Global brands

The global brand (Nigel Hollis)

So far, I have been writing a lot about different factors that can influence a marketing campaign. In other words, I focused on the consumer side of a product: what they expect, what they need and what they want. Kind of what specialisation / localisation describes: consumer want a product to satisfy their needs and that's why the most localized / specialized product (all other factors being equal) might be the product of choice. Obviously it's not that easy. Of course, there are also a lot of needs coming from the marketer – and I'm not necessarily only talking about profit here.

„A strong brand is not the same as business or a trademark. A brand – global or local – derives its value from creating a strong relationship with consumers. The strength of that relationship is determined by ideas and associations in people's minds“ (Hollis: 7).

The question, why marketers don't seek for complete localisation is easy: they need products to be standalised to a certain level in order to create what Hollis calls a strong brand. „Succesful global brands are strong brands that transcend their origins and create enduring relationships with consumers across countries and cultures“ (Hollis: 7).

But what exactly is a brand?

According to Paul Feldwick a brand is "simply a collection of perceptions in the mind of the consumer". This very basic definition implicates an important fact: a brand is something "weightless". It's not the product itsself, but what consumers think about the product. What consumers think is strongly linked to culture and therefore a brand needs to be specialised to cultural specifics.