Global Branding and the Terms of the Trade

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Global Watchtower

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Posted by Benjamin B. Sargent on August 27, 2012 in the following blogs: Best Practices, Global Marketing, Web Globalization
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Translators, interpreters, and project managers working inside enterprises or as vendors and subcontractors expend a lot of effort on international marketing and “global branding” initiatives – but without a lot of training or education on the principles and aims of these activities. While marketers make promises, the impressions left by actual experiences make -- or break -- the brand. In the end, the experience that creates the biggest impression is buying and using the product itself. But language plays a role throughout. So when a marketer shows up in your office and starts flinging around words like “brand,” language managers should be prepared to engage in a thoughtful conversation.

In a report on "The Global Branding Myth" and a collection of supporting briefs, Common Sense Advisory found that:

Brand is a set of impressions that accumulate around a specific product or company in the mind of an individual. But “brand” also refers to the name, mark, or logo to which such impressions can attach. This sensory association – most often visual – allows a marketer to display a simple visual cue to elicit a visceral response from an individual, whether that person is a consumer or a commercial buyer.
Brand experience relates to any interaction whereby the individual gains a positive or negative association for a particular product or company. Examples of brand experiences include viewing an advertisement, seeing a product in a store, using a product at a friend’s house, speaking to a company representative on the phone, or accepting a free trial offer for an online service.
Branding has traditionally been viewed as the deliberate exercise of understanding and applying various attributes to a product or service. Recently, as more companies sell their products and services outside of their home markets, global marketers are waking up to the fact that their brand identities can evolve quite rapidly and can take on vastly different attributes in each market. Some even go so far as to suggest that the word “brand” should not be used as a verb.
Brand planning is the use of research to identify attributes that should be part of the brand - or should be avoided. Planning allows marketers to design experiences whereby the audience gains intended associations, either through direct experience or marketing impressions.

Marketing sets up certain expectations, but ultimately real-life experiences cement the brand in hearts and minds. Simply put, the brand is “a promise, fulfilled.”

Research is required to determine existing brand attributes, and also to determine ideal attributes to promise and proactively build into future brand experiences. This work involves interviewing, observing, or polling a given audience, such as customers, prospects, or the general public. Successful branding entails ongoing research, planning, implementation, and listening (measurement).

Unfortunately, global marketers fail when they try to lump multiple audiences together, using such sweeping generalizations as “the Asian market” or “the European market.” How much does Norway have in common with Greece, or Japan with Pakistan? Most companies should avoid the notion “global brand” campaigns and focus instead on the unique aspects of each market. Our research confirms that strong global brands result not from a single unified strategy but from adaptations in tune with many local markets (see “The Global Branding Myth,”Aug12).

For international brand marketers planning a global campaign, the first step should be to determine the portability of any names and logos (see "To Adapt or Not to Adapt Your Brand Name," Aug12, "An Ounce of Name Evaluation Is Worth a Pound of Cure," Aug12, and "Global Logos that Speak Louder than Words," Jul12). Another key strategy element is to determine the level of localization required (see "A Tale of Two Strategies: Locale-Specific or Global-Generic Branding and Marketing Campaigns?" Sep12). Finally, there's execution of specific campaigns to carry out your strategy (see "How Taglines Can Make or Break a Global Brand," Jul12).

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