Chapter 13:	Global Marketing Communications Decisions 1. Advertising and Public Relations				Poorna Pal, MS MBA Ph.D. Glendale Community College Phone: (818)240-1000 x 5517 ppal@glendale.edu Office: SG-152 Office Hours: MWTTh: 3.15 - 5.15 PM (SG-152) or by appointment with your questions
		Overview Lecture Outline	Discussion Questions Test Your Knowledge
	Overview The Chinese government left nothing to chance in its quest to host the 2008 Olympic Games. After narrowly losing its 1993 hosting bid, the Chinese government hired several public relations (PR) firms and consultants, including U.S.-based Weber Shandwick and Bell Pottinger, a British firm. The investment in PR paid off: The International Olympics Committee named China as the host of the 2008 games. Beijing hired another PR firm, Hill & Knowlton, to work on the games. It’s a good thing, too: various nongovernmental groups (NGOs) such as Students for a Free Tibet and Dreams for Darfur had their own agendas. These activists were also thoroughly steeped in modern PR tactics; using text messaging, blogs, and other tools, they spread messages and organized protests that threatened to undermine and overshadow the carefully cultivated image of Olympic harmony. Advertising, public relations, and other forms of communication are critical tools in the marketing program. Marketing communications—the promotion P of the marketing mix—refers to all forms of communication used by organizations to inform, remind, explain, persuade, and influence the attitudes and buying behavior of customers and others.				Chapter Overviews, Outlines, Sample Questions Introduction to Global Marketing The Global Economic Environment Regional Market Characteristics and Preferential Trade Agreements Social and Cultural Environments The Political, Legal, and Regulatory Environments Global Information Systems and Market Research Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning Importing, Exporting, and Sourcing Global Market Entry Strategies: Licensing, Investment, and Strategic Alliances Brand and Product Decisions In Global Marketing Pricing Decisions Global Marketing Channels and Physical Distribution Global Marketing Communications Decisions I: Advertising and Public Relations Global Marketing Communications Decisions II: Sales Promotion, Personal Selling, Special Forms of Marketing Communication Digital Revolution Strategic Elements of Competitive Advantage Leadership, Organization, and Corporate Social Responsibility
	The primary purpose of marketing communications is to tell customers about the benefits and values that a company, product, or service offers. The elements of the promotion mix are advertising, public relations, personal selling, and sales promotion. All of these elements can be utilized in global marketing, either alone or in varying combinations. Beijing’s experience with the 2008 Olympic Games highlights the critical important of PR to any entity- be it a nation or a business enterprise-that finds itself spotlighted on the world stage.

GLOBAL MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS DECISIONS II: SALES PROMOTION, PERSONAL SELLING, SPECIAL FORMS OF MARKETING COMMUNICATION

Lecture Outline

CREATING GLOBAL ADVERTISING

As suggested earlier in the discussion of the adaptation versus standardization debate, the message is at the heart of advertising. The particular message and the way it is presented will depend on the advertiser’s objective. Is the ad designed to inform, entertain, remind, or persuade? Moreover, in a world characterized by information overload, ads must break through the clutter, grab the audience’s attention, and linger in their minds. This requires developing an original and effective creative strategy, which is simply a statement or concept of what a particular message or campaign will say. Advertising agencies can be thought of as “idea factories”; in industry parlance, the Holy Grail in creative strategy development is something known as the big idea.

• What is the “big idea” and why is it so important?

The big idea is that flash of insight that synthesizes the purpose of the strategy, joins the product benefit with consumer desire in a fresh, involving way, brings the subject to life, and makes the reader or audience stop, look, and listen. Some of the world’s most memorable advertising campaigns have achieved success because they originate from an idea that is so “big” that the campaign offers opportunities for a seemingly unlimited number of new executions.  Such a campaign is said to have legs because it can be used for long periods of time. The print campaign for Absolut vodka is a perfect example.

The advertising appeal is the communications approach that relates to the motives of the target audience. Ads based on a rational appeal depend on logic and speak to the audience’s intellect. Ads using an emotional appeal may tug at the heartstrings or tickle the funny bone of the intended audience. The selling proposition is the promise or claim that captures the reason for buying the product or the benefit that ownership confers.  

