Onkvisit S., Shaw J. International Marketing: Analysis and Strategy

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In the USA, large cities can rarely support more

than two dailies. In other countries, a city may

have numerous newspapers dividing the readership

market. Lebanon, with a population of 1.5 million,

has some 200 daily and weekly newspapers, with an

average circulation per paper of only 3500.

Newspapers in communist countries are con-

trolled by the government and are thus used

for propaganda purposes. China’s newspapers, for

example, tend to carry news items that the

government deems to express some moral and

social value.

Believing that sensational news attracts reader-

ship, most non-US newspapers in the free world are

set up in a sensational news format. It is the rule

rather than the exception for these newspapers to

concentrate on murders, robberies, scandals, and

rapes. Even the United Kingdom, where its citizens

are known for their reserved manner, is not exempt

from this practice. World news and nonscandalous

political news often take a back seat to the more

sensational news. As a result, non-US newspapers

look more like such weekly US tabloids as the

National Enquirer and Star. A newspaper that con-

centrates on news of substance and quality (i.e.,

unsensational news) must pay for this in terms of

low readership.

Many countries have English-language newspa-

pers in addition to the local-language newspapers.

The English-language newspapers are patterned

more like the traditional American paper, with an

emphasis on world, government, and business

news. This vehicle would be appropriate for an

advertiser to reach government and business

leaders, educated readers, upper-class people, and

those with afﬂuence and inﬂuence. The aim of the

Asian Wall Street Journal is to supply economic infor-

mation in English to inﬂuential businesspersons,

politicians, top government ofﬁcials, and intellectu-

als. It was not designed to be a newspaper for mass

readers.

Many countries have nationally distributed news-

papers, as shown in Figure 15.1. However, it is dif-

ﬁcult to ﬁnd a true national newspaper because

almost every newspaper tries to be somewhat local

in nature. Even in the USA, before USA Today, the

closest thing to a national newspaper was perhaps

the New York Times, with the Washington Post in second

place. Clearly, it is even more difﬁcult to have an

international newspaper. Those papers distributed

internationally include the International Herald

Tribune and such ﬁnancial newspapers as the Wall

Street Journal (with the Asian Wall Street Journal

for Asian countries) and the United Kingdom’s

Financial Times. As might be expected, these news-

papers are not available everywhere, and the circu-

lation is low. Financial Times, a century-old daily

covering British business, international business,

and economic and political news, has a worldwide

circulation of about 230,000, with only 6000 sold

in the USA and Canada. Still, Financial Times offers

US advertisers access to upscale readers in Europe

and other parts of the world.

American advertisers are accustomed to having

separate editorial sections in American newspapers

and are often frustrated by foreign papers. A

twenty-page newspaper may still have sections for

sports, entertainment, fashion, business, and

science, but each section may comprise only one

page.Thus it becomes difﬁcult for an advertiser to

match the product to the proper section or environ-

ment (e.g., tire and automotive products in the

sports section) in a local newspaper.

Furthermore, with so many newspapers dividing

a small market, it is expensive to reach the entire

market.There are some 380 and 800 newspapers in

Turkey and Brazil, respectively. With advertise-

ments in just one paper, the reach would be quite

inadequate. Advertising in several papers, on the

other hand, is also impractical. It is fortunate for

advertisers that people often read or subscribe to

two or more dailies and often share newspapers.

Despite a small circulation, readership may still be

high. Usually, the pass-along rate in foreign markets

is much higher than that in the USA, but reliable

estimates of circulation of overseas newspapers are

difﬁcult to obtain.The ﬁgure provided by the news-

paper publisher may be highly inﬂated, and there

is no meaningful way, at least for advertisers, to

measure or audit the circulation ﬁgures.

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Magazines

Nowhere in the world are there so many and varied

types of consumer magazines as there are in the

USA. Because US magazines segment the reading

market in every conceivable manner, there are mag-

azines for the masses as well as for the few and

selected. This makes is possible for advertisers to

direct their campaigns to obtain reach (the total

number of unduplicated individuals exposed to a

particular media vehicle at least once during a spec-

iﬁed time period) or frequency (the intensity or

the number of times within a speciﬁed period that

a prospect is exposed to the message) or both.

