Global Brands in Local Cultures, Research Proposal Example

Abstract

Brand advertisement of global companies should take into consideration the market’s characteristics, in order to create meaningful and culturally relevant messages for potential and existing customers. Many companies, however, engage in a simplified, general global advertising campaign, instead of getting to know the culture of the message’s recipients. The authors of the research are going to focus on one particular problem global companies face: the under-representation of Middle-Eastern culture in marketing messages.

Global Brands in Local Cultures: Analyzing Global and Local Brands’ Advertisements in Saudi Arabia and Customer Responses

Problem Statement

While an increasing number of global companies are looking to expand their operations to the Middle East and are trying to create culturally relevant marketing messages to appeal potential customers, the under-representation of Saudi culture in marketing communications is creating a challenge. This trend decreases companies’ ability to build a positive brand image in the country, engage with customers, and increase the company’s reputation worldwide.

Research Objectives

The researcher is planning to carry out a study based on marketing messages of large global companies developed for Saudi Arabia’s customers. The author will attempt to find a connection between the cultural relevance of the marketing communication, and the reception of the company in the country.

Introduction

According to Cayla & Arnould (2008, p.90), the cultural approach of global marketing should be utilized by global brands, “recognizing that international marketing is more than a technique, that consists of a constellation of understandings such as the relationship between individuals and society, and that, so far, these understandings have been predominantly Western”. Based on the above statement, the author of the current study would like to reveal not only the trends of international marketing under-utilizing the cultural approach, but also will try to prove that there is a correlation between the cultural relevancy of marketing messages and the brand reputation. By reviewing global and local brands’ advertising messages, the author would like to effectively measure the appeal of each brand among Saudi Arabia’s customers.

Research Focus and Hypotheses

The main hypotheses the author will focus on are:

H1: Global brands are unable to utilize the cultural approach and Saudi Arabian culture is under-represented in marketing messages created for local customers

H2: Global brands’ reputation and the level of engagement with customers of Saudi Arabia is generally lower than local brands’.

H3: Global brands that use the cultural approach and create culturally relevant messages in Saudi Arabia receive higher reputation and a greater level of brand engagement

Literature Review

Soares, Farhangmehr & Shoham summarize the dimensions of culture theory created by Hofstede (Hoefstede & Usunier,1999) as a theory that allows marketers to develop effective, cross-cultural marketing communication messages.

De Angeli & Kyriakoullis (2006) provided a framework to analyze local markets’ characteristics. Taking into consideration several aspects of the society, based on Hoefstede’s dimensions, companies can determine the right approach to marketing to consumers with a specific cultural background. These characteristics should be considered in marketing messages, and the researchers will examine their presence in advertisement within the study. The characteristics that need to be considered for creating meaningful and culturally relevant messages, according to Angeli & Kyriakoullis (2006, p. 252) are:

a, power distance

b, individualism/collectivism

c, masculinity/femininity

d, uncertainty avoidance

e, long-term/short-term orientation.

Wursten & Fadrhonc (2012) state that the solution to the main challenges of global marketing communication (to create relevant and meaningful messages) is to “organize markets around culture clusters” (p. 5). The authors highlight the importance of understanding the culture of the recipients, branding, and market positioning.

Meyers (2010) highlights the importance of cultural relevance. As the author puts it: “when a message or product is meant to speak to the needs of a consumer’s social identity, it would be vital to include the audience using cues that highlight the importance of this group membership” (p. 3). This effect, in turn, will result in higher level of brand reputation and brand association.

Guang & Trotter (2012) review the anthropological approaches towards international business and marketing. Resonating with Hypothesis 1 of the current study, the authors state that “cultural awareness shapes how business firms behave in cross-culturally reflected international markets”. The article suggests that companies adapt a unique communication strategy for all culturally diverse groups.

Movius (2010) challenges traditional communication theories, stating that globalization has created a new marketing environment for companies, and the study suggests that researchers focus on audience reception. He indicates that looking at the characteristics of “glocalisation”, a concept created by Robertson (1995), which highlights the “local” and “global” nature of audiences equally.

Research Frameworks

The author would like to adapt Hofstede’s cultural dimensions framework in the current study, to successfully analyze the cultural characteristics of the Saudi Arabian audience. Further, a qualitative study will be created to measure the reception, brand image, and customer engagement related to global and local companies’ marketing messages.

The author will also use Bearden & Etzel’s (1982, p. 191) matrix analysis method that measures individual products’ cultural reference and the realm of consumption. Participants will be asked to define different brands as being culturally relevant or not, and being publicly consumed or privately consumed.

