Unit 4: BUSINESS: The Art of Marketing in a Global Culture (Only Lecture)

i now want to look at an increasingly

important aspect of international

marketing

globalization globalization is the idea

that

as international travel and

communication expand

the world's becoming more homogeneous

different cultures are

converging as people everywhere become

increasingly similar in the way they

live

there are the fads and fashions people

follow the products they buy

how they relax the heroes they look up

to and so on

so as we travel around the world we've

become accustomed to seeing the familiar

cyber cafes cds of bands we love

starbucks coffee houses advertisements

for well-known brands

in fact i but you can think of plenty of

other examples think

google cell phones mtv the familiar

faces of top fashion models and sporting

icons right

let's consider then first some of the

causes of globalization

then let's think about its implications

for businesses looking to market their

products globally

first then the causes of globalization

clearly flight has been a key factor

here

perhaps the key factor and as its

popularity has increased

so is its affordability today most

people travel by air

for those traveling to holiday

destinations it's the preferred way to

go

it allows us to go further quicker and

for business people

it enables them to do business

face-to-face on the other side of the

world

and reduces time away from the office

the resulting interaction between

cultures has surely promoted

shared values and attitudes this is an

important feature of globalization

then there's the news and entertainment

industry we can't really talk about

global culture without considering the

huge

influence of the internet tv radio

newspapers magazines and film today

these are multi-million dollar

industries and most films

documentaries quiz shows and soap operas

are made in the hope that they'll be

bought and shown

around the world many eventually become

powerful and lucrative international

brands

popular tv series are watched on every

continent and have near universal appeal

why well because they're based on

common human experiences they evoke

feelings and emotions we all share and

this brings me to a key element of the

news and entertainment industry and its

role in helping create a global society

advertising ads are a common feature of

television magazines and

of course internet sites don't you just

hate those pop-up windows

advertising works through the media

driving fads and fashions

so this makes the media a potent

marketing tool

see because it spreads ideas incredibly

widely

quickly and effectively

the third and final cause of

globalization i want to highlight is

politics

i want you to think specifically about

the dissolution of social and economic

barriers to political activity

and international agreements take the

european union for example

here a group of countries with quite

different and distinctive cultures and

traditions

have come together in the spirit of

cooperation

many europeans now have begun to feel

that they're members of a larger

pan-european culture increasingly heads

of government

and not just in the eu appear to be

consulting and acting in unison

on issues affecting the entire world

issues like

the environment crime world poverty

etcetera

arguably these things are lessening

ideological differences between nations

and because they're reported on news

channels like cnn

and seen by millions they help create a

sense of

pulling in the same direction they

create a feeling

that there's a common culture of

humanity if you like

now these phenomena have created easier

access to global markets no doubt

but marketing success as measured by

sales figures

is not guaranteed and this brings me to

the second part of my lecture

the implications of globalization for

marketing

you know although different markets may

share common human wants and needs

marketing successfully to those wants

and needs is never universal

marketing professionals must be mindful

of the local culture's values

and buying behaviors when deciding

strategy

this distinction between global and

local culture is sometimes referred to

in terms of the universal and the

particular

respectively a product becomes a

universal icon only because it has

particular appeal

to many individual cultures across the

globe it's the job of a company's

regional manager to ensure that the

product has

local appeal another challenge in

marketing messages across cultures is

understanding

differing communication styles

anthropologists make a distinction

between

high context and low context cultures

in high context cultures asian and

hispanic cultures for instance

communication depends heavily on context

this means the non-verbal aspects of

communication

in low context cultures like the us for

example

communication is more explicit than

verbal

so an example in japan an ad promoting a

luxury car might contain

very little dialogue but a lot of

impressive scenery

sophisticated gadgetry and stirring

music

these elements rely on the power of

association

in contrast in america the ads emphasis

might be on a spoken message explaining

the technology behind the car

something more explicit now

as a lesson in what not to do

let's take a look at two examples of

companies goofing up in their efforts to

market their products internationally

a company tried introducing its instant

coffee to france

a country where the casual image of the

product didn't fit into the prince

practice of preparing real coffee

which is a fixed part of the french

morning routine

then there's campbell's soups which lost

thirty thousand dollars in advertising

in europe

before realizing the british consumers

weren't familiar with the concept of

condensed soup

this particular case highlights how

easily marketing departments can fall

into the trap

of assuming that just because two

countries share a language and cultural

heritage

they'll be enticed by the same message

this can be a costly miscalculation