Don't Settle for the Next Best Thing to Being There:
Globalize Your Advertising Curriculum
with an International Trip
A Paper for the
Teaching Standards Competition
Research in Brief
Submitted By
Suzette Heiman
University of Missouri
School of Journalism
P.O. Box 838
Columbia, MO 65205
314-882-6771
Abstract
Videos, guest speakers and case studies are all excellent ways to
familiarize your students with how advertising is managed in other
cultures, but they are no substitute for experiencing international
advertising firsthand. This paper discusses an international
advertising
seminar offered by a large Midwestern university. Agencies and
clients
in three cities, New York, Amsterdam and London, were visited during
the
break between the fall and spring semesters.
Don't Settle for the Next Best Thing to Being There:
Globalize Your Advertising Curriculum
with an International Trip
Videos, guest speakers and case studies are all excellent ways to
familiarize your students with how advertising is managed in other
cultures, but they are no substitute for experiencing international
advertising firsthand. Sponsoring an international advertising seminar
can help your students not only identify the similarities and the
differences of various campaigns and discuss their rationale with those
who created them, but also help agencies become familiar with your
program and the quality of your students. An added benefit is the
opportunity to strengthen ties with alumni.
International advertising is growing in importance. An article in the
March 20, 1995 issue of Advertising Age International reports that
worldwide advertising spending was up in 1994 and is expected to rise
this year. The explosive growth of new free market economies in
Eastern
Europe, South Africa and Russia is fueling advertising growth in
these
areas, among others. Editorial content of this publication
consistently
discusses the problems and opportunities when United States brands
are
expanded into established and emerging international markets.
The Journal of Advertising devoted the entire March 1994 issue to the
subject of international advertising. The effects of the country's
culture, language, laws and market conditions on advertising were among
the issues studied by researchers. The general consensus was that
global
markets are not homogeneous and that advertising must be tailored to
its
intended audience. This breakdown can not only occur on a
country-by-country basis, but also within different areas of the
same
country.
Thus, it is of critical importance that today's advertising students
understand issues related to international advertising. The
likelihood
of them working in an advertising agency or with a client seeking to
build or to increase a global presence is high and a challenge they
must
be prepared to meet.
This paper discusses an international advertising seminar offered by a
large Midwestern university. Agencies and clients in three cities,
New
York, Amsterdam and London, were visited during the break between
the
fall and spring semesters.
Planning
The idea for the international advertising seminar originated with two
alumni who were lunching in New York. They shared with each other
how
much they would like to help the students at their alma mater learn
more
about the advertising business, but how distance made it difficult
to do
this. One thought led to another and soon they found themselves
outlining a trip. The overall goal would be to select multinational
accounts and visit their advertising agencies on both sides of the
Atlantic.
Regardless of how the idea for an international seminar originates, the
following steps provide an outline for planning an activity of this
nature.
Step One: Identify learning outcomes for an international advertising
seminar. Knowing what you want to accomplish will help you evaluate
the
value of the many options you will have during your planning. Our
learning outcomes were three-fold:
y To gain a clearer understanding on the branding of products on a
domestic and an international level by visiting advertising
agencies,
attending presentations and participating in seminars on the
various
brands that those agencies represented;
y To identify strategic and tactical differences between advertising
developed in New York and advertising developed in Amsterdam and
London;
and,
y To highlight research opportunities for students interested in
multinational advertising.
Step Two: Generate a rough overview of the trip: dates, cities to
visit, cost, accounts to review. Leave room for flexibility to allow
yourself to take advantage of opportunities that will arise as you
continue planning.
Step Three: Enlist the support of your school's administration.
Identify how this trip will help your department, school and university
achieve its goals.
Step Four: Determine the interest of students. You could use existing
organizations such as the Ad Club to conduct a survey, or you could
organize a meeting to poll them. While interest may be high, not all
students will be able to afford the trip. But, don't underestimate the
power of students to find money for something they would really like
to
do.
Step Five: Contact your alumni relations staff to learn of any
graduates who might be working in international advertising. Select
several names and telephone them to assess their interest in
coordinating your visits for that city. Ask for their suggestions
regarding alumni to contact in other cities or interesting international
advertising campaigns to study.
Step Six: Work with alumni and others to contact potential agencies and
determine your itinerary.
Step Seven: Assign to the students agencies and accounts to research.
Share findings with other seminar participants.
The International Advertising Seminar
Day One: Opening Luncheon - New York
Overview: An editor from International Advertising Age and a
representative from the International Advertising Association provided
an overview of what they felt students would experience during the
seminar.
Key points included: (1) Obvious and subtle cultural differences exist
between the United States and other countries. Advertising must
reflect
the culture of the targeted country. (2) Growth is occurring in
various
geographic areas. Advertising must coincide with this trend.
(3) Research plays a major role in determining how multinational brands
need to be introduced and promoted to an individual country.
Students were advised to accept the practices, attitudes and other
aspects of another country, recognizing their importance in what makes
that country's culture unique and special.
