ALESSANDRA COTUGNO SUE MIZERA

#Cultural Impact
THE NEW CHALLENGE FOR GLOBAL
BRANDS AND HOW TO MASTER IT

1
 The Dilemma
There has always been a dilemma in the global branding community on how
best to localize a global brand. Should brands aim for having a consistent brand
across markets, like Apple? Or should they use a more localized approach, as
Nestlé does? Or should they perhaps aim for a hybrid approach, like Lego’s,
which has strong global traction while retaining a global core.

Today is a very crucial time to be raising this dilemma. Global brands are
declining while local brands are thriving. 66% of global brands are in decline
or stagnant, their brand life expectancy halved since 1950, while local brands
grew by $41B in 2015, thriving in fast-growth markets and outpacing global
brands in growth 6.2% to 3.4%. Global brands need help today as they have
not in times past. (1)

2 3
 Dynamic of global brand performance
We have found a way of addressing these dilemmas, and identified the main lever brands can
pull to become a global icon and retain strong local relevance.

Young & Rubicam’s BrandAsset® Valuator (BAV), the world’s largest and longest-running
brand database, helped us to explore this in detail.

We created two indexes to cut to the core of the issue, and applied them to 24,000 brands in
22 markets: (2)

(1) The Cultural Relevance Index, to help understand how culturally relevant a brand is

(2) The Imagery-Consistency Index, to measure how similar or dissimilar a brand’s imagery is
across different markets. (3)

What we found:

1
Local brands can and do exist harmoniously in the same ranks with global brands across
all countries.

In France, for example, we find Google and Lego popping up among Téfal, Danone and
Décathlon.

In Argentina, YouTube and Coke mingle with Savora (a local condiment) and Pope
Francis.
Japan (2015) US (2014) Germany (2015) Turkey (2016)
In Japan, Disney and Dyson are in t iPhone t Disney t Apple t Facebook
the mix with Toyota and Fuji while t
t
Toyota
Tokyo Disneyland
t
t
Amazon.com
Google
t
t
Google
iPhone
t
t
Mercedes
Eldor
t Google t The History Channel t eBay t Sensodyne
in China, Swatch and IKEA join t Disney t Netflix t YouTube t TV8
t Universal Studios t Apple t Nike t gittigidiyor
Tencent, CCTV and Huawei in their t
t
Amazon.com
Sony xperia
t
t
Star Wars
YouTube
t
t
iPad
IKEA
t
t
Kütahya Porselen
Onurair
top 20 brands. (See Figure 1.) t
t
Dyson
Studio Ghibli
t
t
Lego
Walt Disney World
t
t
Lego
Windows
t
t
Twitter
Converse
t Honda t Microsoft Windows t Disney t Cif
t Microsoft t PayPal.com t Fussball-WM t Metro (çikolata)
t GORE-TEX t Pixar t WhatsApp t Taç
So clearly, some global brands can t
t
Tanita
iRobot Roomba
t
t
Burt’s Bees
iPhone
t
t
Fussball-EM
Microsoft
t
t
Karaca Home
Migros
and do enter different countries and t
t
Fuji
Apple
t
t
Google Maps
The Olympic Games
t
t
Samsung
Coca-Cola
t
t
Türk Hava Yollari
Koçtas
t Under Armour t PBS t UNICEF t Çilek Mobilya
cultures and achieve the same high t Nike t iPad t iPod t Instagram
t Panasonic t Habitat for Humanity t McDonald’s t Discovery Kanallari
levels of engagement as do local t iPad t Facebook t Lindt t Sebamed sampuan

brands. Figure 1. Top 20 results by a sample of countries

4 5
2
The vast majority of brands adopt a mixed approach, or rather, an undefined one:
they cluster in the middle of the axes, failing to achieve cultural significance. Influence of cultural relevance on brand equity
This finding, although surprising, is
We divided the map into 16 sub-sections and analyzed equity levels and imagery behind
HIGH

CULTURAL RELEVANCE INDEX

not so unexpected.
each of them.

