Cross Cultural Marketing

Cross Cultural Marketing for 3 products across India, Europe, America & East Asian Markets Consumer Behavior: Individual Assignment Submitted by: Brian Dsouza, Div D Roll No: 313

Cross Cultural Marketing

Cross Cultural Marketing Introduction Trade today is becoming increasingly global with its outlook today. One of the main reasons for this is technological improvements in transport and communication. Consumers and businesses have access to the best products from different countries. This has also led to increased competition between multinational firms and countries. In part to accommodate these realities, countries in the last several decades have taken increasing steps to promote global trade through agreements such as the General Treaty on Trade and Tariffs, and trade organizations such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and the European Union (EU). Today almost all major corporations are actively involved in marketing their products beyond their original homeland borders. The main challenge involved in the cross cultural marketing is “HOW” to do it.

Corporations today are developing strategies to take

advantage of the above emerging economic opportunities. The 2 main reasons for going multinational are 1. Increasing demand of goods and services of one country in another country. 2. Overseas markets represent best opportunity for future growth. What is Cross Cultural Marketing? Cross-cultural marketing is defined as the strategic process of marketing among consumers whose culture differs from that of the marketer's own culture at least in one of the fundamental cultural aspects, such as language, religion, social norms and values, education, and the living style. Cross-cultural marketing demands marketers to be aware of and sensitive to the cultural differences; to respect the right to culture by the consumers in various cultures and marketplaces, marketers should understand that they deserved the right to their cultures. If the marketers want to be the winners in the cross-cultural marketing they must create the marketing mix that meets the consumer's values on a right to their culture. It involves recognizing that people all over the world have different needs

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Why Cross Cultural Marketing? From the anthropological perspective all market behaviors are culture-bound. Both consumer behavior and business practices are performed to a large extent by the culture within which they take place. Therefore, in order to match the marketing mix with consumer preferences, purchasing behavior, and product-use patterns in a potential market, marketers must have a thorough understanding of the cultural environment of that market, i.e., marketing cross-culturally. However, this is by no means to suggest that in the 21st century all marketers should focus on cultural differences only to adjust marketing programs to make them accepted by the consumers in various markets. In contrast, it is suggested that successful marketers should also seek out cultural similarities, in order to identify opportunities to implement a modified standardized marketing mix. To be able to skillfully manipulate these similarities and differences in the worldwide marketplaces is one of the most important marketing strategies for businesses in the 21st Century.

7 tips to successful Cross Cultural Marketing Know Your Own Cultural Background When we learn about other cultures we often think about it as "us” understanding "them". But when developing a deep understanding about cross-cultural issues, we must first start with understanding ourselves or "us" understanding "us". Take a moment and think about how you see the world. How have your education, traveling, gender, faith, children, sexual orientation, hobbies, and/or recreational interests shaped who you are? What celebrations and rituals are important to you? These elements collectively form your unique cultural identity, the lens through which you see the world. In this sense, every encounter we have with another person is essentially a cultural exchange, not just those with someone who obviously speaks, eats, dresses or appears differently. The next time you interact across cultures, share who you are, too. This will help us to learn from each other and not just about each other. Know Your Expertise There are numerous challenges when going overseas. It is vital to understand what your expertise is, and to then find the other expertise that you need to be successful. Don’t be afraid to bring in marketing experts for your target countries.

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Do Your Homework Spend time researching the culture of the target countries. Learn about communication, negotiation and work styles. Is your target market a high context (for example Latin America) or low context market (US)? What do you need to know about non-verbal communication? Cross Cultural Meetings We all know communication is the key to ensuring good relationships, no matter who we are communicating with. But, when communicating across cultures, it is even more important. If you are having meetings with participants from different cultures, put more of your communication in writing than you normally would. Under each agenda item, put bullet points of topics to covered and key issues that need discussion. This ensures that everyone (even those with more limited English skills) can feel confident that they understand what is being presented. Ask Open Ended Questions When we function in a foreign language, we have a tendency to say yes when we are asked a question, even if we don't understand what was asked. This is even true when we are asked "Do you understand?" The next time you are interacting cross culturally, ask an open-ended question such as "Can you tell me what we need to do next?" instead of "Do you understand?" If the person is unable to answer what needs to happen next, then you know that you need to explain further. Always Use Professional Translators Translating materials into foreign languages is always a challenge, even more so when you are trying to convey a concept in a way that is appealing to foreign cultures. Ensure that the translation firm that you are using has the ability to use native speakers for the translation. Ask if they also do a secondary translation check with another native speaker to act as a back-up. It is better to be more careful up front, then to try and correct mistakes later. Know the National Holidays and Religion If you are working overseas, make sure that you learn about local holidays and how they might impact campaigns and other business projects. The month of Ramadan is important

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Cross Cultural Mark eting

in many parts of th e world, an , having c itical dead ines durin this mont If your t arget coun ries have

is challen ging.

strong rel gious basis for their c ulture, ma e sure tha t you

learn about the reli gion and its taboos, re trictions a d ways th t religious beliefs can work in your avor.

