Re: The Internet - Is it globalizing brands?

From: Michael D'Aust Garcia <ELbiderCNI_at_aol.com>
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 13:31:56 -0500 (CDT)

While I believe to some extent, in your premise that the
Internet is perhaps pushing for more globalization of
branding and marketing (as are international
mergers/aquisitions), I see that in reality that we are
mostly still thinking and organizing ourselves by region
and by country (as we have always done). I can mostly
speak to the healthcare marketplace that I work in -- where
prescription drugs are regulated by national laws and where
sales forces are clearly defined by small areas, regions
and nations and may never speak to the others. In fact,
the exact same drug produced by a single company can have
totally different brand names in different countries (making
it a pharmacist's nightmare I would think).
Sender: owner-online-ads_at_o-a.com
Precedence: bulk

However, I have noticed some awareness that at least naming
should be looked at internationally (so as not to be
offensive in other languages). If you think about it, good
marketing should speak to your specific audience and as
long as we are different, then the messages to us (in
different countries/cultures/experiences) should be
different.

As we see Coke and McDonalds (among other multinationals)
conquer the world and bring similar experiences to people
around the world (just as Wal-Marts and other chains have
made shopping experiences similar around the U.S.), perhaps
our lives will become more similar and therefore, we will
then think more alike? The Internet could speed this
process as our "online lives" become similar no matter
where we live? Will we then see more globalization of
positioning and message communication (at least on the
Internet) or will the digital nature of the communication
allow for more diversity as we are able to speak to
different audiences concurrently with
intentionally-different and more targeted messages??

Hmmm.
Cheers (a salutation I admit that I picked up from English
colleagues online),
Mike

Michael D'Aust Garcia
Senior Project Director
V2, Inc.
Blue Bell, PA
phone: 215-283-3200 ext. 304
e-mail: elbidercni_at_aol.com
Comments are my own.

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Received on Thu Jul 29 1999 - 13:50:25 CDT