Apart from well-known tech

CULTURE

When international B STRENGTH = 80 B STRENGTH = 84 B STRENGTH = 89

players, like Google, Amazon,

CULTURAL RELEVANCE INDEX

brands decline, this

HIGH
YouTube, Facebook and Wikipedia, appears to be linked 13 14 15 16

and a few notable consumer to the decline of their B STRENGTH = 58 B STRENGTH = 60 B STRENGTH = 68 B STRENGTH = 70

CULTURE
brands like Nike, Coke, Disney, image consistency, which
ultimately impacts their 9 10 11 12
LOW

Sony and Samsung, the majority of

cultural relevance. B STRENGTH = 32 B STRENGTH = 44 B STRENGTH = 50 B STRENGTH = 47
global brands are struggling in local
LOW CONSISTENCY
CONSISTENCY HIGH CONSISTENCY

markets everywhere. There is a striking 5 6 7 8

CONSISTENCY IN IMAGERY PERCEPTION
correlation between the B STRENGTH = 27 B STRENGTH = 19

LOW
Figure 2. Global Brand-scape: winner vs. majority decline of brand strength,
from more consistent to 1 2 3 4

less, right to left, as brand

relevance declines in turn,
LOW CONSISTENCY
CONSISTENCY HIGH CONSISTENCY

top to bottom. CONSISTENCY IN IMAGERY PERCEPTION

3
Figure 4. Cultural relevance and image as measures of
Those brands that do succeed in localizing their global marketing, succeed on one global brand success
measure more than the other: cultural relevance. Achieving cultural traction has a
much stronger impact on loyalty levels than achieving greater image consistency.
(See text box on next page.) Once brands lose cultural relevance, especially as it drops below the midpoint, they post
losses in key consumer measures like esteem, usage and preference.
HIGH

HIGH
CULTURAL RELEVANCE INDEX

CULTURAL RELEVANCE INDEX

BY BY IMAGE 180
- 104% ESTEEM
CULTURE

CULTURE

- 123% STRENGTH
CONSISTENCY 160 - 109% USAGE
CULTURE 140 - 97% PREFERENCE
LOW

LOW

LOW CONSISTENCY
CONSISTENCY HIGH CONSISTENCY LOW CONSISTENCY
CONSISTENCY HIGH CONSISTENCY
120
CONSISTENCY IN IMAGERY PERCEPTION CONSISTENCY IN IMAGERY PERCEPTION
160 160 100
140 140 80
120 120 60
100 100 40
80 80 20
60 60 0
Q16-15 Q14 Q11-12 Q7-8 Q5-6 Q9-10 Q2 Q3
40 40

20 20 ESTEEM STRENGTH USAGE PREFERENCE

0 0
PREFERENCE CONSIDERATION USAGE (REG AND OCC) PREFERENCE CONSIDERATION USAGE (REG AND OCC)
Figure 5. Declines in cultural relevance correlate with equity declines
BRAND LOYALTY BRAND LOYALTY

TOP (HIGH SCORING) BOTTOM (LOW SCORING)

CULTURAL ICONS
LESS CONSISTENT ICONS CONSISTENT ICONS Brands in Q.3 vs. those in Qs.15 and 16, for example, post declines in esteem (-104%),
CULTURAL ICONS
strength (-123%), usage (-109%) and preference (-97%). (The spike in usage for the middle
quadrants is likely due to habitual usage and price responsiveness.)
Figure 3. Cultural relevance vs. image consistency: impact on loyalty

6 7
4 Special difficulties of global cultural
Culturally relevant brands

HIGH

CULTURAL RELEVANCE INDEX

are associated with being
% DIFFERENCES CONSISTENT

CULTURE
relevancy
more original, innovative
ICONS VS. LESS CONSISTENT
and visionary than other
international brands.

