Download Practice papers How to run a global marketing campaign that meets

Practice papers
How to run a global marketing
campaign that meets local needs
without damaging the brand
Received (in revised form): 10th December, 2014
KEVIN FREEDMAN
is founder and CEO of Freedman International — an international marketing services agency born out of a desire
to see global marketing done right. With a background in economics and consulting, Kevin noticed a gap in the global
marketing industry: brilliant creatives on one side building heroic global campaigns; hard-pressed local marketing
teams on the other struggling to make the ideas work on the ground. Someone had to raise the bar on global
marketing implementation. Kevin believes there is a better way to make global marketing work. His ideas have
developed over the past 20 years of helping brands and their global marketing teams implement their campaigns
worldwide. His company handles diverse marketing programmes across digital channels as well as traditional ones,
working for leading brands such as Shell, EA Games, Delta Airlines and IHG.
Kevin Freedman
Abstract
Successful localisation can bring great rewards to a global campaign, taking a brand further, faster than
ever before. But how do companies launching a new product or campaign for a global brand strike the
right balance between understanding and responding to the needs of local markets and not damaging
the brand globally? How can they achieve global consistency and local relevance in a new campaign or
launch? Pitfalls abound, but it is possible. Global marketing campaigns can work despite the company’s
structure, balancing the needs of global and local, whatever the organisational model. Prioritising
collaboration and implementation is fundamental to success.
Keywords
global marketing, global marketing implementation, localisation, digital localisation, global marketing
organisation, global marketing campaigns, global brand, programmatic advertising
INTRODUCTION
Kevin Freedman,
Freedman International,
India House, 45 Curlew Street,
London SE1 2ND,
UK
Tel: +44(0) 20 7463 4830
E-mail: kevin.freedman@
freedmaninternational.com
Acting globally, yet thinking locally has
become a truism for global marketers. In
reality, this Holy Grail is tough to achieve.
Buzzwords abound — globalisation, internationalisation, localisation, transcreation
— but how does one achieve success in
practice, away from marketing theory?
We have all heard how leading global
brands Coca-Cola and McDonald’s
approach global marketing and brand
building, but how relevant are these
examples for most businesses? Do they
really provide a practical template for
other brands?
Coca-Cola’s heritage, distribution coverage and brand strength are almost without parallel. The company’s budgets and
resource levels are so enormous (2013 global
ad spend US$3.3bn) that it is no problem
for it to create brilliant global campaigns
and ways to localise global themes. CocaCola’s ‘Share a Coke’ multi-platform campaign was reportedly seen by approximately
94 per cent of the population 20 times over
the summer period.With coverage like this,
© HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 2045-8568 JOURNAL OF BRAND STRATEGY VOL. 4, NO. 1, 15–26 SPRING 2015
15
FREEDMAN
is it any wonder that Coca-Cola has such a
strong global brand?
As for McDonald’s, its strength is in
adapting menu offerings to suit local consumer tastes. This is surely the most basic
and obvious aspect of global marketing,
the first of the 4 ‘P’s. If you have the wrong
product, no amount of marketing will
deliver success, and McDonald’s, being
a retail brand, has a physical and service
presence that it can control everywhere it
sells. This is an advantage that most brands
do not have and never will.
Neither of these brand titan examples
goes far enough to help ‘normal’ brands
understand how to crack the global/local
marketing challenge, so this paper presents
a different approach.
A TWO-PART STRUCTURE FOR GLOBAL
AND LOCAL SUCCESS
It is important to separate the global/local
marketing challenge into two parts — the
creative challenge and the implementation challenge.
Implementation is too often not given
the priority it needs. Successful campaigns
recognise that making the big idea work is as
important as the big idea itself. Just as a conductor controls the orchestra to bring an
artist’s music to life, great implementation is
the underplayed global marketing skill that
will make a brand sing all over the world.
So uncouple the creative challenge
from the production challenge and think
implementation from the start:
●
●
16
The creative challenge — creating a global
campaign concept that meets the global
brand aims and is adaptable for local
market needs.
The implementation challenge — planning
and managing the project from inception, through the key localisation stages
all the way to launch.
SOLVING THE GLOBAL/LOCAL
CREATIVE CHALLENGE
The creative concept is arguably the most
crucial and powerful force in any campaign. What may resonate compellingly in
one market, however, may have little to no
impact in a number of others.