Foreign magazines are generally not highly devel-

oped in terms of a particular audience. They do

not segment their readers as narrowly as do US

magazines, and they do not have the same degree of

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Figure 15.1 Japan’s

top English-language

business newspaper

accurate information about reader characteristics.

In Brazil, there are very few magazines, and people

read all three or four of them.This results in dupli-

cation, which can be a waste of promotional effort

unless frequency is the objective.

Marketers of international products have the

option of using international magazines that publish

regional editions (e.g., Time, Business Week, Newsweek,

and Life). In the case of Reader’s Digest and several

other popular magazines, local-language editions

are distributed (see Marketing Strategy 15.1).

Allen-Edmonds, a shoe company, was able to

increase its foreign sales by advertising its shoes in

the international editions of such magazines. For

technical and industrial products, magazines can

be quite effective. Technical-business publications

tend to be international in their coverage. These

publications range from individual industries (e.g.,

construction, beverages, textiles) to worldwide

industrial magazines covering many industries. A

trade magazine about China, for example, is a suit-

able vehicle for all types of industrial products of

interest to the Chinese government. In Europe, the

number of business publications is seven times as

high as that in the USA.There are more than 1000

technical and trade journals in Scandinavia. Canada,

in contrast, usually has only one trade magazine for

each market segment, making it easier to cover the

entire Canadian market.

Local (i.e., national) business magazines are a

good vehicle to reach well-deﬁned target audiences.

Nikkei Business is one such magazine in Japan (see

Figure 15.2).

Unlike the US market, which has an organization

such as the ABC (Audit Bureau of Circulations) to

audit the circulation ﬁgures for most magazines, the

circulation ﬁgures of overseas magazines are some-

what unreliable. Furthermore, overseas magazines

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Reader’s Digest

, publishing in forty-eight countries

and nineteen languages, reaches some 100 million

readers.The company, appreciating both universal and

local appeals, exports a business strategy rather than

a culture. “We understand that people the world over

hunger for information that is relevant to their lives,

in their . . . language, and form their own perspective.

We produce magazines, books, and other products

that meet that need. For all intents and purposes, each

edition of

Reader’s Digest

is a local product, with

as much as 30% of the editorial content researched

and written by local editors. It is the only American

magazine with international editions that routinely

imports overseas content for US edition.”

For decades, men’s magazines have been around

in Japan and Australia. The region is now embracing

a new experience: international titles with Asian edi-

tions.

Esquire

, and

FHM

have started up Asian

editions that target young, active,urban men with high

disposable income. South Korea is the biggest market

in Asia for such products. Why do South Korean men

read these international magazines? A good reason

has to do with the fact that these magazines have

adapted their editorial concepts and contents to ﬁt the

various readerships. The Asian editions, not merely

publishing in local languages, cover local trends and

personalities. A magazine is a cultural product. As

such, it must reﬂect a local culture.

Thailand has 648 magazine titles, both local and

international. Women’s magazines, the most competi-

tive segment, account for 60 percent of the market. In

2003 alone, ﬁve more Thai-language versions of for-

eign titles were announced. Among them are

Elle Girl

and

Marie Claire

from France and

Her World

from

Singapore. A Thai version of

Madame Figaro

from

France was just recently introduced. The Thai edition

Lisa

(from Germany and sold in nineteen countries)

is the ninth foreign-language title of the magazine.

Source:

“Timing Concerns Don’t Deter Launch of Men’s

Magazine,”

Asian Wall Street Journal

, November 15, 2001;

“Five Women’s Magazines to Enter the Fray,”

Bangkok

Post

, September 16, 2003.

MARKETING STRATEGY 15.1 THE MAGAZINE AS A CULTURAL PRODUCT

tend to depend more on news-stand sales than on

subscription sales, making it difﬁcult to calculate

consistent volume or to predict the size of reader-

ship in advance. Because many magazines are unau-

dited, either by choice or by lack of an audit bureau,

it is not sensible to exclude unaudited publications

from the media schedule. Even when publications

are audited, the information given may not be

adequate. The English ABC provides minimum

information,whereas the German IVW audit is very

thorough.