LOW
LOW CONSISTENCY
CONSISTENCY HIGH CONSISTENCY

CONSISTENCY IN IMAGERY PERCEPTION

They stand out for purpose GAINING IN POPULARITY

and conviction and carry an TRUSTWORTHY It is one thing to become an icon in a home market. It is another thing entirely to become a
ORIGINAL
underlying idea of effective DIFFERENT global brand icon, market by market.
HIGH PERFORMANCE
change within them. AUTHENTIC
PROGRESSIVE
INNOVATIVE
First, there are regional skews in how people relate to global and local icons. Take East and
Culturally iconic brands make a UNIQUE West. In the East, global icons are seen as daring, high quality and trendy, while local icons
INTELLIGENT
cultural impact. VISIONARY are seen as visionary, reliable, popular and down to earth. By contrast, global icons in the
West are seen as distinctive, leaders, high performance and unique while local icons are seen
Figure 6. Cultural relevant brands are visionary change-agents as best brands, trustworthy, straightforward and obliging. Not one attribute overlaps! (5)

As well, different brand values emerge as more important in different countries.

Straightforward is important in Germany, responsible is important in Italy; Indonesia prefers
kind, South Korea prefers energetic, while Spain likes fun and the UK likes friendly.
Cultural impact: what it is To top it off, cultural icons in many countries differ by the archetype – symbols and visual
and why it’s important identities – that the countries perceive them to be: (See Figure 7.)

• So, India’s iconic brands are mostly

seen as Lovers, reflecting the power
Today’s new global icons succeed in every country they play in. They manage to penetrate
of sentiments.
local cultures, as Douglas Holt identifies about any icon, and succeed “because they forge a
GERMANY INDIA UK
deep connection with the culture. In essence, they compete for cultural share.” (4)
• In the UK, they are Magicians, in
Jester Magician Jester Guardian
Warrior Lover
Lover 2% 5% 3% 3%
3% Explorer 5%
3% Companion
5%
5%

constant evolution, forward looking Sage

5%
Guardian
15% Wa
Lover
19%
Magician
18%
Cultural icons positively engage the public, become a talking point, create emotional and Pa
tria rr
6% ior
Sage
6%

and transformational. Think Richard

7% rch
Sage Maiden
6% 6%
social reactions, raise and resolve cultural contradictions. They are rooted in traditional brand Explorer
Enchantress
Patriarch Earth Mother

Branson.
14% Enchantress
8% Explorer 12%
13%
6% 16%
ther
building and connecting to the lifestyles, identity and ideology of people, culture by culture. h Mo
Eart 8% Magician
12%
Maiden
6%
Warrior
8% Jester

ss
Earth Mother

8% tre
Pa 12%

an
Companion 13% tria
This is certain.

ch
Maiden 9% rch

En
11% Guardian Companion

• In Japan, they are Jesters. Think

12%
10% 10%

CHINA TURKEY
Pokemon. Enchantress Explorer

But creating culturally relevant global icons requires more: pushing boundaries, presenting Enchantress
3%
Jester Companion
7% 9%
Maiden
5%
3% 2%

alternative views, taking a stand, stimulating debate, nurturing diversity and taking people on Magician

• In Thailand, they are Earth Mothers,

Lover Jester
Maiden 15%
8% 7%
5%

journeys of individual discovery, challenge and change. Explorer

2%
Earth
Mothe

nature as a source of stability and

r
7% Warrior
Guardian Patriarch 13%
10% 11% Lover
8%

nurturance. Most Thai iconic brands

Warrior
13% er Companion Patriarch
th Sage
It’s about making powerful, one-to-one connections across cultures from a distant, near- Mo
rth 7% 10%
9% 11%

are food and condiments.

Ea Sage Guardian
Magician
15% 10% 10%

Olympian platform. It’s about raising and solving cultural tensions together.
• In Germany, they are Guardians, Source: Y&R BAV data
These are especially difficult accomplishments for any brand, much less global brands that
rationality at the service of
must repeat this success market by market. Why is this? Figure 7. Cultural icons differ by archetypes and countries
individuals. (6)

