Marketing Essay 代写 Unique Advertising Problems In The Interbational Marketing

Part-1- evaluates the reasons why global strategies sometimes fail in their objective to achieve a global marketing advantage. Present a few organizations as examples and analyse what strategic alternatives would have enabled the companies meet their corporate and functional objectives.

WHY GLOBAL STRATEGIES SOMETIMES FAIL IN THEIR OBJECTIVE TO ACHIEVE A GLOBAL MARKETING ADVANTAGE

‘The world today is a global village’ it’s a fact. But the global village still has some tribes and it is very important to keep all the tribes happy if we need to have good relationship with all of them. Since the globe is accessible to everyone, it is also vital to design the marketing strategy and develop it in the perspective of variations in the culture, traditions, taste, weather and norms of a country. Marketing on domestic level may not have the problems which are faced by the marketing on global level. The coming paragraphs would address the issues and problems which result in the failure of achieving global marketing advantage.

One of the most striking trends in business has been growing internationalization of the business. Companies are going global but they have to keep their customers satisfied domestically and internationally. The internationalization affected the business strategies and the companies are in the rethinking process to counter the problems in the global marketing strategies. Marketing is no exception to this. Attitude of the customers in this regard is very important for designing the marketing strategy, especially when you are going global. There are four different types of attitudes normally seen in the world, i.e. ethnocentrism (home country orientation), polycentrism (host country orientation), regiocentrism (a regional orientation) and geocentrism (a world orientation). Each attitude has to be dealt according to its own pro and cons but the very common mode of being in an international market is using a global brand. Now it’s the internal decision of a company whether it wants to go for standardization or adaptation. If we talk about standardization, it means the company will keep producing the product according to their own standard and the customers should adapt their products. But adaptation strategy is used where a company wants to revolutionize itself according to the wishes of its customers globally.

Developing a global brand largely depends on the brands ability to explore fresh avenues and to sustain its competitive advantages in terms of economies of scale and productivity. A global brand is one which is perceived to reflect the same set of values around the world. A global brand removes the national barriers and linguistic blocks while marketing internationally. The basic of brand building applies to the global branding strategy also. For a brand to become successful, a genuine demand or a psychological need must exist in the market. Today when we are looking at a global market, one has to realize that at the most basic level all human beings share common physiological and safety needs as explained by Maslow (Maslow’s theory of basic needs). What separates a customer from another customer at some distant geographic location is the complex social, cultural and esteem needs of the customer depending upon the stage at which the civilization/ nation is in the process of development.

There are many situations when the global marketing strategies fail and it makes the firms changing their approach. It is also very important to decide which marketing strategy would be feasible for a firm for one corner of the globe and which would suit for other corner. For example Nokia manufactures the mobile phone sets for its customers all over the world but it offers different range of sets for wide-ranging nations and it makes Nokia successful in this global village. Similarly Sony Ericsson is also offering specific series of sets for the particular country where the sets meet the requirements of the local people.

The Coca-Cola Company found in 1886 is a leading beverage company with its customers in over 200 countries and headquarter in Atlanta, Georgia. The brand Coca-Cola is a non-alcoholic soft drink and it has a great recognition all over the world. Talking about the success of the company, former chairman of the Coca- Cola Company, Douglas Ivester stated that being global is the main strength of the company (Annual Report 1998). It is a business with affordable prices with a strong foothold in many countries. There are some other companies as well for example PepsiCo, Cadbury Schweppes who are making their achievements in the international markets.

