International advertising refers to advertising which is carried out in multiple countries around the world. In other words international advertising is advertising a product, idea or service across borders of the country of production/origin.
Effective international advertising requires specialized cultural knowledge that considers differences between target audiences in different countries.
For example, Proctor & Gamble went to great lengths to observe, listen, and understand the shaving needs and desires of men in India before introducing or advertising a single shaving product.
The way to success with international advertising initially understanding the needs, wants, and desires of consumers in a particular culture, making the necessary changes or innovations to products or services offered, and offering those products or services in a way that fulfills the needs of consumers.
Susan P. Douglas and C. Samuel Craig in their book International Advertising said it entails dissemination of a commercial message to target audiences in more than one country.
Target audiences differ from country to country in terms of how they perceive or interpret symbols or stimuli; respond to humor or emotional appeals, as well as in levels of literacy and languages spoken. In encoding a verbal message, care needs to be taken in translation. Numerous examples exist of translation problems with colloquial phrases. For example, an American Dairy Association entered Mexico with its "Got Milk?" campaign, and the Spanish translation read it as “Are You Lactating?”
Once the advertising message has been created, a media plan must be developed and specific media vehicles purchased to deliver the message to the target audience. The media through which messages are broadcasted also varies from country to country and must be carefully selected to broadcast ad messages.
A medium can be defined as “a channel of communication, information, or entertainment” (Mish 1989, 455).
A Quality media as interpreted by McIlroy and Walker (1993) means “fitness for purpose”, Juran (1989) also defines quality as “fitness for use”.
Hence any media that an advertiser selects for broadcasting messages must be fit to achieve its purpose of creating awareness and persuading or stimulating.
For a medium to be able to achieve the functions above, advertisers must be sure to select a quality medium. Below are some criteria for consideration before selecting a medium for international advertising;
•Nature of product
The nature of the product to be advertised influences the type of media to be selected for advertising. This is because some products cannot effectively be advertised using some medium to achieve good results.
For instance, let’s say a makeup company wants to advertise their products in Ghana, after answering these questions advertiser must come to a decision of selecting either television or newspaper to advertise makeup.
This is because a product like make up will need illustrations on the use and results of applying it; hence such an advert must be visual to achieve its aim of creating awareness and stimulating some interest in viewers, thus being cost effective.
Hence advertiser must select appropriate media to advertise appropriate product.
•Cost of media:
The first question advertisers must ask themselves before selecting a medium is…… Is the medium cost effective? Can it reach a wide enough audience? Is the medium cost affordable? (Peter J. P. 1999)
Answers to these questions above should lead advertiser to making a good choice to advertise his product. For instance, let’s say a makeup company wants to advertise their products in Ghana, after answering these questions advertiser must come to a decision of selecting either television or newspaper to advertise makeup.
This is because a product like make up will need illustrations on the use and results of applying it; hence such an advert must be visual to achieve its aim of creating awareness and stimulating some interest in viewers, thus being cost effective.
The cost of the media selected must also be economical or suitable or conform to advertiser’s budget.
•Accessibility / Availability of media:
Advertisers must ask themselves – Is the medium available and accessible? Does it facilitate wide distribution? Is it convenient to use for the product? How many people can be reached by the medium? (Peter J. P. 1999)
The medium that would be selected must be easily accessible to a lot of people because for response to product to be great then a lot of awareness must be created by thus media.
Medium selected should be able to reach a large number of people with just a single broadcast. With respect to example stated above, a medium like Tv3 would be suitable, this is because it will reach the right target of young women who use make up and would reach a large number of people even with one broadcast because of its nationwide coverage.
