| multinationals and branding
The pitfalls of multinationals
Internal communication is not reduced to one Continent but offices
are spread all over the world. Language barriers, understanding and
comprehending and fore all accepting the different culture and it's
values doesn't make it an easy job and it seems nearly impossible
to orchestrate the brand that it is reflected with one melody.
Demographic differences need to be acknowledged and integrated into
the brand itself to make it a global brand. If a too much and too
intensive
>> fragmentation of a brand , into the preferences of each country,
takes place the brand looses it's strength. Multinationals will be
pointed out as not that big and important, because the brand is not
experienced as a global player. Expressing the brand as to be
globally accepted, is a true art, when executing branding.
There should be one organization in the company providing and
guarding the guidelines of branding. This office should have the
task to provide and guard the rules, enabling offices abroad to
express the brand loyal to the brand personality. The office should
provide an archive of imagery, logos in the required sizes covering
all communication needs and favicon.ico for web sites. The brand
message needs to be consistent around the globe vibrating the brand
personality as one identity. Web sites need to fulfill the criteria
and guidelines before they can be launched.
>> The style guide is indispensable for an enterprise to guard and
protect their brand. There are some companies that do a brilliant
job being global players: BASF and HP, Mercedes just to mention
three.
Protecting the brand promise
Global operating businesses should have clear guidelines in order
to protect and guard the quality of their products, produced in
Asia. Fact is that top global brands loose attractiveness to the
Asian clientele, when they come from local factories. In the
opinion of the clients the Brand does not have the same quality and
does therefore not satisfy their expectation. Made in Europe or
America is experienced as: "the body lotions are richer",
"electronic devices more reliable" and "furniture more elegant and
modern".
Events
Organize events to introduce your brand. This is the way to go, all
people love events. Held in Shopping Malls where your products are
sold, a demonstration of the brand benefits and the unique
attributes to clients, will prove very effective when it is
accompanied by models, music and a tombola. Or a brand can sponsor
an impressive music event or sports. Events are just a great way to
show, who you are and which values the brand personality cherishes
to create an associative factor for your target group.
Training staff
Your foreign staff are representatives of your corporate and just
as your products are packaged and advertised, the sales staff,
consultants or any other that is interacting with the clientele
personally is experienced by your customers as an extension of your
knowledge, services and support. You should initiate training on
the department manager level and include all personal that is in
direct client contact. Educational development in the new markets
of Asia and the mentality require often to hire people with at
least bachelors degree for many positions that can be easily filled
in the US or Europe with less educated folks. Not being aware of
these facts can lead to writing off this adventure of expanding
into the new markets as a loss.Imported goods
Lets talk about Thailand: Financially well off Thai customers
prefer to buy rather the expensive imported goods than the product
of a brand which stands for top quality in Europe or America, but
is produced in Thailand. Thai shoppers explain this choice with
their love for genuine and high quality products. Our research
shows that Thai people have less confidence in their own brands
than Germans have in Thai brands. The grass is always greener on
the other side, seems to hit the point. So if you are targeting the
upper class of the population, made in Thailand will most likely
not bring the desired results.
The world of make believe
Made in Germany seems to be the absolute top when it comes to
household goods and you could state this for cars anywhere on the
planet. Nowadays most of the parts are manufactured in China,
Taiwan and Thailand and then put together in Germany or at the
location where it is produced and then shipped to any required
destination. The entire machine can even be built by some nameless
company, located somewhere on the globe producing for this admired
brand. ... As long as the brand takes the responsibility to
guarantee quality and the product fulfills the expectation of the
buyer this should not be of any relevance to the client - however
the term "made in" is very often the crucial factor to a
