It is important to understand different cultural backgrounds before marketing a product in a foreign country, as if it is not understood correctly, offence could easily be made and the product not being successful.
Solomon has described culture as 'the values, ethics, rituals, and traditions, material objects, services produced or valued by members of society' (Solomon M, Bamossy G, Askegaard S & Hogg M, 2010)
Culture is very important in different religions and can stem from anything, for example some families only eat dinner together at the dinner table, this could be a part of their culture and they in turn value that family time spent together.
But why is culture so important to marketers? Countries such as India
From personal experience I know that even mobile phone companies have embraced this by where the SIM cards are sold. Recently a member of family bought a SIM in the region of Gujarat (towards the North west of India), when ringing the number and getting through to the voice mail service the welcome message was recorded in Gujarati, Gujarat's regional language. This is very different to other countries where one language is spoken. This is due to the fact that India
From a marketing perspective it would be impossible to create adverts for each and every language that people speak in India, especially with the country being to vast with a population of around 1.2 billion (BBC, 2011), it is for this reason that a company who wish to sell a product in a country such as India should base their adverts specifically in one language that can be understood by the majority of the population, namely Hindi. An example of a UK based company using the culture of both UK and India India
Personally I am very keen on learning about new cultures and travelling to different countries to experience this first hand. The culture that moved me the most was when I visited Thailand
HSBC bank claim that no company should under estimate the power of local culture. In my opinion the adverts aired by the bank, which always show Chinese culture, have show me things I would probably never have known, even if I were to visit the country first hand.
Examples of HSBC adverts showing culture:
- Sky Lanterns: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WdUsxjoznA
- Washing Machines: http://www.youtube.com/watchv=LnKhlymHcu0&feature=related
The above adverts which were shown around the world show how different culture can mean very opposite things than they are meant to.
The above link shows 10 marketing blunders, which now people would read about and have a giggle at. However if the campaigns had been given the green light, I think the public's reaction would have been slightly different than the companies anticipated.
Another company that uses culture in the different countries in which they operate in is Coca-Cola, for example in India they used http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJeC_XTBSiQ for Diwali, which worked very well as it showed the culture of Diwali with the lights and the sadness of the man who thought he would not be able to spend Diwali with his family, a time which is very family orientated.
Marketers need to ensure that they understand the culture fully, as they cannot get a full picture over night. The best way round this is by outsourcing work to companies in that are already established within the country in question. This would help eliminate errors from occurring; this could also aid a company with a damaged image to wipe out the negativity caused by a previous campaign.
Although numbers of women in employment are lower than males, there is still a considerable amount of women working in the UK
(Source ONS, 2008)
The graph above shows that the 'breadwinner' culture is on the decline as high levels of women are now in work. This is having an effect of the family culture as females are not as home as much to look after their children (if any), therefore causing children to entertain themselves, thus causing children to 'grow up quicker'. For a more detailed discussion on this topic see the posting in this blog on 'groups'.
The increase of working women over the years could be linked with the increase in sales of connivance food. A Mintel report shows 'ready to cook' foods have increased by over 30% between 2005 and 2009 (Mintel 2009). Products in this range are generally products that can be put in the oven and not much effort is required.
To conclude this posting, to marketing a product in a foreign country is something that can prove very costly and potentially damaging to the company in question. If the wrong steps are taken the product could potentially fail, even if the product is successful in the companies’ home country.
Reference List:
BBC News, 2011, India
Greet Hofstede, 2009, United Kingdom
Mintel, 2010, Chilled and frozen ready meals, [Online], Mintel, Available at: http://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen_academic/search_results/show&/display/id=480766/displaytables/id=480766, [Accessed 3rd April 2011]
Office of National Statistics, 2008, Working lives, [Online], Office of National Statistics, Available at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1654 [Accessed 6th April 2011]
Solomon M, Bamossy G, ASkegaard S & Hogg M, 2010, Consumer behaviour a european perspective, 4th edition, Harlow, Pearsons Education LTD.
