Knowledge @Wharton is the online business journal of the Wharton School. In a recent article regarding marketing titled ”‘What Are You Giving Away?’ The Challenges of Marketing in Asia“, there were some important insights for tourism marketers marketing overseas.
We pulled the relevant highlights out of the article for your consideration:
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Like developed-world consumers, many urban Chinese people are technologically savvy and comfortable seeking product information on the web. But unlike them, they don’t typically show brand loyalty and are often more motivated by price than perceptions of product quality or prestige.
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“Chinese consumers aren’t brand loyal, but they are brand conscious,” added Fred Young, team leader for the Asian division of Swain Tours.
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Young, who previously worked as senior research director for the Committee of 100, a nonprofit focused on improving China-U.S. relations, cautioned that Asian markets generally, and China in particular, have greater diversity than many Western marketers assume. “There’s no such thing as one China,” he pointed out. “In Shanghai, people prefer having a separate MP3 player and phone. In other cities, people want one device. In Shanghai, people want carousel loaders for their CD players. Down south, one-CD trays are fine because they’re cheaper. And tastes can be completely different when you drill down to the small cities. People there aren’t interested in foreign brands.”
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Regardless of the product or its position, companies need to make greater efforts to research Asian markets and local consumer preferences before plunging in, said Bain’s Mike Booker.
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And whatever else Western marketers in Asia do, they need to be sure that they hire staffers who are fluent in both English and the local language or contract with well-qualified translators, said Young of Swain Tours. Then they should devise ads and marketing materials specifically for the local market. “You can’t just hire someone and say translate our U.S. ads,” he noted. “Coke did that and its slogan, ‘Coke Adds Life,’ ended up as ‘Coke Brings Back Your Ancestors from the Dead.’”