Direct mail

Confusion usually arises when such terms as direct

mail, direct advertising, direct marketing, and mail

order are discussed. It is important to understand

that direct marketing is a broad term that encom-

passes the other related terms. According to the

Direct Marketing Association (DMA), direct mar-

keting is “the total of activities by which products

and services are offered to market segments in

one or more media for informational purposes or to

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Figure 15.2 A national

business magazine

Source:

Reprinted with permission

of Nikkei-McGraw Hill, Inc.

solicit a direct response from a present or prospec-

tive customer or contributor by mail, telephone, or

personal visit.”This is a more than 1-billion business

in the USA. As a system, direct marketing has

two distinct components: (1) promotion, and (2)

ordering/delivery (see Figure 15.3).

Direct marketers can promote their products

through all advertising media. They can solicit

orders by making announcements on television or

in magazines (usually with coupons or order forms).

Television home shopping is a form of direct mar-

keting. Some cable TV channels (e.g., the Home

Shopping Network in the USA and the Canadian

Home Shopping Network) are designed speciﬁcally

for this purpose. In any case, local regulations must

be followed. In France, advertisers cannot show

direct sales telephone numbers on screen. Viewers

must call the number on screen to obtain a second

number for placing orders.

Frequently, marketers rely on direct advertis-

ing in media created for that purpose.These media

consist of direct mailings and all forms of print

advertisements distributed directly to prospects

through a variety of methods (i.e.,advertising mate-

rials distributed door-to-door, on the street, or

inside the store or those placed inside shopping bags

and on auto windshields). Direct mail is thus only

one kind of direct advertising medium, which is

in turn a part of general advertising media or the

promotional methods of direct marketing. Of

course, the use of direct mail is not limited only to

direct marketing.

With regard to ordering, buyers can place orders

by telephone (often with a toll-free number),

through a personal visit, or by mail. An order that

is sent in by mail and fulﬁlled by mail delivery is

called a mail order. Thus mail order is not a

medium; rather it is only one of several means that

may be used to place and handle orders. An order-

ing method consists of one of the two components

of the direct marketing system.

For this discussion, direct mail and direct mar-

keting are considered together. There are several

reasons for doing so. Direct mail generally accounts

for a major portion of direct marketing advertising

expenditures. In addition, many reports on direct

marketing campaigns do not provide a detailed

breakdown of the advertising dollar accounted for

by media other than direct mail.

Direct mail is largely undeveloped in many coun-

tries.This is especially true where labor is cheap and

abundant and where it is just as easy to use a sales-

person to make sales calls. Furthermore, for coun-

tries with high illiteracy, this medium is not suitable

for promoting consumer products.

Without doubt, the USA is the most developed

market for the advertising medium of direct mail.

Foreign marketers as well as American marketers

have a wide selection of buyer lists that permit them

to contact the intended target audience with

minimum waste.

European marketers lag far behind the USA in

exploiting the medium of direct mail.There are also

more restrictions on collection of personal data (see

It’s the Law 15.1). In Germany, mail cannot be sent

to those who have requested that their names be

removed from mailing lists. If an addressee has a

label on one’s mailbox refusing direct mail, delivery

cannot be made. Furthermore, although personal

data may include year of birth, date of birth is not

allowed.

US practices in using direct mail require some

modiﬁcation when taken abroad.There is difﬁculty

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Direct marketer Prospects

Ordering methods

Mail order

Telephone

Personal visit

Promotion methods

Advertising media

Direct advertising

Direct mail

Figure 15.3 Direct marketing

in making a direct transposure of a US mailing piece

without change into a European mailing kit due to

various weight rules and other unique regulations.

Population direct mail lists are another serious

problem since foreign list owners do not trust

renters and brokers. List generation and manage-

ment is still primitive abroad.American list owners

enhance their lists with such information as buyer’s

frequency, recency, and dollar value,but direct mar-

keters used to those practices can become frustrated

with list brokers in Europe (except in Germany)

because basic selection criteria are not even pro-

vided. In addition, privacy laws are more restrictive

abroad than in the USA. For example, Germany

allows only two unique selection criteria per order

when renting a list.