The real challenges comes for a brand manager when he has to make the consumer aware about the product/service offered in a distinctive pattern ,may be with a name, logo or color so that the strategy enables the customer to correctly identify and choose the brand from a cluttered basket. The brands strength is not confined to the degree of recognizability and the quality of the product offering. Brands deliver more than just a predictable assurance about quality. Strong global brands deliver to the strong emotional need. A brand like Nike talks about believing in one’s limitlessness. Rin speaks about destroying dirt which we see in its most fundamental form as a threat that disrupts the neat orderly world that we live in a strong global brand while addressing a fundamental human motivation delivers to this motivation in a distinctive way. They are driven by distinctive brand ideas. The product is seen in the market place as an expression of brand idea. The product merely translates the brand idea in to a tangible form with features and styles that is delivered to the consumer. Dettol being a global brand is driven by an idea of absolute certainty it provides in feeling protected against the hostile forces of the dirty world. This brand idea the company is pursuing throughout the globe irrespective of the fact to which cultural domain they are targeting for. Consumers in all these countries experience the brand idea only through the strategic actions of the brand in the market place. These brands send market signals consistent with the idea that they stand for. Starting from the tangible attribution of the brand through the product to the integrated marketing communication, the brand consistently sends the same signal in every market. The more consistent is this marketing signal, more clear is the brand image across the country for the global brands. The research suggest that strong brands and are built over time. A brand trust gets built over a large number of interactions across a range of situations. So a strong global brand is like a network of complex psychological and market structural issues that include situations, associations, behaviors feelings and symbols held by a strong and powerful driver with a central idea. A successful marketing strategy has two options in creating a market presence. It has to kill competition by constant communication and advertising or use communication to make the customers feel the method to discriminate in favor of the brand. A strong global brand creates associations in consumer mind to make them see differently by guiding consumers to attach distinct functional and emotional benefits and appropriate meanings and beliefs to the brand. As a response to this effort the consumer is willing to pay a premium for these brands only if they represent added value whether as superior quality or a clear emotional benefit. The brand communication should also communicate and connect to the people. The connectivity of Britannia with health is well felt all over the world. This connectivity is the rational justification for them to overcome the extra spending to acquire the brand. Successful brands live beyond generations due to this connectivity. It is not only satisfying customers of different countries with varied cultural background but also connects with new generations with their new set of values, hopes and ambitions. For a successful global brand it has to click across the vertical class of generations and horizontal mass of global market. In a global economy organizations must reach customers in markets far from their home base. Strong brand acts as an ambassador when the companies enter new market or offer new products. It also helps in rectifying the corporate strategy to define which initiatives fit within the brand concept. Brand building for service firms have to modify their corporate strategy also. Professional Services Company such as Anderson consulting re-branded as Accenture have realized that conveying a sense of trust and shared mission is as important as technical competence in winning multimillion dollar contracts across the globe. Information and the media have made us all global citizens. This presents an organization with the opportunity to broaden market scope by internationalizing product and service marketing in order to reap the benefits of economies of scale.

There are various issues at the organizational level that decides about the global branding strategy. There are two strategic parameters affecting the decision of global branding. They are the relative strength of globalization pressure in that particular industry and the degree to which the company has internationally transferable assets. If globalization pressures are weak and the company’s assets are not transferable including the brand then the company need not go for a global brand .It should concentrate in the domestic market in creating a higher brand value. If globalization pressures are weak and the company has transferable assets then the company should look for extending in to a similar market with a global brand. The home advantage due to a strong brand proposition can be used as a platform for building brands in selective markets. By this the company can reap added revenue and scale economies with valuable international marketing experience. This category of global brand extension goes for looking at analogous international markets which are similar to the home market in terms of consumer preference, geographic proximity, cultural similarity or even government regulation. Bajaj Auto’s extension to the south Asian market for their three wheelers is an example of brand success in analogous market. The story of Asian Paints in Indian market has made it to go for global branding in countries like Nepal, Fiji and Korea with its typical low cost formulations and service delivery propositions to support the brand name called “Asian Paints”.

Companies from emerging markets can also go global and launch global brands. However for having a global brand one has to take in to consideration a different set of opportunities and constraints. The low cost of wage and proximity to raw materials also give a competitive advantage for domestic companies to go global. If these players can overcome the deficiencies in skills and financial resources then launching a global brand will be a difficult proposition. The success of Infosys and Wipro as brands in the global market is example of global branding success in high-tech industry. However there are many complex factors that can affect a global marketing strategy. These include the nature of the product (for example consumer durable products being more suited to standardization than non-durables), features of a particular market and even organizational history.

The development of standardized marketing strategies can vary dramatically – for example, should the strategy be based upon the common features of a trans-national mass market or upon the identification of common clusters in different countries? The problem for a multi-national organization is that it operates in a number of countries and adjusts its products and practices in each at substantial cost. So by standardizing elements of the marketing mix through an international strategy, the argument is that efficiency can be greatly improved.

