Launching a product in a new country was always one of the most challenging and exciting tasks I encountered in my career.

Having worked with several multinational companies, I was tasked with marketing their global brands in diverse markets such as Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, and India. To succeed in the local marketplace, I learned early on the importance of tailoring our global brands and campaigns to an increasingly diverse audience.

We conducted extensive market research to understand the local needs of our target audience, as well as the cultural values behind their purchasing habits. It wasn’t just about translating labels and packaging into the local language to meet local laws and regulations. We had to make a conscious effort to try to create brands that were truly relevant and relatable on a local level.

This led us, for example, to create an exclusive product designed specifically based on Latin American tastes, increasing brand awareness and doubling our sales in that market segment.

In South Africa, we created targeted advertising campaigns and a live product launch event that even included Nelson Mandela to generate brand awareness and engagement. We also produced and promoted content with local artists who collaborated with our global team to create unique, innovative programming.

GLOCALIZATION IS ABOUT CULTURE

This would be defined as glocalization, a term that sociologist Roland Robertson famously explained as the process where local cultures in a globalized world have “both universalizing and particularizing tendencies.” While the term ‘glocalization’ has become a buzzword in marketing, it’s more about culture than marketing.

For instance, washing machines in some countries in Asia have floral designs so they can be displayed as centerpieces and symbols of middle-class wealth.

In India, fast food chains like KFC, Taco Bell and Starbucks offer meat-free options like Konkani Twist and Chatpata Paratha Wrap to cater to their Hindu and Buddhist customers. Similarly, for Hindus who eat meat but not beef, McDonald’s India introduced products like the Chicken Maharaja Mac.

In the early 2010s, Apple rolled out an ad campaign in Western nations mocking PCs for their less ‘trendy’ appeal. But in Japan, a culture well-known for being polite and inoffensive, this campaign was considered too confrontational. Apple instead rolled out a parallel campaign in Japan that focused on the contrast between PCs as being for work, while Apple is for the weekend. This approach was believed to be less confrontational and more acceptable to the local audience.

THE EMPTY CHAIR

Strategizing in a global business environment, whether it is in the workplace or interacting with customers or other stakeholders, is critical for success. Planning, anticipating, and taking time to think through what may happen in a situation or market that is different from yours allows you to consider how you can leverage and best use your resources to achieve the desired results.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos likes to include an empty chair at his management meetings to represent the customer, who should always be a presence, uppermost in his team’s mind. The empty chair implies that someone is missing from the conversation, from their place at the table.

You can also add an empty chair to your leadership meetings to represent a group of customers or constituents who aren’t represented by the people in your room. Throughout the meeting, ask your team what those individuals might be thinking if they were sitting at the meeting. This generates awareness and allows your team members to consider how another individual or culture involved in a situation views it as compared to yours. It contributes to developing and increasing your Cultural Intelligence (CQ) to become a more effective global leader.