Chapter 13: Launching Global Communication and Advertising
International Sales Promotions
1. International Sales Promotion: any paid consumer or trade communication program of limited duration that adds tangible value to a product or brand, involving international players. 2. Price vs Non-Price Promotions 3. Consumer Sales Promotions vs. Trade Sales Promotions • Low Incomes Countries: free samples and demonstrations are more likely to be used than coupons or on-pack premiums. • Market Maturity: can be different from country to country: consumer sampling and coupons are appropriate in growing markets, but mature markets might require trade allowances or loyalty programs. • Local Perceptions: of a particular promotional tool or program can vary. Ex: Japanese consumers are reluctant to use coupons at the checkout counter. • Recently, mobile coupons have generated significant interest and development in mobile marketing.
Evaluate the Alternative Communication Channels
Questions to be answered are: 1. What are the options available? 2. How could we use them? 3. How does a specific target group regards and uses different media? 4. What opportunities are there to reach a specific target in specific situations, or at specific moments at which a purchase decision can be influenced, for example potential mobile phone buyers, in a taxi (in a traffic jam) A draft plan needs to be put in place, agreed upon and transferred into a final plan.
Alternatives to the Product and Communication Strategy
The most critical decisions are those relative to the product and its communication. • A company has five strategic alternatives: • Strategy 1: Product & Communication Extension (Dual Extension) • Strategy 2: Product Extension & Communication Adaptation • Strategy 3: Product Adaptation & Communication Extension • Strategy 4: Product & Communication Adaptation (Dual Adaptation) • Strategy 5: Product Invention The possibility are endless one can use: One Adaptation or Duel Adaptation or Even a Mix • Dual Extension: when a company is selling the same product with the same communication strategy across different countries • Ex: Walmart • Product Extension & Communication Adaptation: used when faced with consumers who perceive a product's value differently, or who are using it for a different purpose and are looking for different benefits to satisfy different needs • Ex: De'Longhi • Product Adaptation-Communication Extension: targets a market that can be similar in the communication approach but needs product adaptation to meet the needs of the local context. • Ex: McDonald's • Product & Communication Adaptation: a mandatory choice for companies that need to enter markets that are totally different • Ex: Whirlpool in India • Product Invention: linked to satisfying existing needs with products accessibly priced to mass markets • Ex: PepsiCo
Communication Plan
• A good communications plan will provide a strategic framework to identify the different goals for brand communication - the tasks - and assign these to the channels which are likely to be the most effective. • To develop a communication plan, both people from the company marketing team and specialists from advertising agencies work together. Tasks need to be defined and prioritized, which involves answering the following questions: 1. What is the brand's strategic role in the company portfolio? 2. What are the tasks identified in the brand key? 3. What is the level of priority for the planned activity? 4. How will the activity be affected by the plans for other brand variants or other brands in the product category? 5. What is the total budget for the brand? 6. What was last year's investment?
Product and Communications Strategy
• Advertising Standardization: Refers to utilizing the same or similar advertising messages across different countries or areas; • Advertising Adaptation: implies using different advertising messages in separate markets, due to differences in culture, language, economic status, legal conditions, and foreign market media. • Type of products and services have to be considered. • Whether to standardize or not is not a dichotomous (separating) decision: there are various degrees of international advertising standardization and adaptation • Pattern Advertising: where the basic approach of the global advertising strategy is standardized but then adapted to local markets when needed. (This is one solution that can be applied.) • For instance, Vodaphone uses the same global approach when it comes to layout, dominant visuals, brand signature and slogan. However, photos and body copy are localized not simply translated which increases the ability to leverage products and know- how across multiple markets
International Public Relations: The History
• Although public relations have been studied as a social science and formalized only in the 20th century, evidence of its practice can be traced back to ancient civilizations in Egypt, Babylon, China, Greece, and Rome. • In medieval India, Sutradhars, or traveling storytellers, spread rulers' messages, serving a common public relations function. • Egyptian leader Hatshepsut, the first woman Pharaoh, was surrounded by advisors who guided her using public relations techniques. • Despite the increasing application of public relations, there is little consistency among practitioners across the world. In Asia, public relations professionals commonly see their work as tantamount to sales and marketing, in Latin America event planning might be viewed as public relations, and in the United States it is often called a strategic management function.