Major brands want to implement a single message globally, and empower it to
perform locally with a single high-impact
creative concept. The benefits are obvious
— a solid brand image no matter where
you are, and a strong unified message that
is recognisable by an international movement of consumers. Although information moves faster than ever, local culture,
language, history, values, climate and other
aspects still differentiate one market from
another and, as a consequence, affect the
effectiveness of the message.
How then does one achieve this goal,
creatively, in a way that leverages the undeniable benefits of a global approach? How
can the creative concept be adapted and
localised to different markets, without the
need to employ multiple creative offices
locally? In addition, is it possible to simultaneously ensure production of a manageable
set of assets, and achieve optimal impact for
a campaign?
Getting the local teams involved and
onside
Relying on central assumptions can be a
recipe for disaster. Working closely with
local markets is the only way to get the
most out of global campaigns.
Brand directors may well think they
have developed the very best creative as
far as the global team is concerned, but
the real test of whether or not it will fly
is when the time comes for the idea to be
implemented in the local markets.
Many global brand owners describe
keeping all the markets in the picture as
© HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 2045-8568 JOURNAL OF BRAND STRATEGY VOL. 4, NO. 1, 15–26 SPRING 2015
HOW TO RUN A GLOBAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN THAT MEETS LOCAL NEEDS
a headache, involving nightmares of endless, emotive conference calls or e-mail
threads. However hard it may be, inviting
local brand managers into the conversation around the creative concept is nevertheless essential to the success of a global
campaign.
Asking all stakeholders for input can be
difficult, so it is often more time-effective
to choose key markets for the product,
those that represent the bestsellers and target markets, and that can provide a wellrounded cultural testing ground. If a local
team is not easily accessible, then research
is vital to make sure that the creative idea
can be successfully adapted.
Regular status updates will avoid unexpected feedback, when it is too late in
the campaign or too expensive to make
changes. These will also ensure greater
buy-in from the markets, who will have
more time to plan their local campaign
and media buys. At the end of each campaign, encourage all involved to review,
validate and share feedback so everyone
learns for the next one.
Global marketing success is as much a
mindset as it is a model, and brands can
make it work regardless of their organisational structure. Ultimately, collaboration
is the name of the game when getting
local markets involved.
Where creative slips up
Many obstacles await brand directors who
fail to take local market needs fully into
account, for example:
●
●
Images: Landscape, typical background
and, of course, images of people will
vary from market to market.
Humour: This is so easy to get wrong.
Something that is hilarious in Europe
may not go down well at all in Asia.
Worse still, it could be offensive. It is
not impossible to make a funny tagline
●
●
●
●
work in 20+ markets. Do the research
and tread carefully.
Animals: Be aware of the varying connotations animals carry in different cultures. A picture of children playing with
a dog in the back garden is an image
of household happiness in Europe and
Americas, but would cause offence in
the Middle East.
Metaphors: Metaphors related to local
superstitions or proverbs may not
apply to other markets, or resonate less
strongly, weakening the campaign.
Colours: Colours are very important in
some markets; they will have positive and
negative associations and values that could
support or scupper a campaign’s values.
Traditions: Local traditions can work
really well, but be cautious when using
‘international’ traditions like Valentine’s
Day for all markets, as they do differ.
This list could go on, but it is a useful bottom line to be aware of when working on
any global creative project.
A better way to solve the creative
challenge
There is a better way to run a campaign
that meets local needs while protecting
the brand.
Know the markets
It may sound basic but it is vital to form
a deep understanding of different market
needs. Past campaigns can provide valuable
insight here — for example, are there any
obvious product limitations, legal restrictions or cultural nuances to consider from
the beginning?
Select adaptable imagery
Careful thought is needed here as the primary images at the heart of the campaign
© HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 2045-8568 JOURNAL OF BRAND STRATEGY VOL. 4, NO. 1, 15–26 SPRING 2015
17
FREEDMAN
must work for all markets or be replaceable.
Secondary images — like landscape, typical backgrounds and people — can also be
replaced for local adaptation purposes.
Put effort into taglines that shine wherever
they land
The tagline sits in prime position for most
assets. It is the memorable signature of
the brand or campaign. Too often when it
comes to translating headlines or taglines,
time pressures reduce this vitally important copy to just another piece of translation. Finalising global taglines as early as
possible in the campaign will avoid misunderstandings or costly revisions later on.