Cross Cultural Consumer Analysis To dete mine whet her and h w to enter a foreign market on

needs to conduct a cross

cultural consumer analysis. It is defin ed as effo t to deter mine to consum rs of two o more nati ons are similar or diff rent. It ca

provide a

hat exten

the

understa ding

of the p sychological, social an d cultural characteristics of spe ific nation l markets they wish to arget.

East Asian •Centred on set of relationships defined by religi us doctrine •A closed worldview, prizing stability and harmon •Values a persons duties to family, clan •Submiss ive to authorit •Weight n vertical inter personal relaltion

American •Centred n individual •An open iew of the world, emphasizing change a d movement •Values individual personality •Self-Reli nce •Weight o horizontal inter personal relations

In ian •Centred o relationships •A closed orldview, more stress on stability •Values a persons duties to f amily, society •Self Relai t •Weight on vertical inter pers nal relations

European •Centred on individual •A closed w rldview, more stres on harmony •Self Relian t •Weight on horizontal inter perso al relations

Proce s for Cr ss Cult ral Mar eting The pro ess for Cross Cultural Marketing is explaine in terms f the flow c hart given below

Marketing in the ge of complexity

Cross Cul ural Mar eting

Defin ng the is ue

Rese rching Inter ational Markets

The Export Process

Consumert Beh viour

Chan els and Distr bution Str tegy

Pricing and Strategy in an Inter ational Environment

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International Com unication trategies

Stra ght Exte sion •The firm adopts the sam strategy as in the ome market

Com unicatio n Ad ptation

Communica io n Innovatio

•The company cater o the needs and wants of its foreign custo ers

•T e firm designs a product from sc atch for its fo iegn customers

The Marketing Mix is the tool hat the int ernational communications pr gram. It consists of •

dvertising

•

Personal sel ing

•

Publicity

•

Sales promo ion

•

Sponsorship

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arketer h s available to form a t otal


Cross Cultural Marketing for P oducts Pepsi Introduction

Pepsi-C la, commo ly called P epsi, is a s ft drink pr oduced and manufact red by Pep siCo. It is sol

worldwid in stores, restaurant and vend ng machines. Pepsi g ined popul arity

followin

the intro uction in

934 of a 12-ounce bo tle. Initial y priced a 10 cents, sales

were slow, but when the price was slashed to 5 cent s sales pic ed up. Pep si also own s the Frito-Lay and Mou tain Dew b rands. Market ng

PepsiCo gained en ry to Indi owned

by creati g a joint

enture wit h the Punj ab govern ent-

unjab Agro Industria l Corporat on (PAIC) and Volta

India Li ited. This joint

venture marketed and sold L har Pepsi until 1991 when the use of fore ign brands was allowed; PepsiCo b ught out it s partners nd ended he joint ve ture in 19 4. The str tegy used for Pepsi is on e of Comm nication A aptation a d Product Extension

Fig 1: E amples of ifferent Pe si Ads in

ifferent Countries

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Product Extension manifests itself in the form of Pepsi being marketed in US and Europe as a side drink to go with pizza or lunches, In East Asia it is associated with being hip and cool and thus there is the use of local pop and sports stars. In India Pepsi is marketed more in terms of being a thirst quencher and being a drink that provides a lot of fizz. The advertising in East Asia and India is always in the local languages. In India, Sachin Tendulkar, Amitabh Bachhan and Shahrukh Khan have endorsed Pepsi. This is an approach that East Asian consumers appreciate and respond to. There is also the movement towards standardization of advertising by using celebrities that are recognizable worldwide such as soccer stars and Hollywood actors. There is also a use of personal selling across all the four markets but this is not so prevalent except for in the use of new products that are introduced in markets. Pepsi also provides sponsorship to cricket team of Pakistan and sponsors major cricket tournaments in the sub continents. Sales promotions are used across the 4 markets but there is the major prevalent scheme of “Pepsi Stuff”. Pepsi Stuff refers to a landmark marketing strategy and global integrated campaign launched by PepsiCo, first in North America and then around the world, in the 1990s and continuing into the 2000s featuring merchandise that could be purchased with Pepsi Points. There are two ways to acquire Pepsi Points: •

Collect Points from specially marked Pepsi packages and fountain cups.

•

Purchase supplemental Points on the Pepsi Points redemption order form, for 10 cents per Point.

This sales promotion scheme though is more prevalent in North America. Gillette Introduction

Gillette is a business unit of Procter & Gambl and successor of The Gillette Company, which was founded by King C. Gillette in 1901 as a safety razor manufacturer. On October 1, 2005, The Gillette Company finalized its purchase by Procter & Gamble. As a result of this merger, the Gillette Company no longer exists. The merger created the world's largest personal care and household products company. Before the merger, Gillette had grown to become a leading global supplier of products under a variety of brands. In addition to Gillette, the company marketed under Braun, Duracell and Oral-B, among others.