8 9
How the new global icons create
cultural impact: seven best practices
Who are today’s global brands and how have they achieved global cultural relevance?
For some brands, like WWF, the Olympic Games and the Paralympics, creating cultural
impact is a more obvious task: it is in their DNA. So too for tech brands, whose intellectual,
innovative and life-changing contributions continue to surprise and delight people across the
world and actually forge new dimensions of culture in the process: Microsoft, Apple, Amazon,
Facebook, WhatsApp and Netflix.
For other global brands, their cultural impact is supported by world-class CSR, such as
Ferrero’s “zero tolerance approach” to child labor in the cocoa supply chain or the James
Dyson Foundation’s dedication to training and encouraging young design engineers.
But for many brands from more traditional categories -- food, sport and games, home and
entertainment -- creating cultural impact is a totally new marketing front. It presents an
entirely new challenge – beyond traditional brand building and beyond familiar markets. What
have these new global icons – like IKEA, Lego, Ariel and Rayban-- achieved that other brands
in their categories have not?
Our evaluation of the success of these new global icons takes us to seven “best practices”:
1. They speak directly, meaningfully to cultures, one at a time.
2. They solve cultural problems.
3. They understand the power of forming new partnerships.
4. They aim to provoke personal reactions across cultures.
5. They re-engineer their brand while never losing their soul.
6. They put global brand management in the service of local cultural expertise.
7. They redefine research to get closer to cultures, one by one.
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1. They speak directly, meaningfully to
cultures, one at a time.
New Global icons root their communications in each of the cultures they operate in. They
immerse themselves not just in the language and habits of a culture but in its value system,
vernacular, idioms, humor, customs, beliefs and philosophies. They connect to lifestyles,
identity and ideology and become part of creating powerful new stories and myths. They
invite people to come along with them and to feel that they share a common cause.
IKEA is masterful at this.
IKEA communicates globally via extensive use of advertising and social media with country-
specific feeds to a minimum of 1.5M fans on each of its country pages.
In the US and UK, IKEA targets national
holidays and cultural events, like St. Patrick’s
Day or Bonfire Night. Not the most obvious
celebrations, but clearly culturally “switched
on” opportunities to promote e.g., the color
green or cozy, indoor lighting.
https://twitter.com/ikeauk/
status/794947397176717314
In its latest US ad campaign, ”We Help You Make It”, IKEA addresses the evolving American
dream in a post-recession economic climate. The campaign offers very little about furniture,
featuring instead the “new normal” of real people living in real situations. In one ad, a mom
and dad give their bedroom to the new baby while they sleep in the living room. It puts
IKEA’s affordability in a context of real-life situations. (7)
In Germany, tapping into a growing national importance placed on sleep as a driver of mental
health and quality of life, IKEA published a survey they conducted in Germany entitled
“Where good days start”. They reported that a good night’s sleep is only guaranteed with
products suited to very individual needs, resulting in 18M visitors to the bedroom section of
IKEA.de and a 16% increase in bedroom sales.
http://ameawards.com/winners/2016/pieces.php?pid=1&iid=499031
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 In France, based on the fact that half
of French people have bathrooms
smaller than 8sqm, IKEA installed a
life-size bathroom and laundry room
by the Gare Saint Lazare, and deployed
two actors during peak commuting
times to shave and shower in the
luxury of added space. Parisians were
mesmerized.
http://www.strategies.fr/actualites/
marques/222413W/ikea-met-en-
scene-ses-salles-de-bain-devant-la-
gare-saint-lazare.html
In China, where snoozing
is something of a national
pastime and citizens have
been known to doze
off in supermarkets, on
playground equipment
and backs of mopeds,
IKEA has long permitted
visitors to their showrooms
to “catch 40 winks” in
their beds and under
their duvets. Everywhere
else in the world, IKEA
prohibits snoozing in their
showrooms. (8)
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2. They solve cultural problems.
