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


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


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.


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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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.


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 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.


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

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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 they aim 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 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 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.

Cross Cultural Marketing

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