Cross Cultural

Marketing for 3
products across
India, Europe,
America & East Asian
Markets
Consumer Behavior: Individual
Assignment

Submitted by: Brian Dsouza, Div D

Roll No: 313
 Cross Cultural Marketing

Cross Cultural Marketing

Introduction
Trade today is becoming increasingly global with its outlook today. One of the main reasons
for this is technological improvements in transport and communication. Consumers and
businesses have access to the best products from different countries. This has also led to
increased competition between multinational firms and countries. In part to accommodate
these realities, countries in the last several decades have taken increasing steps to promote
global trade through agreements such as the General Treaty on Trade and Tariffs, and
trade organizations such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and the European Union (EU).

Today almost all major corporations are actively involved in marketing their products
beyond their original homeland borders. The main challenge involved in the cross cultural
marketing is “HOW” to do it. Corporations today are developing strategies to take
advantage of the above emerging economic opportunities. The 2 main reasons for going
multinational are

1. Increasing demand of goods and services of one country in another country.

2. Overseas markets represent best opportunity for future growth.

What is Cross Cultural Marketing?

Cross-cultural marketing is defined as the strategic process of marketing among consumers
whose culture differs from that of the marketer's own culture at least in one of the
fundamental cultural aspects, such as language, religion, social norms and values,
education, and the living style. Cross-cultural marketing demands marketers to be aware of
and sensitive to the cultural differences; to respect the right to culture by the consumers in
various cultures and marketplaces, marketers should understand that they deserved the
right to their cultures. If the marketers want to be the winners in the cross-cultural
marketing they must create the marketing mix that meets the consumer's values on a right
to their culture. It involves recognizing that people all over the world have different needs

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 Cross Cultural Marketing

Why Cross Cultural Marketing?

From the anthropological perspective all market behaviors are culture-bound. Both
consumer behavior and business practices are performed to a large extent by the culture
within which they take place. Therefore, in order to match the marketing mix with
consumer preferences, purchasing behavior, and product-use patterns in a potential
market, marketers must have a thorough understanding of the cultural environment of
that market, i.e., marketing cross-culturally. However, this is by no means to suggest that
in the 21st century all marketers should focus on cultural differences only to adjust
marketing programs to make them accepted by the consumers in various markets. In
contrast, it is suggested that successful marketers should also seek out cultural similarities,
in order to identify opportunities to implement a modified standardized marketing mix. To
be able to skillfully manipulate these similarities and differences in the worldwide
marketplaces is one of the most important marketing strategies for businesses in the 21st
Century.

7 tips to successful Cross Cultural Marketing

Know Your Own Cultural Background

When we learn about other cultures we often think about it as "us” understanding "them".
But when developing a deep understanding about cross-cultural issues, we must first start
with understanding ourselves or "us" understanding "us". Take a moment and think about
how you see the world. How have your education, traveling, gender, faith, children, sexual
orientation, hobbies, and/or recreational interests shaped who you are? What celebrations
and rituals are important to you? These elements collectively form your unique cultural
identity, the lens through which you see the world. In this sense, every encounter we have
with another person is essentially a cultural exchange, not just those with someone who
obviously speaks, eats, dresses or appears differently. The next time you interact across
cultures, share who you are, too. This will help us to learn from each other and not just
about each other.

Know Your Expertise

There are numerous challenges when going overseas. It is vital to understand what your
expertise is, and to then find the other expertise that you need to be successful. Don’t be
afraid to bring in marketing experts for your target countries.

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 Cross Cultural Marketing

Do Your Homework
Spend time researching the culture of the target countries. Learn about communication,
negotiation and work styles. Is your target market a high context (for example Latin
America) or low context market (US)? What do you need to know about non-verbal
communication?

Cross Cultural Meetings

We all know communication is the key to ensuring good relationships, no matter who we
are communicating with. But, when communicating across cultures, it is even more
important. If you are having meetings with participants from different cultures, put more of
your communication in writing than you normally would. Under each agenda item, put
bullet points of topics to covered and key issues that need discussion. This ensures that
everyone (even those with more limited English skills) can feel confident that they
understand what is being presented.

