In analyzing the Pepsi spots we can see a variety of them in various languages but all uniting a common idea. They often reflect a world of imagination and passion when famous singers such as Beyoncé and Shakira sell "The Joy of Pepsi."
Joining greater ideas, however, doesn't mean that Pepsi doesn't use different language-version spots. One Shakira music spot has two versions, one sung in Spanish and one in English. And the Hispanic market was the first to be targeted for a joint promotion involving Pepsi and PepsiCo sibling Frito-Lay's Doritos. In all, relevant ads for Pepsi and Doritos were combined because it made sense for all markets, but the expression and product mix were different. The promotion was titled "El Reventon de Sabor," which loosely translates as a "huge, flavorful party," and was heavily advertised on Spanish-language TV, since Latins love a fiesta.
Another type of integration occurs in the reverse direction. Saker and Brooke (1989) found that reliance on the ethnic market (for ethnic food retailers) was insufficient to sustain many small ethnic businesses. Whilst they benefit from an initial base market in selectively selling to their own targeted group, those that survived engaged the community at large and outside of their ethnic core as a new market for growth. Eating and dining in ethnic restaurants became the "thing to do" for many native residents. Successful ethnic-market-orientated businesses thus integrate their own ethnic customer businesss with the host society at large.
Figure 7.3: Relative degree to which several US ethnic groups display or conceal emotions
When comparing ethnic and non-ethnic orientation, two main differences are seen. Firstly, ethnic-market-orientated businesses tend to exploit more readily the social network of their own ethnic peers during their start-up phase - using family-funded cash flow, for example, and suppliers from the extended family. In contrast, non-ethnic-oriented businesses seek more conventional sources of support (e.g., bank business loans). Second, entrepreneurs from non-ethnic-oriented businesses tend to access business support networks to help them grow and survive, rather than an overdependence on the extended family, as is the case with more ethnic-oriented businesses.
Thus the reconciliation approach to ethnic marketing is not about exaggerating the differences as a means of subdividing and subdividing into ever smaller segments, but integrating markets by appealing to common identifiers that don't challenge any one subgroup at the expense of the other. They let each ethnic subgroup retain their own passion and belief systems while at the same time being part of the greater community.
This reconciled approach is represented by US company Hallmark's highly successful Common Threads collection. Rather than trying to target a particular segment, this line was intended to broaden the ethnic market by appealing to consumers who appreciate cultural diversity. Hallmark's Ethnic Business Center oversees their popular Mahogany (African Americans), Primor (Hispanics) and Tree of Life (Jewish) lines, but the Common Threads collection is not under its auspices. The unity cards are not reflective of a specific culture, nor are they directed at a particular ethnic group. Instead, messages are chosen to represent shared truths found in poetry, proverbs, and lyrics drawn from a variety of the world's cultures, emphasizing a philosophy of global community and diverse cultural expression.
After only a few months on the market, sales tallies confirmed that the Common Threads idea was sound. Not surprisingly, the line sold particularly well among students and teachers, but especially noteworthy was that demand was strong in almost all areas of the country, not just in major metropolitan centers (Brandweek, 2001).
Ethics
As societies become more multicultural, ethnicity becomes an increasingly important factor in differentiating purchasing motives. Ethnicity can affect a range of consumer behaviors such as styles of dress, tastes in music, and leisure time pursuits, or in food and drink consumption. These socio-cultural variations can also take on a political dimension and be used to delineate differences between groups, to demarcate boundaries between ethnic groups, to mark out some as members and others as outsiders.
The above debate also reveals an ethical issue. Does marketing play a role only as reacting to societal trends or does it need to play a role to create a culture of harmony and interaction between groups? Many scholars have shown that marketing and advertising play a very important role in the creation of a culture. We suggest that reconciled values that respect differences and create a context within which these differences are shared could be the most important orientation for the future success of ethnic marketing.
Chapter 8:
E-Marketing Dilemmas Across Cultures
Companies have to define new paradigms for electronic commerce and enable, facilitate, sustain, and reward interaction between consumers and their organizations. With the rapid growth of the Internet, it would be foolhardy for any company to ignore its power and potential. More and more companies are jumping on the bandwagon and getting their businesses wired in order to stay afloat in today's competitive environment.
THE INTERNET AS A BUSINESS ECOSYSTEM
All businesses face the challenge of this new information economy, whether local or global. But the "global/local" distinction is less clear; the Internet knows no boundaries, except when a government tries to control access as in China, for example, where the authorities attempt to block "foreign" commercial websites on local servers.
The future belongs to those enterprises who can receive, organize, distribute, and utilize information most effectively and swiftly. And the Internet plays a crucial role in this. Moore has pointed out that we have moved beyond competition and cooperation to the creation of business ecosystems, that is to whole economic communities of interacting organizations and individuals (Moore, J., 2003). But why and how?
Because more than anything the Internet has broken the old model of marketing communication theory. Traditionally information is transferred from a producer (source) to many consumers (receivers) at one time - typically via newspaper or television advertisements - and mainly before a sale. This view of marketing was heavily influenced by what became known as the Frankfurt School whose core premise was that the media can and do exert a direct and powerful effect on the consumer.
Integrate supply chain so manufacture and delivery is seamless
Reconciling organizations
Business benefits
Order and pay online
E-business
Open systems of information for customers, suppliers, and partners New business model reconciling dilemmas between organizations and individuals
Place in the worldwide market
E-commerce
Minimize waste and inefficiencies
Efficient internal and external communication
Website
Maximize accessibility and speed
Window on world of suppliers
Complexity of dilemmas deriving from extent of pervasion of Internet technology
Figure 8.1: E-adoption (see Charlesworth, 2003)
The New Interactionist Model
But the Internet has resulted in a new interactionist model. The consumer is no longer part of a passive, mechanistic, simplex (one way) communication model. Online consumers are now interpreters. "Meaning" is no longer simply given by the producer, but is continually being refined and reinterpreted by consumers as they seek out more and more choices and offerings for themselves. The consumer is now an active, not a passive, decoder of messages. The consumer has the power now, not the media. Thus there is no longer a clear distinction between supplier and a discrete customer - there is only communication between mutual senders and receivers of messages. Web surfers may be viewing advertisements, but their behavior in terms of how long they dwell on a particular page, what they choose to click on next, whether they follow up with a pricing or delivery query also sends messages back to the producer - because the web server can be used to track the path of responses, both in time and action. In the old model, in contrast, an advertiser never knew if potential customers had looked at a newspaper advertisement nor how they had responded to it.