Master Foods is also moving forward with its international market in different countries. Selling the chocolate brand under ‘snickers’, Maser Foods is uses the policy of internationalization. There are more companies in the food industry which are offering their

Usunier (2000) points out that in today’s increasingly interdependent world, barriers to trade and international exchanges are constantly diminishing. However, the dimension of culture remains the single most enduring feature that is necessary to be integrated in marketing strategies and in their implementation, especially when they focus on international markets. Inspired by the above notion, a case study of IKEA Shanghai in China with reference to IKEA Malmö in Sweden shows how IKEA conducts its marketing strategies to appeal to customers cultivated in a different culture from the country of its origin and how the company combines its global marketing strategy with local culture-based marketing activities. Originating from a small village in the south of Sweden in 1943, IKEA has grown into the biggest furniture retailer with 253 stores in 37 countries and territories around world. The company’s attempts in the Chinese market started from Shanghai 3 in 1998, when its first store in Mainland China was opened. During the next 9 years,

IKEA took its time, getting to know the Chinese customers. A series of prudent

Experiments have been proven effective. IKEA’s sales in China increased 500% from 2000 to 2005. At the same time, price has also been paid for a lesson on how to balance global marketing strategies and local marketing activities. IKEA’s business actually started from the production concept, which holds that consumers will favor products that are available and highly affordable. In its earliest days, IKEA was selling products bought in bulk from Stockholm. The goods were delivered by the local milk van to the train station and then the buyers. In this way, the products were easily available to his customers and at low prices. Because of its competitors’ jealousy and hostility, IKEA had to design its own products and search cheaper suppliers in 9

Poland, when the product concept was proved worth trying. The product concept holds that consumers will favor products that offer the most in quality, performance, and innovative features (ibid). Nowadays, in order not to impress its customers as it is sacrificing quality when charging low prices, the company has been working on quality assurance even at low prices. The work remains one of the company’s focuses in 2007 (IKEA Facts and Figures 2006).

Part-2 “perhaps advertising is the side of international marketing with the greatest similarities from country to country throughout the world. Paradoxically, despite its many similarities, it may also be credited with the greatest number of unique problems in international marketing.” Discuss citing as many relevant organisational examples.

UNIQUE ADVERTISING PROBLEMS IN INTERNATIONAL MARKETING

Advertisement today is very vital in the promotion of businesses around the globe. There are different forms of advertisements and more kinds are being evolved every day. The innovations and inventions in the field of advertisement will be continued regularly. As it is increasing day by day there are problems which are paving their way towards advertising policies. Advertising within a nation can be easy for the observers to study it living within the perspective of their own traditions, cultures and religious norms. But when we go global we need to understand the requirements of advertisement in a global with a global vision. It needs understanding the requirements of the customers, their taste, culture, traditions and religion. The likings and disliking of the customers may vary from nation to nation and there is a need to understand the problems which may occur while advertising to the long range of customers with a diversity of likings and disliking. There may be different advertisement policies with their advantages and disadvantages as well and so as the problems but some of the problems sometimes attain the uniqueness. Organizations have started dealing with these unique problems not only using their own resources but some of the firms also started using the outsourcing method. More and more firms are coming under the attack of unique advertising problems and more and more solutions are seen in the global scenario.

A brand name is very important for the advertisement as the customers are attracted towards the brand name more often than the contents of the article. The brand name of a firm may be popular in a country but it may be confused if the same is used in an international market where some brand name is similar to the one launched internationally. An example of this kind of advertising problem can be seen in B.F. Goodrich campaign in 1975 against the brand name ‘Goodyear’.

The Google Online Marketing Challenge, a MERLOT online learning object available at http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=310448, is a global competition where students work with small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to create a practical and successful online marketing campaign using Google’s key advertising product, AdWords. In the competition, students learn critical online marketing skills, including how to maximize targeted and relevant traffic to a client’s Website. Student teams employ marketing techniques to refine and improve the effectiveness of their AdWords campaign over a three-week competition period. Internet marketing of such type is much common but a unique problem has been observed by Google Inc. and then a solution has been introduced to counter the problem. Google allows the customers to use Adsense which helps making money online for those who have websites and can add the advertising links to their pages. The account of the website owners gets increasing the money as soon as the ad links are clicked, webpage is viewed or the search engine is used. But it has been observed that the web links were viewed and clicked by false users which made Google think about the problem and the ways of solving this issue.

Sales persons are used by the firms very commonly and they are offered commissions, incentives and bonuses in addition to the monthly fixed salary. The job duties of advertising sales agents vary somewhat, depending on the type of sales calls they make. Their jobs may also differ based on the advertising space they sell, which may include graphic art, custom-made signs, or television and radio advertising time. But most agents follow similar procedures in conducting business with clients.

Advertising sales agents sometimes work with a client on a single project, but most sales agents-and many clients, too-prefer to develop longstanding business relationships. For this reason, advertising sales agents try to build a good rapport with their clients. They cite no monetary advantages to the job as well. Like many other sales workers, advertising sales agents must work independently, and many prefer this autonomy when determining and responding to clients’ advertising needs. Successful sales agents also enjoy the challenges of the work, such as deciding how to reach monthly sales quotas or solving clients’ advertising problems. And many sales agents find that the ongoing client relationships they develop as sales agents are more rewarding than the brief interactions with clients that other sales workers may have.