Elaborating on word play, devoting time
to writing a transcreation brief and, most
importantly, allowing time for feedback,
amends and testing will ensure a great
outcome. It is worth noting that many
markets are happy with English language
taglines. By consulting local brand managers and implementation agencies it might
become obvious that all that is needed is a
change of imagery.
While creatives will employ every
tool at their disposal to conjure beautiful images or elaborate user experience,
implementation teams will bring the technical knowhow and practical approach to
any expensive, time-consuming methods
in their proposals. Handcrafted fonts may
sound like a wonderful idea, but what happens when the campaign is deployed in
Greece, Japan or Lebanon? A tightly composed, detailed layout for out-of-home
assets looks amazing in the presentation
room, but will be difficult to implement in
the lengthier copy of Russian or German.
Technicalities that the implementers
will consider
The following are essential considerations
for the implementation team:
●
●
●
●
●
Think universal
If using humour, metaphors or festivities,
make sure that they are universal or it may
result in considerable time working with
local markets on major adaptation. Are the
key campaign elements transferable?
●
●
●
●
Get the implementation team in the room
from the start
Global brand managers should make
the most of their implementation team
at the creative stage. Make sure they are
involved during the creative process, to
share scamps and mock-ups, wireframes,
storyboards, scripts, content management
system designs, etc.
18
●
always allow space for 50 per cent additional text;
mock up layouts for bilingual assets;
consider creative approaches for rightto-left languages;
choose appropriate fonts for all target
markets;
use live text;
ensure digital assets suit a variety of
internet connection speeds;
work with local brand managers to discover trendy digital platforms in their
area;
design packshots and labels to be easily
adaptable;
avoid too many voices in television commercials, unless markets can afford it; and
give awkwardly shaped images enough
breathing space.
At the end of the day, creatives are creatives, and should not be slowed down
with technical production tasks. Involve
an experienced implementation team to
ensure creative assets are designed to be
adapted and localised from the off.
© HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 2045-8568 JOURNAL OF BRAND STRATEGY VOL. 4, NO. 1, 15–26 SPRING 2015
HOW TO RUN A GLOBAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN THAT MEETS LOCAL NEEDS
SOLVING THE IMPLEMENTATION
CHALLENGE
In short, a focus on implementation right
from the start is key to global marketing
success. This requires a specialist skillset
and smart technology and systems. It also
needs a certain kind of focus, determination and attitude, and forward-thinking,
agile project managers to oversee and
drive projects to success.
There are four main elements to consider
when implementing a global campaign.
Smarter process, roles and
accountabilities
This means ensuring that the right people
are on the team, and that everyone knows
what they are doing. Every global marketing brand manager should:
●
●
●
define an end-to-end campaign implementation process;
establish clear roles for global, regional
and local; and
determine what resources are available
and fill any gaps — internal service
departments, global and local marketing
teams, agencies or other suppliers.
Defined budgets
This needs to be sorted early so everyone
is clear.Where is the money coming from?
Global marketing brand managers should:
●
●
decide on budget ownership and
allocation; and
ensure marketing teams are aware of their
budgets from the start, to allow them to
deliver with confidence and consistency.
A global creative brief
Good briefing is a crucial stage of any
project, as it will ensure that the brand’s
marketing assets are created according to
the company’s vision and requirements, and
for the correct audience. Here are a few tips
any brand manager should follow when
briefing a creative or localisation agency.
●
●
●
●
Make a decision as to whether to create
a toolkit of assets for local markets to
adapt locally, or whether the intention is
to create and implement the campaign
centrally.
Prepare a worldwide plan and creative
brief from which all marketing teams
can work, eliminating drastic revisions
in market.
Understand each market’s requirements
from a creative toolkit. Be open to
developing toolkits that work for larger,
medium and smaller markets.
Define a collaboration route between
central and local teams during the
creative phase.
Clear project management and communication
To improve project management and
communication for the campaign, assign
an implementation captain.
The role of the implementation captain
is to govern the implementation plan, act
as a central point of contact and appoint
experienced campaign managers who get
the whole picture. This does not necessarily have to be an internal figure. Often the
implementation captain’s role is assigned
to a manager from an external agency with
the experience, time and the right tools to
handle multiple market requirements.
