Local Marketing or Global Marketing – Why not GLOCAL?
A brand and its reputation are two faces of the same picture. Wherever a brand goes, its reputation follows. This is why international marketing can be challenging or even daunting at times, particularly if marketing critics choose to focus on a failed campaign, disappointing strategy, or uninspiring promotion.
But this doesn’t stop a marketer, does it?
This mountain of business marketing might appear tall, but those who scale it are lauded for their creativity, uniqueness, and sense of humour.
Many localised businesses feel they’ve reached their complete potential with round the year profits from a single store. Well, here’s a fun question for you – what would have happened if McDonald’s, Tesco, and Coca-Cola thought this way too? Small businesses must strengthen their local presence, granted, but this shouldn’t stop them from dreaming big.
The key is thinking GLOCAL.
What is Glocal Marketing?
It’s when your marketing strategy takes the nuances of the target geographic region into account. The term ‘glocal’ is said to have originated from the Japanese word dochakuka that means global localisation.
Let’s understand this with an example.
McDonald’s has done some brilliant glocal business marketing over the years. Their key promotional figure is Ronald McDonald. He is seldom seen on television commercials, except when promoting in-store campaigns.
In Europe, he celebrates Christmas while in Hong Kong, he celebrates the Chinese New Year. You can find him promoting the Filet-o-Fish in Australia and McDonald’s wine in France.
Ronald has very subtly become the franchise’s differentiating factor in every market it targets. The global media rarely gets a glimpse of a templated menu of food items – either through television or print media – and the local adaptations help the brand carve a name for itself everywhere. The only standards that are globally accepted are the company’s employee policies, health and safety protocols, and management hierarchy.
So, you see, global marketing conceives and controls the global footprint of this brand, and it is achieved by defining and communicating core values of McDonald’s. These are then executed via consistent styles, tone, and images. The local business marketing, on the other hand, refines communication of these core values by positioning them such that locals resonate with them. Local brand building depends on accurate awareness of local trends and festivals and the ability to leverage this knowledge to allow international marketing to seamlessly fit in.
Next time you find yourself thinking about expanding, give it a go and think Glocal business marketing – not just local or global!
