Globalization

John B. Ford (PhD, University of Georgia) is Eminent Scholar and professor of marketing and international business at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. He is the director of the PhD Program in International Business Administration. His research interests are in cross-cultural advertising strategies and, in particular, gender role depictions in global advertising; the use of sexually charged advertising imagery; the use of beauty in ads; and negative affect. His research has been published in many top marketing, advertising, and business journals including Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research, and Journal of Business Research. Email: jbford@odu.edu

in some developing markets that are drawn to the idea of being part of the global club, a global brand position can be very appealing. Finally, harmonizing a brands position across regions

Nigel Hollis

can offer considerable cost-savings and efficiencies. In todays globalized world, developing advertising that can travel well has never been more important. This increasing demand for consistent cross-cultural advertising has led to a growth in cross-cultural qualitative and quantitative advertising pre-testing. While John B. Ford, Barbara Mueller, and Charles R. Taylor have concluded that for academic researchers culture remains the elephant in the room, commercial market research has been forced to grapple with it. Commercial market research in response has evolved practicessensitive translations, standardized questionnaires, and analytic routinesdesigned to remove bias and allow realistic cross-cultural comparisons to be made. Applying these innovations, Millward Brown has tested more than 70,000 ads around the world, many on a crosscultural basis. Looking at findings in the pre-test database, we found that few ads transcend cultural boundaries very well. In particular, we looked at exceptional advertisementspieces that performed very well in one countryand found that only 1 in 10 did equally well in another country. And, even more problematically, 1 in 10 of those exceptional ads actually performed below average when tested in another market. So, although using the same ad campaign across borders may offer cost efficiencies, the savings realized are likely offset by a lack of local resonance. The importance of considering culture when planning any international marketing communications cannot be overstated.

Globalization in Context
Cultureour collective history, beliefs, customs, habits, and valuesis the inescapable lens through which we view the world around us, including the brands we encounter. Any effective marketing campaign, therefore, must always take into account local expressions of culture. In their seminal work Pitfalls in Advertising Overseas (Journal of Advertising Research, 1974), David A. Ricks, Jeffrey S. Arpan, and Marilyn Y. Fu reminded us that the challenges of creating successful international advertising are not new. As they stated, Most international advertising blunders occur because of a failure to fully understand the foreign culture and its social norms. Since the publication of their paper, continued globalization has meant that far more companies are grappling with how best to communicate across cultural boundaries than ever before. Experienced multinational companies (MNCs) understand the inherent challenges while less-experienced companies may be oblivious to them. Yet, even experienced MNCs who understand these risks increasingly are being drawn to consistent cross-cultural campaigns for several compelling reasons. The advent of global media, the Internet, and increasingly globalized consumers have made it more important than ever for brands to have a consistent tone and message. Further, to consumers

Barbara Mueller is professor of advertising at San Diego State University. Dr. Muellers research has appeared in The Journal of Advertising Research, The Journal of Advertising, International Journal of Advertising, International Marketing Review, Advances in Consumer Research, and others. She is the author of Dynamics of International Advertising: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives (2nd ed., Peter Lang, 2011); Communicating with the Multicultural Consumer: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives (Peter Lang, 2008); and co-author (along with Katherine Toland Frith) of Advertising and Societies: Global Issues (2nd ed., Peter Lang, 2010). Her area of expertise is international advertising, and she has taught courses dealing with this topic in a number of European countries. Email: muelle1@mail.sdsu.edu

Charles R. Taylor is the John A. Murphy Professor of Marketing at Villanova University. He currently ser ves as editor of the International Journal of Advertising. Dr. Taylor has also ser ved as president of the American Academy of Advertising. His research interests include international advertising, advertising and public policy, and information processing. He has provided consulting ser vices to numerous businesses and organizations and has ser ved as an expert witness in several court cases. He has published numerous academic articles in leading outlets. Email: raymond.taylor@villanova.edu

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Despite the barriers to a successful international campaign, the pay-off when it is executed well is worth the effort. For example, when Diageo sought to revive its Johnnie Walker brand, which was losing volume sales and market share, it commissioned global qualitative research to identify a big idea that could reinvigorate the brand. Research revealed that personal success was superseded by personal progress, so Johnnie Walkers traditional iconthe striding manwas harnessed to represent this concept. The Keep on Walking campaign that resulted helped increase Johnnie Walker sales by 48 percent in just 8 years. Because values, customs, and beliefs vary by country, it is not surprising that advertising that succeeds in one country may fail in another. Across 6,000 ad pairs, 52 percent achieved the same performance in each country. This proportion varied from a high of 59 percent (Europe) to a low of 40 percent (Latin America). Some sensitive topic areassexuality and religion, to name twoaccount for some of this lack of cross-cultural resonance, but so do some seemingly more innocuous elements such as numbers and colors. Red may symbolize danger in Western cultures; in China, it is symbolic of good fortune and happiness. Advertising based on universal truths (e.g., the desire to live long and well and the need to nurture the next generation) does seem to have a better chance of being accepted across varying cultures, but the way these truths are represented can lead to complete relevance in some countries and total irrelevance in others. Culture can differ within a country as well. For example, marketers in the United States acknowledge the need to tailor marketing communication to Hispanics and African-Americans. The

need to recognize cultural differences becomes even more important in countries that have an even richer diversity of cultures and languages, such as India and China. In these countries, differences in familiarity with brands and marketing compound cultural differences. For example, people in rural China are much more likely to regard advertising as a source of useful information than urban middle-class people living in Shanghai or Beijing. Similarly, advertising tested in Sao Paulo, Brazil is unlikely to perform the same way in that countrys northeast region. To assign a lack of successful ad transference to culture alone would be nave. As always, the key to developing effective marketing communications is to first clearly identify the business and marketing objectives. Our experience demonstrates that when ads fail to transfer well across borders, it most often is because the brands status or marketing objectives are not consistent across markets. Increasingly, global marketers must first create brand ideas that will have appeal around the world before they can craft the communication that will resonate well across different cultures. Ultimately, brands that do well have a powerful blend of strategya clearly stated brand positionand the right tactical execution of the marketing communication. For many brands, creating effective advertising across countries then might mean eschewing a consistent approach in favor of a more effective set of local initiatives that recognize the worlds continued diversity. Given the complex challenges presented by cross-cultural advertising, the insight offered by academic and commercial research is critical to developing successful global campaigns.

Nigel Hollis is chief global analyst at Millward Brown, where he provides thought leadership to the company while consulting with clients on their key marketing and business issues.

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