The Dangers And Opportunities Behind Global Brands
*A study released last month by the Economist's Intelligence Unit reported that, "Cultural differences between countries, the intangible nature of services and
the fragmentation of marketing channels, all exacerbated by acquisition strategies that bring with them disparate brands and company cultures, are all acting to make brand
management more challenging than ever."
These results, based on the responses of 145 executives around the world, reemphasize the importance of brand health to international companies of every size and scope. Among
the most notable findings:
Brand is a valuable asset for global companies:
- Ninety percent of companies surveyed do business internationally
- Forty-two percent derive more than 40 percent of their annual revenue from markets outside their headquarters country
- Eighty-one percent rated their corporate brand as a critical asset, ahead of every other category but human capital and established customer base
Brands are becoming increasingly global, and executives are facing challenges because of it:
- Forty-nine percent of respondents said that it is getting harder to achieve brand consistency as they enter new countries
- Only 33 percent think that their company maintains a consistent brand across their sales collateral, Web sites, and brick-and-mortar outlets
Companies are centralizing brand management to deal with challenges:
- Sixty percent of respondents manage their brands centrally, getting groups to buy into a branding approach rather than rely on the "command and control" or "brand police"
model
New Skills Trump Old Habits
*Traditional marketing competencies are taking a backseat to analytical, measurement and search engine-skills according to a new study - "The Face of the New Marketer" -
released by Coremetrics, an analytic marketing solutions provider. The study, which surveyed 120 senior marketing professionals in the United States and the United
Kingdom, found that "analytics and search engine marketing are being prioritized because they can reap enormous return and have a direct impact on an organization's online, and
even offline, revenues," according to John Squire, vice president, product strategy and general manager of Coremetrics.
Among the findings:
- Eighty-six percent of respondents said their decision-making is more reliant on analysis now that it was two years ago, and 73 percent said that analytical and
measurement skills are more important than product promotion
- Search-engine marketing is the most important skill to 31 percent of respondents, and 60 percent feel these skills have grown in importance over the past two years
However, an unsettling trend was imbedded in the results: Many marketing professionals identified themselves as personally lacking in the skills needed to most successfully
manage their evolving roles.
- Half said they need to improve their analytical abilities, 41 percent think their search-engine marketing skills must be improved and a startling majority (83%) find it
difficult to hire staff with the appropriate portfolio of skills.