creative” options. Intel, the U.S. computer chip maker, built up brand awareness in China by distributing bike reflectors in Shanghai and Beijing with the words “Intel Inside Pentium Processor.” Advertisers in Bangkok have taken advantage of the city’s notorious traffic jams by using

media strategies that reach commuters. Some of the selected media vehicles include outdoor advertising, traffic report radio stations, and three-wheeled taxis (tuk-tuks).

Marketers must also consider media costs. For all types of reasons, media costs differ enormously between countries. In general, high costs per thousand (CPM) are found in areas that have a high per capita GNP. Other factors that influence the local media costs include the amount of media competition (e.g., the number of TV stations) and the quality of the media effectiveness measurement systems in place. Advertising rates for free-to-air satellite TV channels in the Arab world are relatively low due to the rapid proliferation of TV stations and the lack of a good television rating system.

A major obstacle in many emerging markets is the overall quality of the local media. Take China, for instance. For many print media, no reliable statistics are available on circulation figures or readership profiles. Print quality of many newspapers and magazines is appalling. Newspapers may demand full payment in advance when the order is booked and ask for additional money later on. There are no guarantees that newspapers will run your ad or TV broadcasters will show your spot on the agreed date. The rise of new technologies, however, is rapidly improving media monitoring in many countries.

Advertising Regulations

A Toyota ad that featured Hollywood actor Brad Pitt as celebrity endorser was banned by the Malaysian government. According to Malaysia’s then Deputy Information minister: “Western faces in advertisements could create an inferiority complex among Asians. … [The advertisement] was a humiliation against Asians. … Why do we need to use [Western] faces in our advertisements? Are our own people not handsome?”

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Advertising Failures at the Global Level

Many brands have failed in their marketing communication efforts at the global level due to cultural and regulatory reasons. Sometimes, it is due to a brand’s standardized approach, while at other times it is due to translation errors or issues related to vocabulary and phonetics. In 2003, the Japanese auto giant Toyota launched a print campaign to promote its brand PRADO GX.

The advertisement depicted a traditional Chinese-style stone-carved lion saluting a moving Prado GX, whose Chinese translation means despotic manner. The slogan which was used, when translated, meant ‘You Have to Pay Respect to It’. Chinese customers felt offended by this and considered it as a deliberate act by the Japanese auto manufacturer to insult the Chinese.

Some even related the stone-carved lion to those carved on the Marco Polo bridge near Beijing, where Japanese imperial troops launched a full-scale invasion of China in 1937. This led to a huge hue and cry, due to which, Toyota had to apologize to Chinese consumers and also withdraw the advertisement.

Similarly, an advertisement by Cadbury featuring Kashmir on the map of India attracted the wrath of political parties in late 2002. Cadbury (India) published a print advertisement for its brand Temptations. The newspaper campaign featured an Indian map showing the war-torn area of Jammu & Kashmir shaded over. ‘Too Good to Share’ was the advertising slogan for Cadbury’s Temptations and it was written in bold across the shaded area.

To add fire to the fuel, the advertisement had a catch-line stating, ‘I am good. I am tempting. I am too good to share. What am I? Cadbury’s Temptations or Kashmir?’. Looking at the growing tension, Cadbury India apologized and withdrew the advertisement immediately.

Sometimes, it is not cultural or political issues but country-specific regulations that lead to advertising failure for brands. Prada’s advertisement for its luxury brand Miu Miu (featuring Hailee Steinfeld), TVS Wego’s ‘Body Balance’ campaign in India, or say, Heinz’s baby product ‘Nurture Infant Formula’ advert in the UK are a few examples of such advertisements which were banned/discontinued due to various regulatory reasons.

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Globally Integrated Marketing Communications (GIMC)

The North Face, an American outdoor sports product company, faced a great challenge in China where most Chinese had yet to adopt the lifestyle associated with the brand. The goal was to make China’s urban dwellers and internet surfers give a taste of how great it is to explore new places. The solution was the fully integrated “Conquer China” campaign. The campaign was inspired by the ritual of explorers laying claim to newly discovered territory by planting a flag. In the campaign, participants would compete to “conquer” China.

All they needed was a mobile phone to plant virtual flags at any location they wanted to stake a claim to. The 18-day campaign involved the internet, advertising, in-store promotions, outdoor scoreboards, and live events. There were over 2 million unique visitors to the campaign website. Over 651,000 red flags were planted. The winner had planted over 4,000 flags. Nearly 1.2 million people saw the live events in Beijing and Shanghai. Dealer store sales rose 106%.

For most companies, media advertising is only one element of their global communications efforts. As we saw in the previous section, marketers use many other communication tools. In recent years, advertising agencies and their clients have recognized the value of an integrated marketing communications (IMC) program—not just for domestic markets but globally. The “drool” campaign is just one example of the push toward IMC.

IMC goes beyond taking a screenshot from a TV ad and plastering it everywhere: the core idea should be integrated, not the execution. By coordinating the different communication vehicles—mass advertising, sponsorships, sales promotions, packaging, point-of-purchase displays, and so forth—an IMC campaign can convey one and the same idea to prospective customers with a unified voice.

Instead of having the different promotional mix elements send out a mishmash of messages with a variety of visual imagery, each and every one of them centers on that single key idea. By having consistency, integration, and cohesiveness, marketers will be able to maximize the impact of your communication tools.

A five-nation survey of ad agencies found that the use of IMC varies a lot. The percentage of client budgets devoted to IMC activities was low in India (15%) and Australia (22%). The percentage was far higher in New Zealand (40%) and the United Kingdom (42%). One study also revealed cross-country differences in the evaluation of the IMC concept: U.S. PR and advertising agencies seem to consider IMC as a way to organize the marketing business of the firm while Korean and U.K. agencies view it as coordination of the various communication disciplines.

A globally integrated marketing communications (GIMC) program goes one step further. GIMC is a system of active promotional management that strategically coordinates global communications in all of its component parts, both horizontally (country-level) and vertically (promotion tools).

To run a GIMC program effectively places demands on both the advertiser’s organization and the advertising agencies involved. Companies that want to pursue a GIMC for some or all of their brands should have the mechanisms in place to coordinate their promotional activities vertically (across tools) and horizontally (across countries).

By the same token, agencies in the various disciplines (e.g., advertising and PR) should be willing to integrate and coordinate the various communication disciplines across countries. GIMC also requires frequent communications both internally and between ad agency branches worldwide. Unfortunately, in many countries, it is difficult to find ad agencies that can provide the talent to collaborate on and execute integrated campaigns.