IS LOCALISATION
THE FUTURE?
To win in the future, brands need to learn how to accommodate complexity if they expect to be loved by customers. Localisation, personalisation and creating hyper local experiences help brands to do that. But is this just another marketing gimmick? There is lot of evidence that suggests otherwise.
According to Common sense advisory research - Translation at Fortune 500 Companies, 71.43% of Fortune 500 companies say that they translate content locally to maintain or increase the value of the brand. 79.49% do it to meet local customer expectations. 71.43% say they do it to reach more customers in markets where they already compete. 71.43% say they do it to maintain or increase the value of the brand. 69.39% say they do it to meet local regulatory or legal requirements.
According to research conducted by Smart Insights, 51% of global businesses buyers would rather buy a product from a site with poor-quality localization than from a site that only has content in English. 55% of global customers said they only buy products from website that provide them with information in their own language. 56% of consumers said the ability to obtain information in their own language is even more important that price.
Localization protects brand image and preserves brand equity. Here are some of the key factors brand leaders need to take into consideration while devising their localization strategy.
HYPER LOCAL STORE DESIGN
From day one skincare brand AESOP has been conscious about selecting locations that are on-brand. Its store design strategy uses cues from the existing environment to inform the store design. All at once the brand respects the history of the place, while imbuing the brand values throughout.
The store becomes a gallery that offers consumers something new to see while knowing the experience will still be Aesop. The design strategy gives consumers a reason to visit for the unique yet consistent Aesop experience across the network.
LOCAL CULTURE CONTENT ASSETS
The era of standardisation is ending. Consumer communities are growing more diverse — in ethnicity, wealth, lifestyle, and values.
During the rebrand UBER announced a manifesto to deliver a hyper-localized experience to every one of its customers in every part of the globe. Uber is rolling out a different look and feel for each of its 65 countries. Each new look was developed by in-house designers who collaborated on “mood boards” of colours, patterns and photos to evoke the regional flavour of each country – an incredibly ambitious task that took their team three years to complete. They company also incorporates localized design elements in its app by changing the colour if the car icon according to what city you’re in.
LOCAL BRAND STRATEGY - (BRAND ARCHITECTURE & INTERNAL BRAND)
The French brand L’Oréal has built a portfolio of brands from many cultures— French L’Oreal is called (L’Oréal Paris, Garnier, Lancôme), American is called (Maybelline, Kiehl’s, SoftSheen-Carson). British call it (The Body Shop), Italian refer to it as (Giorgio Armani), and Japanese call it (Shu Uemura). Now they have offices in more than 130 countries, and over half its sales comes from new markets.
To achieve this L’Oréal started to internationalise the management team so that the brand can be localised. They placed executives from mixed cultural backgrounds in its most critical activity: new-product development. They have about 40 product development teams, each working on a different concept. A team consists of three or four people, two of whom may be multicultural. An increasing number of multiculturals are starting to find their way into senior management—a sign of the success of the approach. This further led to their brand having a strong localised presence.
LOCAL CONTENT MANAGEMENT STRATEGY
Mercedes Benz in partnership with Adzu turned UK’s dealers into effective marketers with a digital solution. Now a days most of the car buyers make their purchase decisions before going to the dealers by researching online. So dealers needed to connect to the buyers while they were doing the research.
The software algorithm was developed that creates target profiles of the target buyers. After using CRM data, Geo-located ads and Google’s display network, they found out the right prospective buyers who were actively researching the new car purchase in the local areas. These prospective buyers were then targeted with relevant and focused communications.
LOCAL BRAND EXPERIECNES
Best Buy revamped close to 300 of its 700 U.S. stores, introducing “customer-centric” formats to appeal to local shoppers. The company identified five representative types of customer personas and created stores for each.
1. “Jill,” a busy mother who is the chief buyer for her household and wants quick, personalised help navigating the world of technology. The store that caters to the needs of Jill has an uncluttered layout with wider aisles and warmer lighting, and technology-related toys for children. Personal shopping assistants educate technology neophytes about products, and there’s more floor space allocated to household appliances.
2.“Buzz,” a technology junkie who wants the latest gear for entertainment and gaming. Stores catering to Buzz have lots of interactive displays that allow shoppers to try out new equipment and media.
3. “Barry,” an affluent, time-pressed professional is looking for high-end equipment and personalised service. Stores tailored to his needs feature a store-within-a-store for pricey home-theatre setups. Etc…
Top 10 brands featured in Interbrand’s “Best 100 brands” list have managed to keep their appeal worldwide through localisation.
1. Apple has a localized app store for developers to create and users to download localized advertising
2. Google uses Local logos - doodles, localised user experiences (Change of ‘I am feeling lucky’ to ‘I trust in god’ for some countries)
3. Coca Cola’s famous localised communications can never get old
4. Microsoft has been developing localised user experience
5. IBM is focused on customising and localising their solutions (products)
6. Toyota follows “genchi genbutsu” (“go and see”) principle, which means - to solve a problem you must go to the place where it occurred.
