Download Advertising in Asia

Advertising in Asia –
A Cultural Perspective
Dr Kim-Shyan Fam
Visiting Professor
Szechenyi Istvan University
Gyor, Hungary
Oct 16 – 21, 2006
Advertising in Asia
My Research
Why Asia?
“Contemporary Asia cannot be considered a homogeneous entity.
The region has a total population well in excess of three billion
people. Its people speak several hundred different languages and
dialects, and the region is characterized by a cultural, political,
economic and social diversity far greater than anywhere else in
the world”.
Of every 100 people in the world, 61 live in Asia, 14 in Africa,
11 in Europe, 9 in Latin America, 5 in North America and less
than one in Oceania according to the French Institute for
Demographic Studies (ODT June 25-26, 2005).
Why Contemporary Asia?
Contemporary Asians have moved beyond a
‘needs-driven’ to that of a ‘wants-driven’ motivation =>
the new Asian consumers have shifted from a functional
orientation to a more aesthetic orientation.
Force-Process-Outcome
(Fam: ‘Effective advertising in China and India’, Proceedings of International
Conference on Research in Advertising, 2005, pp. 161-167)
Force
Process
Outcome
Impact of Cultural Differences on
Consumer Behaviour & Marketing Communications
Elements of
Culture:
Material
Language
Aesthetics
Education
Religion
Social Organization
Politics & Law
Values & Attitudes
Ethics & Etiquettes
Aspects of
Consumer Behaviour:
Words, Symbols &
Perception
Motivation
Age
Self-concept
Group Influence
Social Class
Sex Roles
Attitudes to Change
Purchase Decision
Making
Post-Purchase
Aspects of
Marketing
Communications:
Message decisions
(appeal, central message)
Creative approaches
(execution: casting &
activities of people, the
settings, interrelationship)
Advertising styles
Media planning
approaches
Asian Values
Asian values - are said to place more emphasis on hard work, saving and
thriftiness, morality and family cohesion (Sopiee, 1995).
Indian Values – preference for extended family, freedom in feeling, thinking,
and cultivation of one’s inner life. Competition is severely frowned upon in Indian
society because it can disrupt relationships by hurting others’ feelings.
Japanese Values – value harmony, co-existence and cooperation rather than
confrontation and competition, prefer high level of skill and craftsmanship,
perfectionism, and a strong drive for task accomplishment.
Singaporean Values – 5 shared values incorporating: nation before
community and society before self; family as the basic unit of society; community
support and respect for individual; consensus, not conflict; and racial and religious
harmony.
The Marketing Communications Challenge
To identify the cultural factors that are likely to
shape some aspects of marketing communications.
My Own Research Program seeks to study
the linkage of cultural orientation with:
• advertisers’ choice of promotion tools
• what kind of advertising might work best in each culture?
• what type of product advertising should be avoided?
• when is a goodbye a good buy?, and
• others (agency-client relationships, IMC, managing
effective promotion campaigns, etc)
Advertisers’ choice of Promotion Tools
1. Collectivism and Personal Selling (see Fam & Merrilees:
Cultural values and personal selling: a comparison of Australian and Hong Kong
retailers' promotion preferences - International Marketing Review, 1998)
2. Masculinity and Price-Markdowns (see Fam & Merrilees,
Influences of strategic approach and cultural disposition on retailers’ perceptions of
price markdowns’, Journal of Enterprising Culture, 1997)
(see Fam & Brito, ‘Gender and Choice of Promotional Tools – Evidence from
Portuguese Retailers’, City University of Hong Kong Working Paper, 2001).
3. Cultural values and choice of promotion Tools (see Fam:
Promotion practices in East and West: A Cultural Explanation’, Journal of International
Marketing and Exporting, 2001).
What kind of advertising might work best
in each Culture?
1. Given the differences in cultural dimensions between the five
countries/cities (Hong Kong, Shanghai, Jakarta, Bangkok and Mumbai), what constitutes
a likeable (or dislikeable) television commercial attribute and
which attribute is more dominant between the five cities?
Project value : US$50,000
Research commissioned by Lowe Advertising (HK) Ltd.
Paper submitted to Journal of Advertising Research, June 2003)
What kind of advertising might work best
in each Culture?
To examine the relationship between cultural values and
international (Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong) students' choice of
promotional messages. Project value = NZ$18,000; Funded by Otago Research
Grant, 1998-1999.
Three research reports were published and a journal article
appeared in the Journal of Product & Brand Management
(see Gray, Fam & Llanes – Branding universities in Asian markets, 2003).
What type of product advertising should be
avoided in each local market?
1. To examine the relationship between religion and advertising of
controversial products across 6 countries (see Fam, Waller & Erdogan The Influence of Religion on the Attitudes towards the Advertising of Controversial
Products, European Journal of Marketing, 2004)
2. To examine the relationship between gender and advertising of
controversial products (see Waller & Fam - Offence to the Advertising of
Controversial Products: A study of gender attitudes in China and Malaysia, Journal of
Asia Pacific Marketing, 2002)
What type of product advertising should be
avoided in each local market?
3. To examine the level of offence on the advertising of
controversial products (see Waller & Fam - Offensive Advertising: A challenge
for Marketing in China, Asian Journal of Marketing, 2002)
4. To examine the level of ad restrictions in Malaysia – a view from
the people in the ad industry (see Waller & Fam – Cultural values and
advertising of controversial products in Malaysia’, Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing
and Logistics, 2000)
Work in Progress
1. When is a goodbye a good buy? – A study of Chinese
consumers’ attitudes towards Sales Promotion and its effects on purchase
satisfaction. Amount applied: HK$149,500 (Approved on June 6, 2003).
2. Advertising in the 21st Century Asia – A study of
generational shifts in consumers’ views towards the advertising of
controversial products. Amount approved: HK$98,000 (2003).
3. Building A Strong Client-Agency Relationship – An
Empirical Study of the Contributing Factors. Amount applied: HK$60,000
(Approved on May 2002).