Product Brand Culturalization

Product Brand I18N:Transforming cultural challenges

into communal channels

Talia Baruch. Founder, Glocalization StrategistCopyous: Localization program development & management

talia@copyous.comwww.copyous.com415.722.6744

This is a roller coaster ride through pains & gains in pre-natal product dev. for new market entry:

• Climb up contextual, functional & visual hurdles.• Dive into locale-tailored branding.

• Resurface for a quick peek into glocal strategy.

Product Internationalization = feels native

Cause | Brand identity & creative teams are typically US-centric & isolated from the i18n/l10n planning.

Effect | Brand messaging hits (local) target,

But loses impact overseas. Misses target (market).

Weave I18N into your brand fabric

1. Why localize products and campaigns?

2. How do we reconcile Global vs. Local models?

3. What are the ingredients baking a winner brand?

4. How do we strategize glocally?

We’ll explore 5 key questions:

1. Why localize products and campaigns?

2. How do we reconcile Global vs. Local models?

3. What are the ingredients baking a winner brand?

4. How do we strategize glocally?

What’s your objective?

• Expand your brand’s footprint worldwide.• Increase global users.• Reap ROI.

No, really, what’s your objective?

CONNECTION. CROSS-CULTURAL.

Make a meaningful & memorable connection between product/brand and user/consumer. Worldwide.

People are wired differently. More so people from different cultures.

We’re triggered by different association paths, collective memories, stories & histories.

Tell to Sell: How you get there depends on how well you tell your brand story, make it relevant.

Your message needs to

Click & Connect Fit inHit home

1. Why localize products and campaigns?

2. How do we reconcile Global vs. Local models?

3. What are the ingredients baking a winner brand?

4. How do we strategize glocally?

Global vs. Local considerations

• Regional vs. HQ authoring, budget, marketing and management.

• Corporate identity and messaging.

• Principals: central One message/One voice/One world vs. decentral/regional.

Global

• One size fits all. • Globe-trotter concept, one that travels well.• HQ-centralized budget, content authoring, management

and workflow: cost/time-to-market efficiency.

Every company wants its brand to get bigger. The tricky part is balancing what the brand is with a vision of what it would like to be.

Local

• The secret hand shake, the private joke, understood and appreciated only regionally.

• Cinderella-slipper-fitted campaigns specifically addressed to target market audience.

• Decentralized (regional) production, budgets & management: cost/time inefficiencies.

Hybrid solution: Think local, act globalReconciling business principles & product quality standards

Glocal

Procter & Gamble

Operation sites spread out across the globe. Strategy is to centralize company overhead management globally (for cost-efficiency) and handle product delivery and marketing locally.

1. Why internationalize products and campaigns?

2. How do we reconcile Global vs. Local models?

3. What are the ingredients baking a winner brand?

4. How do we strategize glocally?

Form follows function: Design product features & functionality relevant for local need.

Hooked on hand-helds

Designing a mobile device for Japan?

Don’t forget to add on a hook-up for gadgets!

Mobile UI/UX localization hurdlesRemember: your strings are your ground agent, interfacing directly with the user!Avoid stop-ship bugs!

Product shape shifts sale

The feminine contour of Coca Cola glass bottles disturbs Orthodox consumers in Israel.

Barbie shuts shop in ShanghaiWas product culturally catered for locale?

Adapt product portfolio to please local palate

• Bistrone in Japan | Cola’s soup in a can on the go.• Kuat in Brazil | captures local love of guarana fruit.

• Spritea in China | Green tea flavored sprite.

Adapt product to locale wants & needs

Launch in China: affordable to fit

• Levi Strauss & Co. launches dENiZEN

• General Motors Corp launches Baojun

Go Global logos: what makes ‘em great?

• We are bombarded by 6,000 logos daily, all trying to communicate their unique, enticing story.

• A brand essence exists only in consumers’ memory. The logo is the constant reminder.

• Use creative magic to turn humdrum into visual messages that cut through the clutter.

No-Name | Text-less logos

A picture’s worth a thousand words.

In early Jan., 2011 Starbucks announced it would be removing the words "Starbucks Coffee" from its 2-decade old logo and leave its iconic twin-tailed, long-haired mermaid to fend for herself.