Here is why global marketing
campaigns need an implementation captain, and what makes a good one:
●
Having a single point of contact maintains consistency and keeps knowledge
flowing between translators, validators,
© HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 2045-8568 JOURNAL OF BRAND STRATEGY VOL. 4, NO. 1, 15–26 SPRING 2015
19
FREEDMAN
●
●
●
●
developers, client stakeholders and the
creative agency.
A good implementation captain is an
expert in digital and traditional print
localisation. They know the right
questions to ask, questions that creative
agencies often bypass, eg character limits,
special characters, best format in which
to validate, structured quality assurance
process and print requirements.
They are deadline focused, ensuring
adherence to timelines and budgets,
and continuously seeking methods to
improve process and technology.
They will set up project tracking against
every deliverable for every market.
Their role is to establish a structured
briefing process to ensure that all parties
understand the goals, which includes
a formalised sign-off process and clear
escalation steps.
The rise and complexity of digital media
has meant that the role of implementation captain is more important than ever.
Whoever takes on this role must have a
wide understanding of the current digital
space, to advise on local market requirements and translation options.
SUCCESSFUL LOCALISATION TAKES
MORE THAN TRANSLATION: TWO CASE
STUDIES
Effective digital localisation goes far
beyond translation. The following two
case studies give practical examples of how
solid cultural understanding is essential to
the success of any localisation campaign.
Case study 1: How newly global brand
Glassdoor retained brand consistency
at local level
Glassdoor was founded in 2007 in Silicon
Valley to offer the world’s most transparent
20
career community. With reviews from
real employees, it helps jobseekers to find
vacancies and companies to recruit top
talent. Think of it as TripAdvisor and Yelp
for jobs and careers.
With a hugely successful North
American business model and strong
brand position, Glassdoor ventured into
other English-speaking markets a few
years ago. Glassdoor launched in France
in October 2014, helping the jobs and
careers start-up expand its international
presence. Glassdoor.fr is the company’s
first non-English site.
The key localisation challenge in this
transition was to adapt the direct approach
taken by the American tagline: ‘Get Hired.
LoveYour Job’ (Figure 1).As Glassdoor was
a relative unknown in France, the localised tagline needed to effectively convey
the company’s unique selling point as the
world’s most transparent career site, while
appealing to French sensibility. The key to
achieving this was a combination of strong
market research, good cultural knowledge
and a catchy play on words.
The localised tagline for the French
market was ‘Découvrez la boîte. Décrochez
le job’ (‘Discover the firm. Get the job’)
(Figure 2). At first glance it may seem that
this translation does not have the same
meaning as the English. This straightforward translation is not always the best
option. In this case, a French copywriter
was employed to rework the tagline and
make it culturally relevant to the French
market.
The reworked tagline not only
suggests that finding a good employer
is a hard task in France; it also implies
that, once the right firm has been found,
the candidate could enjoy their new
job. The clever use of ‘boîte’ (informal
for ‘firm’), and ‘job’ clearly signals that
the site’s target audience is young and
ambitious.
© HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 2045-8568 JOURNAL OF BRAND STRATEGY VOL. 4, NO. 1, 15–26 SPRING 2015
HOW TO RUN A GLOBAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN THAT MEETS LOCAL NEEDS
Figure 1
Glassdoor’s English language website
Figure 2
Glassdoor’s French website
© HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 2045-8568 JOURNAL OF BRAND STRATEGY VOL. 4, NO. 1, 15–26 SPRING 2015
21
FREEDMAN
Figure 3
FIFA 15 (England)
Since its launch, Glassdoor has offered
French jobseekers over 100,000 job listings and first-hand insights into more
than 3,000 employers in France.This early
success demonstrates the effectiveness of
the implementation and roll-out to the
French market.
Case study 2: How established brand
EA Games successfully localised its
FIFA 15 campaign
Electronic Arts (EA) offers another example of how to successfully localise a global
campaign.
EA is a world leader in digital interactive entertainment. The company delivers games, content and online services
for internet-connected consoles, personal
computers, mobile phones and tablets. EA
has more than 300 million registered players in over 200 countries.
