It appears a brand’s China communications strategy is beginning to boil down to a single home truth - localise, or be damned. Against a backdrop of heightening national fervour in the lead-up to the Beijing Olympics next year and an increasingly overt pride for all things China, Chinese consumers have made it clear they want local.
Brands, it seems, are quickly wising up. Maybelline New York has established an in-house brand unit, DMI, which is solely tasked with coming up with local brands developed in China for Chinese women. Wrigley recently caught onto the trend, producing its first locally-developed gum, LangYi, created specifically with the Chinese consumer in mind, boasting flavours that appealed more directly to the local palate.
PepsiCo’s crisps brand Lays has also introduced its Flavour of China line, which includes variants like Beijing Duck and Spicy Crab; symbol-of-the-West Starbucks - which came under fire for persisting with an outlet in the Forbidden City - is trying to appear more ‘local’, opening a new outlet which integrates traditional Chinese architecture into its façade, and Ford is currently developing a China-targeted line of its popular Mondeo model after months of painstaking research into consumer desires.
In a telling sign of the importance of localisation in China, marketers contacted by Media for this article declined to comment on their localisation strategy citing ‘competitive reasons’. But Peter Tan, McCann Worldgroup’s China director of its consumer insights unit, notes: “As more international brands enter into China, we’re going to see more and more localisation, not just of communications strategies, but of brands themselves.”
The evolution of localisation strategies, it appears, can broadly be segmented into three distinct phases, according to Landor executive director Ray Ally. “The first phase involved simply dubbing a Western ad into Chinese, and the second saw companies simply change the name and develop advertising more relevant to local consumers. “In phase three, where we are now, we’re seeing international companies develop brands specifically for China,” he explains.
While Western brands, particularly the high-end fashion, automotive and FMCG brands, retain a degree of the ‘aspiration’ factor, Chinese consumers are becoming increasingly patriotic, according to Ally. “Brands are realising this and changing their strategy, because they see that the potential is huge.”
But pundits note there are two distinct dangers which threaten the success of Western brands localising in China, that while not particularly new, are now of critical importance. The first, as seen by Nike, McDonald’s and Toyota among others, involves cultural missteps, where attempts to localise and integrate Chinese culture into their communications strategy results in a backlash when they inadvertently get it wrong.
Logistically too, localisation has its challenges. Agencies and brands - both often with their own ideas on how best to achieve their goal — often suffer a disconnect, not to mention the potential chasm between a brand’s management at global and local levels.
“You also have to seriously consider creating a whole new management structure for a localised brand, something Western companies can be reluctant to do for fear of losing control,” observes Tan. “In addition, you have to have local values ingrained into the company, and you need to have a pool of local talent to draw on.”
Distribution can also be a problem. Few Western brands have the required scale and momentum outside tier-one and -two markets, begging the question: If you can’t reach consumers, is there any point localising at all?
