We live in an increasingly borderless world enabled by advances in mobile and internet connectivity. As a result of the exponential growth in online and long distance communication facilitated by these advances, businesses have been presented more than ever, with opportunities to reach further customers geographically. In order to successfully engage with and drive sales from their expanded reach, businesses need to recognize the cultural differences in their new markets and adapt their product, messaging and delivery.
随着移动互联网的蓬勃发展，我们生活在一个越来越无国界的信息世界里。科学技术的进步让不同国家的人们在线上和线下更畅通地交流；与此同时，越来越多的公司也开始拓展国外市场、进行跨国商业贸易，以获取更多的全球客户。在拓展国外市场的过程中，我认为十分重要的一点是，跨国企业要清楚地认识到新市场的文化差异，并调整其产品、品牌信息的内容和表达方式，以更好地扩大业务范围，得到新市场用户的青睐和认可。在这里，我想介绍几个典型的跨文化品牌营销案例：
As a classic cross-cultural branding example, Starbucks, early in their globalization process as an American brand, adapted their logo in Saudi Arabia, since its naked siren was deemed “morally inappropriate” for the devout Muslim clientele. The company removed its mermaid design but left the crown from its logo since 1992.
作为海湾合作委员会人口最多的国家与中东地区人均收入最高的国家之一，沙特阿拉伯可谓是中东地区最大也最有成长潜力的市场。诸多国际知名品牌也将沙特做为其全球化扩张与布局中东的重要据点。介于文化与宗教的差异，许多国际品牌在营销上对品牌进行了本地化处理。
当星巴克进驻沙特阿拉伯市场时，他们为迎合当地风俗修改了其Logo标识。由于星巴克原有的裸体美人鱼的标识，对于虔诚的穆斯林客户来说是“在道德上不合适”，星巴克删除了品牌标识中的美人鱼形象，只留下了美人鱼头上的皇冠。
As of September 2018, Starbucks is present on 6 continents and in 76 countries and territories, with a total of 27,000+ locations. Their brand has been successfully localized in many of these countries, here some examples:
截至2018年9月，星巴克在全球六大洲和76个国家地区开展业务、拥有27, 000多个经销点。其品牌已成功地在多个国家进行了本土化的设计，以下为一些例子：
Localized storefront design in China:
星巴克在中国的本土化店面设计：
Localized storefront design in Japan:
星巴克在日本的本土化店面设计：
Localized storefront design in Korean:
星巴克在韩国的本土化店面设计：
Localized product — Starbucks mooncake in China during the Chinese Autumn Festival:
产品的本土化 — 星巴克为中国消费者在中秋节期间推出的月饼礼盒：
Localized product — Sakura frappuccino in Japan during the Japanese Cherry Blossom season:
产品的本土化 — 星巴克为日本消费者在樱花祭期间推出的樱花星冰乐：
Beyond localizing logos and products, effective cross-cultural branding practice can also be delivered through adaptation of its branding mascot. For example, at Kentucky Fried Chicken’s in Nanjing, China customers are greeted by KFC’s Mascot Colonel Sander in Traditional Chinese clothing and retro rounded glasses to match the spirit of the city.
除了本地化徽标和产品外，国际商家也可以通过本土化其品牌吉祥物来实现有效的跨文化品牌推广实践。 例如，在中国南京的，肯德基的企业的形象代言吉祥物山德士上校，以传统中装和复古眼镜来迎接当地的顾客。
For example, at McDonald’s locations in Thailand, customers are greeted by McDonald’s Mascot Ronald McDonald posing in a traditional “wai” gesture.
例如，在泰国的，麦当劳的企业的形象代言吉祥物麦当劳叔叔，以传统的“wai”姿态迎接顾客。
The above examples are well executed cross-cultural branding practices, as these companies recognized, respected and infused local customs into their messaging delivery. The cross-cultural branding practice is important because it engages with local customers and ultimately increase customer loyalty and sales.
