teachthe4ps.com » International

“P&G Makes Push in India”

Joe Cannon — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 20:39:59 +0000

This short Wall Street Journal article, “P&G Makes Push in India” describes P&G’s efforts to make inroads in India (June 22 – note that this requires a subscription, my link takes you to a search result which provides a backdoor to the article). India is the world’s second largest (by population) consumer market — and it is growing at 12% a year. Yet P&G faces tough competition from well established Hindustan Lever.

“Online Advertising Spending Surges in the Middle East”

Joe Cannon — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 01:29:47 +0000

It is always nice to have international examples for class. This articles notes that “Online Advertising Spending Surges in the Middle East” (Bloomberg BusinessWeek, June 3, 2010). The article notes that a major challenge in the Middle East is the relatively low penetration of broadband Internet. The forthcoming edition of Basic Marketing (18th edition, publishing in November) include s a lot of statistics about technology penetration across the globe. Of course on a small base, it is easier to observe high growth.

“Would Chinese consumers ‘go green’ — if given the choice?”

Joe Cannon — Tue, 04 May 2010 15:51:20 +0000

CNN is on a roll with the global green consumer. Earlier today I posted an article and video clip about a store in London. Now we have an interesting story from China, “Would Chinese consumers ‘go green’ — if given the choice?” (CNN.com, May 4, 2010) including, to my surprise, the following revelation:

Landor recently conducted a brand survey that shows consumers in China are actually more concerned about green issues than consumers in the United States or Europe. For example, 45 percent of those surveyed in China said they consider it very important that a company is green when thinking about which brands to purchase, compared to 23 percent in the United States.

This video clip could be shown along with the earlier one to try to get a better handle on how green affects consumers. I have seen other studies which suggest Chinese consumers can be very price conscious — one study we cite in our text books indicated a willingness to pay a premium of only 2% for branded products they purchase regularly (as opposed to unbranded products). In the U.S. and many other developed countries the premium is typically 20% or more. There can be many reasons for that of course.

The aricle and video clip raise interesting issues around sustainability, consumer behavior across cultures, and international marketing.

“Brands Bet on Indonesia as Spending Booms”

Joe Cannon — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 01:53:23 +0000

Indonesia is a good example of a fast-growing developing economy. This Wall Street Journal article “Brands Bet on Indonesia as Spending Booms,” (April 7, 2010 – if you don’t have a subscription, click here to learn about the WSJ “back door”) provides some interesting data on buying power growth and how some Western companies are positioning themselves in the growing market. I really like that this video has some great images of Indonesia. Many of my students are not familiar with Asia and this video lets them get a better feel for the country.

Video: “Starbucks CEO on China as Market”

Joe Cannon — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 00:16:28 +0000

This short (1:43) Wall Street Journal video briefly describes Starbucks experience in China. This might work as an example when talking about retailing and international.

Video: “Spain a World Cup Favorite for Ads”

Joe Cannon — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 13:37:10 +0000

The World Cup is a huge sponsorship opportunity — especially in Spain. I spent almost a year in Spain while on sabbatical a few years ago — they love their soccer. This short (2:17) video clips might provide an international example to use when you talk about sales promotion or sponsorship “Spain a World Cup Favorite for Ads” (CNNMoney.com).

“McDonald’s: the world’s local restaurant”

Joe Cannon — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 15:11:18 +0000

This article (”McDonald’s: the world’s local restaurant,” The Times Online, February 9, 2010) provides some great examples of how successful global firms tweak marketing strategies to better appeal to local markets. While much of the article is about McDonalds in the UK, there are other examples as well. The examples might be useful when talking about international in general, or in combination with lectures about retailing or product.

“Tropicana Commercial: Arctic Sun – Brighter mornings for brighter days”

Joe Cannon — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:50:26 +0000

I love this new campaign for Tropicana in Canada. The brand is launching a new juice Tropicana Essentials with added calcium and vitamin D (the sunshine vitamin). Tropicana’s ad agency, BBDO Canada, found a great way to portray the campaign’s slogan “Brighter Mornings Brighter Days.” Proclaiming itself Canada’s National Provider of Brighter Mornings, Tropicana spent a month in Inuvik, one of Canada’s northernmost towns, where 3500 residents live without the sun for several weeks every winter. The television commercial (see below) was supplemented with a Facebook page, and a behind the scenes blog. For more details link to this article.

The ad provides a nice example of international marketing (for us non-Canadians anyway) — because I think that Canadians have an understanding (maybe with our Scandanavian friends) of the short days of winter. I will show it when I talk about integrated marketing communications or advertising. It provides a nice example of how advertising supports a positioning objective.

“Don’t Let Your Brand Get Lost in Translation”

Joe Cannon — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:15:07 +0000

It is always great to have marketing examples that show problems with translation in foreign markets. It is easy to fall back on the classic Chevy Nova (”no va” in Spanish means “no go”) — but this new article will give you some newer and more relevant examples. See “Don’t Let Your Brand Get Lost in Translation” in Brandweek, February 10, 2010.

“The brand, the package, the story, and the worldview”

Joe Cannon — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 16:51:25 +0000

Seth Godin is great and I always enjoy following his blog. In this blog post, “The brand, the package, the story, and the worldview,” Godin offers advice to African chocolate maker Madecasse on how putting a story on its package might help its sales. Could be a good example, or turned into a mini case for discussion.

I am becoming more and more a believer in the power of stories. I think they help in marketing and for teaching marketing. If you are interested in learning more about stories, you might read Daniel Pink’s book “A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule the Future” (this morning I listened to the “Story” chapter on my way in to work) or the Heath brothers “Made to Stick.“ I know we all use stories (extended examples) to supplement our teaching, but what I am reading has me thinking about how I can develop better stories.