Cultural icons find social hot points and take a point of view and global icons do so
even more. They enter very local territory and bring an outsider’s caring and concerned
perspective. They enter debates and dialogues and dare to solve cultural contradictions. They
become the source of problem-solving that audiences look to for solutions.
Three award-winning examples:
Vodafone:
Vodafone entered the dialogue in Turkey with its “Between Us” campaign and its Red
Light App, for which it won a Cannes 2015 Grand Prix Media Award. Its purpose was to
improve the lives of women in an unequal world through technology. The app discretely
allows women to alert others if they encounter danger. It unleashed the power of the Turkish
women’s community to spread the word secretly about their new empowerment.
Within 14 months, the app was downloaded by 255,000 women, or 24% of women with
smartphones in Turkey, and more than 1.5M women watched and shared the tutorials on
social media pages embedded in female-specific content, e.g., hair and make-up suggestions.
Sadly, over 100,00 women have asked for help using the application.
http://adage.com/article/special-report-cannes-lions/media-grand-prix-winner-secret-victims-
abuse/299171/
P&G’s Ariel:
With “Share the Load,” a Cannes 2016 award-winner for P&G in India, Ariel took a point of
view on nothing less than the role of women in the home and society and the hierarchies of
gender and status. The campaign features a busy working wife and mother struggling to keep
together her family, work-life and household duties, like doing the laundry.
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The woman’s uncomplaining industry and purpose catch the eye of her father, who comes
to realize how much his daughter could use a helping hand with the chores. His eyes are 3. They understand the power of forming new
opened. Why shouldn’t men share laundry responsibilities? Why is laundry only the “mother’s
work”? Online, 1.57 million men pledged to “share the load”, and Ariel benefitted from $10M
partnerships.
in earned-media publicity. Sales volume increased 105%.
http://www.campaignbriefasia.com/2016/06/bbdo-india-wins-bronze-in-crea.html Digital, online and social media are progenitors of today’s global cultural icons. They make
possible the content, stories, co-creation, collaboration, crowd-sourcing and communities,
market by market, that are the backbone of global icons’ strength and vibrancy. Integration
Burger King: with traditional vehicles, advertising to retail, lifts all to new levels of engagement, relevance,
difference and delight. It is a new world.
Burger King dared to fix negatives with it’s
McWhopper campaign and a single-minded LEGO is the master.
purpose: to promote peace. Its inventiveness
lies in BK’s commitment to the ultimate Lego is in the movie business. The Lego Movie, a 2014 3D computer-animated film, over-
sacrifice: joining with its long-time global rival, performed among critics, audiences and at the box office. Its trailer has over 30M views on
McDonald’s, to create the ultimate burger. YouTube and the Lego Movie Sequel has been announced for 2018. Lego also partners with
Star Wars and Disney franchises like Frozen.
The campaign, which garnered a Cannes
Grand Prix 2016 Media Award, made it easy Lego is in the crowd-sourcing and co-creation business. Its Lego Idea site invites ideas from
and interesting for global citizens to celebrate fans and, if popular, the ideas may be put into production, with royalties paid. https://digit.
peace, culture by culture. The campaign hbs.org/submission/lego-ideas-a-leading-crowdsourcing-platform-in-the-toy-industry/
delivered 8.9B media impressions, $138M
in earned media and a 40% increase in Lego is in the content marketing business. Their social media team posts regular videos on
awareness of Peace Day. their Instagram and Vine channels of e.g., Minecraft, the Mannequin Challenge and Super Girl
http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising- superheroes, thus keeping at the forefront of being current, engaging and exciting.
branding/yrs-mcwhopper-burger-king-adds-
another-cannes-grand-prix-media-172164 Lego is in the experiential shopper business. In its latest London shop, you can enter a life-
size Underground tube carriage made of 635,000 bricks; build a Minifigure Tower with
Talking Lego Minifigures; view Lego movies and clips on digital window displays; and ask for
assistance by sending a message to the smart watches of store staff.

