Sometimes reputed global brands end up making big mistakes. Mostly when it comes to their localisation strategies. I use the word 'Mistake' beacause for some reason I think they have a complete lack of understanding between message and medium, sometime the digital behaviour of netizens (ok consumers who spend lot of time in the digital world) or integration methods or they are just being lazy. Now, I'm not being critical to the good work global marketing team does sitting in their HQ but rather trying to understand where things go wrong. Or maybe it just me thinking in this way.
Let's take an odd example of Cadbury.
Firstly, their corporate worldwide website looks completely different from other country specific websites. Absolutely no similarity amongst each other except the purple colour. Why? Ok, I do understand every region has its own priorities, marketing goals, business objectives, targets etc. Why such inconsistency? And this is something true for most global brands.
Secondly, its confusing to everyone, be it a loyal brand fan...consumer...shareholder...potential investor or just a casual surfer.
Thirdly, what purpose does fancy phrases like 'creating brands people love,' 'performance driven, values led' serve? Instead why don't you just simply mention your corporate core values and beliefs in an entertaining way.
Fourthly, more inconsistency when it comes to localisation of creative thoughts and execution. Best explained by this two examples below...
Scenario 1:
Country - UK, Client - Cadbury UK, Agency - Fallon
( I don't need to explain anything here and you all know the story and the awards and how it spread in the digital media etc.)
Scenario 2:
Country - Canada, Client - Cadbury Canada, Agency - The Hive
Idea: Bicycle Factory
Same brand. Two different country. Two complete different message. As a 7 year old internet surfer, who has seen the Gorilla ad on TV, likes it very much decides to go to Cadbury.com will have a complete different perspective. He lives in the digital world, he's too young to understand the difference between cadbury.co.uk and cadbury.ca and might end up being very disappointed. This is where I think most global brands mess up in their digital strategy. Though this is an odd example but there are several brands which ends up doing the same mistake, time and again. Trying to load too much information in the front page, ending up distracting people who visits for fun in the first place. At least, thats how I feel. Maybe am completely wrong. Which means, there is lot of space for improvement. And this is not about social media or digital media strategy. Its about making sure that the corporate website is in sync with its overall communication. Incase you find other examples, please do let me know.
1 comment:
To add a bit of clarity for your readers. Glass and a half productions is a website devoted to the Dairy Milk chocolate bar brand. The Bicycle Factory is a corporate program that includes every single brand in the Cadbury portfolio. In Canada this would include about 30 chocolate bars, 4 different gum brands, about 30 lines of candy and many cough drop brands. It's like comparing a Tide commercial to a Proctor & Gamble corporate video. Of course they're entirely different. Hopefully this clears things up.
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