Quandrax Computers uses the sales persons to make sale calls which ultimately results in a sale order. The firm offers free samples to the customers. A unique problem during a sales call was observed by the supervisor who was on a sales call visit. According to him a customer was very much keen to get the computers in bulk and asking for the discount but the salesperson was not agreed with him although there is a proper company policy to allow the discount for the customers who purchase in bulk.

Television advertising also involves several unique problems. Advertising messages on TV come and go quickly. If people have their sets on, but are not watching or listening, they cannot return later. And when commercials are bunched together, a viewer might use the time to get a snack or see what else is on. Although some network shows reach viewers for a surprisingly low cost, certain minimum cost considerations can price the medium-sized advertiser out of the television field. Newspapers and other printed information carry a stamp of authenticity that television broadcasts don’t have. People tend to believe something more if they actually see it in print. Another disadvantage is that mass coverage creates the lack of selectivity for the audience. It is difficult to determine exactly the viewing audience and there by choosing which commercials to air at certain times. To address this issue therefore, in addition to the advertisements on television, firms are using their own websites for publishing their TV ads. It helps the customers watching the advertisements they missed on the television. For example, Mobilink, a mobile phone operator in Pakistan used this strategy in the past and the same is being used by other mobile operators as well.

Sometimes there are some traditional or religion affiliations which make the advertisement policy much difficult to launch. For example McDonalds and KFC both are providing fried chicken food and other related items for the customers almost all over the world. But these firms had to counter the problems they faced in some Muslims Countries where the people are very much reluctant to change their eating habits. Further, some extremist attacks were seen on these multinationals. As far as eating habits are concerned, people did show a reluctant behaviour initially but with the passage of time fast food became the status symbol. How it became status symbol is as easy as it looks. Advertisement did play a very vital role and promoted the fast food industry to a great extent. Dealing with the other domestic problem, these global firms used the religious slogans prominently placed on the main entrance of outlets. These slogans helped the firms establishing the trust of the people and maintaining it as well.

A similar case has been observed where a mobile telephone company from Norway started providing the services in Pakistan under the name ‘Telenor’. Soon after its launch some newspapers of Denmark, Norway and some other countries published the contents which humiliated Muslim emotions all over the world. The act of the newspaper not only aroused aggressive emotions against the newspapers but it also produced a decline in the revenue and decrease in the number of customers of the mobile operator.

There are many controlling authorities which announce the guideline for the advertising agencies. A similar document ‘North Carolina State Hearing Aid Dealers And Fitters Board Advertising Guidelines’ defines some guidelines as below:

Advertising a service or product as being available for a limited time (e.g., “This Week Only” or “3 Days Only”) is false and misleading if the advertisement is run week after week (i.e., a “continuous sale”).

Advertising “Free Hearing Evaluations – A $65.00 Value” is misleading if the seller does not have a regular established hearing evaluation charge of $65.00, independent of hearing aid sales

Advertising such wording as “Free Batteries, Service, and/or Maintenance for Life” requires a definitive statement in the body of the advertisement as to what “life” is relevant (e.g., life of the consumer, life of the hearing aid, etc.).

Advertising that contains any reference to “years of experience or service” is considered by the Board to be misleading unless the reference pertains to the actual experience or service of the specific licensee or apprentice currently making the claim and not to that of a manufacturer, corporation, previous business owner(s)/operator(s), or any other collective group of individuals (e.g., “the XYZ Family” or “our staff”).

So, currently the advertising firms need to follow the guidelines which create another series of unique problems for the advertising firms today. Not all advertising problems are the result of a licensee failing to comply with the rule. Sometimes a newspaper copy editor, for example, edits the ad copy from what was originally submitted by the real estate company. These types of errors by others cannot be prevented by the real estate company. Just as importantly, however, newspaper copy editors, website developers, printers and others who provide advertising services to real estate licensees are not expected to know the real estate brokerage advertising rules and licensees must not rely on others for compliance with the rule.

Concluding the above discussion we can say that marketing today has changed a lot and still shifting its style from the orthodox modes to the new and unique methods. More and more innovative people are joining the field of advertising and it is providing new horizons of marketing strategies to the firms on earth. As the innovations come to the panel of marketing there are new problems seen in the advertising agency. In a nutshell, most of the advertising problems are faced by the organizations when they go on to achieve the global advantage. Dealing these global problems itself needs a planned strategy to implement.