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Marketing take on a culture · The Galaxy of Marketing

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  Cultural adaptation and business explained in
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  22 seconds. Imagine Steve who wants to cross
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  the river by foot. Many times he observed people
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  go there and dramatically fail, so he trained,
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  bought the best shoes, cloth and noted all
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  the rocks at the bottom. He went into the water
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  and everything seemed fine, until he stumbled
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  across a stone that he had never seen before
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  and plopped nose into the water. That's pretty
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  much how cultural backlash looks like for businesses,
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  even for the biggest ones. Welcome, marketing
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  explorers! This is Olga K, a marketing major
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  who is super excited to tell you about marketing.
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  This is the final episode of the general season,
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  where we will cover cultural adaptation and frameworks
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  that explain how not to end up like Steve and
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  will allow you to understand culture from a marketing
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  perspective. So, what is culture? Culture refers
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  to the shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors,
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  and artifacts that characterize a group or society.
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  It is a learned way of life that is passed down
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  through generations, and it defines everything
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  from the content of the breakfast to governmental
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  regulations. That is precisely why marketers
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  must understand it exceptionally well, just as
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  good as economics and politics of the country.
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  Cultural factors can be divided into two big
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  categories, visible and invisible. Visible include
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  language, religion, customs, food and general
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  vibe of the society, so everything you can immediately
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  see. Usually, they are not a big problem for
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  marketing departments, except for particular
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  cases like with Pajero Jeep in Spain. Please
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  Google it, I can't waste it over here. But invisible
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  ones are a great many. They include history,
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  beliefs, life philosophy, thought patterns, body
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  language, and shared thoughts and traumas. To
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  understand those and connect with audience deeply,
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  marketers must ask one question. Why? Let me
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  bring an example to make it clear. Imagine a
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  number clothing brand that targets young females
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  with middle to high income, and its shops are
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  too open in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and Barcelona,
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  Spain. If you observed cultures from visible
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  points, you would notice a lot of similarities.
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  Both nations are loud enough, emotional, open
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  -hearted, and love to have good food. But what
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  lies underneath it will either bring a profit
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  or huge losses. Kazakh people may be open, but
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  they are far more reserved and are influenced
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  by Islam and Orthodox Christianity, so short
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  and revealing outfits that would go well in Spain
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  might not be so popular here. However, there
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  is a niche for miniskirts of Korean type, might
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  be in demand because of Korean fashion influence,
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  but it's not our case. Also, Barcelonian style
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  has been long influenced by two concepts. Roxa
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  and Ceni, with the second preferring pragmatic
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  and muted pieces and the other demanding creativity
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  and brightness. Hope I pronounced them right.
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  No wonder the city has long been defined by bright
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  Mediterranean fashion in Gaudi's masterpieces,
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  while the lifestyle of the Spanish people in
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  Barcelona requires frequent change of spots during
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  the day, so it must be pragmatic. Besides, Spanish
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  people are known for being relaxed and happy
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  with their lifestyle, never showing off. Based
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  on this analysis, your production department
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  would probably design something like a t -shirt
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  with asymmetrical cuts and bright elements and
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  earthy tone backgrounds. So, motto of barcelonian
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  fashion would be lousy, creative and seemingly
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  unintentional. And the last thing about Spanish
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  mentality. Most Spanish people believe in concept
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  of enjoying their lives, not comparing themselves
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  to each other and being themselves. Remember
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  thought patterns and life philosophy? You must
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  be wondering what it has to do with passion,
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  but you will be surprised with how much this
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  influenced the product line. In Kazakhstan, all
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  those concepts are the other way around, and
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  our strong ambitions lead the way. So yeah, we
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  can enjoy our lifestyle after we speak 7 languages,
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  become millionaires at 16 and have our happy
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  families before 25. As you can see, no lousiness
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  is allowed under such circumstances. Clothing
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  lines must be highly fashionable, good quality
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  and elegant. Style must be like a lighthouse,
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  visible from afar and unquestionably perfect,
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  with the whole look being very intentional. Additionally,
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  feminism isn't as strong here as in Spain, so
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  women are strongly judged for their looks and
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  tend to depend on external validation, so they
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  will have higher anxiety, expectations and purchasing
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  barriers that your team shall overcome first.
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  That might mean higher investments and longer
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  payback time, though if a brand becomes top of
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  the mind, customers will become obsessed with
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  it. Let's summarize branding messages to see
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  the difference. In Spain, creative you, living
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  in comfort. In Kazakhstan, make your style your
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  calling card. Same brand, totally different messaging
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  for successful marketing. Take a breath, let
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  the info sink in, and we move on. Analyzing culture
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  and mentality is never easy, but there is a wormhole
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  shortcut. It's called Hofstede's cultural dimensions,
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  like a space from Interstellar where Cooper could
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  observe one situation from multiple perspectives.
