Vision - July/August 2008 - (Page 19)

Cultural Nuances Yet “Leap Ahead” also points to some of the challenges encountered when trying to cross foreign borders with a marketing program. Intel learned the lesson of dual-meanings in the words “leap ahead” the hard way. In China, it turned out, the translation for “Leap Ahead” was too close to the Great Leap Forward policy of the late Chinese leader Mao zedong a half century ago. It was an effort by Mao to advance the Chinese economy, but it backfired and resulted in famine and many deaths, a period the Chinese recall with distaste. So, in China, the translation for the Intel slogan is more like “Leap Ahead Beyond Future” to avoid any negative association with the Mao years. “That’s the only case where the tagline actually says something different,” Vermes says. Some of the cultural, cross-border differences, and as a result, challenges may be disappearing, however. Interbrand’s Marshall says some foreign CE companies—mostly Philips and to some degree LG and Samsung—are running more international advertising in a “transborder” effort at being “globally universal as opposed to trying to do a different campaign for each country.” One possible explanation is the emergence of the European Union as a single entity, Marshall said. Those marketing messages seem to be in line with another emerging branding trend, in which companies are marketing around attitudes and behavior that are common across cultures rather than focusing on different international groups, he says. American companies, he adds, are not part of that trend yet, as they continue to let American technological prowess drive their branding message. Marketers of CE products could benefit, Marshall says, if borders start disappearing and foreign markets become more accessible to brand messages. “It’s going to help them kind of streamline their manufacturing operations,” he said. “You’re going to have fewer iterations of product that you’re going to have to make. In the premium or luxury brands, with fewer modifications around the world…the prestige or status-badge appeal across cultures is becoming increasingly possible.” • www.ce.org Embracing Social Media Is traditional CE advertising effective? Some say not as much as it used to be because of the scores of homegrown online CE product reviewers and bloggers that consumers increasingly look to before buying. Yet the Internet also has become a tool that CE companies can use to fashion a branding strategy—particularly by harnessing the power of word-of-mouth from chat rooms and blogs. How? By doing what many companies are doing: hiring so-called social media strategists and conversation analysts to monitor the buzz on the Web. “We’re absolutely embracing social media marketing and building our own in-house competencies in that area,” says Christine Vermes, Intel’s director of corporate brand marketing. “Just because you’re not a YouTube or Facebook, there still are special marketing practices you can employ,” Vermes says. For example, to bridge traditional with new media, last fall Intel began a joint project with The Economist magazine sponsoring a series of online debates about education. “It’s absolutely vital that you understand social media and incorporate that into your integrated marketing effort,” Vermes advises. “If you don’t have those capabilities in-house, you better go out and get them externally.” Some public relations and marketing companies in the tech sector understand that not every CE company has deep enough pockets to hire staff dedicated solely to social media. So they are hiring their own and providing social media consulting as a new service. Edelman, a public relations company, for example, recently formed a division called Me2revolution and hired Leah Jones as a “conversation analyst” who listens on behalf of Edelman’s clients. The online conversations are immensely valuable because they are candid, Jones says, unlike a traditional focus group whose responses to questions might be skewed because they know they are under scrutiny and part of a branding effort. But don’t just look to the usual round of tech and CE forums and blogs for consumer insights. The most insightful conversations about your products might be taking place in the least likely chat rooms. According to Edelman research, consumers often look to their peer groups—whether it is owners of a particular car or barbecue aficionados—before turning to a tech-oriented site. “We’ve seen it play out for almost every brand I’ve done research for,” Jones says. “I’ve seen home theater conversations in weight loss forums. I’ve seen knee replacement conversations in a Corvette forum. People are going to their peers for help to make decisions and get reviews before they’re going to the mobile phone enthusiast forum.” Whether you have the staff or patience to monitor the many conversations likely taking place online about your products and services, Jones says it’s critical to find a way. “Consumers are going online even if you’re not listening,” Jones says. “If you don’t listen, you might get blindsided by an online crisis.” July/August 2008 19 http://www.ce.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Vision - July/August 2008

Vision - July/August 2008 Contents Shapiro's Spectrum In This Issue The Economist C4 Trends Visionary Embracing Disrupting Technology Vaulting Ahead with Your Brand International Risk Stop Boomerang Products CEA Newsline Tech Speak Tech Policy Going Global Eye on Business Market Insider Just the Stats

Vision - July/August 2008

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