Communicating with

the World’s Customers

Anton Kriz
Research School of Management
 Application to your IB Plan
• Strategy must be consistent with the strategy you
picked in section 4.3.
• Feature India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
• An integrated campaign of relevant elements only
– Advertising
– Direct marketing
– Personal selling
– Sales promotion
– Sponsorship and PR
– Trade shows
• Importance:
– Details! Details! Details! (Which event? Which media
channel? How it’s going to work? etc)
– Realistic & Cost effective
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 Focus on Companies
Turn to your companies and think of their communication… We
have been using (re)design thinking with some groups –
challenging assumptions…

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 India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka
• What can you say…
• Communicating to these markets and targeting them takes
our IB challenge to another level
• Huge population size
• Absolute complexity
• One of my biggest regrets missing my MBA student’s
Indian wedding
• Our students from this area could really help – largely India
• But what is India? Markets within markets

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Debate – Inbound FDI from India

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Education opportunity for business

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Bangladesh

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Sri Lanka

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 International Promotional Mix

• Barriers in International Communications

• Advertising Themes
• Tradeshows

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Connect with China’s wired consumers

Source: McKinsey, August 2015

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 Connect with China’s wired consumers
• Last week - adopt an integrated platform strategy
– 70% of Internet users shop online regardless of the size of the cities
– Variety of digital platforms: Tmall, JD.com, VIP.com
• Understand China’s vast network of distributors
– Small distributors who have opened online shops through Tmall
– Proactively identify and partner with largest local distributors on
Taobao, providing them with store certificates, stable product supply,
and select product prelaunch benefits
• Harness the power of social media
– 2/3 consumers cite recommendations from families and friends as the
critical factor influencing their purchasing decision
– WeChat

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 Global Ad Spending

• US $531 billion in 2015

• 9.4% growth in “Fast-track Asia” (China, India, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, and
Vietnam)

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Global Ad Spending

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Abu Dhabi

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 International Communications

Feedback

Source Message Channel Receiver

B1 B2 B3

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International Communications
Process

Slide 19

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 Communication barriers

“International advertising is almost uniformly dreadful mostly

because people don’t understand language and culture”

• Language
• Cultural diversity
• Education
• Legal constraints

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 Communication Barriers - Language

• A major barrier to effective communication

• Diversity of languages in world market
• Perfect translation is not sufficient
• Research!
• Engaging local advertising and translators
• Same slogan world wide
– “Don’t crack under pressure” (TAG Heuer)
– “Just do it!” (Nike)

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Branding in China

(Source: Marketing Magazine)

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Branding in China

(Source: Marketing Magazine)

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 Communication Barriers - Cultural Diversity

• Effectiveness of sex appeals, music, and celebrities varies

• Existence of subcultures within nations
• People cling to their heritage to a certain degree but are
willing to change
– E.g. Starbucks in Japan
• Mistake with Starbucks in the Forbidden City

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 Communication Barriers - Cultural Diversity

• Power – Distance: High

– Arab countries, Indonesia
• Preference for clear cut rules, low ambiguity
– Campaigns = hard sell and testimonials
• Individualism: High
– UK, USA, Australia
• Individualistic societies
– People featured alone in ad copy rather than groups
– Collective cultures: China, Korea
• Word of mouth communications
• Ad copy – feature family

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 Communication Barriers - Cultural Diversity

• Masculinity High
– Japan, Austria, Venezuela, Italy
• Ads - male aspects of performance, success
and competition
• Long term orientation
– Japan, Hong Kong
• Emphasis on thrift, perseverance and
longevity
• Ad appeals based on long term orientation

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 Communications barriers
• Humour
– US: Gross exaggeration
– Australian: Irony
– Eastern Buddhist: subtle, gentle and indirect
• Universal humour is not always easy to find

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Real Australian brand in the US

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 Cultural Barriers - Education

• Education
– Asian education system – high memorisation
• Greater advertising retention – Chinese
consumers
– Even where English spoken (eg. HK, Malaysia)
• Local language is popular
• Low literacy
– Print media: focus on visual elements

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 Shampoo Advertising in Saudi Arabia
• Only veiled women can be shown from the front in TV
advertisements

Pantene Ads

Head and
Shoulders Ads

Photos from Noor Al-Qasimi (2011)

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 Communication Barriers – Religion &
Legal Barriers

• Regulations
– Restricts ability to develop common theme
• Malaysia – Caucasians cannot be featured in ads
• Careful on trains…
– Comparative advertising?
• Difficult in Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg
• Allowed in the UK, Ireland, Spain and Portugal
– Religion
• References to sex not used in many Asian countries
– Legal barriers as well… China etc

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DHL

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 Standardisation vs. Adaptation

• Standardisation
– One or more elements of communication campaigns are kept the
same
– Minor modifications
• A ‘truly global campaign’?

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 Standardised Advertising - Advantages
• Avoid translation stuff-ups
• Economies of scale
– Cost pressures
– Production, media purchasing
• Consistent brand images & symbols
• Global markets and consumers
– “The young and the rich have very similar tastes the world over,
and that’s what’s driving the convergences in advertising and
media”
• Growth of global media
• Spill-over effects
– Cross fertilisation
• Corporate setup

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 Standardised Advertising - Disadvantages
• Cultural barriers
– Linguistic barriers
– Cultural diversity
• Legal regulations & constraints
• Media limitations
• Agency & campaign limitations
– “Not invented here” syndrome
• Market maturity
– Differences in PLC stages

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 Trade shows
• Can be a great way to penetrate markets – EDMG
• Recently exhibited in Guangzhou with Newcastle
Innovation – technical services
• Over 16,000 annually
– $50 billion in business
• Usually associated with industrial firms
– Event to showcase products/services to current and
prospective customers, suppliers, other business partners
and the press

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 Reasons to participate in trade shows

• Product examination
• Goodwill and contact cultivation
• Find intermediaries
• Meet decision makers
• Market research
• Reasonable cost per contact

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 Reasons not to participate in trade shows

• Cost
• Difficult to choose the ‘right’ one
• Coordination

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 Conclusions
For your IB Plan:
• An integrated campaign of relevant elements only
– Advertising
– Direct marketing
– Personal selling
– Sales promotion
– Sponsorship and PR
– Trade shows
• Importance:
– Details! Details! Details!
– Realistic
– Cost effective
– Relevant

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