Marketing is the commercialized art of persuasion.

Its function is to communicate in a culturally sensitive way in order to capture customer attention and to establish business relationships. Global branding enables a company like Dell Inc. to project a unique market position and corporate personality to the general public, thereby setting the corporation apart from its competitors. Balancing its online global branding presence with localized marketing campaigns is an absolute necessity. Marketing campaigns always encompass a range of customer attributes including demographics, geographics, psychographics (interests, lifestyles, behavior, perceptions) and behavioristics (benefit expectations, volume purchases, brand loyalty).

This interplay is further compounded by socio-linguistic nuances for each international market. Failure to abide by market expectations can disrupt the "pitch" (sales offering) or actually turn the (potential) customer base against a company. This situation cycles back to the premise that "localization" is less about selecting a specific technology suite and more concerned with imparting a methodology to all business operations to integrate inter-cultural and linguistic requirements with online website design, brand marketing campaigns and project management.

Financial Drivers

65% of today’s 745 million online users are non-English customers.

-- Global Reach

Localization for the sake of localization is not a viable business driver, given the investments in corporate professional talents, technology suites and defined processes. Specific ROI scenarios (for example, accelerated market expansion, promoting customer brand loyalty, increasing global brand valuation) must be developed in order to secure executive management "buy-in" and to set customer expectations.

For example, Dell recorded about $49.5 billion in corporate revenue last year, out of which nearly $17 billion or 34% was earned in Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa – in other words, outside of its domestic markets. This figure is compelling evidence that markets outside of the United States are making an ever greater contribution to Dell’s financial coffers. Global Reach's Global Internet Statistics show currently that, out of about 745 million online users, 65% are non-English customers. Hence, localization of marcom, products and services becomes paramount to establishing a one-on-one rapport with its worldwide customer base.

In addition, with Dell being a transnational E-commerce corporation, the website www.Dell.com is the primary interactive medium for all of its market segments, including Consumer, Enterprise, Government, etc. This medium projects the Dell.com online presence via (1) consistent user-interface layout, (2) appropriate site navigation flow and (3) persuasive product and services offerings. This is extremely important because perceptions are often more powerful than fact when appealing to customers' buying rationale, which includes emotions as well as factual information. We all know that the mere mention of certain brands – such as the luxury automotive firm BMW, French cosmetic giant LANCÔME, or German armaments company Heckler & Koch – can immediately convey certain attitudes towards quality, lifestyle, social mobility, performance, reliability, etc.

Global branding can increase your price margins and raise your stock price.

Using specialized business models, this perception can be quantified as a Brand Value, whereby the display of a corporate logo and its associated reputation can possess financial value. For example, Interbrand, a global brand consultancy, has ranked Dell 25th in terms of the value of its global brand (nearly $11.5 billion).

The value of global branding cannot be underestimated. According to James Gregory in his book, Branding Across Borders, such perceptions act as a profit multiplier by increasing price margins by about 15%, enhancing stock price by 5% and insulating a company from commoditization. (The latter causes a customer to purchase products/services solely based on the lowest price points, rather than based on their emotional and/or qualitative appeal). Advancing this approach to international markets, localization becomes integral to (1) projecting a common marcom experience, (2) forming a global citizenry of shared lifestyles – social values – purchasing patterns and (3) advancing customer brand loyalty.

Editor’s Note: For more insights into global branding, commoditization and the language services industry from LISA Member Q Malandrino, Executive Director, Corporate Branding (N. America) at Interbrand, read Branding Is a Lot Like … Translation. For a face-off on commoditization and pricing between a customer and a vendor, read Commoditization and Pricing: The Great Debate.

Localizing the Customer Experience

Each international market possesses its own unique culture, language, history and social interactions. Failure to abide by these norms may create awkward customer reactions and/or outright protests.

Why is a meat packing company offering software solutions?!

Naming, of course, is a key component in global branding. Niku Corporation, a software company on the U.S. West Coast, attempted to enter the Japanese market, only to discover that niku in Japanese means meat (source: Brand Beagle, December 2004). Hence, the intended Japanese customers were baffled by what they thought to be a meat packing company offering software solutions!

On the other side of the Pacific, Calpis, a Japanese refreshment company often solicits awkward reactions by U.S. tourists due to the phonetics of its name resembling cattle by-products. This encounter is superceded by the Japanese thrift store, Poop Dick, which can project unforeseen imagery, depending on one's imagination!