US companies using direct mail to contact cus-

tomers abroad may ﬁnd remailing useful and eco-

nomical. There are three basic ways to move a

marketer’s promotional material from the USA.

First, the ISAL (International Surface Airlift) system

was designed by the US Postal Service to use a com-

bination of air and surface transportation. This is

the least expensive way of moving materials for

bulk mailers and publishers.After being received at

ISAL’s acceptance points, the material is airlifted to

selected distribution points around the world where

it merges with other surface-mail pieces. Second,

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Because there is no pan-European law, each country’s

law must be analyzed. In France, it is illegal to collect

data having to do – directly or indirectly – with mem-

bership of trade unions. In Germany, as a consequence

of the Nazis’ use of personal information to identify

enemies, the country’s data-protection laws may be

the most restrictive in the European Union. Germany

prohibits virtually all activities regarding collecting,

storing, and processing personal data. In general, all

storage, communication, and erasure of personal data

are not allowed unless expressly permitted by the

data-protection act. Data processing is prohibited

unless a person has given his or her written consent.

In England, the Direct Marketing Association Code of

Practice requires list owners to warrant that “the

data have been fairly and lawfully obtained and all

private individuals whose data are included have been

given an opportunity to object to the use of their data

by persons other than the list owner and that the data

of those who have objected have either been deleted

from or so marked in the list.”

Unlike the USA which has relied on the industry’s

self-regulatory approach, the European Union has

adopted the government-led approach. European

privacy laws, based on Europe’s history and legal

traditions, are comprehensive and applicable to all

industries. After all, protection of information privacy

is regarded as a fundamental human right in Europe.

The European Directive on Data Protection,

taking effect in 1998, requires the European Commis-

sion to determine the adequacy of data protection in

third countries and to prohibit personal data ﬂows to

countries without adequate privacy regimes. Any

organizations wanting to receive personally identiﬁ-

able information from the European Union must

provide adequate privacy protection. Electronic com-

merce certainly needs data transfers. Multinational

corporations and their afﬁliates routinely exchange a

huge amount of information. The information ranges

from personnel phone directories to more sensitive

information such as personnel records and credit-card

bills. As a result, Microsoft and hundreds of American

companies have agreed to comply with the European

Union’s Safe Harbor framework. Information may be

collected for “speciﬁed, explicit and legitimate pur-

poses, and to be held only if it is relevant, accurate

and up to date.”

Sources:

James A. Reiman, “Understanding Variations in

European Market Laws,”

DM News

, July 25,1994, 8–9; Jeff

Rohlmeier and William Yue, “The Safe Harbor Privacy

Framework,”

Export America

(January 2001): 21–4;

“Europe’s Tough Privacy Rules Spill Over to US,”

San José

Mercury News

, August 30, 2002.

IT’S THE LAW 15.1 KEEP IT PRIVATE

mailers who do not want to bother with ISAL’s

requirements can pay a surcharge to ISAL consol-

idators, which are private companies that will sort,

bag, and transport the material to an ISAL gateway

city. Finally, remailers are private distribution ser-

vices that provide a turnkey system and negotiate

private rates with airline cargo divisions.

Outdoor

Outdoor advertising includes posters, billboards,

painted bulletins, roadside and store signs, and elec-

tric spectaculars (large illuminated electric signs

with special lighting and animated effects). Given

the huge impact and impressiveness of size and

color, outdoor advertising serves well as reminder

promotion for well-known products.

Outdoor advertising is frequently used overseas

because of the low cost of labor in painting and

erecting such displays. In addition, this is considered

a free medium, because an advertiser can simplify

place its posters on any available wall, bus-stop

shelter, tree, or fence without paying for it. The

practice also encourages one advertiser to replace

other advertisers’ posters with one of its own.

Unlike most media, outdoor advertising is one

medium in which the USA seems to lag behind

other countries in terms of per-capita advertising

expenditures and sophistication.This is an advanced

and dominant medium in Europe and Canada.

