How important is global brand consistency and what brand elements are safe for local adaptation?
A key objective for global brand campaigns is consistent execution. Consistency helps build brand identity and awareness, which in turn can aid market share as people are more likely to buy a product they know and trust. However, pure consistency is impossible, with variables such as language causing campaigns to run differently through markets. Local relevance is also crucial as global developments do not always account for subtle market variations, weakening resident consumer relationships. Digital media illustrates the problem of this dynamic as any local online campaign is accessible globally.
Large established brands may think they can ignore local needs but there are enough horror stories from end market brand managers to demonstrate this is not advisable. There is also undoubtedly a psychological power play element here. End market teams do not like being told what to do and having their creative wings clipped, whilst central teams do not like being disobeyed; an underhand political war in who knows best. So where do you draw the line? What brand elements should be consistent globally and what are safe for local adaptation?
The most effective solution appears to be taking the 'glocal' approach - local market execution within global brand guidelines. To achieve this markets are provided with over-arching guidelines about presentation, logo use, images and tone of brand messages, often in a manifesto or marketing book. Within this general policy of consistency there is flexibility to react to delicate market differences in areas such as events, social media, PR and retail solutions – which is particularly effective for companies that are increasing their focus on sensorial experiences as opposed to relying on one or two killer visuals.
Governance is critical to monitor the effectiveness of local adaptation and execution. Traditional central office checking systems are unmanageable for all communication as an increasing amount is updated so regularly – hourly or even every minute with Facebook and Twitter posts. Central offices have to give more autonomy and trust to local marketers. Running global or regional campaigns, rather than many independent local ones, also aids global consistency and local relevance.
This does all somewhat depend on the life-cycle stage of the brand; small brands starting out need to be especially sensitive to local needs, brands trying to establish themselves globally must pursue international recognition via consistency, and brands with substantial global presence and repute can afford to resort to lead market strategies. Consistent execution of product and service across retail channel is also more important for more premium brands as these customers are more mobile and customers focused on value-for-money are unlikely to be as moved by thoughts on consistency.
'Glocalism' can be difficult to execute and monitor and there can be too much room for manoeuvre. It is essential to be crystal clear on what is an instructive standard (e.g. use of colours) and what is more of a loose guideline (e.g. language). Of course, it is also vital that anything rolled out globally is done on the back of sufficient research demonstrating local pertinence; this is expensive, but considering a lack of cultural understanding can lose business and promote long term damage to brand equity, it's usually worth it. An integrated digital management solution with clear decision rights can also be a crucial aid for this method, speeding up the process and making work visible on a global scale. It's a terminal trade-off but one that's important to understand to build global, locally relevant brands.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