History also plays its part in global branding. Italian winemaker Andrea Lunardelli received a formal protest from the German government when they began producing the Führerwein brand of vintage wines, with labels depicting Adolf Hitler and Nazi-era slogans. A similar incident occurred in Canada when the Massandra Winery of Ukraine printed labels showing images of Joseph Stalin, which led to protests by Ukrainian-Canadians, since many had been victims of Soviet oppression.

From a sociological perspective, Aflac, a U.S.-based supplemental insurance company, achieved phenomenal success in customer brand recognition via its Aflac Duck TV commercials. However, when the U.S. commercials were initially ported to Japan, they were filled with localization bloopers.

Why was the duck shouting at them?

• The duck talked too loudly, hence the Japanese felt that the computer-animated mascot was "shouting at them."
• When the duck was attempting to talk to human patrons, it was impolite for the patrons not to look at the duck during the conversation.
• Via onomatopoetic expressions (words having sounds that imitate actions), the U.S. English-speaking Duck uttered "Quack, Quack” instead of "Ga, Ga," as a localized Japanese duck should have done.

These socio-linguistic traits are common to all cultures. For example, when experiencing sudden pain, an American English speaker would say, "Ouch," a British English-speaker, "Blimey," a Japanese speaker, "Yi-Tai," a Chinese-speaker, "Ai-Yoh," a Korean speaker, "Ai-Goh," a Vietnamese speaker, "Oh-Yah," a Hindi speaker, “Ooi-Ma,” a Bahasa speaker, “A-Duh,” etc. A simple example to remind all of us to use common sense and to avoid assumptions that cultural traits are transferable from one region to another.

These cultural traits were also initial obstacles when Dell attempted to port its American-made Steven Jackson TV commercials to Japan a few years ago. The Steven character, as immortalized by his colloquial phrase, "Dude! You're gettin’ a Dell," was a major success in terms of market penetration and revenue for the U.S. Consumer segment. The character’s popularity was such that he became almost a de facto Dell brand icon, with instant recognition attributed to Dell's corporate products, personality and performance. Therefore, it was reasoned that leveraging the same successful campaign to international regions would secure the same benefits and, at the same time, reduce advertisement production costs.

Needless to say, the transition did not execute as expected. The Japanese focus groups were lukewarm to the Steven character for the following reasons:

• He was brash and spoke to strangers without proper introduction.
• He did not show respect when addressing his elders.
• He exhibited a know-it-all attitude, which contradicted the “humble" Confucian-influenced nature of East Asian societies.

Lions should not salute Toyota trucks in China.

To be fair, Japan is also learning from its share of localization-related faux pas. In 2003, Japanese automotive firm Toyota issued a formal apology to China when it published an advertisement depicting a stone lion statue saluting a passing Toyota truck. Lions are traditional symbols of government authority in China, hence the imagery implied superiority of Japanese products over their Chinese counterparts. Chinese customer complaints were immediate.

An interesting footnote is that lions are not indigenous to China. Over a thousand years ago, the Chinese heard about a fierce large cat called Sil from Persian traders, which the Chinese localized to Shi. In honoring this animal's reputation, the Chinese ritualized Shi Zi Wu (Lion Dances) for the annual Lunar New Year celebration; hence, the lion imagery became an integral part of Chinese authority, folklore and culture.

Editor’s Note: For a fascinating account of how Japanese humor is expressed within the context of Catalan culture, read From Tokyo to Barcelona: Translating Japanese Anime into Catalan, by Professor Jordi Mas López.

Global branding is a social process, not just a marketing campaign.

Numbers, Colors and Social Etiquette

Sometimes, the most innocent items create the greatest misunderstandings. Such is the case with numbers that carry cultural, historical and/or theological connotations. In the West, the numbers 3, 7 and 10 project stability and perfection, while the numbers 6 and 13 allude to imperfection and ill fortune. In the East, the numbers 7, 8, 9 and 10 project patriotism - prosperity – longevity – perfection, while the number 4 is strictly taboo since its pronunciation is very close to the word for Death. For example, in Chinese Mandarin, 4 is pronounced Sì, while Death is rendered as Sî. In Japanese, the number 4 is pronounced Shi, while the verb to die is Shinu. This negative reaction to the number 4 is universal among the Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, Singaporean and East Asian communities in the Americas and Europe as well.