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  It consists of six dimensions, each offering
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  insights into how societies handle hierarchy,
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  role of individuals, achievements, risk, time,
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  and gratification. Sounds pretty good, right?
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  So the first dimension is power distance. It
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  tells marketers how rigid the hierarchy is and
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  how well people accept it. For example, China
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  has high power distance, where the role and actions
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  of superiors are not questioned, and people acknowledge
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  the hierarchy as if it's always been there. The
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  opposite would be the country with equal power
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  distribution, with high tendency to demand justification
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  of whatever action is being done. Next one is
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  the most famous one. Individualism versus collectivism.
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  Individualistic societies tend to elevate the
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  role of individual and emphasize individual benefits,
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  like the slogan we made for the Spanish shop.
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  Collectivistic society plays more stress on a
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  person being part of a society and passion for
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  an elevated common goal. An interesting part
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  about collectivistic societies that many people
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  forget is that in such types of societies collective
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  judgment and dependence on external validation
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  is much higher, though some countries like Kazakhstan
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  unite their collectivistic past with modern individualistic
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  culture. After that, we have masculinity and
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  femininity dimensions. Be careful with that one,
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  because it doesn't necessarily show the preference
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  of one gender over another, but it shows the
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  tendency to act with specific intentions, which
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  Hofstede defined as feminine intentions and masculine
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  intentions. Masculine ones include preference
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  for achievement, heroism, assertiveness, and
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  material rewards, and feminine ones incorporate
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  cooperation, modesty, caring for the weak, and
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  quality of life. This dimension closely affects
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  how people communicate and what values do they
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  place ahead of them, which is incredibly important
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  when creating a marketing message and HR policies.
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  Nordic countries are clear examples of feminine
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  society, and Slovakia and Japan rank highest
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  for masculinity in this aspect. Fourth dimension
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  is uncertainty avoidance risk. Essentially, it
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  means how unwilling people are to take risks.
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  Fifth dimension compares long -term and short
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  -term orientation. It isn't as simple as it sounds,
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  because it measures cognitive horizon of the
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  society, attitude towards traditions and importance
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  of future. Long -term oriented countries place
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  future ahead of everything and the progress goes
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  forward. They adapt their traditions or incorporate
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  them into new economic realities. Such societies
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  are willing to change and adapt very quickly.
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  China is a textbook example of it. Investment
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  in education and money saving are important characteristics
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  of countries like China and Japan. Short -term
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  oriented societies prefer resolving problems
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  of today more than those of future and choose
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  instant gratification more often. Furthermore,
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  they tend to stick to traditional ways of life.
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  Last but not least are indulgence versus restraint.
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  Some societies encourage their people to enjoy
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  life, have fun and spend money on something that
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  they want. Indulgent society tend to be psychologically
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  healthier, happier and more optimistic. Moreover,
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  in indulgent societies, personal time, hobbies
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  and self -actualization are viewed as sacred.
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  In restrained part, people are typically placing
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  duty over desire, have more pessimistic and pragmatic
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  view of life and beliefs. that spending is supposed
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  to be responsible and future -oriented. Having
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  fun and enjoying life is often used with skepticism,
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  with some people even perceiving them as an infantile
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  and immature behavior. Now, down with this one.
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  If you want to make a more superficial and quicker
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  analysis to understand just general vibe of the
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  society, there is a framework just for that.
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  It's called triangle of Lewis. It's based on
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  an idea that cultural communication can be divided
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  into three big types. First is monoactive. These
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  are countries like UK, USA, Germany and Netherlands.
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  They are organized, punctual, rely on facts and
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  prefer clear rules. And most importantly, they
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  do follow these rules. Second type is called
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  polyactive. Those are very emotional, impulsive
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  and multitasking societies that have a tendency
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  to choose people over rules and depend on context.
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  Those are countries such as India and Kazakhstan,
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  for example. And the third type are reactive.
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  Those are polite, respectful and conflict -avoidant
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  people. Clear examples are Japan and Korea. Hope
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  that was helpful for you and gave you understanding
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  how to operate with culture in marketing. As
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  I said before, this is the final episode of the
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  first season and a huge milestone for me personally.
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  Thank you for being with me this whole time.
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  Your support means a lot to me. In the next season,
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  we will delve deeper into marketing concepts
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  and business operations. We will talk about business
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  models, ways of positioning and branding, and
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  a lot more. Hope to see you about the ship in
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  the next season. Galaxy of Marketing has a lot
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  more to offer. Have a great morning, day, evening
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  or night and hear you soon.