Effective global advertising may also require developing different presentations of the product’s appeal or selling proposition. The way an appeal or proposition is presented is called the creative execution.

Art Direction and Art Directors

The visual presentation of an advertisement—the "body language—is a matter of art direction. The individual with general responsibility for the overall look of an ad is known as the art director. The art director chooses graphics, pictures, type styles, and other visual elements for an ad. For example, Revlon used a French producer to develop commercials in English and Spanish to communicate universal appeals and product benefits.

The global advertiser must make sure that visual executions are not inappropriately extended into markets. For example, Benetton’s campaign focused on interracial juxtapositions – a hand and a black hand handcuffed together; it evoked slavery and was not used in the U.S.  

Copy and Copywriters

The words that are the spoken or written communication elements in advertisements are known as copy.  Copywriters are language specialists who develop the headlines, subheads, and body copy used in print advertising and the scripts containing the words that are delivered by spokespeople, actors, or hired voice talents in broadcast ads.

As a general rule, copy should be relatively short and avoid slang or idioms. Lanaguages vary in terms of the number of words required to convey a given message; thus the increase in words and pictures. It is important to recognize overlap in the use of languages in many areas of the world (e.g., the EU, Latin America, and North America). Capitalizing on this, global advertisers can realize economies of scale by producing advertising copy with the same language and message for these markets. The success of this approach will depend in part on avoiding unintended ambiguity in the ad copy. Advertising executives may elect to prepare new copy for a foreign market in the language of the target country or to translate the original copy into the target language.

A third option is to leave some (or all) copy elements in the original (home-country) language. In choosing from these alternatives, the advertiser must consider whether the intended foreign audience can receive and comprehend a translated message. Anyone with knowledge of two or more languages realizes that the ability to think in another language facilitates accurate communication. To be confident that a message will be understood correctly after it is received, one must understand the connotations of words, phrases, and sentence structures, as well as their translated meaning. The same principle applies to advertising — perhaps to an even greater degree. A copywriter who can think in the target language and understands the consumers in the target country will be able to create the most effective appeals, organize the ideas, and craft the specific language, especially if colloquialisms, idioms, or humor are involved.

Cultural Considerations

Knowledge of cultural diversity, especially the symbolism associated with cultural traits, is essential for creating advertising. Use of colors and man-woman relationships can often be stumbling blocks. Ads that strike viewers in some countries as humorous or irritating may not necessarily be perceived that way by viewers in other countries. There are also widely varying standards for use of sexually explicit or provocative imagery. Food is the product category most likely to exhibit cultural sensitivity. Thus, marketers of food and food products must be alert to the need to localize their advertising.
 

·         What are some of the differences between Japanese and American advertising?

Much academic research has been devoted to the impact of culture on advertising. Tamotsu Kishii identified seven characteristics that distinguish Japanese from American creative strategy:
 

1. Indirect rather than direct forms of expression are preferred in the messages.
2. There is often little relationship between ad content and the advertised product.
3. Only brief dialogue or narration is used in television commercials, with minimal explanatory content.
4. Humor is used to create a bond of mutual feelings.
5. Famous celebrities appear as close acquaintances or everyday people.         
6. Priority is placed on company trust rather than product quality.
7. The product name is impressed on the viewer with short, 15-second commercials.

Green, Cunningham, and Cunningham conducted a cross-cultural study to determine the extent to which consumers of different nationalities use the same criteria to evaluate soft drinks and toothpaste. Their subjects were college students from the United States, France, India, and Brazil. Compared to France and India, the U.S. respondents placed more emphasis on the subjective, as opposed to functional, product attributes. The Brazilian respondents appeared even more concerned with the subjective attributes than the Americans were. The authors concluded that advertising messages should not use the same appeal for these countries if the advertiser is concerned with communicating the most important attributes of its product in each market.

