3

Click here to load reader

Managing global brand advertising

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: Managing global brand advertising

brandcommunications

40 Admap • January 2006 © World Advertising Research Center 2006

THE KEY CHALLENGE for globalbrand positioning and communi-cation is to motivate consumers

around the world, evoking the same men-tal picture or image of the brand. Thequestion that global brand teams grapplewith is, of course, whether ‘same’ meansidentical, quite similar or a bit similar. Inother words, what should the degrees offreedom be in defining and communicat-ing the global brand?

A second, critical question is how to goabout defining this motivating mentalimage of the global brand and then, howto communicate it to consumers in themost effective way – to grow the businessand strengthen the brand. These are chal-lenges that global and regional planningteams have been struggling with for years,with no accepted best practice so far.

The short answer to these questions, inmy view, is that global brand positioning/brand identity is, ideally, built from atightly defined and motivating brandconcept. The communication of it, how-ever, often requires significant degrees offreedom to grow the brand’s business andadded values in diverse markets and cul-tures. Therefore, global brands need aglobal brand idea but not a global adver-tising idea. However, this thinking is notyet accepted as best practice among glob-al brand teams.

Global companies and degreesof freedomWe may think of three types of companyin terms of their philosophy towardsglobal branding – the degrees of freedomthey pursue: Purists, Pragmatists andEntrepreneurs.

Purists hold their brand definition assacred, in terms both of defining and com-municating the brand positioning. Hencetheir global branding approach is stan-dardisation. This calls for an extremelytop-down approach, with central deci-sion-making and local implementation.L’Oréal is a good example of a Puristapproach, as are most global luxury anddesigner brands.

Entrepreneurs hold business results assacred. Hence, their global brandingapproach is localisation. They are pre-pared to extend high degrees of freedomin both defining and communicating theglobal brand positioning. Their manage-ment approach is based ondecentralisation. The centre essentiallysets targets and measures their delivery,while markets are free to use the strate-gies that they think are appropriatelocally, to deliver the promised results.Pepsi and DeBeers are good examples ofthis approach.

Pragmatists are in search of the middlepath – delivering business results, whilemaintaining coherence to a global branddefinition. Hence, their global brandingapproach is adapt/interpret. They look fortightness in defining brand positioning,but allow more flexibility in communi-cating it across markets and cultures.Their management approach is based onnegotiation and consensus between thecentre and markets. Unilever, P&G, Nokiaand BBC are good examples of the Prag-matist approach.

All three approaches face some com-mon and some different challenges indefining and communicating a globalpositioning for their brand. The chal-lenges of development are similar, whilethe challenges of implementation are dif-ferent, as their branding philosophies aredifferent.

Approaches to developing globalpositioning – and the pitfallsThe first step that a global or regionalbrand team undertakes is to define thebrand positioning/identity at aglobal/regional level. Many tools exist forthis – the Brand Vision Statement, BrandLighthouse, Brand Vision Key, BrandValue House, and so on. Every globalagency network, brand consultant andlarge global marketer has its own tool.And teams take different approaches toits development – using large scale work-shops to small group meetings to briefingagency planners. Teams often carry out

some kind of multi-country, consumerresearch before or immediately after, tohelp generate the insights on which thepositioning is based and/or to validate thepositioning in terms of its relevance andcredibility.

All these tools are built on the acceptedwisdom that today a brand is not just a‘product+’, but needs to be conceived as amulti-faceted entity. Hence all these toolshave multiple boxes to fill. What oftenhappens, in the process of filling in theformat – either individually or as a group– is that the team ends up with a brandvision description. This outcome can eas-ily occur even in single-country

situations. But the chances of it happen-ing are much greater in a multi-countrysituation, due to the need to find com-monalities that hold across all marketsand cultures. This brand description issomething that all markets are happywith, because it incorporates their con-sumer and competitive reality. However,since it is a description, it is likely to belacking in imagination or power.

Often there is a catchy sum-up of thepositioning in a phrase, variously called‘brand essence’ or ‘vision focus’ (or what-ever), but this is not usually used as theplatform to springboard communicationdevelopment.