Chalk the change up to the company’s Go Global campaign

à la mod(ular)! As simple as possible. But not simpler.

• Simple, classic, modular logos are easy to remember, playfully impressive and soothing.

• Maintain right proportions and scalable graphics.

• TOYOTA: Trust

• NIKE: Victorious, Fluid & Fast

• BMW: Spinning Classic Elegance

• Playboy: Frisky & Mischievous

Gist it: Connect to universal principals

Fond of font

• Minimal, readable text.

• No more than 2 font types.

• Avoid overlapping or intertwining with logo.

• Keep tagline separate.

NUDE

Simple. Clean.Transforming letters into visual concepts.

Color-choice: Ensure your brand paints the right picture

• Color is the first impression a package or brand makes.

• Color sets the tone for your thinly sliced expectations in the marketplace.

• You don't get a second chance to make a first impression.

Color connotations

RED Positive/Neutral

Negative/Sensitive

Europe/North America

Love, desire, bold, attention Alert, danger, stop, blood.

Soviet CommunismChina Good fortune, luck, bridal colorKorea Written name

of deceasedJapan lifeIndia purityEgypt/Iran Luck, good fortuneSouth Africa Mourning

Color connotationsGREEN Positive/

NeutralNegative/Sensitive

Europe/North America

Environmental, nature, spring, birth, GO, $$

Military, catholic church, Avoid in France & Ireland

China, Taiwan Infidelity. Avoid.

Japan Life, high-techEgypt National color. Avoid.

North Africa Corruption.Indonesia, Malaysia

Forbidden. Danger.

Color connotationsWHITE Positive/

NeutralNegative/Sensitive

Europe/North America

Wedding, purity, holiness, peace.

Italy: death, funeral.

China Trust. High quality. Japan, Peru, India, Iran, Italy

Death. Mourning.(white Chrysanthemum)

Egypt, Nigeria Rebirth. Ominous.

Ethiopia Impure.Australia Aboriginals: color of the

people.

France Telecom mobile & Internet subsidiaries

“The Future’s Bright – the Future’s Orange.”

Color conflict

Or is it “The Future’s Protestant Loyalist”?

Brand name evaluation

A. Available name

B. Positive/neutral association

C. Easily pronounceable

D. Name safe

Conduct a "name safe" test to make sure that an anti-depressive doesn’t sound like a strong tranquilizer.

This lady is called for

Corona becomes Coronita

Available name

Negative connotation

• “Oness” for security … ?

• “Dreck” → “Dreft”

• “Barf” for soap …. ?

• “Sweat” for drink … ?

Easily pronounceable

Brand name landmines: Pronunciation trap

• Coca-Cola = "bite the wax tadpole“ in China

• Google = Gu Ge in China

Memorable taglines: Clear & Compact

• Nike: JUST DO IT

• IBM: THINK

• Yahoo!: It’s You!

• Sony: make. believe.

• Heinz: Grown Not Made

Culturally catered icons

Make sure your brand identity & visual messaging are culturally understood & non-offensive in other locales.

Is iT “Twit” in other cultures too?

Get into it. Intuitively. Use of metaphor to trigger subconscious emotional thought that guides our action

Key concepts that impact 70% of customers’ sale choices:

• Connection

• Transformation

• Balance

• Pleasure

Ties that bind

Produce emotional branding that bridges cultural gaps.

So…, what’s the moral of the story?

• Trigger mutual understanding between brand & consumer.

• Signal the secret handshake, the collective connector.

• Tell the brand’s compelling story.

• Make it relevant and bring it to life.

CONNECT

1. Why internationalize products and campaigns?

2. How do we reconcile Global vs. Local models?

3. What are the ingredients baking a winner brand?

4. How do we strategize glocally?

5. How do we strategize glocally?• Define specs

• Modify product/services to attract segmented groups in local market

• Synchronize implementation (all media)

• Foster cross-cultural awareness

• Make local alliances, mergers

• Spread regional sites across target locales

Localize. Globally.

Q & A

Talia Baruch/CopyousInternationalization & Localization

setup & support

talia@copyous.comwww.copyous.com