Outdoor advertising is also very important in coun-

tries without commercial TV (e.g., Belgium). In

Saudi Arabia, outdoor and transit posters account

for more than a quarter of all media spending, about

ten times the US percentage.

Outdoor advertising does not have to be unin-

teresting. One advertiser changes its outdoor illus-

tration and message frequently – with the model

removing an item of clothing each time the poster

board is changed.Another advertiser made it appear

that the billboard was gradually being eaten away by

termites.

New technologies have added such designoptions

as backlighting, projection, Day-Glo paints, three-

dimensionals, extensions, reﬂective disks,bows,and

cutouts. Fiber optics may eventually replace neon

because ﬁber optics are much more energy efﬁcient

and weigh less than neon glass tubing. Some adver-

tisers have turned to video billboards that can show

a twenty-second commercial repeatedly.

When using outdoor advertising, certain rules

should be followed. Illustrations should be large,

and words should be kept to a minimum. A rule of

thumb is to say “what must be said” and not “what

can be said.” Simple, contrasting colors should be

used: white on black or red seems to work well.The

right typeface is crucial; certain typefaces are difﬁ-

cult to read. Having all letters in capitals can be

equally as difﬁcult and should be avoided.

Internet

One recent medium that has gained worldwide

attention is the Internet. Unlike other media, the

Internet is global in nature, creating both worldwide

opportunities and problems. It is unknown whether

the law governing an Internet promotion should be

the law of the upload site or that of the download

site. Although all the other media allow marketers

to a certain extent to restrict delivery of their mes-

sages, the Internet is an all-or-nothing proposition.

Thus, it is so easy to violate many domestic laws.

Also, given its international nature, the Internet

requires global planning, and the cultural dimension

must be considered.A successful website is the one

that has been carefully planned, taking into account

the various languages and cultures.

One signiﬁcant development is that new soft-

ware has allowed a multinational marketer to make

users’ locations dictate a particular website to

which users will be exposed. For example, those

in Western Europe trying to access the website of

Coca-Cola may end up with a European site rather

than the one seen by their American counterparts.

In addition, owing to technological improvements

coupled with marketing goals, the Internet has

become a more selective medium.Yahoo has created

regional portals. Many international marketers

such as Coca-Cola have added local websites in local

languages.

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The Coca-Cola Company has stated that, in spite

of the core brand being well recognized all over the

world, it is still “very much a local operation,

meeting the demands of local tastes and cultures in

nearly 200 countries.” Visitors to its website are

encouraged to select the country of interest.At one

time,Atlanta dictated everything, and the local divi-

sions were not allowed to set up their own websites

and instead had to show only the corporate home

page. Coca-Cola’s Belgian website now reﬂects the

more international approach, and the trilingual

(Dutch, French, and English) site draws more than

three million hits per month.

While Internet usage is a worldwide phenome-

non, it does not mean that a marketer should

standardize its Internet strategies on a worldwide

basis. A study of advanced Internet users from

twenty countries reveals differences in beliefs,

attitudes, perceptions, and Internet buying behavior

based on user experience and home country or

region. Such differences remain even after control-

ling for social, cultural, and macroeconomic

variables.

In the case that an international marketer wants

to offer only one website (unlike Coca-Cola’s strat-

egy), its website must be designed to accommodate

global users.While graphics are appealing,they slow

things down, especially when users in most coun-

tries have slower connections. Thus by limiting

graphics and other high-bandwidth features, the site

is faster and universally appealing. By adopting a

global perspective for the website, a company can

enhance its international opportunities. Global

functionality and language concerns should be

addressed.

While shopping and Internet use are global

behavior, shopping manner and the determinants of

the Internet sites’ attractiveness may be culture-

bound.To determine the crucial characteristics of a

website, one study investigated the shopping tasks

of 299 respondents from twelve countries. In

general, site quality, trust, and positive affect toward

it are related to both purchase intentions and site

visitors’ loyalty. Because the impact of these factors

varies across regions and product categories, a

website probably should be tailored for each region

as well as each product category.