7. Samsung has a localised strategy and Localised Retail presence
8. GE has lot of localised product lines
9. McDonalds has developed localised products and localised menu for different countries
10. Amazon always localises the customer service it provides.
According to Common sense advisory research - Translation at Fortune 500 Companies, 71.43% of Fortune 500 companies say that they translate content locally to maintain or increase the value of the brand. 79.49% do it to meet local customer expectations. 71.43% say they do it to reach more customers in markets where they already compete. 71.43% say they do it to maintain or increase the value of the brand. 69.39% say they do it to meet local regulatory or legal requirements.
According to research conducted by Smart Insights, 51% of global businesses buyers would rather buy a product from a site with poor-quality localization than from a site that only has content in English. 55% of global customers said they only buy products from website that provide them with information in their own language. 56% of consumers said the ability to obtain information in their own language is even more important that price.
Localization protects brand image and preserves brand equity. Here are some of the key factors brand leaders need to take into consideration while devising their localization strategy.
HYPER LOCAL STORE DESIGN
From day one skincare brand AESOP has been conscious about selecting locations that are on-brand. Its store design strategy uses cues from the existing environment to inform the store design. All at once the brand respects the history of the place, while imbuing the brand values throughout.
The store becomes a gallery that offers consumers something new to see while knowing the experience will still be Aesop. The design strategy gives consumers a reason to visit for the unique yet consistent Aesop experience across the network.
LOCAL CULTURE CONTENT ASSETS
The era of standardisation is ending. Consumer communities are growing more diverse — in ethnicity, wealth, lifestyle, and values.
During the rebrand UBER announced a manifesto to deliver a hyper-localized experience to every one of its customers in every part of the globe. Uber is rolling out a different look and feel for each of its 65 countries. Each new look was developed by in-house designers who collaborated on “mood boards” of colours, patterns and photos to evoke the regional flavour of each country – an incredibly ambitious task that took their team three years to complete. They company also incorporates localized design elements in its app by changing the colour if the car icon according to what city you’re in.
LOCAL BRAND STRATEGY - (BRAND ARCHITECTURE & INTERNAL BRAND)
The French brand L’Oréal has built a portfolio of brands from many cultures— French L’Oreal is called (L’Oréal Paris, Garnier, Lancôme), American is called (Maybelline, Kiehl’s, SoftSheen-Carson). British call it (The Body Shop), Italian refer to it as (Giorgio Armani), and Japanese call it (Shu Uemura). Now they have offices in more than 130 countries, and over half its sales comes from new markets.
To achieve this L’Oréal started to internationalise the management team so that the brand can be localised. They placed executives from mixed cultural backgrounds in its most critical activity: new-product development. They have about 40 product development teams, each working on a different concept. A team consists of three or four people, two of whom may be multicultural. An increasing number of multiculturals are starting to find their way into senior management—a sign of the success of the approach. This further led to their brand having a strong localised presence.
LOCAL CONTENT MANAGEMENT STRATEGY
Mercedes Benz in partnership with Adzu turned UK’s dealers into effective marketers with a digital solution. Now a days most of the car buyers make their purchase decisions before going to the dealers by researching online. So dealers needed to connect to the buyers while they were doing the research.
The software algorithm was developed that creates target profiles of the target buyers. After using CRM data, Geo-located ads and Google’s display network, they found out the right prospective buyers who were actively researching the new car purchase in the local areas. These prospective buyers were then targeted with relevant and focused communications.
LOCAL BRAND EXPERIECNES
Best Buy revamped close to 300 of its 700 U.S. stores, introducing “customer-centric” formats to appeal to local shoppers. The company identified five representative types of customer personas and created stores for each.
1. “Jill,” a busy mother who is the chief buyer for her household and wants quick, personalised help navigating the world of technology. The store that caters to the needs of Jill has an uncluttered layout with wider aisles and warmer lighting, and technology-related toys for children. Personal shopping assistants educate technology neophytes about products, and there’s more floor space allocated to household appliances.
2.“Buzz,” a technology junkie who wants the latest gear for entertainment and gaming. Stores catering to Buzz have lots of interactive displays that allow shoppers to try out new equipment and media.
3. “Barry,” an affluent, time-pressed professional is looking for high-end equipment and personalised service. Stores tailored to his needs feature a store-within-a-store for pricey home-theatre setups. Etc…
Top 10 brands featured in Interbrand’s “Best 100 brands” list have managed to keep their appeal worldwide through localisation.
1. Apple has a localized app store for developers to create and users to download localized advertising
2. Google uses Local logos - doodles, localised user experiences (Change of ‘I am feeling lucky’ to ‘I trust in god’ for some countries)
3. Coca Cola’s famous localised communications can never get old
4. Microsoft has been developing localised user experience
5. IBM is focused on customising and localising their solutions (products)
6. Toyota follows “genchi genbutsu” (“go and see”) principle, which means - to solve a problem you must go to the place where it occurred.
7. Samsung has a localised strategy and Localised Retail presence
8. GE has lot of localised product lines
9. McDonalds has developed localised products and localised menu for different countries
10. Amazon always localises the customer service it provides.