Day Two: Wunderman Cato Johnson - New York
Overview: The role and impact of direct marketing in an integrated
marketing communications was discussed, using AT&T World Plus program
as
an example.
Key points included: (1) Direct response is any communication with a
call to action. (2) The line between what is considered traditional
advertising and direct response has been blurred. (3) Without strong
branding through advertising, direct response cannot be successful.
(4)
Direct response has the ability to eliminate waste circulation in
mass
media and to truly concentrate a campaign's resources on the best
prospects.
Students were advised to think beyond traditional advertising in
campaign development and to include direct response.
Day Two: Young & Rubicam - New York
Overview: Agency officials presented the "Zero Cavities" campaign for
three different markets: Latin America, India and Europe.
Key points included: (1) While the same positioning strategy may be
used to reach consumer segments with similar attitudes and values in
different areas of the world, the creative execution of that strategy
needs to be tailored to each market. (2) Research is essential to
determined a market's perception of a brand and its competition.
Students were advised to learn more about efficient brand marketing
across the globe and to integrate more research into a campaign's
strategic direction and creative execution.
Day Two: BBDO - New York
Overview: Agency officials discussed how PepsiCo products are
advertised on a domestic level.
Key points included: (1) Stick with advertising that has worked for
you. Pepsi alienated their younger audience with ads that resembled
Coke's feel-good commercials. They later returned to their successful
niche of the "young have fun" theme. (2) Product endorsement by
celebrities can be a very successful advertising tool and is one PepsiCo
has used for more than 30 years. Two celebrities PepsiCo has used,
Michael Jackson and Madonna, have global appeal.
Students were advised to thoroughly analyze research and other critical
information before changing a campaign's strategy.
Day Three: KLM Airlines, PMSvW/Y&R - Amsterdam
Overview: The importance of brands and branding and the development of
a consistent corporate identity for KLM Airlines was discussed.
Key points included: (1) A company's most important function is to
serve its customers. One way to communicate this goal is through the
development of a service-oriented corporate identity. (2) Corporate
identity must be visible, coherent, consistent, recognizable and
memorable. (3) Consistent house style design is one of the critical
tools in the development of a corporate identity. This style must be
flexible enough to withstand a multitude of applications over a long
period of time and changing market conditions. (4) The perception a
customer has of your company is the only element that matters.
Students were advised to truly understand the value of the brand,
recognizing that a brand name is a direct reflection of a company's
reputation and that it influences it long- and short-term ability to
compete in the marketplace.
Day Four: BBDO/Abbot Mead Vickers - London
Overview: The advertising strategies and tactics of PepsiMax (a
mid-calorie cola targeted at males in Canada and Europe and now being
tested in the United States as Pepsi XL) in the United Kingdom and
Europe were discussed.
Key points included: (1) Companies often cannibalize their own lines in
order not to lose market share to a competitor. (2) The creative
concept
of a campaign used in one country can be adapted for use in another.
PepsiMax Europe utilized the concept in the diet Mountain Dew
commercials shown in the United States. (3) Not all new products are
introduced in the United States before expanding to other countries.
Students were advised to understand the particular niche a new product
is expected to fill in a product line and a product category.
Day Four: Howell, Henry, Chaldecott, Lury & Partners - London
Overview: Today's marketplace is characterized by over-communication,
market saturation and hyper-competition. For an advertiser to be
successful, a holistic, multidimensional approach must be utilized.
Key points included: (1) Today's advertising climate makes for strange
bedfellows. Witness Mercedes and Swatch, IBM and Apple, among
others.
(2) Research is key, and should be used for illumination as well as
for
support. (3) For an advertiser to successfully target its customers,
database marketing must be utilized. Sweepstakes are good
list-builders.
Students were advised to make advertising one part of their lives
rather than their life. They should spend time with their families,
travel, read and do other activities they enjoy. This agency's
employees
regularly go home without work between 5-6 p.m. and rarely pull
all-nighters. Howell, Henry, Chaldecott, Lury & Partners was voted
Agency of the Year in the United Kingdom for 1994 and was named London's
best place to work in 1993.
Day Five: The Daily Telegraph and West Ferry Printers
Overview: This session compared and contrasted newspapers in the United
States and the United Kingdom.
Key points included: (1) The United Kingdom media is based on
newspapers, reaching 75 percent of the population, while the United
States is more dependent on electronic media and direct response.
(2) Deadlines are extremely important. A delay of an hour during a
pre-production step multiplies itself during the production schedule.
This has the potential to impact circulation guarantees and
distribution.
(3) Automation in the printing press has reduced the number of people
required to produce the final newspaper product.
Students were advised to understand the role of various media in
individual countries and to use this knowledge in selecting appropriate
communications vehicles for news and advertising.
Day Five: Young and Rubicam - London
Overview: This presentation explained how Colgate brands itself
domestically through advertising campaigns, strategy and media, and how
this differs from the worldwide approach.
