Five strategies for a successful global brand

1 July 2010 | By Lou Cooper

A new generation of global brands is emerging. Globalisation used to mean identikit high streets, May Day protests and a Starbucks on every corner. But with an international business suggesting strength and stability in the fragile economic markets, global brands are no longer being seen as dominating bogeymen.

In April, Forrester Research’s Steve Noble called for companies to “create an adaptive global organisation” to deal with post-recession pressures. It seems that being global is back on the boardroom agenda.

 Coca-Cola seems to be taking note, scrapping its local UK marketing director position in May, in favour of a more regional strategy. Kraft has been quick to follow suit. While it will leave a UK marketer position, it has also said it will lead its strategy more centrally from Europe.

For brands seeking to join the new set of global brands, there are five strategies that companies need to take into account. These involve creating a strong and consistent brand culture, borderless marketing, internal hubs, a new “glocal” structure and co-creating with consumers.

Marketing Week sets out these five strategies that can help companies embrace the new business of globalisation.

1 Build a strong, consistent brand culture

In the past, a rigid corporate structure was an important element of the global brand. Local markets were in charge of developing their own brand strategies.

However, in recent years building a consistent and strong brand culture that remains familiar to consumers wherever it is in the world has become a priority. Tony Effik, chief strategy officer at Publicis Modem, explains: “A brand needs a single view of the world, a single philosophy.”

The rise of digital channels has shifted the brand emphasis from structure to culture, believes Neil Taylor, creative director at language consultancy The Writer. He notes: “Social media and viral marketing stop brands doing what they used to do, which was to manage brands in a command-and-control sort of way.

“It becomes more important that your brand reflects your culture, rather than your guidelines. The brands that have done it well are those that have a strong culture of their own,” says Taylor. ASmallWorld is an example of a business that has created a brand which is consistent around the globe (see case study below).

Language is an important element in ensuring a consistent brand culture, he adds, citing Innocent Drinks as a good example of a company that has successfully retained a distinctive tone of voice across markets. “You read Innocent Drinks in French and it feels just as playful and cute as Innocent in English. It’s the same personality.”

Now anyone can see the company’s Facebook page, or videos on YouTube… It’s forcing brands to question: how do we get a single content story that works across all of those markets

Tony Effik, Publicis Modem

Compromising your brand culture in a world which is becoming increasingly borderless can have damaging consequences – a fact that Google discovered when it launched a self-censored search engine in China in 2006. Its previous search engine in China was subject to government blocks because of the country’s new media policy restricting internet access. Google’s mission is to make the world’s information universally accessible and useful. But how does a brand with values like Google set up something in China that sticks to those values?

Taylor says: “If you’re operating in China, the Chinese government doesn’t want you to make information universally accessible and useful and it [Google] has naturally ended up compromising.”

The consumer backlash against Google in other markets was significant. “Not surprisingly, customers around the world went: ‘well hold on, we thought you were about this, how can you possibly run that business over there?’ News will travel and start to damage your brand even in your home market.” Since late March 2010, Google has resorted to redirecting search requests from mainland China to Hong Kong, which doesn’t have the same restrictions.

He suggests that if your culture really is about making information universally accessible then maybe this is something Google shouldn’t compromise on.

2 Be borderless in your marketing

With the abundance of digital platforms, it is no longer possible for brands to follow different brand strategies in different countries. Companies are being forced to adopt a more unified marketing approach.

Marketers need to rethink the term “glocal”, explains Publicis Modem’s Tony Effik. Theodore Levitt’s “think global, act local” slogan doesn’t work in a digital age in the same way, he argues. “The way we do global campaigns had to change because digital doesn’t respect borders, particularly now with social media. What we’re finding is that as content moves across borders, brand stories are crossing over internationally.”

Brands that don’t adopt a borderless approach risk becoming marginalised, warns Stephen Woodford, chairman and CEO at DDB UK. “People are much less aware of international boundaries than before. Digital channels are borderless media and therefore brands that operate across such media feel more pervasive and part of the world. If you look at brands like Nike, Adidas, Coca-Cola and McDonald’s, they are everywhere and have local strength and identity, but also consistency across markets.”

Having a single identity is important to the success of Santander on a global level, explains Keith Moor, brand director at Santander (see Viewpoint above). The bank’s UK acquisitions – Abbey and Bradford & Bingley – have been rebranded so that the Santander brand has a presence across Britain as well as its domestic Spanish market.

“We wanted the Santander brand to be very well known, to have a single identity globally, so that we can capitalise on other markets and global sponsorships like F1,” explains Moor.

The recent Nike football advert, timed to coincide with the World Cup, is a good example of borderless marketing, thinks DDB’s Woodford. The ad has taken footballers from around the world and weaved them into one story. “It’s just great stars from around the world, all united by one thing. It’s a great example of not a multinational brand, but a transnational brand. It doesn’t have any boundaries; it’s truly global.”

This process is especially difficult for FMCG brands notes Publicis Modem’s Effik. In the past, a brand could have one target audience in one country and a different positioning in another. “Now anyone can see the company’s Facebook page or its Twitter stream or videos on YouTube, as things start to pass from border to border. It’s forcing brands to question: how do we see our market? How do we get a single content story that works across all of those markets?”