Cultural Values, Language, Symbols and Traditions in Advertising
• Culture plays a central role in how people perceive and react to advertising. • Cultural awareness should be applied in every aspect of marketing: • Selling, Label Printing, Advertising, Web Contents, and Promotion of Products. • It covers language, the lifestyle and the behavioral patterns of the people in the country of interest. • Some information and graphics might cause minor offense, while others could have major consequences. 1. Content: that should be avoided are national flags, maps which depict national borders, which can lead to misunderstandings. 2. Icons: are not universal. Pictures and symbols create powerful and different associations in each culture and context. 3. Religious Traditions: can also cause a source of irritation when not properly respected.
Creative Development
• For a marketing communications manager, briefing an agency is one of the most important things to do. How you brief determines what you get back. • There are three basic principles for a good briefing: 1. Be clear about what is needed 2. Provide the critical information necessary to complete the task 3. Inspire or motivate people to do their best • To provide a best practice guide to constructing a briefing format, the follow criteria may be observed: • Where are we now? • Where do we want to be? • What are we doing to get there? • Who do we need to talk to? • How will we know when we have arrived?
1. Brand Name—L'Occitane en Provence
• For non-francophone people, the word "L'Occitane" is very difficult to pronounce. Olivier Baussan, L'Occitane founder, tells us that the proper pronunciation is Loxee-than • Country-of-Origin effect: made in France • Adaptation of the brand in China: L'Occitane in Chinese is pronounced as "Ou Shu Dan", which means Europe, pleasure, and a magical medicine in Chinese myth, which keeps people forever young and healthy. This Chinese name communicates the consumers the brand's European origin, its sensoriality and its effectiveness.
Globalized vs Localized Communication
• Global Communication Standardization: refers to utilizing the same or similar communication (same advertising messages); or by adapting, using different advertising messages in separate markets. • Difficult to do because many differences among countries still exist, impacting not only on advertising but in general on all the promotional elements of the marketing communication plan. • In addition, differences can exist also within a country, because most nations consist of different ethnic groups, and advertising should respect their values, behavior, and language • Choosing a standardization vs an adaptation strategy depends on many variables that suggest if each country must be considered part of a global homogeneous market or it represents a separate unit, requiring adaptations that must be made accordingly to differences in variables such as: 1. Cultural values and consumer preferences 2. Language and symbols 3. Advertising style 4. Religion 5. Economic and social system 6. Stage of the product life cycle 7. Competition 8. Legal constraints 9. Foreign market media.
Major Challenges in the Information and Communication Industry
• Global promotion campaigns would have to incorporate a number of new channels with global reach: • Which have opened up for marketers with satellite and Internet networks, multimedia mobile phones, and popular social networking tools such as Facebook, YouTube, Myspace, Flickr, blogs etc. • Digital technologies have nearly erased the distinction between global and local communications: • A promotional video posted on YouTube can be accessible to 20 million viewers in more than 20 countries every month, but it also increases the chances for misinterpretation across cultures and languages. • Communications about a brand can be started by a consumer as well as by companies. • Audience tracking, sales conversion rates, and other measurements: available through digital marketing campaigns provide ROI metrics for communication campaigns.
