Posts Tagged ‘Book

Marketing Globe: Difference in Culture

Posted at January 23, 2011 // Books, Strategy / Tactics

The world has gotten flat. You launch a product in the US. Put up a website. And a Arab customer may be emailing you about it. So, as marketers, would we want to build global marketing campaigns? After all, we want to be consistent around the world. We want our consumers to know our brand, our quality, our standards no matter where they are. We want them to trust us around the world. So, we want one global marketing strategy.

Hold on a second.

The world may have gotten flat, but I’d argue that the world of marketing and branding is still very much a globe. And a one-size-fits-all approach may be ill-advised.

Let’s first look at how we market products. There are two camps of marketing. One being functional, and the other one being emotional. Most successful marketing campaigns need to blend the two and lean toward emotional. After all, as anyone who have ever fell in love can attests, the brain may suggest to the heart how to feel, but the heart can definitively overrule the brain on what to do.

Clotaire Rapaille is a renounced anthologist and marketing expert. His book The Culture Code: An Ingenious Way To Understand Why People Around The World Live and Buy As They Do decoded some of our basic concepts of lives into what it really means for us on a fundamental emotional level.

It’s January, so let’s use healthy and wellness as our example. In fact, let’s use being fat specifically as our example.

Outside of having a medical condition, being fat in America is a choice. We made this choice as a result of something. It’s not simply a result of not exercising and eating poorly. We make the choice of not exercising and eating poorly. Then, the question becomes why did we make that choice? Rapaille decoded Fat as “Checking Out”. Through his research, he discovered that people “let themselves go” after they check out of their own lives. Divorce or lack of professional success can do this. Losing ones’ identity can do this. The latter is a fundamental challenges for moms. Moms lose themselves in the daily grind of raising children, and for some, they give up on their own success, their own lives, and they check out. As they stop caring about themselves, they start to get fat.

In the Arab nations though, they view fat completely differently. They view fat as a symbol of success. A skinny wife suggests that her husband is not making enough to bring home the bacon. Therefore, fat wives are a symbol of the men’s wealth, and they welcome obesity. (Of course, it’d also be foolish for us to think that this trend would never change. Every culture evolves. Even in America, how thin are the models on magazine covers changes from year to year as our opinion on being thin and being healthy changes.)

So, would you market health and wellness the same in these two cultures? And we don’t have to talk about a weight loss campaign. But simply, let’s talk about fruit cup. In America, you may want to market it as a health food, and as something you do for yourself. In Arab, you may want to market it as a sign of wealth if you can afford a commercially prepared fruit cup.

Our cultures define us. As Marketers, it’d be foolish to approach the global world in a one-size-fits-all manner. You must take your great idea, and adapt it to the local flavor. There is no such thing as a global marketing campaign.

Editor’s Note: This is the first post on Marketing Globe Series

Photo credit: Nuno Santos

Tags : Book, Marketing Globe

Primal Branding Series #5 – The Leader. The last missing piece.

Posted at September 18, 2009 // Books

You’ve been waiting for this one. The final primal code highlighted in Primal Branding by Patrick Hanlon. We’ve discussed in previous posts the creation story, the creed, the icon, the rituals, the pagans / nonbelievers, and the sacred words. What else is left?

The Leader

Every brand needs a captain. Someone to steer the ship. Someone to set the direction. Someone to make decisions.

Don’t confuse the leader with the icon. This person is not necessarily the spokesperson, or the face of the brand. This is the person that truly decides how to put all the elements of the brand together.

Without this necessary element, all the other part of the brand would fall apart. Without someone with a vision, the icon would not work with the sacred words. Without someone who knows how to listen, the rituals would not leverage the pagans.

I could dedicate not just this post, but this entire blog on leadership. However, taking my tip from Marketing Job Search 101: Read Seth Godin, read Tribes. Alternatively, read this stable on many manager’s shelf, One Minute Manager.

And here you have it: The entire primal code. The code is designed to help a brand tap into the existing emotion of a consumer, to help them to believe you so they could follow you and your brand.

They need to know where you came from – the creation story
They need to know what you believe in – the creed
The physical attributes of your brand would become your icons
Drive repeated interactions between your brand and your consumers with rituals
Acknowledge that you can’t be all things to all people and accept the pagans
Give those who follows your brand a language all to their own – the sacred words
Have someone who could put all these elements together – the leader

Book Review: Tribes (LearnThis.ca)

Tags : Book, Primal Branding

Marketing Job Search 101: Read Seth Godin

Posted at September 12, 2009 // Books, Job / Career

I’m starting a series of posts on job hunting. Why? Well, for my particular career path, marketing for a big CPG, recruiting season is right around the corner. If I could offer anything that I’ve learned along the way to help my readers get into the field, I’d be happy to offer it.

To launch this series, I thought I’d recognize a marketing legend: Seth Godin.

Anyone reading this blog probably has read enough posts about how important it is in the job search process to become more knowledgeable about the industry. Well, you reading this blog is already a good start Allow me to share with you another one of the easiest ways to become more knowledgeable if you’re trying to get into marketing.

Go to your library, borrow a book by Seth Godin. He publishes a book each year, so there are plenty to choose from. I personally recommend Purple Cow or Tribes. These are two of his books that are the most frequently referenced right now. Purple Cow is a book on innovation, and it may be Godin’s most popular book. Purple Cow has literally become a proper noun in the industry. (If you’ve been following my Primal Branding series, think about how Seth Godin has created his own sacred words.) Tribes is his latest book on leadership.

Why is reading Seth Godin one of the easiest ways to get knowledgeable about marketing?

Because first and foremost, Seth Godin is a recognized marketing guru. He is even an action figure! Who in marketing has action figures? (Unicorn shown above sold separately.) The fact of the matter is that basically anyone in the industry would have heard of him. If you’re going to pick a book to read, may as well pick one that you could causally drop into conversation with another marketer…

Secondly, they are short! I know how much time you need to dedicate into the job search process. For some of you, you’re trying to do this on top of being a student full-time. There are other books out there that I’d recommend for generally reading pleasure (such as Patrick Hanlon’s Primal Branding), but they are too long and involved to be considered as “one of the easiest ways” to become more knowledgeable about the industry.

Lastly, Godin posts on his blog everyday. You can subscribe to it. Then, the next time you talk to a recruiter, you could open with “Hi, so what did you think about Seth Godin’s post today?”

Photo Credit: Seth Godin Rides A Unicorn, originally uploaded by zoomar. Technorati: pmqw25z8sy