Brands Across Borders

摘要:There exists today a universal language of brands that speaks to consumers at a level transcending cultural, social, political, economic and geographic borders.

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Arnold is primarily a North American agency, with offices in New York, Boston and DC, and our other markets include the UK, a few offices in Europe and Australia, as well as China and Brazil. The fact is the markets we operate in cover approximately 2/3rd's of the world's advertising spend, so (at least in the mind of our CEO) we're in the important places and when we're not, we get help from our Havas sister agency, Euro, with 233 offices in 75 countries. And at Arnold we have multi-national responsibility on some of the world's Top 100 brands, including Jack Daniels, the GlaxoSmithKline consumer portfolio, as well as having a major hand in others like McDonald's and some key Pfizer projects.
There is one important credential Arnold has for giving this presentation: our work. Arnold is among the world's most respected creative advertising agencies on a global scale, we work hard to be a smart and modern company.

The way that we work is this: we believe that at the core of every great brand there lies a 
fundamental 'truth' that links that brand in a unique and relevant way to its consumer. Our process is ground in the fundamentals - understanding the client's vision, the competitive and consumer realities, and then developing a lens that will be the filter for all our work - the mindset. Volkswagen spoke to 'Drivers', Royal Caribbean to 'Explorers', Take 5 to 'Arm-Chair Thrill Seekers'. That mindset links to the brand truth, which is fundamentally at the core of everything - all our communications, all our promotions, where we plan and place the media - we do for that brand.

I start by telling you this only in part to introduce Arnold, but also because the idea behind 'brand truth' is - and this is my theory for today's presentation - is also at the core of the more solid and vibrant global brands. There exists today a universal language of brands that speaks to consumers at a level transcending cultural, social, political, economic and geographic borders. First world, third  world, capitalism, socialism - there are brands that defy all of these and somehow speak at a higher level. How else would one explain the fact that among the children of the world the most recognizable figure next to Santa Claus is Ronald McDonald? Or that the most recognized phrase on the planet next to "OK" is "Coca-Cola"?

My purpose today is to address the best practice and rewards of global branding - as well as the perils of not getting it right. And I'll summarize by addressing how getting the global brand message (and the marketing and agency organization around it) right can help you attain your goal of profitable revenue growth outside of the U.S.

One of the fun parts of doing a presentation like this is you get a chance to see some interesting work and have a few laughs while you do so; you'll also see that in building brand truths, the best advertising also connects with some human truths, things deeply engrained as part of how we as human beings behave as a species. Let me show you some work, the first from Thailand and the second two from France, that are testimony to how 'truth travels'.

 Now this is a dry part of the presentation, but I think it's necessary, so stick with me. Twenty-three years ago, in the Harvard Business Review, Theodore Levitt wrote a piece called 'Globalization of the Markets'. As many of you are no doubt aware, in it Levitt argued for corporations to exploit the 'economics of simplicity' and grow by selling standardized products all over the world. At a time when the world seemed to be getting smaller - and when the modern definition of productivity (lowering cost/increasing effectiveness) was beginning to take hold, this model made a lot of sense. And soon, the Cold War was over (and with it new markets like Russia, the Eastern Bloc and China were opening); Europe was heading toward a "Union" in 1992 with a bigger consumer base than the US - and many global marketers were asking themselves 'how can you not subscribe to this theory of global simplicity and harmony?'

But there were issues: this 'least common denominator' way of thinking was resulting in generic products and dull advertising that left a hallow impression on consumers' minds. Global marketing leadership therefore rushed to a hybrid strategy: keep the global efficiencies of scale on technology, production and the organization of the company but customize product features, distribution and local market selling techniques (including, in some cases, the advertising) in order to address local needs and tastes. "Glocal" was born.

However, 'Glocal' may be exported; I'm going to show you now two McDonald's spots produced last year - the first in Brazil, the second in the U.K. - that were never intended to be run outside of their home markets - but when you see the work I think you'll understand why they were.