Colors also possess their own abstract, yet potent, definitions. White is a symbol of purity in the West, but is used for funeral ceremonies in the East. In one case, a U.S. businessman presented an introductory gift wrapped in white during a visit to Hong Kong. His Chinese counterparts were quite startled upon viewing the negative symbolism, and the business relationship never really developed to its full potential. Red is the symbol of romance and passion in the West, but is used for traditional weddings in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Color hues also play a part in localization. For example, dark blue represents tranquility for many Western European cultures, but is a bad omen to seafaring Mediterranean societies, with its allusion to the ocean depths. Cultures along the Mediterranean (or “White Sea,” as it is known in the region itself) prefer a light bluish-green color, with its reference to shallow, and thus safer, waters. Another example is MasterCard's credit card design for Middle Eastern markets. Using a medium green design background was strictly prohibited due to its religious affiliation with Islam; therefore, a bluish-green color was adopted. Of course, despite the historical and cultural intricacies, commonalities do exist, e.g., black attire being used for formal occasions in both East and West.

Colors and numbers deal with physical representations, but social norms are based on cultural nuance and subtlety. An Indian colleague once asked me why san must be added as a suffix to surnames when addressing his Japanese associates. He wondered if it represented class distinction since non-Japanese were not required to use the suffix. I explained that san was a common and polite way of greeting people in Japanese society and similar to the use of Mr. / Mrs. / Ms. / Miss in English. If one ignored such titles with the Japanese, they would feel slightly awkward since proper decorum had not been followed.

Editor’s Note: For an in-depth look at these issues vis-à-vis the web, read Applying Cultural Theories to Website Localization, by Dr. Andy Smith.

Are those chopsticks in my bowl?

Another subtly is chopstick etiquette during dining events. According to Chinese custom, food is usually served "family style," and all guests are invited to partake. The host may use his chopsticks to place the first serving onto his guest's plate as a gesture of hospitality. However, the latter should never be attempted with Japanese guests, for it may inadvertently remind them of traditional cremation rituals in which family members use chopsticks to place cremated remains into an urn. According to Japanese custom, it is extremely poor etiquette, and may even bring bad luck, for anyone to insert and leave his/her chopsticks vertically in their rice bowl. This symbolism reminds the Japanese of grave markers.

Even in greeting rituals, there can be slight differences. The Japanese usually bow at a 45-degree angle at the waist to demonstrate traditional mutual respect. The Chinese and the Koreans bow from the shoulder and then extend their hand for Western-style handshakes. The Vietnamese prefer to engage in Western-style handshakes from the outset to demonstrate equality among all social classes.

Perhaps the ultimate subtly in greeting occurs during teleconference calls. A morning conference call in the U.S. is an afternoon meeting in Europe. Hence, it is prudent for the U.S. participants to greet their European counterparts with "Good Afternoon" rather than "Good Morning" to establish cultural rapport.

All of these inter-cultural relations reinforce the fact that global branding is a social process and not just a marketing campaign.

Brand Tagline Transcreation

With global brand value contributing to corporate financial assets, strategic business benefits exist in harnessing this value consistently among international regions to strengthen customer loyalty, to increase market share and to develop new products and services. One means of consolidation is the Global Brand Tagline – a short, rhythmic statement representing the personality and positioning of the corporation. Examples include A Passion to Perform (Deutsche Bank), Ideas for Life (Panasonic) and Forever New Frontiers (Boeing).

Within marketing, taglines operate in concert with corporate logos to promote customer brand recall. The logo serves the visual medium in capturing customer attention, while the tagline serves the conscious / sub-conscious medium of instilling a rhythmic prose via core value relationships (e.g., prestige, safety, reliability, etc.) between the customer and the corporation. In this manner, the brand can draw upon both the rational and emotional aspects of customer recall, preferences and loyalty.

However, new challenges arise when attempting to preserve the original tagline's nuance and imagery across multiple cultures and languages. Some actions have been successful, such as Nortel’s This is the Way. This is Nortel. into German as Kommunikation Mit Zukunft. Zukunft Mit Nortel (Communication with the Future. The Future is with Nortel.). Another example that worked was Ford Motor Company’s Ford Tough transcreated into Spanish as Ford Fuerza (Ford Force or Ford Strength). The European internatinal broadcaster Deutsche Welle's German tagline Aus Der Mitte Europas (From the Center Europe) has also been successful in its colloquial Chinese version as Ouzhou Zhongxin (Europe Center).

