Frequently Asked Marketing Question

What dangers and advantages are brought about by branding in a global marketplace?


Answer: The advantages of branding in a global marketplace are essentially the same as the advantages of branding in general. But the risks of global branding (where the positioning, advertising, and brand personality, name, etc. are the same in various countries) primarily lie in the areas of customer acceptance and organizational structures and processes to support the global brand.

As to the first, if a common brand name is used throughout the world, it may not mean much to people in different cultures or it may even alienate people in different cultures. So companies have to take extraordinary care to make sure the brand name is chosen correctly. Advertising needs to be throught through as well since a common ad will typically not work in several countries. These are simply the cultural issues that must be fully explored before launching a global brand.

But as important (and this is a point we typically bring up in case discussions in business school) is that various country managers may oppose having a common brand name. The organizational processes may actually work against a common brand name. So, companies that want to do global branding typically have significant issues that must be resolved around incentives, structures and company processes.

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