FIFA is EA’s award-winning video soccer game, launched annually on a global
basis. The FIFA 15 launch advertising
22
campaign focused on emotion and intensity. The key tagline was ‘FEEL THE
GAME’. To bring the concept to life at a
local market level, country-specific players
had to be shown on television, on digital platforms and on pack promotions for
specific countries (Figures 3–6). This was
planned from the outset and allowed EA
to create a globally consistent and locally
high-impact product launch. This is programmatic advertising at its best.
For example, the UK trailer (Figure 7)
uses Messi and Hazard: Messi because he is
the global talent; Hazard because he is the
star player of the English premier league.
The trailer for Spain (Figure 8), on the
other hand, only uses Messi. And for the
Saudi market, the star player used was Yahya
Al-Shehri from the national team (Figure 9).
Following the campaign launch, FIFA
15 has sold 2.20 million units for the
PlayStation 4 and 1.25 million units for
the Xbox One, helping PlayStation 4 sales
increase by 37 per cent, and fuelling interest in the World Cup in the USA.
© HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 2045-8568 JOURNAL OF BRAND STRATEGY VOL. 4, NO. 1, 15–26 SPRING 2015
HOW TO RUN A GLOBAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN THAT MEETS LOCAL NEEDS
Figure 4
FIFA 15 (USA)
Figure 5
FIFA 15 (Brazil)
BUSTING A FEW GLOBAL MARKETING
MYTHS
Some of the advice in this article and
experience in the two case studies goes
against ‘conventional’ global marketing
wisdom. Much traditional thinking does
not go far enough to help marketers solve
the complex global/local brand conundrum (see Table 1).
As this paper and the two examples
show, there is a better way for global marketers.
© HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 2045-8568 JOURNAL OF BRAND STRATEGY VOL. 4, NO. 1, 15–26 SPRING 2015
23
FREEDMAN
Table 1
24
Global marketing myths
Global marketing myths
A better way to make global marketing work
‘Global knows better than local.’
‘We just need to translate the tagline.’
‘We’ll worry about localisation issues once we’ve
finished the creative.’
‘It is all about the big idea — once that is defined we
are on the home straight.’
Collaborate, share insights, and trust the local teams.
Localisation takes more than translation.
Plan for localisation right from the start.
Figure 6
FIFA 15 (Mexico)
Figure 7
FIFA 15 trailer (UK)
Making the big idea work is as important as the big idea
itself. Think implementation from the start.
© HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 2045-8568 JOURNAL OF BRAND STRATEGY VOL. 4, NO. 1, 15–26 SPRING 2015
HOW TO RUN A GLOBAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN THAT MEETS LOCAL NEEDS
Figure 8
FIFA 15 trailer (Spain)
Figure 9
FIFA 15 trailer (Saudi Arabia)
CONCLUSIONS
Running a global campaign that meets
local needs without damaging the brand is
achievable, even without the heritage and
market reach of brands such as Coca-Cola.
Whether the brand is established internationally or not, and regardless of how
the company is structured in terms of
roles and budgets, the secret to a successful
international marketing campaign lies in
a combination of good project management, timely planning, effective communication and cultural understanding.
Involving local markets from the outset
at the planning and creative stage is crucial
in order to establish common goals and to
set roles and deadlines. This way, all stakeholders will have opportunities to raise
concerns, or foresee content issues at a local
level. There is nothing worse than releasing an asset to 30+ markets for localisation,
only to discover that some of the content
cannot be used in half (or more) of these.
Having the right people on board from
the beginning, and this includes technical
people and partners such as a localisation
© HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 2045-8568 JOURNAL OF BRAND STRATEGY VOL. 4, NO. 1, 15–26 SPRING 2015
25
FREEDMAN
agency, is vital to establish roles and
responsibilities, define the budget and
write the global creative brief.
The implementation captain, whether
this is an internal or external role, is key
to any global marketing campaign. Their
cultural knowledge and excellent communication and management skills ensure
the campaign meets local needs without
damaging the brand.
26
There is no return on investment until
a campaign is launched and successful.
Teams with a sole focus on getting the
big idea right are truly missing the whole
point, which is: a great campaign idea,
localised and implemented to rapturous
approval from customers and partners in
the market. So, think implementation from
the start to the end and take the brand further, wider and faster than ever before.
© HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 2045-8568 JOURNAL OF BRAND STRATEGY VOL. 4, NO. 1, 15–26 SPRING 2015