How to build a global brand?

While maintaining the brand's focus in China, we will move towards the global market. This is an effective solution to get out of the bottleneck of market share and avoid major brand strategy mistakes. In the process of consulting global enterprises, we found that most customers think they are in such a gap: 1. In their country, the market share of their brand has not been fully improved. They need to grow up very much. The next result is that they extend the brand to other categories. They said, "This is the only way to grow up." As a result, they become victims of violating the law of brand creation-"expansion law" (we put forward 22 laws to build a real brand in "22 laws to build a brand", and the expansion law is one of them). They said: "It is true that expanding our brand into more categories may be dangerous, but it is the only way to grow." Brand extension is not the only way to grow! In fact, the perfect solution to the above two goals is to stick to your focus, expand into the global market and build a global brand. And this only means: ◆ Continue to maintain the narrow focus of the brand in China. ◆ Going to the global market. This is an effective scheme to get out of the predicament and avoid major brand strategy mistakes. With the help of mental resources, "import" is a magical word used in many products for many years. Food, beer, wine, drinks, clothing, cars, utensils and many other commodities all benefit from import labels. It seems that crossing national boundaries has suddenly enhanced the value of the brand. In fact, crossing national boundaries does often increase the value of a brand. Because value exists in consumers' cognition, the recognition of brand source will increase or decrease the value of brand. Will anyone doubt the value of the following products: Swiss watches, French wines, German cars, Japanese electronic products, Italian clothes ... If so, can Albanian watches, Polish wines, Turkish cars, Russian electronic products and Portuguese clothes be equally recognized? Obviously not. Usually, every country has its own things that are internationally recognized. If a brand bears the symbol that its country is universally recognized, it has the possibility of becoming a global brand. In the Netherlands, a country with a population of only 6.5438+0.5 million, Heineken NV used to be an ordinary brewery. However, through globalization, Heineken has become the second largest beer brand in the world. Can any brewery do this? Of course not. To become a successful world-class beer brand (or any global brand), you need to do the following two things: 1. In the eyes of consumers in the global market, you must be the first of its kind in your country. Your products need to conform to your understanding of the origin of your country. Heineken is the first global beer brand. However, in international cognition, beer is a product associated with Germany rather than the Netherlands. Heineken is lucky. The Netherlands is geographically and ethnically close to Germany. Therefore, many beer drinkers think Heineken is a German product. Heineken is also lucky in the second aspect. Beck, its main German competitor in the global market, is often mistaken for British beer by consumers because its name sounds like English and bears unnecessary burden. Heineken is also lucky in the third aspect. In Germany, the biggest selling German beer is the Wasstein beer. Usually, well-known leading brands in a certain field are more likely to achieve great success in other countries in the world. However, a German beer brand with the theme of "War"-"War" has almost no chance of success in the global market. There are many ways to promote globalization. Instead of attracting core market groups, you can attract different market groups in a larger market. Corona beer has become a global brand by promoting Mexican flavor, Kirin beer vigorously promotes Japanese flavor, and Tsingtao beer vigorously promotes China flavor. Corona is a good example, which flexibly uses Americans' knowledge of another country to enhance the brand. Importers in Corona use the metaphor that Americans often associate drinking Mexican beer with citrus plants to promote their brands: toothpicks and lemons at the top of Corona bottles have become visual symbols that Americans can see. "What's that?" Asked the customer who had never drunk Corona. "That's Corona, Mexican beer." This strategy was very successful, and Corona became the second largest brand of imported beer in the United States after Heineken. In turn, its success in the United States has promoted its sales in China. In China, Corona has become the leading brand of Mexican beer. In fact, the domestic practice should be different from the global brand strategy, and the position in China does not determine the position in the global market. Corona used to be a popular low-priced beer in Mexico, but it used Mexico's resources in the eyes of Americans to create a new way of drinking beer and establish a high-end beer brand all over the world. Today, all over the world, you can see Corona beer with lemon slices. People's understanding of a country is very important, and nothing has such a distinctive national connotation as a global brand. Because about 70% of sales and 80% of profits come from outside the United States, Coca-Cola emphasizes that it is a global brand rather than an American brand. But for Coca-Cola, it would be a major marketing mistake to give up the American propaganda tradition. Every brand (no matter where it is bottled, assembled, processed and produced) must come from somewhere. With the infiltration of American culture (especially music, movies and TV) all over the world, Coca-Cola has benefited a lot from its contact with the United States. People who drink Coca-Cola all over the world proudly shout, "This is American." It doesn't matter where your brand is conceived, designed or produced. Its name and connotation determine its geographical concept. Many years ago, we met the chairman of SMH Group, a company that produces Swatch watches. He asked, "What do you think of cars made in Switzerland?" "Very well," we replied. "We have a very good communication theme: running as accurately as a watch." "I'm glad you like the idea," he said. "We will name this new product Swatch." "Wait a minute," we said. "Swatch is a cheap watch. After wearing it several times, you can throw it into the dresser drawer. Automobile is a big product and a major investment. People identify themselves by the cars they drive. If you want to name your new car a watch, call it a Rolex. " However, he didn't follow our advice. The company used the name Swatch when launching this car (first with Volkswagen, then with Mercedes-Benz). The ending can be imagined. Recently, smart leaders have been renamed smart. Smart idea! Shumate automobile will appear in the European market with the image of energy saving, low pollution and being suitable for crowded cities. The choice of Shumate as a global product name illustrates a trend in the process of brand globalization: give your brand an English name, but it doesn't have to be necessarily related to Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia or other English-speaking countries.