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Internationalisation 03

Global branding
Lead-in

1 Look at the ten brands on the IWB. What do these brands have in common? Discuss with your
partner or group.
2 Complete the table with the brands.

World’s top brands by value

Brand name Origin Industry Value ($billion)
1
USA Technology 104.3
2
USA Technology 56.7
3
USA 54.9
4
USA Technology 50.7
5
USA Technology 47.3
6
USA Food 39.4
7
USA Diversified 34.2
8
USA Technology 30.9
9
South Korea Technology 29.5
10
France Luxury 28.4

Input

1 Look at three more brands on the IWB. Discuss whether you think these three companies globalise
their brands in the same way.

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2 Read the following article to check your ideas.
Globalising a brand
Not only does global branding increase
turnover but it also makes economies of
scale possible. Brands associated with high
quality are those that are most successful
around the world. Likewise, if a brand is
global, that creates value in the mind of
consumers. Marketers need to understand
that on no account does simply being
a global brand make consumer goods
desirable, but rather the fact that their
‘globalness’ suggests characteristics of
quality and prestige.
The number of ‘ethnocentric’ consumers
who evade global products because
they are global varies by country and
industry. Food, for example, is a culturally
important industry and experiences more
ethnocentrism than technology. However,
scarcely ever does ethnocentrism preside
over quality as can be seen by the success
of McDonald’s in France. In reality, many
French people like McDonald’s in terms of
quality or value for money, although there
are also those who are uncomfortable with
the global positioning of the company. We
can conclude that quality is a much more
important feature than global association.
The French may hate McDonald’s but they
eat there anyway.
3 Read the text again. Work in pairs and answer these questions.
1 Give two reasons why the writer thinks global branding is advantageous.
2 Give two characteristics of global products or services.
3 What’s the definition of an ethnocentric consumer?
4 According to the text, what’s more important in global branding: the quality or ethnocentrism?
5 Why don’t companies extend all three areas of their branding?
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Internationalisation 03
Global brands can be globalised in three
ways: by name, trademarks, logos and
symbols; by concept, benefit or promise; or
by the products and services. The question
is, should we globalise all aspects of the
brand? The answer is, probably not, as
rarely is it realistic or profitable to expand
them all. The Mars chocolate bar, for
example, is sold as an energiser in Europe
but as a nutritious snack in Australia with
the slogan ‘A Mars a day helps you work,
rest and play’. There are, therefore, different
concepts and positioning for the same
product. Nescafé, on the other hand, have
different flavours and formulas of coffee
throughout the world.
Other companies globalise their advertising
campaigns. Nowhere is this more present
than in sectors that concern mobility, such
as car rental and airlines. Hertz, for example,
presents typical images such as the busy
executive. A Spanish businessman will
identify more with a rushed businessman
who is not Spanish than a Spaniard who
is not a businessman. By producing
advertising with regional appeal, brands can
maximise profitability.
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6 Is a Mars bar the same all over the world?

7 Is Nescafé the same or different around the world?

8 How do companies in the mobility sector globalise their brands and why?

Language focus

1 Look at the first sentence of the article. What do you notice about word order?
2 Underline four more examples of this in the article.
3 Check your answers with your partner. Discuss why inversion is used.
4 Categorise these adverbials into negative and limiting by writing N or L next to each one.
1 only occasionally
2 on no account
3 never
4 not once
5 hardly ever
6 never once
7 not often
8 seldom
9 rarely
10 scarcely ever
11 nowhere
5 Rewrite these sentences to include a fronted adverbial.
1 Companies never bring out different TV advertisements for different countries.

2 Young people rarely identify with long-established local values.

3 We can only occasionally consider Europe as a single homogenous area.

4 Lancôme Paris should never be considered a low-quality brand.

5 We seldom associate ‘Made in Germany’ with low quality.

6 You will hardly ever find Scottish-made haggis in America.

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6 Read your sentences to your partner and, together, identify which part of the sentence should be stressed.

Task

1 Look at the four logos on the IWB. In groups, choose one of the brands. Using the spidergram
below, discuss how that brand is promoted in your country. .

name or
logo product
range

target
Global
customer
branding

advertising brand
benefits

product
adaptation

2 Now, on your own, think of a successful national brand in your country. Plan a two-minute
presentation on how the brand could be globalised. When everyone in your group has
presented, you will decide whose presentation was the best.
3 Give your two-minute presentation to your group.
4 Whose presentation was the best? Nominate someone in your group to tell the class whose
presentation was best and why.

Review

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