Lego is entering new channels. It has partnered with Facebook for its “Kronkiwongi”
campaign, which asks children around the world to create an imaginary character called
“kronkiwongi”. Parents are encouraged to upload their children’s interpretations on Lego’s FB
page; FB’s Creative Shop created the ad campaign.
https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/02/11/how-legos-kronkiwongi-campaign-drove-
customer-engagement/

14 15
Lego has entered another new channel. It has partnered with John Lewis, the UK retailer,
to recreate scenes from five of its iconic Christmas ads. Videos featuring the creation of the
iconic Christmas scenes with the iconic bricks will be featured on websites as well as at the
JL flagship store.
http://www.johnlewis.com/inspiration-and-advice/family/lego-christmas-advert
4. They aim to provoke personal reactions
across cultures.
Culturally impactful brands make powerful, one-to-one connections across cultures. They do
so by resetting the classic mode of traditional brand communications --- problem-solution-
resolution—into culturally-impactful contexts. The result is not traditional brand differentiation
vs. competition, but rather individual enlightenment, culture by culture. This seemingly small
change effectively resets the communications paradigm.
RayBan is an exemplar.
RayBan launched their #ItTakesCourage campaign in 2016, following the success of their
award-winning Never Hide campaign, which perhaps poses the ultimate brand tension.
#ItTakesCourage builds on the DNA of RayBan, genuine since 1937, to have courage in
yourself. The campaign presents six challenges, issued one per month, via social media to 30
markets. Challenges include Open your heart, Push yourself, Fight perfection, Face critics, Do
your part and Unplug.
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The campaign ultimately connects one-to-one:
• It establishes cultural tension, posing contradictions which create anxiety and
dissatisfaction: Are you courageous enough?
• It provides the solution, the culturally relevant idea: Go ahead, try to push yourself, try to
unplug. Dare bigger.
• It then offers the resolution in self-identification: the stories people tell and share online
globally, which help forge new and stronger identities.
http://www.beebee.info/fashion/rayban-it-takes-courage
Another exemplar: The Paralympics
A completely different brand, but an equally powerful exemplification of the new cultural
paradigm. Channel 4’s 2012 Paralympics campaign set out to confront people’s discomfort
towards watching people with disabilities on television.
• It established cultural tension, posing the contradiction: Can a disabled athlete really be an
athlete?
• It provided the solution, the culturally relevant idea: Disabled people do amazing things,
they’re incredibly able, beyond our wildest imaginations
• It offered the resolution in self-identification: I identify with these inspiring people and I
feel whenever I’m faced with a challenge, I can change my own destiny if I first change my
attitude.
Viewers struggled to find words strong enough to express their wonder. Scores for
Paralympics as “Leader” soared from the 33rd to the 92nd percentile. The cultural influence of
this brand resides in its ability to influence attitude and behavior change through journeys of
self-discovery. (9)
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5. They re-engineer their brand while never
losing their soul.
Coke entered a new phase
Global icons—think Disney or McDonald’s or Coke – are masters at re-engineering their of communications in 2016
brands, culture to culture, while never, ever losing their souls. with its “Taste the Feeling”
Disneyland Anaheim, Disneyland Tokyo and Disneyland Paris are at home in three cultures campaign.
and yet distinctly Disney in each.

Whether a McTurco, a McArabia or a McItaly, they are all McDonald’s. You just feel Coke is
Coke whether you encounter it in Kenya or Hong Kong or Berlin. These brands are in exquisite
touch with their distinct DNAs. Their values, philosophies, visions and reasons for being drive
them everywhere.
For the first time, all four colas would be marketed under one brand while country-specific
Global icons own and deliver category costs of entry, everywhere, which define their global sponsorships, promotions and digital content -- like #CapitalUpClose in the UK, #The
core, while they manage to articulate, culture by culture, their unique, distinctive differences. HappinessCycle in Australia or #GameDayFeeling in the US -- assure that these evolutions are
We can see this through BAV. not only true to its soul, but relevant and impactful to local cultures too.
http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/taste-the-feeling-launch
Take Coca-Cola, the leader for over 130 years in one of the world’s most competitive
consumer categories, sparkling drinks.

BAV identifies the category costs of entry as fun, energy, originality and friendliness.
(Figure 8.)