•Effectiveness of media
- Is the medium effective? Does it achieve its aim efficiently? Will the medium achieve required or expected feedback? (Peter J. P. 1999)
Media differ in their effectiveness in carrying different appeals. A message may, therefore, not get through to the audience because of people's inability to understand it (due to literacy problems), because they misinterpret the message by attaching different meanings to the words or symbols used, or because they do not respond to the message due to a lack of income to purchase the advertised product. (Susan P. Douglas and C. S. Craig)
Media limitations also play a role in the failure of a communication to reach its intended audience. (Susan P. Douglas and C. S. Craig, International Advertising).
•Social-Political Suitability of media:
Advertisers must ask themselves – Is the medium socially and politically suitable? Does its use coincide with social and political agendas of governing bodies? (Peter J. P. 1999)
Studies carried out by specialists and international agencies including UNESCO (1979, as cited in Da Silva & Esposito 1990) make it clear that “illiteracy and other educational disabilities are structural problems, closely associated with social, political, cultural, and economic factors”. The problem is that “there are significant levels of physical, linguistic, cultural, political and economic diversity within developing nations.
Hence advertisers are being asked to design messages to suit local environments in an effort to solve the social, political, and economic problems unique to nation they choose to advertise their product and medium selected for this purpose must support this effort.
Many nations are also eager to participate in world trade and become more prosperous. However, political and social organizations within the nations may be concerned about globalization as a threat to their way of life.
This impact is particularly evident in the Middle East region where information going in and out of the country, including Internet access, is highly restricted. Therefore advertiser must select media that is allowed to broadcast messages carefully crafted to consumers.
Advertisers must research or observe all these before selecting a medium appropriate for advertising.
•Cultural Friendliness of media:
Advertisers must ask themselves – Is the medium culturally appropriate? Does it coincide with the culture’s traditional way of living?
A criticism frequently leveled at international advertising is that it promulgates Western values and mores, notably from the US, in other countries.
This is viewed particularly negatively in societies with strong religious or moral values, which run counter to those of the West as, for example, Islamic societies in the Middle East.
When Western advertising depicts sexually explicit situations or shows women in situations considered as inappropriate or immoral, it is likely to be considered a subversive force undermining established cultural mores and values.
Equally, in some countries such as France, there is a strong negative reaction to the imposition of US culture, values and use of English in advertising. (Susan P. Douglas and C. S. Craig).
Hence advertisers must ensure that if it is television they select for their adverts, it does not contain images, symbols and songs that attract disapproval and frown from the target country because of their culture.
•Motivational Value of media:
- Is the medium motivating? Does it encourage listeners or viewers to take a step of trying the products? Does it persuade target consumers?
Media selected for ad must be able to achieve desired effect on target audience. It is aimed that after the consumer sees an ad they should be motivated to also want to try out the said product.
Therefore medium selected should be effective enough to create that feeling of in consumers. For instance with the example on makeup, when a TV is selected to broadcast this ad, after the viewer sees how the makeup looks good on someone, they are motivated to also want to try it out.
In conclusions, Media differ from country to country in their availability, effectiveness and efficiency in delivering an ad message, therefore an advertiser must carefully go through the required method of selecting a media which will be appropriate for promoting products internationally.
REFERENCES
• Peter J. Patsula (1999),Sookmyung Women's University, Seoul..
• Mayur (2009), International advertising.
• Susan P. Douglas and C. Samuel Craig, International Advertising ,New York University Stern School of Business
• De Mooij, M. 1998, Global Marketing and Advertising: Understanding Cultural Paradoxes. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA.
• Douglas, S.P. and Craig, C.S. 1995, Global Marketing Strategy. McGraw Hill, New York.
• Grein, A. and Ducoffe, R. 1998, Strategic Response to Market Globalization among Advertising Agencies. International Journal of Advertising, 17, 301-319.
• Hall, Edward T. 1976, Beyond Culture. Anchor Press, Garden City, NY.
• Peebles, D.M. and Ryans, J.K., Jr. 1984, Management of International Advertising: A Marketing Approach. Allyn and Bacon, Boston.
• Rijkens, R. 1992, European Advertising Strategies. Cassell, London.