By 2005, 70 percent of the estimated one billion

Internet users will be non-English speakers. The

localization of websites, particularly transaction-

based websites,requires native language capabilities.

Research indicates that Web users are three times

more likely to make purchases over the Internet if a

site is in their native language. Some languages,

particularly character-based ones such as Chinese or

Japanese, have double-byte requirements, necessi-

tating added memory, cost, and disk space.

It is not a simple task to build a multilingual e-

commerce site.

Other than the language that must

be overhauled, a site must be able to handle differ-

ent currencies, characters, and measurements.

Some languages have words that must be read from

right to left. Certain US Net icons such as shopping

carts are alien in some countries.Therefore, a global

website has to be culturally sensitive.

Screen (cinema)

In virtually all countries, the cinema is a favorite

activity for a social gathering. People are avid movie-

goers because of the limited television broadcasting

and because of people’s natural desire to go out to

a place of social gathering. Cinemas (or theaters, as

they are called in many parts of the world) are clas-

siﬁed as ﬁrst-class or second-class and sometimes

even third-class, depending on how soon new ﬁlms

are shown there. Theaters usually operate on a

reserved-seat basis, with advance reserve bookings

being highly encouraged.

Similar to outdoor advertising, the cinema is a

very popular advertising medium outside of the

USA. Cinemas sell commercial time to agencies or

advertisers. The usual practice is for a theater to

begin its program with a showing of slides of adver-

tised products, and this slide show is followed by

commercials.The theater may then proceed to show

newsreels and documentaries that may contain

paid news items such as a store opening.Then, just

before the showing of the main feature, there are

short promotional ﬁlms or teaser trailers of coming

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attractions. An intermission can present another

opportunity for advertising.

Cinema advertising has several advantages. It has

the impact of outdoor advertising without the draw-

back of being stationary. It has sight and sound like

television but with better quality. Furthermore,

cinema advertising has a true captive audience. A

disadvantage is that some moviegoers may resent

having to watch commercials, but such resentment

is likely to be a minor problem, since moviegoers

are usually in a positive and receptive mood. The

more serious problem is that patrons, knowing that

there will be some commercials shown ﬁrst, take

their time in showing up and may be wandering

into and around the theater until the main feature

begins.

Directories

Directories are books that provide listings of

people, professions, and institutions. The yellow-

page telephone directories, with a listing of various

types of companies, are a prime example. Directo-

ries may be sold or given away free of charge. Since

the telephone is not widely available in many areas

and the information is not accurate, this medium

has been underused outside of the USA. In some

countries, governments and private entities publish

trade directories of local exporters and their

advertisements.

The popularity of cellular or mobile phones pre-

sents another unique problem. In Japan, the number

of mobile phones has now exceeded the number of

ﬁxed telephones. Given the fact that cellular phone

owners may switch the telephone services from one

company to another, their telephone numbers are

somewhat temporary. In addition, there is no com-

pilation of cellular phone numbers so as to publish

a directory.

Rural media

In marketing to developing countries, marketers

must understand the use of rural media. Mobile

units, for example, may be sent to areas lacking

access to mass media. Such vehicles can play

recorded music and advertising messages over

ampliﬁers or loudspeakers attached to the vehicles’

rooftops. A marketer can also attract an audience

by arranging for some type of festival advertising

held at a temple or school. A free outdoor movie

may be shown during the festival while advertising

is broadcast through loudspeakers to the captive

audience. In a way, such rural media are not very

different from the traveling “medicine” shows of the

American past.

Stadiums

Stadium advertising is also appropriate, especially in

soccer stadiums, because soccer (i.e.,football) is the

most popular and passionate sport in the world.

Signs can be displayed on stadium walls, and the

advertising rules for outdoor advertising should be

applied. The objective of this advertising is not so

much to communicate with those in a basketball or

football stadium but rather to communicate with

TV viewers. For nonstop games such as soccer and

hockey, a broadcaster can show the entire game

while including logos or brief advertising messages

on the edges of the screen – at the top, bottom,side,

or all around, with the game being shown in the

middle part of the screen.

