Building a brand culture & global brands

Akash C.MathapatiAsst Professor – Marketing Area

Kirloskar Institute of Advanced Management Studiesakashcm@gmail.com

Brand culture• Building a strong brand culture starts with

the people. The culture isn’t “owned” by the marketing team, it’s owned by the entire company — from the CEO to the customer service rep and everyone in between…

• Companies that nurture a distinct brand culture in the workplace will become a distinctive brand in the marketplace. Focus on developing your people and relationships and everything else will follow.

Akash C.Mathapati

Best practices for creating brand culture

• Combine Marketing + HR– people are the starting point, the connection

between the leadership in marketing and the leadership in HR is pivotal to brand culture success. The two have to work in concert to ensure the entire company is in alignment and pulling in the same direction.

Akash C.Mathapati

Best practices for creating brand culture

• Hire to your culture– Hire people to your culture rather than trying

to fit your culture to an individual. It is important in the long run to protect the integrity of the brand culture by making sure the people who come on board are ones who truly fit in.

Akash C.Mathapati

Best practices for creating brand culture

• Teach brand culture• For employees propagate brand culture, they

have to first understand the vision, history, philosophy and values of the company. An on-going program that keeps people aligned and focused on the brand’s values is crucial to sustaining culture in the long term.

Akash C.Mathapati

Best practices for creating brand culture

• Alignment trumps values– The core values that speak to what a company

is are meaningless unless they’re put into practice and everyone is on the same page. Strong culture comes about when there is a through-line, a common understanding and drive that runs through all departments.

Akash C.Mathapati

Global Brands

Akash C.Mathapati

Definition:• Globalization has been defined in business schools as

the production and distribution of products and services of a homogenous type and quality on a worldwide basis.

• Why?

• the fact that foreign sales account for more than 50 per cent of the annual revenues of companies such as Hewlett Packard, IBM, Johnson and Johnson, Mobil, Motorola, Procter & Gamble, etc..

Akash C.Mathapati

Yesterday’s GlobalismIn yesterday’s one-size-fits-all world, big companies

could often migrate something that was a hit in the U.S. or Europe by tweaking the language and advertising .

Examples:• Mercedes-Benz, traded on its reputation for

building highly engineered automobiles to drive into foreign markets.

• Coca-Cola Co. and Marlboro cigarettes traded on their “American-ness” to create large overseas followings.

• Sony Corp. found that compact, economical, and reliable electronics like the Walkman, struck a chord with people everywhere.

Akash C.Mathapati

Today’s GlobalismNo company can safely assume there

will be viable foreign markets for an existing product.

Any company seeking to expand globally needs to ask if its offerings are culturally and socially appropriate for its targeted market.

Akash C.Mathapati

Problems faced by Global brands

Companies find it difficult to succeed in new markets that are culturally unfamiliar.

• They often underestimate differences in the patterns of daily life in the new markets.

• This makes it difficult to develop products and services that fit peoples’ lives,

• It is difficult to extend their brand, and manage culturally diverse teams.

Akash C.Mathapati

Coca-cola : Global is Out, Local is In• Initial set backs in 80s the benefits of global

integration are sought and the need to adapt products to local markets is largely ignored.

• Coke is instituting a strategy of ‘think local, act local’ by putting increased decision making in the hands of local managers.

• Make model citizen by reaching out to the local communities and getting involved in civic and charitable activities.

• Better understanding and appealing to local differences.

Akash C.Mathapati

Disney: Learning to Say Oui Not Yes

Before :• workers were required to speak English, even if most people in attendance

were French.• liquor was not sold in the park, they have a drink with lunch or dinner.• many of the exhibits and rides did not have a local theme, they were the

same as those in Disneyland USA and thus did not appeal to Europeans.

After :• began creating European-specific attractions• Started to serve alcoholic beverages• series of changes, abandoning its global approach, and substituting one

that appealed to local tastes.

Akash C.Mathapati

Global Branding

Global Brand

Planning System

Brand Strategy

Brand Building

ProgramsStrategic Analysis

Goals & Measurem

ents

Brand EquitySales & profitsMeasurement Metrics

CustomerCompetitionBrand

Brand identityValue propositionSegmentationBrand Portfolio

Brand PositionChannelsA & SInternal Comm.

Akash C.Mathapati

Brand Failures

Akash C.Mathapati

Why brands fail ?• Brand Amnesia• Brand Ego• Brand Megalomania• Brand Deception• Brand Fatigue• Brand paranoia• Brand irrelevance

Akash C.Mathapati

Why brands fail ?• Brand Amnesia – New Coke• Brand Ego – Harley Davidson

perfumes• Brand Megalomania - Virgin• Brand Deception – Sony movie

review• Brand Fatigue – Oldsmobile • Brand paranoia - • Brand irrelevance - Kodak

Akash C.Mathapati