{"id":561,"date":"2012-10-07T13:23:31","date_gmt":"2012-10-07T13:23:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beniers-consultancy.com\/cultural-differences-in-television-advertising-part-1\/"},"modified":"2012-10-07T13:23:31","modified_gmt":"2012-10-07T13:23:31","slug":"cultural-differences-in-television-advertising-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beniers-consultancy.com\/cultural-differences-in-television-advertising-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Cultural Differences In Television Advertising Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Cultural Differences In Television Advertising Part 1<\/h2>\n

1. Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

Is it possible to persuade consumers in different markets with the same advertising message? Will they respond favourably? Or should the advertising message be customised to reflect local culture? This question is one of the most fundamental decisions when planning an advertising campaign in different cultural areas, and, not surprisingly, one of the most frequently discussed issues in advertising today. Whereas many anecdotes tell the story of failed, or misunderstood, advertising, little clarity exists what exactly makes advertising different from country to country, and what types of appeals are used to promote different products in different markets \u2013 if there should be any difference whatsoever.<\/p>\n

One side in this debate emphasises that the world is growing ever closer, and that the world can be treated as one large market, with only superficial differences in values (Levitt, 1983). In their view, advertising and marketing can be standardised across cultures, and the same values can be used to persuade customers to buy or consume the product. The opposing side is content with the fact that the basic needs may well be the same around the world, however they argue that the way in which these needs are met and satisfied differs from culture to culture. Any marketing (and advertising) campaign should, in their view, reflect the local habits, lifestyles and economical conditions in order to be effective. In 1985, Woods et al. concluded in a study of consumer purpose in purchase in the US, Quebec and Korea, that \u201cimportant differences are found in the reasons why they purchase products familiar to all three countries\u201d.<\/p>\n

Many researchers have contributed to the debate, examining a sample of advertising for particular ways of portraying lifestyle and themes used (Gilly, 1990; Tansey, Hyman & Zinkhan, 1990); advertising strategies and information content (Lin, 1993; Zandpour, Chang & Catalano 1992; Ramaprasad & Hasegawa, 1992), the use of humour (Weinberger & Spotts, 1989; Alden, Hower & Lee, 1992), Americanisation of appeals used (Wiles, Wiles & Tjernlund, 1996; Mueller 1992) or they tested for a mix of different themes, styles, appeals or advertising content. These studies, among others, and the magnitude of their findings have put significant doubt over the theories and applicability of standardised, global advertising. They clearly suggest to localise advertising messages to suit consumer expectation in each market (Albers-Miller, 1996b).<\/p>\n

However, the degree of difference in advertising strategies and appeals used may well be very different not only from country to country, but also from product category to product category. As Zandpour, Chang and Catalano (1992) and Katz and Lee (1992) have pointed out, information content, creative strategy, format and content style differ with each product category.<\/p>\n

2. Conceptual Background & Definitions<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ad creation, pre market testing and localisation<\/p>\n

Advertising creation can vary enormously from one company promoting their products or services across borders to another company. Whereas real economic benefits, dominantly economies of scale, can be obtained by standardising advertising across borders, many companies choose not to do so, but rather to rely on local knowledge.<\/p>\n

In order to create a commercial, an advertising agency is usually instructed to create the overall concept in line with the marketing objectives, create a set of different test commercials and pre-test the commercials for effectiveness. This is a crucial step for advertising creation, and often takes a relatively long time, in which the test commercials are tested qualitatively and quantitatively in focus groups, through questionnaires, in test markets, sample areas and so on. After successful testing, the real commercial is created, and finally airtime for the commercial is booked or auctioned (either directly or through a media agency). During and after the commercial is running, further tests are usually carried out in order to optimise advertising targets with real out comes, and commercials may be adjusted depending on the outcome.<\/p>\n

In a survey of the Fortune 500 US-based multinational companies, Hite and Fraser (1988) reported, that \u2013 \u2013 50% of these companies used a foreign (i.e. local to the market) agency for their advertising; \u2013 21% used an international agency or network (i.e. an angency that maintained local offices in the target market); \u2013 18% used a foreign affiliates of an in-house-agency.<\/p>\n

In the same report, Hite and Fraser also observe a steep decline in the trend to use the same advertising (standardised advertising) in different markets. Earlier reports (Sorenson and Wiechmann, 1975; Boddewya, Soehl and Picard, 1986) reported that in 1975 only 20% of multinational companies utilised localised versions of their advertising, in 1986 the figure reported had grown to 39%. In their own survey, Hite and Fraser (1988) reported, that<\/p>\n