Unless you are living under a rock, I am sure you have seen the Apple Mac commercials..The ones featuring the beloved PC! I must say those commercials are entertaining. They cast the perfect people to play the PC and the Mac! After the first time I saw Apple’s commercials, I wanted a Mac so I could be cool like every other person that had it. Anybody else feel the same way?
Well whether you do or don’t…I can tell you one thing, a little birdie once told me the Mac commercials were not such a great success in the UK and Japan. Don’t get me wrong, but I think Apple failed when it came to understanding global strategies and should have considered altering their commercials and molding them to fit the cultures and different countries they were advertising in. One would think Apple would know what to do when recreating their infamous videos for Japan. Now now, no need to take any of this personally because I love Apple products even though I am a PC fan!
Reports show the earlier videos created for Japan did not suit their culture. It showed more of an American competitive side of Mac. It featured the PC in some sort of dragon fighting warrior outfit and studies showed that the Japanese related to his character the most out of the two. They also did not like the fact that Mac was putting down PC. So far in the battle the score is:
PC: 1 Mac: 0
Bare with me here. Later Apple came out with another video where PC was jealous of Mac’s cool nickname. He was curious to know why he was just referred to as “PC,” so Mac explains that he is used for entertainment purposes and he’s fun unlike PC. He then goes to tell PC that he is associated with “work” and serious things so Mac nicknames PC “work.” Again…the Japanese reportedly related more with PC because he was associated with “work.”
PC: 2 Mac: 0
And the winner is…………PC! Haha Don’t worry, according to Macuser.com
The publication notes that while sales of Mac OS X increased dramatically between September and October, climbing from a rate of 15.5 percent year-over-year to 60.5 percent, Microsoft suffered from the reverse effect. Sales growth of Windows plummeted from 75.3 percent to 28.7 percent. The sudden switch provided Apple with about 53.9 of the total OS-only marketshare in Japan during October — a breakthrough for the company, BCN says. (2007)
Just keep in mind for the next time you or your firm decide to go global you should consider altering your marketing material in order to suit local sensibilities.
Also know that just because you decide to implement a global strategy, that does not necessarily mean you have to develop a separate strategy for every country you enter. The key is to have a brand name that is easily pronounceable, a consistent message throughout your whole campaign (ex. Mc D’s –I’m Loving It!), having emotional appeal is always a plus. There are so many factors that need to be considered but I think the most important one is to alter your ads so they are appropriate and also, as my awesome professor says “support your global brand with localized offerings” (if you have already decided the country and analyzed potential business opportunities).
Localized offerings example: Mc Donald’s has different product offerings in different countries to satisfy the unique customers’ wants and needs. For instance, the one in India does not serve food containing cow meat because the cow is considered to be holy. Instead, they offer a variety of veggie substitutes and other meals that are appropriate and suitable for the India culture and lifestyle.
Hope you enjoyed my rant on global marketing strategies!
TTFN, ta ta for now!
No comments:
Post a Comment