International Marketing

BMI3C

International Marketing

Businesses use the same 6 methods to compete internationally Promotion Placement Quality Benefits of use Price Design

International Marketing

To be successful, a company must not expect consumers in one country to react to its marketing efforts in the same way as consumers from their home country

The most important marketing activity for international businesses is research

Promotion

Key factors to consider: The regulations a country may have Cultural differences

International Marketing Blunders

Tales of Idiocy and Ignorance

Parker Pen in Mexico

When Parker Pen marketed a ballpoint pen in Mexico, its ads were supposed to have read, "It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you.“

Instead, the company thought that the word "embarazar" (to impregnate) meant to embarrass, so the ad read: "It won't leak in your pocket and make you pregnant

Coors turned loose on Spain

In Spain, when Coors Brewing Company put its slogan, “Turn it loose” into Spanish

It was read as “Suffer from diarrhea”.

Braniff en Espanol

When Braniff International Airways translated a slogan touting its upholstery, “Fly in leather”

It came out in Spanish as “Fly naked”.

Sacrilegious Footwear

Nike recalled 38,000 basketball shoes after its flame-design logo drew protests from Muslims in southeast Asian

The offense: The logo was said to resemble the Arabic word for Allah

Pepsi terrifies the Chinese

When Pepsi started marketing its products in China a few years back, they translated their slogan, "Pepsi Brings You Back to Life" pretty literally.

The slogan in Chinese really meant, "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back from the Grave."

Frank Perdue reallyloves chicken

Chicken magnate Frank Perdue's line, "It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken," sounds much more interesting in Spanish: "It takes a sexually stimulated man to make a chicken affectionate."

So are these vacuums good or bad?

Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American campaign: “Nothing sucks like an Electrolux”.

Bad hair day?

A hair products company, Clairol, introduced the "Mist Stick", a curling iron, into Germany only to find out that mist is slang for manure.

Not too many people had use for the manure stick.

Smoking Salemis a no-brainer

The American slogan for Salem cigarettes, "Salem-Feeling Free", was translated into the Japanese market as "When smoking Salem, you will feel so refreshed that your mind seems to be free and empty."

Mourning the death of Pepsiin Asia

PepsiCola lost it dominant market share to Coke in South East Asia when Pepsi changed the color of its vending machines and coolers from deep "Regal" blue to light "Ice" blue, as Light blue is associated with death and mourning in SE Asia.

Back to the other competition methods…

Placement

Consider… What is the infrastructure like in the

country? Would a joint venture with a domestic firm

be appropriate?

Quality

What competition is there? Are high quality products common

there?

Benefits of Use

Impacts the value equation If there is little or no competition, the

marketer doesn’t really have to convince the consumer that their product is better than the competitor’s

Sounds good, right? But if there’s no direct competition, you have

to be concerned with indirect competition Consumers have other preferences and will

have to be convinced to try something new

Price

What will the landed cost of the product be? Tariffs Cost to repackage Currency exchange rates Transportation costs

Design

What are the legal requirements? Packaging/labeling Language Standards (format, units of measure,

etc.)

Problems with Standards

Consistency!

• Do you own more than one pair of shoes?– Are they all the same size?

• What about clothes?– Are all your shirts/pants/dresses the same size?

What about these…

What side of the road do you drive on? Do you spell colour with or without the u? What does your electrical outlet look like? Do you go topless at the beach? Do you employ Daylight Savings? Is it Zero outside, or is it 35 degrees? Do you eat dog?

A little story about my mom…

“I don’t know why everyone was going so slow, I was doing 85 pretty much the whole way and had to pass all kinds of people…”

85 miles per hour = 137 km/hr

=

Mountain Dew

Problems for you, problems for businesses

Different standards may mean you have to modify your product Video standards (NTSC, PAL, etc.) Voltage/plug shapes Clothing Sizes

Or at least use different packaging Units of measurement Labeling laws

Activity

Beavertails is a Canadian company that has been trying to expand internationally

What challenges might they face in trying to market their product in a foreign country like China?