In another study, Zandpour and Harich combined Hofstede’s social values framework with a culture’s perceptions of time (monochromic cultures focus on one thing at a time, while members of a polychromic culture do not display a preference for sequential schedules or presentation of information). Several relevant market factors were also studied, including advertising expenditures per capita, the presence or absence of U.S. advertising agencies or their affiliates, the availability of qualified advertising professionals, and the degree of government control over advertising. The researchers used these factors to group countries into “think” and “feel” clusters and predict whether rational or emotional appeals used in television advertising for food and beverage, personal care, and several other product categories would be most prevalent in a given country market.

Rational appeals can be divided into two groups:

·         Argument – the ad relates facts or reasons why the purchase should be made.

·         Lecture – ads are devoid of fictional characters or plot elements; rather, they include narration that directly addresses the audience and provides an explicit conclusion.

Emotional appeals can be divided into two groups:

·         Dramatic – narration, character, and plot are key message elements.

·         Psychological – explicit statements of how the product will benefit the consumer; desire is created by appealing to a consumer's self-interest.
 

global media decisions

The next issue facing advertisers is which medium or media to use when communicating with target audiences.  Media availability can vary from country to country.  The available alternatives can be broadly categorized as print media, electronic media, and other. Print media range in form from local daily and weekly newspapers to magazines and business publications with national, regional, or international audiences. Electronic media include broadcast television, cable television, radio, and the Internet.Additionally, advertisers may utilize various forms of outdoor, transit, and direct mail advertising.

Global Advertising Expenditures and Media Vehicles

Each year, more money is spent on advertising in the United States than anywhere else in the world. According to data compiled by TNS Media Intelligence, U.S. ad spending in 2008 totaled $141.7 billion. However, much of the current growth in advertising expenditures—as much as one third—is occurring in the BRIC countries.  Worldwide, television is the number-one advertising medium, with estimated expenditures of $176 billion in 2008.

·         Give examples of some of the differences in global media consumption patterns.

However, media consumption patterns can vary from country to country. For example, television is the number one medium in both the United States and Japan. By contrast, newspapers are the leading medium in Germany; television ranks second. Worldwide, television is the number one advertising medium; with estimated ad revenues of  $176 billion in 2008, television captured slightly more than one-third of global expenditures. Newspapers rank second on a worldwide basis, accounting for about 27 percent of advertising spending.

However, media consumption patterns vary from country to country. For example, television is the number one medium in both the United States and Japan. By contrast, newspapers are the leading medium in Germany; television ranks second. In Germany, outlays for newspaper advertising surpass those for television by a ratio of two to one. In real terms, television spending in the EU increased by 78 percent between 1990 and 2000, compared with 26 percent for newspapers and 11 percent for magazines during the same period. A clear trend that is gaining traction throughout the world: Spending on customer relationship management and Internet advertising is gaining ground at the expense of TV and print. Television is also important in the Latin American market.

Worldwide, radio continues to be a less important advertising medium than print and television. However, in countries where advertising budgets are limited, radio’s enormous reach can provide a cost-effective means of communicating with a large consumer market. Also, radio can be effective in countries where literacy rates are low. One clear trend that is gaining traction throughout the world: Spending on CRM and Internet advertising is gaining ground at the expense of TV and print.

Media Decisions

The availability of television, newspapers, and other forms of broadcast and print media varies around the world. Moreover, patterns of media consumption differ from country to country as well. In many developed countries, for example, newspapers are experiencing circulation and readership declines as consumers devote more time to new media options such as the Internet. Even when media availability is high, its use as an advertising vehicle may be limited.  For example, in Europe, television advertising is very limited in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Regulations concerning content of commercials vary; Sweden bans advertising to children younger than 12 years of age.
 

As noted earlier, cultural considerations often affect the presentation of the advertising message. One recent study comparing the content of magazine advertisements in the United States with those in the Arab world found the following:
 

·         People are depicted less often in Arabic magazine ads.

·         U.S. ads tend to have more information content; by contrast, brevity is considered a virtue in the Arab world.

·         U.S. ads contain more price information, and are more likely to include comparative appeals than Arabic ads.

Discussion Questions

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