Ask Open Ended Questions

When we function in a foreign language, we have a tendency to say yes when we are asked
a question, even if we don't understand what was asked. This is even true when we are
asked "Do you understand?" The next time you are interacting cross culturally, ask an
open-ended question such as "Can you tell me what we need to do next?" instead of "Do you
understand?" If the person is unable to answer what needs to happen next, then you know
that you need to explain further.

Always Use Professional Translators

Translating materials into foreign languages is always a challenge, even more so when you
are trying to convey a concept in a way that is appealing to foreign cultures. Ensure that
the translation firm that you are using has the ability to use native speakers for the
translation. Ask if they also do a secondary translation check with another native speaker
to act as a back-up. It is better to be more careful up front, then to try and correct mistakes
later.

Know the National Holidays and Religion

If you are working overseas, make sure that you learn about local holidays and how they
might impact campaigns and other business projects. The month of Ramadan is important

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 Cross Cultural Markeeting

in many parts of the

e world, and
d, having crritical deadllines during
g this month
h is challen
nging.
If your target
t counttries have a strong reliigious basiss for their culture, mak
ke sure thatt you
learn about the religion and itss taboos, resstrictions an
nd ways tha
at religious beliefs can work
in your favor.
f

Cross Cultural Consum

mer Analy
ysis
To deterrmine whetther and hoow to enterr a foreign market onee needs to conduct a cross
cultural consumer analysis. It is defined as efforrt to deterrmine to what
w extentt the
consumeers of two orr more natioons are sim
milar or diffeerent. It can
n provide an
n understan
nding
of the psychological, social an
nd cultural characteristics of speccific nationa
al markets they
wish to target.
t

East Asian Am
merican Ind
dian Euro
opean

•Centred on set of •Centred ono individual •Centred on n •Centred onn individual

relationsships defined •An open view
v of the relationshhips •A closed woorldview,
by religioous doctrine world, em
mphasizing •A closed worldview,
w more stresss on
•A closed worldview, change an nd movement more stresss on harmony
prizing stability
s and •Values in
ndividual stability nt
•Self Relian
harmony y personality •Values a persons
p •Weight on horizontal
•Values a persons ance
•Self-Relia duties to family,
fa inter person
nal
duties too family, clan •Weight on n horizontal society relations
•Submisssive to inter perssonal •Self Relainnt
authority y relations •Weight on n vertical
•Weight ono vertical inter persoonal
inter perrsonal relations
relaltion
n

Processs for Cro

oss Cultu
ural Mark
keting
The proccess for Crosss Cultural Marketing is explained
d in terms of
o the flow chart given
below

Markeeting in Resea
arching
Definiing the The Export
the age
a of Intern
national
isssue Proocess
complexity Marrkets

Priciing and
Crooss Channnels and
Consumert Strate
egy in an
Culttural Distriibution
aviour
Beha Internnational
Mark
keting Stra
ategy
Envirronment

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 Cross Cultural Markeeting

Internattional Comm
munication Strategies
S

Straiight Exten
nsion Commmunicatio Communicattio
•The firm adoptss the n Ada
aptation n Innovation
I n
samee strategy ass in •The company •Th he firm
the home
h markeet cater to
t the de
esigns a
needs and product from
wantss of its scrratch for itss
foreign
n forriegn
custommers customers

The Marrketing Mix is the tool that

t the international marketer
m ha
as availablee to form a total
t
commun
nications pro
ogram. It coonsists of

• A
Advertising
• P
Personal sellling
• P
Publicity
• S
Sales promottion
• S
Sponsorship

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 Cross Cultural Markeeting

Cross Cultural Marketing for Pr

roducts

Pepsi

uction
Introdu
Pepsi-Coola, common
nly called Pepsi,
P is a sooft drink produced and
d manufactu
ured by PepsiCo.
It is sold
d worldwide
e in stores, restaurantss and vendiing machinees. Pepsi ga
ained popullarity
following
g the introd
duction in 1934
1 of a 12-ounce botttle. Initiallly priced att 10 cents, sales
ked up. Pepsi also owns the
were slow, but when the price was slasheed to 5 cents sales pick
ntain Dew brands.
Frito-Lay and Moun b