Cigarette marketers are major sponsors of sports

and cultural events (e.g., billiards, horse-racing,

rugby, and concerts) in England because these

events receive extensive TV coverage. In effect, the

prominent display of names and logos allows com-

panies to associate their brands with glamour,

health, vitality, and success.

Other media

There are several other advertising media that are

traditional and common in developing countries and

elsewhere. Some of these media are advertising

specialties, a variety of inexpensive items (e.g.,

pens, calendars, letter openers) carrying the adver-

tiser’s name, address, and a short sales message. In

spite of the cost, such items are relatively durable.

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Because of their attractive appearance and low pro-

duction cost, Ajinomoto’s calendar-type products

make an effective display in Japan and other Asian

countries. A charming, attractive young girl (Miss

Ajinomoto) serves as an “eye-catcher” to help adver-

tise products. Ajinomoto provides three-ounce

bottles to restaurants as toothpick holders or salt

and pepper containers. In addition to using the trav-

eling cinema, a popular form of entertainment,

Ajinomoto also uses the traveling cooking school,

which combines the expertise of a cook and a nutri-

tionist, to provide instruction and education to

many institutions such as schools. Moreover, the

company uses “exhibitions,” or public service adver-

tising, to promote total company image and techni-

cal expertise, such as with the anti-cancer medicine

Lentinan and the sugarless sweetener Aspartame.

Media mix

There is no one single advertising medium that is

suitable for all countries and products. The media

mix has to vary from one target market to another.

The basis principles of media selection apply in

all markets. In general, an advertising medium

should be selective and cost-effective in reaching a

large number of the intended audience. It should

deliver the kind of reach, frequency, and impact

desired, assuming that there are no particular legal

restrictions.

Tokyo Toyopet provides a good illustration of

how advertising media are selected to promote cars

– in this case, Toyota cars. Newspapers and maga-

zines, due to their national circulation in Japan, are

unsuitable because this division of Toyota only con-

centrates on the Tokyo market. TV time is not

readily available and much too expensive. As a

result, radio advertising is the clear-cut choice.

STANDARDIZED INTERNATIONAL

ADVERTISING

Standardized international advertising is the prac-

tice of advertising the same product in the same way

everywhere in the world. The controversy of the

standardization of global advertising centers on the

appropriateness of the variation (or the lack of it)

within advertising content from country to country.

The technique has generated a heated and lively

debate for four decades and has been both praised

and condemned – passionately.

Doing research is difﬁcult in this area due to

the ambiguous deﬁnition of standardization itself.

Strictly speaking, a standardized advertisement is an

advertisement that is used internationally with vir-

tually no change in its theme, copy, or illustration

(other than translation). More recently, a new breed

of advocates of standardization has claimed that an

advertisement with changes in its copy or illustra-

tion (e.g., a foreign model used in an overseas

version) is still a standardized advertisement as long

as the same theme is maintained. This new and

broadened deﬁnition can cloud the issue even more

with the added element of subjectivity. Because

standardization is a matter of degree rather than an

all-or-nothing phenomenon, a more precise deﬁni-

tion of standardized advertising, conceptually and

operationally, would go a long way toward solving

the confusion created by contradictory claims.

Dewar’s advertising is a good example of how

difﬁcult it is to state with certainty whether or not

a certain advertisement is a standardized advertise-

ment. After twenty years, the highly regarded US

“Proﬁles” campaign for Dewar’s Scotch whisky was

tailored to markets around the world.The format is

the same in every country: it provides biographical

information, hobbies, and philosophies to portray

the successful lifestyle of an entrepreneurial

“life-achiever” who also happens to be a typical

and famous Dewar’s drinker (see Figure 15.4).

Previously, Dewar’s overseas advertising used trans-

lations of American advertisements, but research

revealed that the use of local personalities would

communicate a stronger message. The localized

proﬁle advertisements used in Spain featured pro-

ﬁles of a Spanish author and a 29-year-old Spanish

ﬂight instructor and former hang-gliding champion.

The Australian campaign gave Dewar’s proﬁles of

a 33-year-old Melbourne entrepreneur, a jewelry

designer, and a photojournalist. In Thailand, the

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