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August 2000, Volume 68, Number 4 |
| Marketing Can a Global Brand Speak Different Languages?
In the past, marketers have believed that cultural differences are so significant that companies should adapt product marketing to each local culture. But international brand managers, motivated by the need for efficiency and convenience, often argue for the creation of a global brand that has common appeal across cultures. They argue that many cultural differences among consumers are rapidly receding in the face of worldwide media and Internet technologies. Therefore, the globalization of brands and marketing communications is an increasingly viable strategy. So far, the research on this subject has focused on the customer, not the brand. However, understanding the consumer characteristics that vary across cultures is only one piece of the puzzle. So Jennifer Aaker, assistant professor of marketing, recently undertook a study to determine the degree to which brands are similarly perceived across cultures. Working with Veronica Benet-Martinez, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, and Jordi Garolera, an associate professor of marketing at Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Aaker looked at the responses of consumers in three different cultures-Japan, Spain, and North America-toward different brands and their characteristics. The researchers conducted four tests across three cultures. Consumers were asked to rate the extent to which each of 100 different human personality traits described a specific brand. A group of 25 product brands varied from whiskey and detergent to toothpaste and toys. The personality traits were sorted into key "personality dimensions." The researchers found that four of those dimensions, Excitement, Competence, Sophistication, and Sincerity, appeal to consumers in both Japan and the United States. But they discovered that Japanese individuals appreciate Peacefulness, which was absent in North America. Instead, the Americans identified strongly with a trait called Ruggedness. Indeed, other cultural research has shown that Ruggedness, defined as Western and tough, is discouraged in East Asian cultures and tends not to exist. Two other tests that were conducted by Aaker and her team looked at whether these perceptions extended to consumers in Spain. Like North Americans, the Spanish shared a strong common perception of Sincerity, Excitement, and Sophistication in brand marketing, but, like the Japanese, they also appreciated Peacefulness. In addition, the researchers found that the perception of another personality dimension called Passion, representing emotional intensity as well as spirituality or mysticism, was special to consumers in Spain. Until now, the argument over how best to market products globally has boiled down to adaptation versus standardization. However, the research conducted by Aaker and her coauthors offers a new way to frame the debate: A brand may be created to be global but also have indigenous meaning. By this, the researchers do not mean the once popular business mantra of "be global, act local," which typically meant that a brand was developed as a global product at higher levels of strategic planning but was localized when it came to marketing tactics in specific countries. Rather, Aaker's results suggest that a brand can have common meaning that guides both high-level marketing decisions and tactical decisions across cultures. But against that universal backdrop, the researchers say, the relationship between a brand and the consumers in a particular culture can be deepened by nurturing the culture-specific meanings on which the brand is also based. For example, in the case of Benetton, the associations with being young, spirited, and daring may be used across cultures. But traits such as Unique and Independent may also be highlighted in the United States, while Funny and Optimistic traits may be highlighted in Japan. "By understanding the relationships between indigenous and universal meanings in a product name, marketers may be better able to guide the process of creating an effective global brand," says Aaker. —BARBARA BUELL "Passion and Peacefulness: A Study of Japanese and Spanish Brand Personality Constructs," Jennifer Lynn Aaker, Veronica Benet-Martinez, and Jordi Garolera, GSB Research Paper #1622, March 2000
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A brand can have common meaning that guides high-level tactical and marketing decisions across cultures. |
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