Analysis Methods

The researcher will create two different analysis: one focusing on the cultural relevance of marketing messages, determined by Hofstede’s dimensions, and the other one based on customer interviews related to the same messages. The author will analyze the context of the communication, complete a full textual analysis, and finally complete a semiotic analysis of different brands’ advertisements.

Customer Response Analysis

The questions of the interview will focus on measuring customer engagement with the brand after viewing the advertisement. The researcher will carry out interviews based on individual marketing messages. Questionnaires will be created to measure brand awareness and brand reputation. Focus groups will also be created to better understand the cultural origins of customers’ perception of the brand and message delivered through advertisements.

Discussion

Noble & Camit (2005) focus on social marketing in the context of globalization of markets.   Reviewing messages created for “culturally and linguistically diverse” (CALD) communities, the authors state that the following issues need to be tackled by marketing professionals: market segmentation, adaptation of pre-existing messages (local companies’ approaches), dealing with credibility issues (Saudi Arabia’s general attitude towards Western civilization), and overcoming integration failure. The approaches will be examined in the light of the research findings in order to evaluate the effectiveness of global companies, compared to local firms’ advertising messages’ impact on buyers’ approaches.

Further, Noble & Camit suggests that cultural diversity is manifested in the acceptance level of low and high context messages. As the population of Saudi Arabia is proud of its traditions, achievements, and culture, it is likely that audiences will be more responsive to high context messages. Based on research of Tai (2004), the authors further state that Western cultures are more receptive to rational appeals and low context messages, while Eastern cultures’ communication patterns and traditions call for emotional appeals and high context marketing messages.

Wursten & Fadrhonc (2012) found that there are six culture clusters in global markets. Saudi Arabia belongs to the “Pyramid, High power distance” region, in the same group as Turkey, Argentina, and Central& South America. This means, according to the authors, that standards of behavior are very important in the culture, therefore, a high level of tradition representation is needed in marketing messages. Featuring older people would give messages a higher level of credibility, while audiences prefer indirect messages.

Findings

The expected findings of the research study are going to confirm the hypotheses set in the beginning of the study, and will highlight the most successful approaches of making global brands’ marketing messages culturally relevant and meaningful for diverse customer groups.

Conclusion and Recommendations

The author of the current study would like to recommend the adaptation of Hofstede’s cultural dimension theory for global companies in order to enhance their ability to create culturally responsive and relevant marketing messages. This will not only create a higher level of customer engagement, but also will strengthen the brand’s reputation in local markets.

References

Bearden, William O. and Michael J. Etzel, (1982) Reference group influence on product and brand purchase decisions. Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 9, No. 2. (Sep., 1982), pp. 183-194.

Cayla, J. & Arnould, E. (2008) A cultural approach to branding in the global marketplace. Journal of International Marketing 2008, Vol. 16, No. 4, 2008, pp. 88–114. American Marketing Association

De Angeli, A. & Kyriakoullis, L. (2006) Globalisation vs. localisation in e-commerce: Cultural-aware interaction design. AVI ’06, May 23-26, 2006, Venezia, Italy. Retrieved from http://geert-hofstede.com/tl_files/globalisation_vs_localisation_in_e-commerce_2006.pdf

Guang, T. & Trotter, D. (2012) Key issues in cross-cultural business communication: Anthropological approaches to international business. African Journal of Business Management Vol.6 (22), pp. 6456-6464, 6 June, 2012

Hofstede G, Usunier J-C. (1999) Hofstede’s dimensions of culture and their influence on international business negotiations. In: Ghauri Pervez, Usunier Jean-Claude, editors. International business negotiations. Amesterdam: Pergamon; 1999. 119–30

Meyers, Y. (2010) Target marketing and the product: categorizing products to understand the resulting marketing communication outcome measures. Journal of Management and Marketing Research, Jun 2010, Vol. 5, p. 1-7

Movius, L. (2010) Cultural globalisation and challenges to traditional communication theories. Journal of Media and Communication 2(1) (January): 6-18 2010

Noble, G. & Camit, M.  (2005). Social marketing communication in a multicultural environment: practical issues and theoretical contributions from cross-cultural marketing. Prism, 3 (2), 1-13.

Robertson, R. (1992). Globalization: Social theory and global culture. London: Sage.

Soares, A.,  Farhangmehr, M. & Shoham, A. (2006) Hofstede’s dimensions of culture in             international marketing studies. Journal of Business Research 60 (2007) 277–284

Tai, H. C. (2004). The relationship of cultural values and message strategies in service advertising. Marketing Intelligence and Planning, 22(4), 438-454.

Wursten, H. & Fadrhonc, T. (2012) International marketing and culture. ITIM International. Retrieved from http://geert-hofstede.com/tl_files/Marketing_and_Culture_itim_International.pdf