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Great global ads: the secret of success

In our earlier Knowledge Point, Why is it so difficult to produce world class international advertising?, we highlighted the
pitfalls to be avoided in producing global advertising. Here, we
look at the steps you can take to help ensure a successful international campaign. Broadly, there are four approaches proven
to work well: identifying clusters of countries where the brands
standing and cultural attitudes are similar; finding an idea that
represents the brands unique perspective on a human truth;
creating a brand space in which to express this perspective;
basing ads on a genuinely unique product benefit. In addition, we consider how international ads across all media can be
adapted to bring the idea alive locally.
Ads without frontiers: four proven approaches

tend to respond less well to this kind of advertising.

From our studies, we have identified four approaches that

The example below illustrates this approach, showing the

have been used successfully by international advertisers:

world segmented into three regions according to the status

of a particular brand; note these clusters do not represent

1. The brand status cluster approach

traditional geographic divisions:

Brand status has been found to have a considerable influ-

Cluster one USA, Mexico, Brazil, Poland, South Africa;

ence on the kind of communications that are effective for

consumers know what the brand stands for (high efficacy),

a brand. For example, ads with an implicit message tend

but this is not enough it is seen as a category entry-point

to work best in countries where the brand is very highly re-

only. The brand needs to finds additional benefits, or find

garded and familiar; where the brand has permission to

more differentiating ways to talk about efficacy.

invite the consumer to fill in the gaps based on what they

Cluster two Argentina, U.K., Germany, Turkey, Australia;

already know and feel about the brand. In countries where

consumers know what the brand stands for, but dont feel

the brand is less well known and of lower status, consumers

Great global ads: the secret of success

close to it. The brand needs to become more emotionally

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appealing.

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late to the drive shared by many people across the

globe to find a partner, or help the next generation
to thrive and to live a long, fulfilling life.

Cluster three Chile, France, Italy, Japan, Thailand; the

brand is relatively unknown, there is a need to establish what
the brand stands for.

What else unites us as human beings? This TGI data

shows that spending time with the family is a priority
for many people in all countries:

In each cluster of countries, the advertising task is clearly

different although it is possible that, in cases like this, the
same advertising idea could work well for more than one

I enjoy spending time with my family

cluster (e.g. advertising that differentiates the brand in an

Brazil Russia India China Europe
76% 75%
62% 73% 81%

emotionally appealing way could work well for clusters one

and two).

And related to this, people all over the world feel

that children should be free to learn and express
themselves in order to develop:

2. The shared global culture approach

The three aspects of global culture most often used
successfully in international advertising are:

Children should be allowed to express themselves

freely

Movies especially big Hollywood productions,

seen all over the world.

Brazil Russia India China Europe

75% 49% 63% 66% 64%

Love of sport many brands, like Pepsi, have

successfully exploited the global obsession with
football the worlds most popular sport.

At the other end of our life-span, people also like

to see the older generation still getting a lot out of
life:

Youth culture and music another way of uniting audiences across the globe, since the birth
of pop culture in the 1950s. Coke was one of
the first brands to use this approach with their I
want to teach the world to sing campaign.

It is important to continue learning new things

throughout your life
Brazil Russia India China Europe
95% 78% 59% 79% 84%

But its also worth noting that some advertisers have

created effective global advertising by celebrating the
cultural diversity that exists in the world (like HSBC)
or the ethnic diversity of its customers around the
world (like Benetton).

There remain other human truths, (such as the desire for health, exploited by pharmaceutical brands,
and wealth, used by National Lotteries), which arguably have yet to be fully exploited.

3. The fundamental human truth approach

4. The unique product benefit approach

Successful global advertising campaigns can also be

based on an idea that expresses a fundamental truth
or insight about human nature. Most often, these re-

Great global ads: the secret of success

The last of the four proven approaches to creating

international advertising is to clearly demonstrate a

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unique product benefit. Brands like Gillette, LOreal

and Head and Shoulders have successfully adopted
this approach. This can be an effective and successful strategy when there is a genuine product-based
advantage and a large marketing budget.

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consumers:

How do we make the idea come alive in local

markets?
The challenge all international advertisers face is how
to bring alive a global advertising idea in all the local
markets across the whole communications mix.

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Print, leaflets and Web sites are other channels that

can usually be adapted for local markets without too
much expense.

With its relatively low production costs, poster advertising lends itself to local adaptation. Here are some
examples of how the Make the most of now poster
ads created by the central Vodafone team have been
adapted to optimize the campaigns effectiveness in
local markets, by accommodating cultural differences and tactical needs:

But what about TV advertising? Its certainly true

that many successful TV campaigns have traveled
well without any changes to the execution. But there
is sometimes an opportunity to optimize the power of
the advertising idea in local markets through adaptation. For example, an ad using a divining rod worked
well in France; but divining rods were not understood
in Thailand, so the ad needed to be adapted to use
locally understood symbols.

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Create your own Brand Space and theres no

need to adapt
Many successful campaigns have created their own
unique Brand Space which isnt tied to any particular place or time, but is owned by the brand.
Creating this kind of Brand Space isnt easy. Its essential to avoid any reference points, iconography or
use of language which are not shared across cultures. But once found, a Brand Space can form the
basis of an advertising campaign that is distinctive
and travels well.

Heres how the Dove Real Beauty poster campaign

was adapted for Russia following qualitative research
that helped identify the beauty stereotypes appropriate for being criticized and images that were best
for maximizing the power of the idea for Russian

Great global ads: the secret of success

Successful examples of this include the iPod advertising, the distinctive world of Bertolli with its young-

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at-heart older people, and the Comfort Cloth

People. In a series of ads, Huggies created a brand
space where children from many ethnic backgrounds
have fun playing together in a specially created, colorful soft play world. In addition to having a Brand
Space, the advertising celebrates something that
unites parents the world over: pleasure in watching
them have fun.
Coke created a fantastic brand space with their famous Christmas ads Caravan and Convoy. With
these ads, Coke created a highly appealing magical world which evoked the childhood excitement
of Christmas. This carries on what Coke started a
century ago when it created its own Christmas world
featuring the brands color red (even going so far
as to dress Santa Claus in red instead of his traditional green or white). They are ads that generate
strong enjoyment through emotion and the use of
icons and symbols. The now familiar Christmas Coke
ads successfully leverage the emotion of the season
using icons such as the red trucks which have developed into strong brand cues over 30+ years and
are now seen by many viewers as a welcome signal
that the Christmas season is approaching. In Latvia
and Lithuania, where the campaign was one of the
first expressions of western Christmas icons to be
seen, there is a big media event every year called
the Coca-Cola Christmas Caravan Tour where the
big red lorries drive around the country and bring
gifts to people in need.
The material in this presentation originally came from
a joint project between Millward Brown and Ogilvy &
Mather in 2005.
Knowledge Points are drawn from the Millward Brown Knowledge Bank,
consisting of our databases of 50,000 brand reports and 40,000 ads, as well
as 1,000 case studies, 700 conference papers and magazine articles, and
250 Learnings documents.

www.millwardbrown.com

Great global ads: the secret of success

Millward Brown November 2006