CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT

In addition to the Marketing & Advertising Environment there is a Cultural Environment, that contains probably the most important information for international marketers. It is of extreme importance that cultural specifics are considered when marketing campaigns are created.

But what is culture? Gandhi says "a nation's culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people". Culture seems to be a term for anything related to society. Culture and society, in fact, are synonyms. And when Gandhi says that culture resides in the hearts and advertisers want to make their ads emotional - isn't it obvious then, that culture is the key to succes?



Even if there are over 160 definitions of culture in the 1950s (and today probably a lot more!), there are some parts that they have in common. In general, culture seems to be something inherent, people learn culture, they are not born with it. Shared culture also means shared symbols. On the other hand it also means that, if you were not born in a society and you didn't share the culture, you won't be able to understand symbols. And that's exactly what international marketers need to understand. Things get even more complicated for marketers, when they take subcultures into account. Subcultures are groups within a culture, that share value systems, e.g. religion, ethnic or politics. Being part of subcultures may create needs and desires that marketers could turn into their advantage.