Competition
• If competitors target consumers with a certain form of marketing communication in terms of messages and choice of media, a company entering a foreign market has to adapt to local practices. • If a strong local competitor is promoting a low price, the company should strongly adapt the local considerations to their strategies when defining its communication strategy. • E.g. Coca-Cola, Wahaha and Pepsi in China
International Direct Marketing
• International Direct Marketing: refers to any communication with a consumer or business recipient that is designed to generate a response in the form of an order, a request for further information, and/or a visit to a store or other place of business. • Ex: Amazon and Dell. • Direct marketing: is the most efficient way of gaining new customers and retaining existing ones in international markets. Direct marketing allows a company to: 1. Align communication concepts with the needs of specific target groups, 2. Address target audiences using personalized and individual messages. 3. Deploy its financial resources precisely where they are needed 4. Get valuable information about the needs and behavior of target audiences
International Advertising
• International advertising traditionally required different strategies than domestic advertising, because of the differences in: 1. Culture 2. Economic Systems 3. Government Regulations 4. Consumer Needs. • Companies are shifting their spending from traditional media to: • Facebook, blogs, and their own websites • Experimenting with advertising on tablet computers • Location-based services on telephones • Real-time information about products and companies. • With the arrival of the Internet, customers build their own blogs, wikis, videos, etc., and share their views and their brand experiences with other consumers and with the brands themselves. • Marketers are learning the importance of these one-on-one, personalized communications and are incorporating them into their communication plans. SELF- GENERATED CONTENT & STORYTELLING
International Publicity and Public Relations
• It "is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics" involving international actors. • Anticipating, analyzing and interpreting public opinion, attitudes and issues: that might impact the operations and plans of the organization • Counseling management: at all levels in the organization with regard to policy decisions, courses of action and communication. • Researching, conducting and evaluating, on a continuing basis, programs of action and communication to achieve the informed public understanding necessary to the success of an organization's aims: • These may include marketing; financial; fund raising; employee, community or government relations; and other programs. • Planning and implementing the organization's efforts to influence or change public policy.
What is Communication?
• It's a "Dialogue" between the company and its current or prospective customers(target) aimed at: 1. AWARENESS: Create brand or product awareness 2. IMAGE: Build a positive image for brand or product 3. LOYALTY: Drive sales and retain customers loyalty to brand or product • Communication MIX is the integrated and synergistic combination of different forms of communication: 1. Brand name 2. Packaging 3. Advertising (Above the line or below the line) 4. Sales Promotions 5. Public Relations 6. Word of Mouth or Viral Marketing 7. Product Placement 8. Social Media 9. Direct Marketing 10. Guerrilla Marketing 11. Internal Company Channels
The Global Advertising Agency
• Many companies rely on the help of global advertising agencies to find a competitive edge in marketing. The degree to which an agency is integrated into the marketing function of a company can vary, depending on (to name a few factors): • Size of the Company, • Strategic Marketing Focus and Leadership • Type of Industry • Its markets • Most MNCs work with one or more advertising agencies. • Large global advertisers have the following alternatives: • Hire local ad agencies for each market they enter, • Opt to retain their home market agency, • Hire a large agency with offices around the world, • Align themselves with one of the world-wide networks • For example: WPP plc includes in its network companies such as Ogilvy, Groupm, Grey, and Wunderman Thompson. • There are many reasons why companies choose advertising agencies for their global marketing needs. Some of them are: 1. Cost-effectiveness 2. Market knowledge 3. Superior creative work 4. Specialized services
2. Packing: L'Occitane: Communication Through Packaging
• Packaging: communicates product information, brand concept, and company value. For L'Occitane, as the Provence/France origin is one of its selling points, we can find clues about COO in the packaging design. • Primary packaging: • Minimize the environmental impact: by reducing primary packaging. • The pure, simple, and traditional design of L'Occitane packaging may not be directly associated with France's luxury image, however, its vintage style labels, typical paper wrappers of Savon de Marseille, and linen perfumed sachets keep reminding consumers of the Provencal legend about L'Occitane. • "Made in France" is written on the front side of each pack. L'Occitane keeps the origin French packaging in the Chinese market, combined with a Chinese sticker showing the translation of key information. Even though most people understand nothing in French, the original packaging makes its French story more credible. • Gift Pack: • The green keynote indicates its nature ingredient, and the typical Provencal landscape with blue sky, green tree and lavender field in the picture is clearly associated with its origin, where the tradition and inspiration came from.