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Marketing

The strategy used in marketing of Gillette products worldwide is that of Product Extension and Marketing Extension where the firm uses the same policy of marketing it has used in its home market. Gillette is mainly a manufacturer of personal care products for men and thus worldwide the advertising concentrates on the using sports celebrities and models for their advertisements. The Gillette strategy is a global strategy, which aims to foresee the future (notably by the Committee horizon) and concerns the world which is beside went up to “one nation”. That is clearly evoked in the formulation strategy. By its long experience, Gillette could achieve its global strategy with safety. The shaving system does not require a local adaptation of products. Moreover, consumption becomes increasingly homogeneous around the world by a convergence of needs. This peculiarity of the market shaving system enhances the hypothesis of standardization of production and of the marketing variables. The advertising used stresses on the fact that the safety razor (i.e. Mach3, Vector Plus etc) are safe to use, do not give you an itch after shaving and does not leave cuts giving you a smooth shave. The advertising is more or less standard over the world. Gillette sponsored the World up in 2006, Rugby Nations league as well as other sports events across the Globe. Sports like soccer have a universal appeal and therefore have an impact on consumers from all 4 markets. There is not much of a prevalence of sales promotions in developed markets of Europe and USA.

With a view to realizing higher higher unit sales in the developing and

untapped economies of East Asia and India where there is not much awareness about usage of safety and disposable razors. These are in terms of clubbing 2 Gillette personal products together and offering a discount. Personal selling is also taken up in Asian markets.

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Fig 2: Ads for Gilette For all the focus on razors and blades, it is worth noting that Gillette has diversified products in its portfolio. In the writing instruments category, it now has the Parker Pen brand in addition to the Paper Mate and Waterman brands it acquired earlier. It also acquired Duracell in a much-publicized takeover in 1996. It has the Oral-B toothbrush and a slew of other products in toiletries. What sets Gillette apart from most other companies that also have a continuous stream of new products is that Gillette seeks worldwide leadership for all its new products. Gillette's success in achieving its new product goals is reflected by the fact that in 1996, 41% of Gillette's sales came from products introduced in the past 5 years, up from 30% in 1990 United Colors of Benetton Introduction

UCB is is a global upmarket clothing brand, based in Treviso, Italy. Benetton is present in 120 countries around the world with a strong Italian character whose style, quality and passion are clearly seen in its brands: the casual United Colors of Benetton, fashion oriented Sisley and the leisurewear and street wear brands Playlife and Killer Loop. The Group has a total yearly production of around 130 million garments and a distribution

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network with 5,0 0 contemporary stor s, mainly managed by indepe dent part ners, generating a total urnover of over 1.9 b llion euro. Establishe

in 1965,

enetton is now

controll d by Edizi ne Holdin (a holding company

holly own d by the B enetton Fa ily)

with a 6 7% stake. t listed on the stock e xchanges i

Milan in 1986, in Fr ankfurt in 1988

and in

ew York in 1989.

Market ng

UCB concentrates more on creating a world br nd produc t i.e. prod ucts which are manufactured, pac kaged and positione

in exact y the sa e way as they are sold

worldwi e. Althou h the adv rtising is n specific arget languages, the ads remai

the

same. T e advanta e of having a global br and is that UCB get t e following three bene fits •

uality Signal

•

lobal Myth

•

Social Respo nsibility

Fig 3: B netton ca paigns: Clockwise fro

top left 1. himpanze s 2003 2.

Dying A DS patient 4.Gender nd Race E uality 199

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ondoms 19 91 3.


One of Benetton’s key aims is to provide clothes of a consistently high quality as well as attempting to provide clothes that appeal to a large portion of the population. Benetton ensure that they keep in touch with global demand and continue to keep their brand well known and liked. This may seem like a relatively easy one to achieve but Benetton enjoy exploiting extremely controversial issues as part of their ‘Institutional Campaigns’. These campaigns aim at publicizing the entire company as a whole rather than any one range of clothing. Through this marketing technique technique they aim to to not only keep public attention for their corporate name, but to associate Benetton with trying to raise awareness about certain issues. As can be seen from the response to their their most recent campaign, pictures of death-row inmates, this does not always generate a favorable response. Benetton stress the fact that they are not trying to use shock techniques to advertise their products, they continue to insist that they are only raising awareness in the interests of public education. Benetton seem to have a sustainable sustainable global brand. The only aspect that Benetton need to be concerned with is the brand image that consumers develop. Benetton’s current communication strategy is diverse. A large portion of their communication budget is spent on their ‘Institutional Campaigns’. These campaigns are designed to advertise the company and corporate image rather than specific product lines. Although they do develop standard product based advertisements, these are on a much smaller scale and generally specifically geared to a certain market rather than promoting the global brand. Benetton prefer in all markets to do some form of local marketing wherein the brand in promoted in a around the premises or city the retail outlet is present in. Sales promotions done by Benetton are few in all the 4 markets. Benetton are having a sizeable chunk of their collection in the form of sportswear which is why they sponsor teams in F1 as well as basketball which are viewed by their target market.

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Cross Cultural Marketing

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