If we talk about a new way of operating or a new global brand, it will be a brand that is asking for opinion, that listens to consumers and asks for co-creation

Anna Valle, Durex

With this increased interconnectivity, markets that were previously seen as second or third tier must now be treated in the same way as top tier ones, he explains. “You had a global brand operating in Uganda and you never really paid much attention to them because they didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things.

“Somewhere like Uganda really does matter now because a bad interpretation of the brand or a human rights issue affects what you do in London, New York and Tokyo. Now every market is a tier one because tier three markets can come around and bite you on the bottom.”

The marketing focus for global brands has moved away from division to cohesion, thinks Richard Huntington, Saatchi & Saatchi director of strategy. Instead of looking for what divides consumers up, brands should be looking at what unites them.

He says: “Marketing traditionally has been focused on differences and segmentations between markets and consumers. If brands start caring about the things that real people care about then those differences seem to disappear.”

3 Build yourself an internal hub

The need for a unified marketing team is more important than ever. Involving marketers from across the global brand in the overall marketing strategy will engender overall cohesion, says Kip Knight, president of Knight Vision Marketing, who has set up marketing academies for global heavyweights such as PepsiCo and eBay while working at those companies.

He says: “It doesn’t work to simply hand somebody a strategy and say, ‘well good luck with that’. They have to feel like they’ve had a chance to vet it, to debate it, ideally in person, with others that are equally responsible for the brand. Ultimately, they’ve got to feel like they own it. It’s not my strategy; it’s our strategy.”

By taking this approach, marketers are much more likely to focus on the same goals for the brand, as opposed to feeling like they’ve got to go and create their own version of this brand in the market, he adds.

International condom manufacturer Durex has recently built a global brand centre so that marketers within the company can maintain a global perspective wherever they are based.

This global hub is helping its marketers become brand evangelists so they can all talk about the company in the same way, says Anna Valle, head of global marketing at Durex. “The same way that we’re building communities with consumers, we’re now building our internal community, a website where we will have blogs; there will be a space for markets to put their best practice. It will help us to share the global vision, to engage and be more consistent. It will also help us in terms of speed to market. I’m seeing what everyone is doing, so I can pick it up and move faster. It’s all about alignment and building the brand together.”

Santander’s Moor is also an advocate of bringing the global team closer. “Twice a year everybody from every market comes together. We share best practice, knowledge and information.” This approach means that every marketer from Spain to South America is thinking about the brand in a unified way.

4 Adopt a “glocal” structure

Two major global brands have recently challenged the local marketing structure that had become the norm. Instead they are adopting a more regional structure in a bid to become more unified.

Coke has scrapped its GB marketing director and simplified its operations in Europe by reducing the number of business units it has from ten to four.

Similarly, Kraft has decided that while a GB marketing director position will exist, marketing will be led centrally from Europe.

A spokesperson for Coca-Cola explains: “The restructuring of marketing is simply part of this wider process. The changes will enable us to innovate more quickly and accelerate the increased coordination in our marketing already taking place in Europe and globally.”

The ability to be both global and local is paramount for successful international campaigns, explains Wendy Clark, senior vice-president integrated marketing communications and capabilities at Coca-Cola. “Coca-Cola has a legacy of leveraging global scale and local relevance. And we know how important it is to balance both.”

The FIFA World Cup Campaign, and Coke’s global Open Happiness campaign are examples of how its marketing works on a global scale. They are created so that they work across all territories, she adds.

There are two conflicting models for global brands, says Effik. One is almost exclusively centrally led, where there’s a single global brand. “Technology company HP works like that. It’s the same HP wherever you are in the world, although you might have different content running locally.”

The other is that local markets can do what they want so they remain adaptable and flexible. “That’s the model that’s being most challenged at the moment.”

Knight cautions, however, that control must be exercised over local adaptations if the brand is to remain strong. “There is a tendency that the further away in terms of both distance and time you are from a place, the more someone is going to feel like they have the freedom to change the brand to whatever they need. You can’t allow that to happen because it weakens the brand for everybody.”

Effik describes the optimum. “Create a strong global hub, which is about managing and initiating projects, where you can share resources, create central segmentation models, but also help coordinate local markets.” He says brands should operate like the EU: “You’ve got to leave a bit of room for devolution.”

5 Make consumers your co-creators

Durex’s Valle thinks that social media has helped to create the perfect environment for interactions. “It’s all about consumers advising each other, talking to each other, as well as talking to the brand. It all happens on a global scale and it all happens at the same time.”

Consumers are creating virals and content for Durex, which then becomes widely available across the internet.

“We can’t have the illusion that because we are the manufacturers or the industry that we have control because that isn’t the case anymore. What makes the difference is the degree of partnership. If we talk about a new way of operating or a new global brand, it will be a brand that is asking for opinion, that listens to consumers and asks for co-creation.”

Coke’s Clark agrees that making space for consumers is now a must. “At Coca-Cola, we’re changing with our consumers. We’re moving from polishing our content to perfection to leaving room for our consumers to add their voice.”

Maybe the answer is to make the brand as accessible as possible and wait for consumers to come to you, says Saatchi & Saatchi’s Huntington. “Rather than companies saying, ‘let’s open up shop in the Netherlands’, maybe global brands will become more organic because the tools exist for customers to draw brands to themselves.”

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