International Personal Selling
• Personal selling: is an interpersonal process whereby a seller tries to uncover and satisfy a buyer's needs in a mutually, long-term beneficial manner suitable for both parties. Thus, personal selling is interpersonal, two-way communication between a buyer and seller whereby the seller employs persuasive communication regarding goods and/or services. • Interaction in an international environment can be hampered by many factors: 1. Political risk 2. Regulatory hurdles 3. Currency Fluctuations 4. Language Issues
3. Place Communication and Store Experience: L'Occitane:
• Place Communications: Boutique location in the most important commercial centers • Online Promotions: L'Occitane has local versions of websites for 48 countries or regions. • One of key messages the company wants to transfer to clients is its nature and beauty. • Offline Promotion: In numerous offline channels • For example, the promotion or animation in boutiques, the presentation of brands and products in fashion and beauty magazines, face to-face conferences or activities with clients are all examples for this. • The use of multiple channels and communication instruments by L'Occitane is just one example of how companies today need to think about integrated marketing communications.
A Regional Brand goes International
• Specialized in manufacturing and distributing perfume, cosmetics and well-being products: in 2019 total net sales globally amounted to EUR 1,426.9 million. • Strong global brand identity: while conserving its underlining regional roots and the natural origin of its products. • From Provence, a region in the Southeast of France, to New York and Hong Kong (first French company to go public in Hong Kong) • In 2019, L'Occitane was operating worldwide in 3,420 retail locations of which 1,572 stores were operated directly by the group: 190 stores are located in the richest cities in China, and 36 are in Hong Kong.
Foreign Market Media
• Standardization vs Adaptation: of communication has to consider also consumer preferences related to media usage, taking into consideration differences not only among countries but also within ethnic groups in the same countries • Over the generations, there is a convergence with respect to most of their core values, yet differences in behavior are persistent in particular with respect to media use. • Differences in the use of media: significantly influence companies' communication strategies in different countries • Italy and Spain more likely than any other country to own some form of radio • USA world's largest market for TV advertising, but its share of the global market decrease with emerging markets taking an increasingly larger share • In the next years, media planning will grow in importance, as identifying the most suitable channel to reach the target audience is becoming more and more complex
Legal Constraints
• When planning a global marketing strategy, marketers have to consider the myriad standards, regulations, and laws that govern the advertising industry in the different countries and regional jurisdictions. • Legal issues in advertising are particularly critical for certain categories of products where consumer protection is important such as: • Pharmaceuticals • Alcohol • Tobacco, • Gambling • EU Unfair Commercial Practices Directive: Introduces a general prohibition against unfair commercial practices, specific prohibitions against misleading and aggressive practices. • As legal issues involving advertising and communications have become so complex over the years, several law firms have specialized in providing tailored services. • For instance: In Germany, it is illegal to use any comparative terminology, Belgium and Luxembourg explicitly ban comparative advertising, whereas it is clearly authorized in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, and Portugal. Comparative advertising is heavily regulated in Asia as well. And there are many other examples.
Global Integrated Marketing Communications
• With many changes in the world related to globalization, digitization, and complexity, it seems that traditional approaches of marketing communication have exhausted themselves and traditional tools are becoming less effective • Integrated marketing communications combines different media to improve the results of marketing campaigns: • Using direct marketing to follow up an advertising campaign and linking the direct marketing piece to a dedicated website page is an example of integrated marketing communication. • Message Consistency: is one of the most important elements of integrated marketing communication. • The copy style and content should be consistent across all media. When prospects read an advertisement, visit a website, pick up a leaflet or take a call from a telemarketing specialist, they should perceive the same product descriptions and benefit statements in each communication.
Stages of the Product Life Cycle
•Adapted (or Localized): communication reflect each market's characteristic also in term of phase of the product life cycle occupied by the product •The potential difference in the product or brand life cycle requires differentiation in the company's marketing choices. •Ex: Illy espresso coffee is presented differently in each country depending on the PLC