However, other transcreations have required a bit more refinement, such as Pepsi-Cola’s literal translation of Come alive with the Pepsi Generation into Chinese as Gen Baishi Huifu Nidi Xianbei (With Pepsi, it will revive your ancestors). Or the alleged mishap with poultry company Perdue Farms Inc.’s tag line, It takes a strong man to make a tender chicken, being translated too literally into Spanish as Se necesita un hombre fuerte para hacer un pollo cariñoso (It takes an aroused man to make a chicken affectionate).

For Dell's transcreation effort, the first step was to consolidate divergent business taglines into a common global theme. For example, Consumer business segments emphasized the Steven character (“Dude! You're gettin’ a Dell"), while Enterprise segments highlighted Be Direct, Dell. Overseas regions had completely different themes, such as Dell Japan's Atarashii Jooshiki ga Umareru Tokoro (Where new standards begin), which resembled more of an engineering company than an Internet solutions / consumer electronics provider.

In 2001, Easy as Dell was established as the official global brand tagline to emphasize

• the ease of online transactions


• a single point of accountability


• products and services for lifestyle enhancements, etc.

Incidentally, this tagline closely resembled the American English proverb Easy as pie, which projected a nuance of seamless interactivity and cultural recall. However, localizing this global brand required close examination of the customer base to gauge its sensitivity to and acceptance of American English “marcom-speak.” Therefore, multiple international focus groups were established to document the regions’ preferences for one of the following three options: (1) the American English tagline, (2) a fully localized variant or (3) no tagline at all.

Via this strategy, colloquial versions were created for Europe with the French Simple comme Dell (Simple as Dell) for Belgium, France and the French-speaking parts of Switzerland. This was complemented by the German So Einfach wie Dell (So simple as Dell) for Germany, Austria and the German-speaking parts of Switzerland. China, Taiwan, Korea and India preferred the American version since English is commonly used in the region as an intermediary language. Central and South America opted out of using any brand tagline – not due to any localization obstacles, but rather due to logistical concerns that the region's transportation system might not support the tagline's imagery. This is one instance where local customer experience concerns outweighed the need to localize.

The ultimate challenge was Dell Japan, where the team had to balance the intricacies of Japanese syntax and semantics. Approximately 60 (!) localized tagline variants were measured against multiple requirements. Ambiguity was the first demerit, as in Deru no yoni Eezee (Easy becomes of Dell), a phrase in which most Japanese customers could not understand what the phonetic Eezee meant. Negative imagery was the second cause for elimination. Words such as Yasashii (is easy), alluding to a non-punctual, lack-luster attitude, fell into this category. Phrases such as Kantan soo (easy as) placed too much emphasis on physical action vs. a state of mind. Words like Suki (to like) skewed towards personal romance and intimacy.

To holistically represent all Dell business segments (Consumer, Enterprise, Government, etc.) was also an important prerequisite. The phrase Hikareru Deru (To be charmed Dell) was not professional enough for Enterprise customers. Wakari Yasui Deru (Easy to understand Dell) did not align with the nuance of the original American English. Nattoku Dekiru Deru (Able to comprehend Dell) lacked the call-to-action of the original.

Localization is a business process, not just a technical event.

Despite these rejections, the research did reveal Japan's preference for Gai-rai-go (phonetic foreign loan words) to represent Western nuances for marketing and technology. These words are quite prevalent in Japanese business, with examples such as Konputa (computer), Teremaketeingu (telemarketing) and the ever-unique Furagu-shippu-purodakuto (flagship product). Via this rather painstaking process, two promising words were identified, namely Sumaato (Smart) and Sinpuru (Simple). Sumaato conveyed the idea of sophistication, compact and en vogue. Sinpuru projected an imagery of simplicity, modern design and practicality. Rehashing these words into the focus groups produced the final successful candidate, Sinpuru wo Anata ni Deru (Simple for you, Dell), as the Japanese transcreation was equivalent to the English Easy as Dell. This exercise validates the principle that localization is ultimately a methodology and process to be incorporated into all aspects of business development if an organization hopes to be truly successful outside of its domestic market.

On a final note, Dell Inc. announced in January 2005 that a new global branding campaign has commenced with the tagline, Get More Out of Now. Therefore, once again, the brand transcreation efforts begin anew …

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Leon Z. Lee is the International Generalist for Dell Inc., with concentrations in international business, global branding, web globalization and inter-cultural relations. He can be reached at Leon_Lee@Dell.com and + 1 512 / 725-2902.