Having defined the global positioningvision, it is almost axiomatic for the clientteam to brief the agency team to developa global advertising idea to dramatise andbring alive the vision. The hope anddesire of the brand team are that theagency creative will bring some magic

Hamsini Shivkumar, JWT, examines how global ads can be developed, suggestinghow advertisers and agencies can be clearer about their objectives

Managing global brand advertising

‘Today a brand isnot just a“product+”, butneeds to beconceived as amulti-faceted entity’

shivkumar.qxd 05/12/05 12:41 Page 40

Page 2: Managing global brand advertising

January 2006 • Admap 41© World Advertising Research Center 2006

much the same: for example, user testi-monial or celebrity testimonial. This iswhy global brands that use these formatshave been able to make pretty much thesame ads all around the world. The per-sonal care products company Dove anddetergent manufacturer Tide are exam-ples of global brands which have useduser-testimonial campaign formatsacross countries and for several years.Soap company Lux was, for years, a globalbrand that used celebrity testimonialseverywhere. However, testimonials arenot the answer to all advertising needs ofall global brands.

Brand concept ascommunication platformA far more effective approach is to definea brand concept or brand idea – take theidea into the brand positioning itself – astrategic idea. Use this as the lens for thebrand’s view of the world and as a plat-form for advertising and othercommunication development.

When the brand team writes up thebrand vision, lighthouse or whatever, thefinal step should be to articulate thebrand idea or brand concept in one or twosentences. This should capture thebrand’s raison d’être and answer the criti-

cal question of why consumers should beattracted to this brand. It could be anexpression of the brand’s promise or atti-tude or point-of-view or ideology. Thisbrief concept statement then serves as theplatform for communication develop-ment in each market.

As the brand’s strategic positioningidea, it should have the power to capturepeople’s interest, imagination, have themengage with it; it should act as a magnet,drawing consumers towards it.

Expressing the concept with a point oftension built-in can work even more pow-erfully in getting consumer engagementwith the idea.

The Brand Concept Statement can beused at the beginning of the communica-tion development process, to lead thedevelopment of the creative brief in eachmarket. It can also be used at the end ofthe process, as a filter to judge creativework to any advertising or communica-tion brief – is it true to the concept inform, spirit or both?

The first step after defining the brandconcept is to map consumers in eachmarket in terms of their attraction andresponsiveness to the brand idea. In thisway, we use the brand idea as the lensthrough which to view consumers andcompetition in a market, define the role

into what is often a somewhat blandbrand-benefit expression and create aglobal advertising idea (which couldbecome a global communication idea if itis ‘big’ enough). This is a carry-forward ofthe standard operating procedure at a sin-gle-market level. However, for a globalbrand, this is where the process usuallybreaks down and the hoped-for magicnever materialises. And teams are caughtin a never-ending cycle of creative devel-opment.

What’s wrong with a globaladvertising idea? As we all know, the best advertising ideasare relevant, distinctive and surprising.

The single biggest hurdle that globaladvertising ideas stumble against is rele-vance. And this is for a very simple reason.The most universal, yet sharp and dis-tinct, insight is reflected in thepositioning. Thereafter, it is a struggle forthe advertising idea to find yet another,equally universally appealing and distinc-tive insight in the brand’s emotionalspace.

The second hurdle for the global adver-tising idea is that it has no clear task toaddress in the marketplace, other than topresent the positioning. This is becausetasks vary considerably by market, whichonly a country-specific brief can capture.Briefs for global advertising ideas, then,generalise the task to a level where itbecomes useless from a creative develop-ment point-of-view. And worse, when theidea/scripts are checked in major mar-kets, the consumer response reveals thelack of fit with the issues affecting thebrand in that market.

Finally, the insight and task definitionproblems are often compounded withissues of credibility, distinctiveness, etc,given market and brand realities in vari-ous countries and regions.

Many brands which have succeeded increating a global advertising idea haveended up creating a global advertising for-mat, rather than a genuine idea.Sometimes, idea and format are pretty

Some examples of global brand statements

1. L’oréal Harnesses the power of scienceto give every woman the confidence ofattaining perfection in her beauty

2.BBC World Authoritative coverage ofworld events for a seriously informedperspective

3.Bang & Olufsen Brings poetry to hi-fifor an experience that touches the spiritand soul

4.Prêt à Manger Our passion for thefreshest food makes us take a standagainst processed food

‘The brand’sstrategic positioningidea … shouldhave the power tocapture people’sinterest, imagination,have them engagewith it; it should actas a magnet,drawing consumerstowards it’

Hamsini Shivkumar is vicepresident and head of

planning for JWT Mumbai. Forthe past three years she hasworked as regional planneron Unilever and is currently

working on the DeBeers/DTCbusiness. She has been a

planner and researcher for 17 years.

shivkumar.qxd 05/12/05 12:41 Page 41

Page 3: Managing global brand advertising

42 Admap • January 2006 © World Advertising Research Center 2006

for advertising, and identify insights toleverage in the advertising.

