Should the company treat the world as one marketplace, approached with standardized brand marketing, or make local brand adaptations?

Résumé du document

Since the beginning of the twentieth century, brands have existed in individual countries but it's a new phenomenon in international marketing. According to Bradley (2002), "many features of a brand already successful in a domestic market may be used in international marketing: the logotype and symbols, the name, positioning product features, packaging, advertising copy and other element of the marketing mix to a lesser extent." Indeed, brands add value to the product and communicate a message to the consumer by reflecting the company image.

Doole (2004) explains that "brands allow customers to identify products or services which will promise specific benefits, such as performance, price, quality or image." This is an ambiguous term because it can be confused with products or companies.

This report will first define what a brand is and its importance in domestic markets. Then, it will point out the main environmental factors, which affect branding in an international context. Finally, it will argue the principal branding strategies for a company who want to extent overseas. Should the company treat the world as one marketplace, approached with standardized brand marketing, or make local brand adaptations?

Extraits

[...] [Online] pp.116-124.Emerald. Availbalbe at http://www.emerald-library.com [Accessed 2nd March 2008] De Chernatony, Halliburton, and Bernath (1995) ‘International branding: demand- or supply-driven opportunity?' International Marketing Review, [Online] 12- pp 9-21. Emerald. [...]

[...] So, if a totally standardization is not possible what are the international branding strategies. C. The main brand strategies by Doole (2004) Doole (2004) analyse four recognised branding strategies: - Corporate umbrella branding is used by firms such as Heinz, Kellogg's and Cadbury's. The corporate name is used as the lead name for all their products. For example, Disney includes the word "Disney" in the name of many of its products. - Family umbrella names are used to cover a range of products in a variety of markets. [...]

[...] The brand execution As it is mentioned before, the brand implementation can start once the company has developed its core concept to a unique group of added values. Therefore, the companies have to make decisions on the product's content, packaging, tactical promotions and media policy. Then the companies have to analyse several audits to correlate the brand implementation which is an approach close to the image of the product. Moreover, in an international context, brand executions take an additional dimension confronted to the cultural differences and new factors that affect the consumer's behaviour. II. [...]

[...] “This emphasizes customer convergence as the initial starting-point and separates the demand, or market-driven factors, from the supply- or efficiency- driven factors.” Finally, the marketing strategy of the brand reflects the overall strategy of the company and the globalisation of this one represents several factors that require an adaptation strategy: “Think global, act local”. Bibliography Books Crane, A. and Matten, D. (2004), Business Ethics, Oxford University Press, Oxford. F. Bradley, International Marketing strategy, fourth edition Prenctice Hall I. Doole and R. Lowe, International Marketing strategy: Analysis, Development and Implementation, fourth edition Thomson Learning M. [...]

[...] Linguistic Companies who want to introduce a market overseas can meet some difficulties with their brand name. Indeed, brand names do not travel well sometimes, and many problems for the brand implementation can appear because of cultural aspects. For example, Coca-cola uses Coke Lite as a brand name instead of Diet Coke in Japan because Japanese women do not like to admit to dieting because it means sickness or medicine Ethic A company has to study their customer's behaviour before reaching a market. [...]