Marketiing
PepsiCo gained enttry to India
a by creatin
ng a joint venture
v witth the Punjab governm
ment-
owned Punjab
P Agro
o Industria mited. This joint
al Corporatiion (PAIC) and Voltass India Lim
venture marketed and
a sold Leehar Pepsi until 1991 when the use of foreeign brands was
allowed; PepsiCo bo
ought out its partners and
a ended the
t joint ven
nture in 199
94. The stra
ategy
used for Pepsi is one
e of Commu
unication Ad
daptation an
nd Product Extension

Fig 1: Exxamples of Different

D Pep
psi Ads in Different
D Coountries

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 Cross Cultural Marketing

Product Extension manifests itself in the form of Pepsi being marketed in US and Europe
as a side drink to go with pizza or lunches, In East Asia it is associated with being hip and
cool and thus there is the use of local pop and sports stars. In India Pepsi is marketed more
in terms of being a thirst quencher and being a drink that provides a lot of fizz. The
advertising in East Asia and India is always in the local languages. In India, Sachin
Tendulkar, Amitabh Bachhan and Shahrukh Khan have endorsed Pepsi. This is an
approach that East Asian consumers appreciate and respond to. There is also the
movement towards standardization of advertising by using celebrities that are recognizable
worldwide such as soccer stars and Hollywood actors. There is also a use of personal selling
across all the four markets but this is not so prevalent except for in the use of new products
that are introduced in markets. Pepsi also provides sponsorship to cricket team of Pakistan
and sponsors major cricket tournaments in the sub continents. Sales promotions are used
across the 4 markets but there is the major prevalent scheme of “Pepsi Stuff”. Pepsi Stuff
refers to a landmark marketing strategy and global integrated campaign launched by
PepsiCo, first in North America and then around the world, in the 1990s and continuing
into the 2000s featuring merchandise that could be purchased with Pepsi Points.

There are two ways to acquire Pepsi Points:

• Collect Points from specially marked Pepsi packages and fountain cups.
• Purchase supplemental Points on the Pepsi Points redemption order form, for 10
cents per Point.

This sales promotion scheme though is more prevalent in North America.

Gillette

Introduction
Gillette is a business unit of Procter & Gambl and successor of The Gillette Company,
which was founded by King C. Gillette in 1901 as a safety razor manufacturer. On October
1, 2005, The Gillette Company finalized its purchase by Procter & Gamble. As a result of
this merger, the Gillette Company no longer exists. The merger created the world's largest
personal care and household products company. Before the merger, Gillette had grown to
become a leading global supplier of products under a variety of brands. In addition to
Gillette, the company marketed under Braun, Duracell and Oral-B, among others.

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 Cross Cultural Marketing

Marketing
The strategy used in marketing of Gillette products worldwide is that of Product Extension
and Marketing Extension where the firm uses the same policy of marketing it has used in
its home market. Gillette is mainly a manufacturer of personal care products for men and
thus worldwide the advertising concentrates on the using sports celebrities and models for
their advertisements. The Gillette strategy is a global strategy, which aims to foresee the
future (notably by the Committee horizon) and concerns the world which is beside went up
to “one nation”. That is clearly evoked in the formulation strategy. By its long experience,
Gillette could achieve its global strategy with safety. The shaving system does not require a
local adaptation of products. Moreover, consumption becomes increasingly homogeneous
around the world by a convergence of needs. This peculiarity of the market shaving system
enhances the hypothesis of standardization of production and of the marketing variables.
The advertising used stresses on the fact that the safety razor (i.e. Mach3, Vector Plus etc)
are safe to use, do not give you an itch after shaving and does not leave cuts giving you a
smooth shave. The advertising is more or less standard over the world. Gillette sponsored
the World up in 2006, Rugby Nations league as well as other sports events across the Globe.
Sports like soccer have a universal appeal and therefore have an impact on consumers from
all 4 markets. There is not much of a prevalence of sales promotions in developed markets
of Europe and USA. With a view to realizing higher unit sales in the developing and
untapped economies of East Asia and India where there is not much awareness about usage
of safety and disposable razors. These are in terms of clubbing 2 Gillette personal products
together and offering a discount. Personal selling is also taken up in Asian markets.