COCA-COLA ADD-ONS
While owning these entry requirements,
PRESTIGIOUS
INTELLIGENT
LEADER
Coca-Cola adds its distinctive traits to the
SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE
HIGH PERFORMANCE
PROGRESSIVE
category -- intelligence, a vision, prestige,
DYNAMIC BEST BRAND
VISIONARY
TRUSTWORTHY social responsibility- creating its unique
ABOVE AVERAGE

HIGH QUALITY GAINING IN POPULARITY

RELIABLE INNOVATIVE WORTH MORE DISTINCTIVE
COST OF ENTRY
‘voice’ that goes beyond the generics of
COCA-COLA INDEXED TO

TRADITIONAL DARING
STYLISH DOWN TO EARTH TRENDY SOCIAL
CATEGORY AVERAGE

CARES CUSTOMERS GLAMOROUS AUTHENTIC UNIQUE ENERGETIC

INDEPENDENT UP TO DATE SENCUOUS
UPPER CLASS CHARMING
GOOD VALUE
ORIGINAL
FRIENDLY FUN play.
CAREFREE
HELPFUL DIFFERENT
OBLIGING
KIND HEALTHY
If soft drinks are all about being playful and
BELOW AVERAGE

STRAIGHTFORWARD SIMPLE
UNAPPROACHABLE
RESTRAINED
having fun, Coca-Cola is about learning
to live better and more positively. The
SPARKLING SOFT DRINKS IMAGERY RANKS dichotomy between the superficiality of
(GLOBAL CATEGORY AVERAGE)
UNCOMMON TO CATEGORY COMMON TO CATEGORY (COST OF ENTRY)
the category and the depth of Coca-Cola’s
Courtesy of Y&R BAVLAB, NY.
message, creates a unique tension in the
brand.
Figure 8. Coca-cola’s Global Playing Field

It’s what makes Coca-Cola stand out among competition. It’s Coke’s cultural impact. It gives
unique voice to Coke as a story-teller brand: always rooted in its origins and heritage but able
to take flight and innovate across cultures and time.

18 19
6. They put global management in the service
of local cultural expertise.
It is important to build global brand teams to ensure brands resonate more effectively in
each and every local market. It is vital to dial-up and dial-down, from central creation to local
adaptation and back to central for revisions, thus delivering the brand’s DNA, appropriately
nuanced, and fostering new ways of working.
So as never to lose local sensitivities, while still reaping central cost efficiencies, global icons
are re-aligning their marketing to put global even more in the service of local.
Today, central people provide locals more tools to help them win in their markets. Local
people bring their deep knowledge of culture, e.g., consumption rituals, perceptions of
products in context, the affinity and emotional relationships people have with brands as well
as practical, hands-on dynamics of the retail trade. 
They do eXploring. As Sandy Thompson, Global Planning Director at Y&R says, “if you want
to understand how a lion hunts, don’t go to the zoo, go to the jungle“. Rejecting the classic
focus group model of consumer research, eXploring emphasizes interacting with people
where, when and how they use brands, in and outside of the home.
http://www.yr-group.ch/international/exploring-new-york-get-out-of-the-zoo-and-into-the-
jungle-2
Brand managers are the new culture navigators, new investors in an icon’s cultural capital,
who need to be out front whenever, wherever marketing and communications need to be just
right.
They employ social media, asking key consumer research questions via Twitter and FB,
gaining real time information while circumventing more classic, costly quantitative polling.
They engage with unconventional sources, country by country, even city by city: local
journalists, sociologists, bloggers and authors.

Central provides internal training by markets, and fosters a common marketing vocabulary,

Conclusions
supported with a library of global assets, campaign resources and brand guidelines. Locals
develop locally relevant, on-brand content for their markets, in line with global standards. 

Central drives adoption of global systems and processes, unifies core technologies and
ensures that all local marketers speak one language, track the same agreed-upon metrics and In future, brands will need to understand cultures, lifestyles and ideologies much better than
learn from each others’ successes and failures. they do today. There is no iconicity, no cultural impact, no relevancy without mastering the
power of culture, which is the sine qua non of a global icon.

7. They redefine research to get closer to Should you seek to become a global brand, aim to become an icon in every culture you want
cultures, one by one. to play in. Reach out and deep for your cultural meaning. It’s there and we know it now. It’s
up to you to find it.
Going deep in a culture is not easy. Getting it right is tricky and consumer research, while
critical, is costly. At the same time, global icons need to be at the right place, at the right time,
time and again.

