One of the booming economies in Asia, India offers tremendous opportunities to global companies. A brief look at the Indian landscape would prove why – an estimated 1.2 million affluent households that is expanding at 20% a year, 40 million middle income households (earnings of US$20,000 to US$45,000 adjusted for PPP) growing at 10% a year, more than 110 million households with earnings of US$7,500 to US$20,000 (adjusted for PPP) and more than 70% of the population below the age of 36. It is no wonder then, that global brands are making a bee line to the Indian market to grab a share of the growing pie. This alluring face of the Indian business landscape has another facet to it and that is the highly discerning and demanding customers. In spite of the booming economy and the increasing disposable income, Indian consumers are very cautious and clear in their priorities. Consumers are still not ready to splurge on branded goods at premium prices. Added to this is a growing number of Indian brands that offer superior quality at affordable prices. In such a scenario, global brands can win only if they attune themselves to the local conditions.

Unilever is a classic example of a global brand which has pioneered serving the locals with products that address the local sensitivities. Unilever’s Indian subsidiary Hindustan Level Limited (HLL) has been the leader in recognizing the tremendous opportunity lying at the bottom of the pyramid – customer base that aspires to consume products but in smaller quantities and at lesser prices. HLL literally invented the shampoo sachets – small plastic packets of shampoo for as less as INR 1 (USD0.022). This became such a rage among the rural consumers that many other brands started offering products such as detergent, coffee and tea powder, coconut oil and tooth paste in sachets. Even though the unit price was higher, rural consumers were able to afford to purchase the smaller quantity at their convenience.

Another example is the leading mobile brand Nokia. Nokia also recognized the growing importance of rural customers in the Indian mobile telephone market which grew from a mere 300,000 subscribers in 1996 to a whopping 55 million subscribers in 2004. Nokia introduced its dust-resistant keypad, antislip grip and an inbuilt flash light. These features, albeit small, appealed to a specific target of truck drivers initially and then to a broader segment of rural consumers. These features endeared Nokia to the Indian consumer as Nokia displayed a genuine commitment in responding to local customer needs.

Disneyland launched Euro Disney and maintained its standard tried and tested formula with the assumption that customers would seek the authentic Disney experience. But shortly into the launch, Euro Disney was declared a failure. Of the many reasons that were attributed to Euro Disney’s failure, the one that stood out clearly was Euro Disney’s lack of localizing the brand experience. Euro Disney followed the brand policies to the word – English-only instructions, no wine consumption on park grounds, high ticket prices, and standardized merchandise and food items. This resulted in wide spread dissatisfaction among the customers. But Euro Disney was just following the golden rule of branding – consistency in its brand elements.

These examples illustrate the consequences of culture on brands. In all the three examples, the brands were global brands with operations in multiple markets. Nokia and Unilever recognized the different customer needs and adopted the brand to the preferences of customers. Disney on the other hand followed the classic branding rule of maintaining consistency across markets. As can be seen from these examples, cultural differences mandate that brands be sensitive to different cultural facets. Further, these cases offer some very important points that should be fully appreciated by any brand manager that aspires to be successful in cross cultural settings.

   1. Cultural differences impact branding: Cultural differences are indeed a major factor that has an impact on the success or failure of a brand. As brands enter different cultures, it becomes imperative for them to carefully tread the standardization-customization continuum wherein they not only manage to retain the inherent brand identity which is the very reason for their acceptance across markets, but also adopt the brand elements (images, advertising, channels, and others) to appeal to the local tastes and preference of customers.

   2. Weave the brand into the cultural fiber: The increasing popularity of the Internet offers brands a very powerful tool to involve customers and bring the brands closer to the local culture by providing them a platform to interact with the brand in their (customer’s ) terms. Creation of online discussion groups, and online brand communities is a firm step towards co-creating brand value with the customers. By weaving the brand essence into the societal fiber, brands can leverage cultural differences to their advantage.

   3. Understand the consumption patterns: Individualistic and collectivistic cultures tend to be the two ends of a continuum. Individualistic cultures support customers to make consumption decisions based on their personal choice, at an individual level. On the other hand, collectivistic cultures support customers to make consumption decisions on a group level (family, extended family, network of friends and even community).

These differences hold the key to many a branding strategy when entering new markets. Even though globalization and integrated markets offer brands a very lucrative deal in terms of untapped market potential, greater number of customers, and broader reach, it also poses certain challenges such as cultural differences and the resulting consumption patterns. To maximize the opportunities brands should be sensitive to the cultural subtleties and adopt accordingly. Cultural differences can be morphed from a challenge to an opportunity when brands learn from the many best practices in the industry and adopt their branding strategies to adequately reflect the consumer preferences.