International Marketing and Understanding Cultures

It's a huge Milestone in your company's history when you have enough funds and popularity to branch out of your country and in to other nations throughout the world. Obviously you always have the internet these days, so actually selling your products internationally isn't as big of an accomplishment. Marketing your product is still equally important on away fields though, and you can't just simply use the same ad everywhere in the world. You need to recognize that country's demographics and culture in order to interest the people and keep them from feeling alienated or ostracized from your product. If you market your new car somewhere in Asia using a commercial that features an American, english-speaking, black family in a mansion, Asian consumers probably aren't going to connect too closely to your product because they aren't even represented in that which is advertising it. Some companies that excel at global marketing are as follows:

• Red Bull 
• McDonald's
• Nike
• Coca-Cola

These four Companies do a tremendous job at creating a diverse web of advertising that could be considered unmatched by many other world wide companies. Austrian energy drink company Red Bull, for instance, holds and funds extreme sport competitions and events throughout the world. They also sponsor many skilled athletes internationally and achieve brand awareness through celebrity ethos. Celebrity ethos is basically the act of legitimizing your brand through the use of well known and respected figures in that society, but that isn't going to work unless you use somebody who is actually well known in a particular country/region. McDonald's also uses celebrity ethos famously during the olympics when it features the athletes in their commercials (as if those literal olympians are ever eating McDonald's.) They also sponsor the entire olympic games, which gives them the ability to past their logos all over stadiums. McDonald's also serves different food in different countries such as spaghetti and chicken wings in Taiwan; two products which are dominated by other restaurants in America. So in order to successfully market your product(s) in other countries, you can see how you must be consciously and acutely aware of those country's different cultures, economies, and pre-existing domestic/international brands who have already established themselves.


By: Maxamilian Tarpey

Sources:

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33857/10-Businesses-We-Admire-for-Brilliant-Global-Marketing.aspx