They need to be able to capture public imagination, and provide content that people are
proud to participate in and share with family and friends. And they need to be prepared to
adjust everything over time.

Toyota advises ”genchi genbutsu”, ”go and see”. And so global cultural icons do. They get
out and explore new cities, regions and cultures. They talk to people and immerse themselves
in different points of view. They are constantly curious.

New global icons still perform classic ethnographies, home visits captured now more and
more on video-cams with images recorded in vast databases and footage analyzed by
anthropologists.

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References
(1) Saul Betmead, “Building Brands with Cultural Capital”, Y&R Keynote presented at Brand
Week Istanbul, November, 2016

(2) Countries evaluated: Argentina, Turkey, India, Russia, Poland, Czechia, Austria, Holland,
Belgium, Germany, France, UK, Spain, Italy, US, China, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia,
Thailand, Japan, Australia.

(3) Specific measures of both the Global Iconicity Index and the Brand Imagery-Consistency
Index are proprietary to Y&R.

(4) Douglas Holt, “What Becomes a Icon Most?” Harvard Business Review (March, 2003):
43.

(5) Sue Mizera and Alessandra Cotugno, “10 tips for success in brand migration”, WARC/
Admap (October, 2015): 16

(6) Proprietary data from Y&R’s BAV.

(7) Martha C. White, “Ikea Strategy Ditches the Dream Home for the Daily Grind”, New York
Times, October 30, 2016

(8) Dan Levin, “Shhh. It’s Naptime at Ikea in China”, New York Times, August 26, 2016

(9) Y&R proprietary campaign data.

Special thanks to
Saul Betmead, Chief Strategy Officer, Young & Rubicam EMEA
and Candice Gabay, Graphic Designer.

Young & Rubicam Group, 2017. All rights reserved Please join us on #makingculturalimpact

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BIOs
| Alessandra Cotugno
Alessandra is Head of Planning & eXploring at Y&R Advertising.
A leading expert in the BrandAsset® Valuator, the world’s largest consumer survey, as
well eXploring, Y&R’s qualitative research tool, Alessandra brings together expertise in
international strategy, cultural trends, consumer insights and brand planning to provide
strategic consulting services for a broad spectrum of brands and industries.
Alessandra’s specialism is global strategy for clients looking to explore cross-cultural
opportunities, and the use of data driven storytelling to identify social change, and help
consumers and brands to connect.
Alessandra joined Y&R EMEA in 2003, after holding several positions in marketing and
planning in Italy and the UK.
More information on LinkedIn.
alessandra.cotugno@yr.com
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| Sue Mizera
She is the former Managing Director of Young & Rubicam Business Consultants, Geneva, a
strategic brand and business consultancy that she created.
Sue’s clients have included Microsoft Business Dynamics, Areva T&D, Caterpillar, the World
Economic Forum, Siminn (Iceland Telecom), DuPont (multiple divisions), CareFusion/Becton
Dickinson, Medtronic and Stryker.
Besides current projects with large multinationals, new branding projects focus on start-ups
and SMEs in innovation incubators, for whom Sue has tailored a branding and messaging
process in line with their size and needs.
A presentation that Sue wrote with Alessandra Cotugno and gave at the World Marketing
Congress in Mumbai, November 2014, “West and East: A Guide to Migrating Brands Across
the Globe” was awarded a WPP Atticus Award in June, 2015. Versions were published in
AdMap/WARC in October, 2015.
Sue is an American with dual Swiss-American citizenship. She graduated from Washington
University, Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude, with degrees in Classics, Philosophy and
Comparative Literature. She holds a Ph.D. from Princeton in Classics.
More information on LinkedIn.
sue.mizera@bluewin.ch
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 Creating culturally relevant global brands requires pushing
boundaries, presenting alternative views, taking a stand, stimulating
debate, nurturing diversity and taking people on journeys of
individual discovery, challenge and change. It’s about raising and
solving cultural tensions together.

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