How brands establish themselves throughout the world
by Natasha Christou Digital Marketing ConsultantNews travels fast but big brands travel even
faster. Famous faces, iconic logos, and company catchphrases seem to crop up in
every corner of the globe. This might leave you wondering, how on earth did
they get there? If you think back to 2015, you might recall a documentary starring
the not-so-unknown ex-England football star David Beckham. This show, The
Unknown, followed Britain’s beloved Becks as he travelled around the world
to see how his fame had spread (oh, and ‘find himself’ of course). Thanks to
the global adoration of football, and the spread of information via the
internet, Beckham had to travel into the depths of the Amazon rainforest before
he could escape the pleas for selfies.
It’s not only famous faces that have become
world-wide phenomena. Big brands are constantly outgrowing the countries they
were founded in and expanding all around the globe. BMW, Coca-Cola, and
McDonald’s are perfect examples of this. They are all household names and you
would have to venture pretty far before you found someone who hadn’t heard of
them. Let’s have a closer look at how these big names managed to expand around
the globe, and how your business can follow them.
BMW
This well-known car brand is constantly
growing. In 2018, it achieved its highest ever annual sales with a total of 2,125,026
cars sold worldwide, a growth of 1.8%. The figures are impressive, but how
did BMW achieve this worldwide accreditation?
One way that BMW has expanded is by teaming
up with other brands and manufacturing vehicles in different countries. For
example, they joined forces with British car company Rover whose sales of Land
Rovers have been on the rise globally.
As well as this, BMW makes sure their brand
is easy to relate to and understand on a universal level. Their branding is
simple yet effective, with a memorable logo, and concisely named car ranges
such as, the BMW
3 series, the 5 series, the 7 series, the Z line. The simple, numeric name
system can be understood globally. For example, “328” tells you the car is in
the 3 series and the engine is 2.8 liters in size — easy!
Another way this brand has made itself
known to the masses is through popular media and cinema. Think of a universally
known film featuring a car chase— BMW has probably somehow been involved. Some
of the most famous placements of BMW cars on the big screen include The World Is Not Enough (1999) which saw Piers Brosnan driving a 2000
BMW Z8, Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation (2015) in which Tom Cruise
was at the wheel of a BMW M3, and Fast & Furious 6 (2013) which
showcased a fleet of 2010 BMW M5s. These blockbusters amongst others, have
reached audiences around the world, which has done wonders for BMW’s global
brand.
Coca-Cola
Through strategic
product placement and campaigns about happiness, Coca-Cola has become one of
the most recognisable brands in the world. It is estimated that Coca-Cola
reaches daily servings of 1.9 billion globally, and many of its slogans such as “Open
Happiness” are recognised around the globe. Recently, retro coke bottles were
featured in the popular Netflix show Stranger Things 3 (2019) which was
watched by at least 18.2 million viewers worldwide. Like BMW, Coca-Cola is using
popular culture to its advantage.
One wholesome way that
Coca-Cola established itself around the world was with the Expedition 206 project in 2010. The project starred three twenty-somethings,
Tony Martin, from Washington, D.C.; Kelly Ferris from Brussels; and Antonio
Santiago from Mexico City. The group set out on a quest to visit every Coca-Cola-selling
country around the world to find out ‘what makes people happy’. The journey
took the trio to 186 countries (just short of the 206 where Coca-Cola is sold),
and they travelled 275,000 miles. If this doesn’t show Coca-Cola’s commitment
to connect with their customers around the world then I don’t know what does!
On top of this, they
strategically made sure they were part of the most famous worldwide event: the
Olympics. The 2010 Vancouver games featured the slogan “Open the Games. Open
Happiness” and was broadcast around the world.
McDonald’s
Featuring the famous
‘golden arches’, McDonald’s is an undeniable worldwide brand. This American
fast-food chain grew from its humble roots in San Bernardino, California 1940, into
a brand that dominates the global marketplace and is one of the world’s biggest
employers. McDonald’s serve at least 70 million customers every day — that’s more than the population of the UK!
McDonald’s has two
approaches to making its brand known worldwide: standardization strategy and adaptation
strategy.
Standardisation
strategy: Whether you’re
eating at a McDonald’s in New York, Tokyo, or London, there are some items you
will always be able to get. The Classic meals such as a Big Mac and fries can
be found around the globe with perfect uniformity. Wherever you are, you know
what you’re getting with McDonald’s. This strategy brings comfort and trust to
its customers.
Adaptation
strategy: This is the part
where the meals get mixed up a bit. In order to appeal to a global audience,
McDonald’s creates new food items that appeal to the taste buds of each
country. Here are some of my favourites:
·
Japan: McChoco Potato (fries covered in chocolate sauce)
·
Canada: Poutine
·
Italy: Spinach and Parmesan
Nuggets
·
India: McCurry Pan
·
Philippines: Chicken McDo with
Spaghetti
·
China:
Bacon,
Macaroni
and Cheese Toastie
However unusual, the
tactics these mega-brands have used have rocketed them to universal fame.
Quirky marketing campaigns and creative thinking about the desires of customers
everywhere could make the difference between staying local and conquering the
worldwide market.
Sources
·
https://www.stealingshare.com/pages/bmw-brand-study-a-look-at-how-bmw-structures/
·
https://driving.ca/bmw/features/feature-story/looking-back-at-30-years-of-bmw-on-film
·
https://www.best-selling-cars.com/brands/2018-global-bmw-mini-rolls-royce-worldwide-sales/
·
https://www.worldofcoca-cola.com/about-us/coca-cola-history/
·
https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/about-us/around-the-world.html
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/570567/How-McDonald-s-became-global-phenomenon
·
https://www.daytranslations.com/blog/2019/01/how-mcdonalds-adapts-around-the-world-13239/
·
https://www.eatthis.com/mcdonalds-food-around-the-world/
·
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/07/stranger-things-3-ratings-netflix
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Created on Aug 30th 2019 04:58. Viewed 679 times.