Marketer beware! China turns car brand perception on its head.
By Gordon Husbands | Cultural sensitivity, International marcoms, marketing translation | No comment yet
Can the perception of global brands vary dramatically across different cultures?
You betcha! Once again, China proves that it is not a homogeneous part of the global marketplace.
Which car brand has the most cachet in China?
Well, according to a recent article in the New York Times, unless you are a retired pensioner, it is best to avoid a Mercedes-Benz in China if you want to make a statement of subtle and assured power. To add insult to injury for German car makers, despite improving sales, the BMW has acquired a reputation as the car for the arrogant and rash, rather than as a status symbol of the successful, upwardly mobile business executive of the West.
On the other hand, General Motor’s Buick brand – largely unknown outside of North America and once acknowledged by GM as ‘damaged’ in the US – has amazingly positioned itself in China as a top-tier luxury car.
Transcreation and Centralization
By Gordon Husbands | International marcoms, Transcreation | No comment yet
Transcreation - a Trojan Horse for centralization?
Is transcreation just a Trojan horse used by Global VPs of Marketing to wrest global campaign production responsibility away from the countries where they will be executed?
I guess the answer depends on how paranoid you are or how dictatorial your VP of Marketing is. My own view is that in the present competitive, budget constrained environment, both transcreation and centralization have individual merit when considering the best approach to global marketing campaign production and execution.
First and foremost transcreation requires an intimate knowledge of a local market and constant exposure to the local media. Many Belgians, Canadians and Swiss speak ‘French’, although any Parisian would happily debate this over a Ricard (Pastis) or two. However, the TV, Newspapers and culture in Brussels, Quebec, Lyons and Lausanne vary considerably.
Transcreation and Centralization
By Gordon Husbands | International marcoms, Transcreation | No comment yet
Transcreation - a Trojan Horse for centralization?
Is transcreation just a Trojan horse used by Global VPs of Marketing to wrest global campaign production responsibility away from the countries where they will be executed?
I guess the answer depends on how paranoid you are or how dictatorial your VP of Marketing is. My own view is that in the present competitive, budget constrained environment, both transcreation and centralization have individual merit when considering the best approach to global marketing campaign production and execution.
First and foremost transcreation requires an intimate knowledge of a local market and constant exposure to the local media. Many Belgians, Canadians and Swiss speak ‘French’, although any Parisian would happily debate this over a Ricard (Pastis) or two. However, the TV, Newspapers and culture in Brussels, Quebec, Lyons and Lausanne vary considerably.
QED: any creative translators participating in the transcreation process should reside in their native country.
Anyone for Pastis?
There has been a significant trend towards centralization of production of global marketing campaigns. Cost, time-to-market and control of messaging are all reasons regularly cited by clients I meet. My experience tells me that the management culture and organizational structure of the individual large international corporation does play a large part in this decision too.
It is not surprising that where a company has a strong directive, command and control approach to management and the brand the more likely it is to be heavily centralized. I am sure several brands spring immediately to mind?
What can be centralized? Well pretty much everything. What should be centralized? That will depend on several factors of which budget, time-to-market and availability of local resources are but three.
I regularly see the following aspects of global campaigns centralized:
- Creative and copywriting
- Production and resizing
- Media planning and purchase
- Supply chain management
- Transcreation management (but not the transcreation activity)
- SEO
- CRM
As a rough rule of thumb: if you operate in a few countries and have a few products then you can deliver quite happily without going down the centralization route. Most marketing activities can be done for each country, by each country, based on central guidelines. The opposite is obviously true where you operate in 20 plus countries and have several products and continuous campaigns.
The tricky part is moving from one approach to the other! As for centralized transcreation activity – which is championed by the few – I would, like the cliché, avoid it like the plague. But then again I have never been a big fan of the committee approach to transcreation.
Valentine’s day..or not?
By Gordon Husbands | Cultural sensitivity, International marcoms | No comment yet
We are safely past what seems to have become a global love-fest every year on February 14. However, not everybody is so keen to celebrate a day named after a Christian saint said to have been martyred by the Romans in the 3rd Century.
Indeed, the Saudi Religous Police and State media take a dim view of anyone even displaying anything red never mind hearts. Associated Press recently reported that, “Those who don’t comply will be punished,” according to the official statement, without going into detail of the precise measures that would befall the offenders.