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 Cross Cultural Marketing

Fig 2: Ads for Gilette

For all the focus on razors and blades, it is worth noting that Gillette has diversified
products in its portfolio. In the writing instruments category, it now has the Parker Pen
brand in addition to the Paper Mate and Waterman brands it acquired earlier. It also
acquired Duracell in a much-publicized takeover in 1996. It has the Oral-B toothbrush and
a slew of other products in toiletries. What sets Gillette apart from most other companies
that also have a continuous stream of new products is that Gillette seeks worldwide
leadership for all its new products. Gillette's success in achieving its new product goals is
reflected by the fact that in 1996, 41% of Gillette's sales came from products introduced in
the past 5 years, up from 30% in 1990

United Colors of Benetton

Introduction
UCB is is a global upmarket clothing brand, based in Treviso, Italy. Benetton is present in
120 countries around the world with a strong Italian character whose style, quality and
passion are clearly seen in its brands: the casual United Colors of Benetton, fashion
oriented Sisley and the leisurewear and street wear brands Playlife and Killer Loop. The
Group has a total yearly production of around 130 million garments and a distribution

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 Cross Cultural Markeeting

network with 5,00

00 contemp
porary storees, mainly managed by indepen
ndent partners,
generating a total turnover
t of over 1.9 biillion euro. Established
d in 1965, Benetton
B is now
controlleed by Edizio
one Holding
g (a holding
g company wholly
w owneed by the Benetton
B Fam
mily)
with a 67%
6 stake. It
I listed on the stock exchanges
e n Milan in 1986, in Frrankfurt in 1988
in
and in New
N York in 1989.

Marketiing
UCB concentrates more on creating a world bra
and productt i.e. produ
ucts which
h are
manufacctured, pacckaged and
d positioned me way as they are sold
d in exactlly the sam
worldwid
de. Althoug
gh the adveertising is in
i specific target
t langu
uages, the ads remain
n the
same. Th
he advantag
ge of having
g a global brrand is that UCB get th g three benefits
he following

• Q
Quality Sign
nal
• G
Global Myth
• S
Social Responsibility

Fig 3: Beenetton cam

mpaigns: Cloockwise from
m top left 1.C
Chimpanzeees 2003 2. Condoms
C 19
991 3.
Dying AIIDS patientt 4.Gender and
a Race Eq
quality 1990
0

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 Cross Cultural Marketing

One of Benetton’s key aims is to provide clothes of a consistently high quality as well as
attempting to provide clothes that appeal to a large portion of the population. Benetton
ensure that they keep in touch with global demand and continue to keep their brand well
known and liked. This may seem like a relatively easy one to achieve but Benetton enjoy
exploiting extremely controversial issues as part of their ‘Institutional Campaigns’. These
campaigns aim at publicizing the entire company as a whole rather than any one range of
clothing. Through this marketing technique they aim to not only keep public attention for
their corporate name, but to associate Benetton with trying to raise awareness about
certain issues. As can be seen from the response to their most recent campaign, pictures of
death-row inmates, this does not always generate a favorable response. Benetton stress the
fact that they are not trying to use shock techniques to advertise their products, they
continue to insist that they are only raising awareness in the interests of public education.
Benetton seem to have a sustainable global brand. The only aspect that Benetton need to
be concerned with is the brand image that consumers develop. Benetton’s current
communication strategy is diverse. A large portion of their communication budget is spent
on their ‘Institutional Campaigns’. These campaigns are designed to advertise the company
and corporate image rather than specific product lines. Although they do develop standard
product based advertisements, these are on a much smaller scale and generally specifically
geared to a certain market rather than promoting the global brand. Benetton prefer in all
markets to do some form of local marketing wherein the brand in promoted in a around the
premises or city the retail outlet is present in.

Sales promotions done by Benetton are few in all the 4 markets. Benetton are having a
sizeable chunk of their collection in the form of sportswear which is why they sponsor teams
in F1 as well as basketball which are viewed by their target market.

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