Using the brand concept in this waywill help us identify the conventions pre-vailing in each market. Conventions arethe unwritten rules that govern people’sperceptions of the brand, and decisionsabout it. Conventions in a market couldrelate to the category – the way it has beenmarketed so far; consumer needs – howthey are manifested and fulfilled; culture– social norms and symbols that motivateand modulate people’s behaviour.

To determine the likely success of thebrand concept in a market, we need toassess the solidity or flexibility of its con-ventions. If the conventions are solid andthe brand concept stands in opposition to

the convention, this means that con-sumers would be unwilling to accept itand hence it is likely to fail. On the otherhand, if the brand concept can ride on anexisting solid convention, it will benefitfrom the social forces at work in the mar-ket and get greater power. If theconvention is flexible – undergoingdevelopment or erosion in consumers’minds – the brand concept may have anopportunity to reshape consumer valuesand gain as a result. It represents anopportunity to challenge convention, getdifferentiation and offer added value con-sumers.

It would also be possible to group mar-kets in terms of their similarities anddifferences in responsiveness to the

brand idea. This could throw up counter-intuitive groupings – India, Brazil andSouth Africa could be similar, whereas asecond cluster could consist of Argentina,China and Turkey.

Having got a strong brand concept, allthree kinds of globalists – the purists,pragmatists and entrepreneurs – canimplement it differently. The purists candefine a uniform communication of thebrand concept – in advertising and theretail experience. Pragmatists can devel-op similar advertising, or shareadvertising across groups of countries.And entrepreneurs stop at sharing a com-mon advertising slogan for the brand. ■

[email protected]

How the approaches differ: an exampleThe Brand: Ritu Kumar Designer Wear – a leading Indiandesigner brand which sells in markets in the US, UK and theMiddle East.

Brand Positioning Vision Statement:Vision – to be the leading Indian designer brand for the mod-ern, upscale, urban woman, aged 30+.Strategy – to offer a range of clothing and accessories to meether every wardrobe and lifestyle need.Target Audience� upscale, urban, women, aged 30+� women who want designer wear – for everyday and foroccasions, in order to make a style statement� women who want to be fashionable and glamorous, yet ele-gant and chic� women who like the ‘ethnic Indian look’ and particularlyappreciate the finer nuances of traditional Indian craftsman-ship.

Brand PropositionBenefits/Reasons to wantRitu Kumar designer wear makes an authentic Indian stylestatement like no other brand can, so that you are set apart andstand out from the crowd.Reasons to believe� As a designer, Ritu Kumar has unparalleled knowledge andexpertise in the history and heritage of Indian textiles andcraftsmanship.� She has invested in training and reviving the skills of hun-dreds of craftsmen across the country.� She is the designer of choice for India’s contestants at theMiss World and Miss Universe pageants, creating personalisedwardrobes for them.� Hers was the first (the original) designer boutique in theIndian market.

Values & PersonalityValues – Ritu Kumar believes in authenticity, superior quality,being world class, in Indian heritage.Personality – She embodies timeless elegance, style and a metic-ulous perfectionism.

1Conventional approach: desired solution – globaladvertising idea1. Write the brand positioning vision statement (above).2. Turn this positioning into an advertising creative brief – fora global advertising idea that dramatizes the brand proposi-tion – the key benefit and reason why.3. In the creative brief, mention the need for theme and prod-uct ads and a demonstration of how the idea would be execut-ed for each.4. Ask for some advertising properties to act as brand signals.5. See how the idea can then be executed/ scripts adapted forindividual markets.

2Alternative (proposed) approach: desired solution –global brand concept1.Write the brand concept in a sentence or two.

‘Ritu Kumar – authentic Indian craft heritage re-interpreted asclassic, designer-style statements for urban sophisticates’

2. Use the brand concept as the communication platform andthe lens with which to view the world3. Explore consumer attitudes to the concept in each key mar-ket and identify the tasks to address, as well as locally-relevantinsights4. Write briefs for individual markets based on locally-appro-priate advertising tasks and ways of propagating the brandconcept to consumers in that market, using local insights5. Check the advertising’s fidelity to the brand concept6. Purists, pragmatists and entrepreneurs will take differentimplementation approaches.

brandcommunications

shivkumar.qxd 05/12/05 12:41 Page 42