Below are 2 examples of a lack of awareness and effort in cross-cultural branding, and how it negatively impacted the business, which resulted in the loss of sales and/or opportunity to enter a new market:
上述是跨文化品牌实践的一个优秀案例，成功的很重要的一个原因是这些公司认可、尊重并将当地习俗融入其信息传递中。 跨文化品牌推广非常重要，因为它与当地客户合作，最终提高客户忠诚度和销售额。
以下是跨文化品牌缺乏本地化意识的两个例子，以及它如何对业务产生负面影响，从而导致了销售和/或进入新市场的机会减少：
Gerber, a well-known Amercian baby food company, uses its Gerber Baby logo on the packaging of all Gerber products, to inform and reiterate its identity as a leading baby food brand. However, the company faced pitfalls in African markets, as they used the same packaging as they did in the US, with the Caucasian baby on the label. They didn’t realize that since many of the local people are illiterate, nearly all products sold in Africa depicts a picture of what the package contains. Thus, unfortunately, the local consumers took one look at the labels and interpreted them to mean that the jars contained ground-up babies. Its sales, of course, were terrible.
Gerber是一家著名的美国婴儿食品公司，这家公司在所有的产品包装上使用其Gerber Baby标志，以告知并重申其作为领先的婴儿食品品牌的身份。 然而，该公司在非洲市场却面临了困境，主要原始他们使用了与美国相同的包装 — — 一个可爱的白人婴儿。 他们没有意识到，由于许多当地人都是文盲，几乎所有在非洲销售的产品都描绘了包装内容的图片。 因此，不幸的是，当地消费者只看了一眼标签，并将其解释为这意味着罐子里装满了婴儿，它的销量自然很糟糕。
In 1996, when Japanese company Panasonic wanted to break into the highly-competitive consumer PC market, they selected the popular cartoon character Woody Woodpecker as the brand mascot to show that their PC was friendly, cute and approachable. The marketing team took the next logical step by naming the computer “The Woody.” The Woody, as you might expect, was superior to other computers because of its touchscreen capabilities, which were naturally called “Touch Woody.”Panasonic had no clue that anything was wrong with the slogan until the day before the ads were set to launch, when an American staff member informed them of the sexual slang connotations, Panasonic managed to drop the “Touch Woody” name and shift focus to some of the PC’s other features including its support system, the much more maturely named “Internet Pecker.”
1996年，当日本公司松下希望打入竞争激烈的消费者PC市场时，他们选择了流行的卡通人物Woody Woodpecker作为品牌吉祥物，来表达他们的PC友好、可爱和平易近人的形象。 营销团队通过命名计算机“The Woody”随后采取了一个非常合乎逻辑的步骤。正如您所料，Woody因其强大触摸屏功能而优于其他计算机，其自然被称为“Touch Woody”。松下并知道这个口号将带来什么问题，直到广告宣布推出前一天，当一位美国工作人员告诉他们性俚语的内涵时，松下设法放弃了“Touch Woody”这个名称，并将注意力转移到PC的其他一些功能上，比如其支持系统，并给了他一个更得体的名字 — — “互联网啄木鸟”（Internet Pecker）。
This example shows how years of research and technological innovation can be completely negated by the power of one accidental boner reference.
Both of the companies above neglected to the marketing research and learn about the local African consumers’ customs and perspectives, resulting in the loss of sales in the new market.
这个例子说明，一个简单的文化映射竟有能力完全否定一项花费多年研发出的产品。
我们可以清楚看到，上述两家公司都忽视了营销研究，Gerber的例子阐述了商家没有花时间去了解本国以外的非洲当地消费者的习俗和观点；松下的例子描绘了商家没有花时间去了解本国以外的美国当地消费者的语言和习俗；两者均导致了新市场销售额下降。
In short, cross-culture branding become increasingly important due to the rise of globalization and international business opportunities. A successful executed cross-cultural branding practice engages with local customers well and ultimately increases customer loyalty and sales.
Any business who are interested in the growth and expansion of business into new markets should research, recognize, respect, reflect and represent local customs into their brands.
简而言之，由于全球化和国际商业机会的兴起，品牌跨文化变得越来越重要。 成功跨文化品牌实践能很好地吸引了当地客户，从而最终提高了客户忠诚度和销售额。
因此，任何对开拓新市场感兴趣的企业都应该在他们的品牌本地化过程中，研究、认可、尊重、反映和呈现当地习俗。