Key points included: (1) In managing a brand, the company and
advertising agency must have a sense of the four primary pillars of
brand growth: familiarity, esteem, relevance and differentiation. (2)
Brand decline is not inevitable. A product can rejuvenate itself and
revert the declining life cycle.
Students were advised to study the position of the brand and to use
this as a framework for understanding where the brand stands in the
eyes
of the consumer.
Major Themes Stressed by the Agencies
Certain themes were stressed throughout the week by all agencies and
clients.
The Value of the Brand Is Paramount
Winning strategies protect the brand. A brand is not a one-time
purchase, but rather a history of experiences. Brands offer
opportunities for relationships that go well beyond the actual product
or service, with Disneyworld, My First Sony and Chicago's Niketown
being
examples.
Research Is Essential
Research is critical at all stages of campaign development. While it
can guide and justify certain decisions, perhaps research's greatest
asset is in identifying challenges and opportunities before they
emerge.
Agencies that can deliver and interpret this kind of information
will
always find their services in demand.
Global Advertising Is a Myth
While a brand may be advertised in many different parts of the world,
the strategy, execution and audience will probably be different for
every country and sometimes areas of those countries. The key is to
understand the customers' needs for interaction and involvement and to
develop strategies to maximize this.
Advertising Must Be Open to a Holistic Approach
The old way of doing advertising won't work in today's market: It's
one-way communication, too impersonal and has limited responsiveness.
Advertising agencies that survive will espouse integrated thinking,
allowing them to be competitive, innovative, anticipatory,
collaborative
and accountable. Reimbursement systems may have to be adapted to
accommodate the use of numerous communication tools.
Evaluation
All goals were met. Agencies and clients generously gave of their time
and expertise. Multinational accounts were studied, case studies
were
presented, agencies' and clients' offices were visited.
Students were taught by the masters of advertising: presidents and
heads of top agencies, worldwide creative directors, international
media
planners and senior vice presidents.
The hospitality was warm and sincere. Refreshments were served and the
students received several gifts.
Students spent approximately $1,100 for the international advertising
seminar. Approximately half of this cost was for airfare.
Promotion of the international advertising seminar is underway in the
university's and school's alumni publications.
Using the International Seminar in the Classroom
An international advertising seminar will provide the accompanying
faculty member with many materials to use in the classroom. These
materials have multiplied the number of students who have benefited from
the lessons learned on the trip.
Agencies and clients generously shared their presentation materials.
Audiovisual aides used in the presentations and case studies such as
overhead transparencies, tapes of advertising examples, planning
documents and research were given to the faculty member. These have
numerous classroom applications from the formal presentation of
international case studies to anecdotal examples of various points.
The faculty member also had the opportunity to personally meet and
visit with agency executives and clients. These contacts have proven
valuable in securing additional advertising tapes for classroom use
and
in providing information about current campaigns.
Some Other Lessons Learned
y Keep your group size to about 12 people. You will fit into most
meeting rooms, be able to stay together when walking and can
economically share a few taxis.
y Offer only one option for travel and other arrangements. It's amazing
how many special requests you may receive from asking to stay at
friends' apartments to save lodging costs to wanting to take an
afternoon off to see long lost relatives. Denying such requests keeps y
ou from being a travel agent, maintains your sanity and helps you
stay
focused on the original goals.
y Review tipping practices with the students. Most haven't much
experience in this area.
y Build in some free time. Our schedule did not allow for sightseeing
and other tourist activities, and, in retrospect, it should have.
The
hesitancy was three-fold: our desire to maximize the student's
exposure
to international advertising; each day's meals and lodging cost
about
$100; and the spring semester started two days after we returned
home.
y Take some university gifts such as mugs and sweatshirts with you to
give to the presenters.
y If your trip will take place in early January, remember that most
advertising agencies close between Christmas and New Year's Day. This
could cause problems if you are trying to make final arrangements or
to
confirm your meetings.
Future Trips
Once the trip has been evaluated, the faculty should make a decision
about future international trips. Some issues to be explored include
new
locations, accounts to be studied, frequency, alumni to be involved
and
timeframe.
This seminar also helped identify other ways students could be exposed
to international advertising. Obviously a trip overseas has a
built-in
excitement factor not matched by these other methods. But, if the
goal
is to increase your students' familiarization with multinational
accounts, consider these less expensive alternatives.
Guest speakers from advertising agencies or clients with an
international scope could visit your classes and present case studies.
An evening or weekend seminar would provide additional time for
in-depth
discussion.
A day trip to an advertising agency within driving distance or a
2-3 day trip to a regional site would allow students to personally visit
the agencies' and clients' offices, meet those who have worked on
the
campaigns and attend presentations for a variety of multinational
accounts.
Students could do case studies of international campaigns. A key
component of such an assignment would be research on the country's
people, laws, language(s) and customs. This would complement the actual
presentation and discussion of the advertising campaign.
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