In-class exercise: Advertising across foreign markets

Read the following meeting transcript and answer each of the following FIVE questions directly into this document. Answer together, submit individually by the deadline.

A chain of well-known US surf-wear stores has expanded to international markets, but they are unsure how to approach their advertising.

Adam: Thanks everyone for coming to the meeting. As you know, we need to arrive to a decision about our advertising approach across our foreign markets. If we're able to create a new global campaign from the ground up we'll have developed one of the essential capabilities of a global company. I would just like to gather your thoughts on this.

Sarah:At the moment, we compete with different sets of local competitors in each foreign market that we're in. To compete effectively, we should look to using the same advertising appeals and messages they are using. That will most likely mean a different campaign for each market.

Maya: That would be very expensive. I think the first company to find a global market for any product is always at an advantage over competitors making the same discovery later.

Joelle: I agree, there are powerful reasons for developing and creating an effective global campaign. The creative process will force us to determine whether there is a global market for our product.

Nadia:That's a good point, if we can figure out how to appeal to a global market, that can offer significant savings in production costs.

Valentina: That's certainly one benefit. But also, if we're effective, it helps us build a long-term product and brand identity.

Giorgio: But is that possible? Does our product have universal appeal? Can our product be targeted to a worldwide segment? I guess we can look to 'youth culture' or 'surfer culture' as opposed to ethnic or national culture.

Elena:That might work. So if we can find that perfect global appeal, we could get away with having just one message across different markets! But we really need to make sure our target customers in Brazil care about surf-wear in the same way our customers in Japan or Spain do...

Maya: Even if we can get away with using the same message across all markets, we'll still have to look more closely at other elements like the images and the artwork we use. You know, do we hire local models for each country our campaigns run in, or can we find one set of models that works across all markets? Also will we have to translate the copy for every country?

Valentina: And what about the actual communication channels we use? I imagine our customers in each country, even if they do fall in the same target group, might be accustomed to different communication channels.

Joelle: Yes, we'd have to study customer behavior and preferences in each country. Or it probably makes sense to see if the advertising agency that does our domestic campaign also does work abroad. We can hire them to do a study for each of our markets so we can make the right decisions. Otherwise we will have to hire an agency for every country that we're in.

Nadia: This is starting to sound expensive again. I don't know if we have the budget for that. To minimize the risk of over-standardizing, we could instead start out by looking to standardize or campaigns on regional basis first, rather than going global right away. We could look at a pan-European strategy and a pan-Asian strategy to start with.

Marc: But is there such thing as a truly pan-European or pan-Asian brand? The countries within each region are so different...

Sarah: Exactly. That's why I think we should deal with every country separately. It will be much more expensive, but this way we know we're getting our messaging right.

Nadia: How different will our message be for each country? It's surf-wear - we're already a pretty niche market. Don't you think each country-specific advertising agency will end up coming up with very similar advertising anyway? Despite allocating much more budget for hiring a local agency for each market?

Discussion Questions

1. What are the different advertising strategy approaches the team discusses in their meeting? Briefly describe each approach and the advantages/disadvantages mentioned for each.
2. What did Maya mean when she said, "I think the first company to find a global market for any product is always at an advantage over competitors making the same discovery later"?
3. What does Valentina mean when she says, "I imagine our customers in each country, even if they do fall in the same target group, might be accustomed to different communication channels".

1. What does Nadia mean when she says, "Don't you think each country-specific advertising agency will end up coming up with very similar advertising anyway?" Is this a reasonable concern?
2. What are the advertising strategy "variables" being discussed (what might change or stay the same)?