Role of culture in advertising
Culture is an aspect that is informed by the traditions and the customs of society. It is usually revealed through intellectual and artistic achievements of the society and maintained by progressive codes of behaviour that are transmitted across all generations. It is essential to pay attention to culture in advertising. Culture influences the adverting for brands that generally work on a worldwide scale and especially when a brand is working in a market with a cross-cultural difference to where they are based (Strasser, 2003). The symbols, messages, rituals and the colours used for the brands hold different meanings and messages across the global cultures. The basic concept for every business that wishes to be successful in the global markets is to know their consumers. The ability to Know a consumer encompass understanding their culture and how it interacts with the brand. As the world becomes more connected with advanced technology, there is an increasing need to understand other cultures. Culture plays a significant role in advertising by businesses around the globe.
Consumer Behaviors in Advertising
Culture plays a role in impacting the behaviours of consumers across different markets. Culture is an aspect that determines the success of the sales of certain products amongst particular business, nationalities and ages. For example, at the global level, a brand that is successful in the western market may not be successful in the Middle East. A successful technique of advertising in Australia may be a flop in Japan. The consumers from America respond well to conspicuous and bold advertising, and this is not applicable among the British consumers (Holt, 1998). In Asia, there is a market for selling skin whitening products, but in the West, such markets are less popular the same way the market for sunscreen is not performing in the Middle East. Consumer behaviours are different from one country to the other, and this is based on the political influences, socio-economic factors, geographic together with the social traditions and history. The differences in the behavior of the consumers is influenced largely with the origin of their culture. Consumers in a particular country are often bound by a common culture that influence their buying behaviors and exposure to the advertising techniques. For every culture a business is expected to perform a market research so that a relevant marketing strategy can be used to reach the consumers.
Consumer behaviors are different in the same way as their culture. Within a country itself, consumers differ in terms of ages, education, sex and religious affiliations but they are united by a common culture. Such characteristics of individuals within a country have the ability to impact their buying behavior. The diversity in the cultures, is accompanied by the challenge of targeting the audience. Human beings normally like grouping together with the aim of securing an identity and this is what influences the trends in fashion and overall consumption. Despite the opportunity for ever human to be autonomous, there is increased safety in number and this is how culture comes into play (Frank, 1997). While there are numerous different cultures with diverse consumer economies across the world, trends also transcend the differences in the cultures. The ability of a business to launch a brand in different countries regardless of the cultural differences calls for an extensive research on the consumer behavior. For example Facebook is a form of advertisement that has been successful globally, regardless of the differences in the cultures. Starbucks is one of the organizations that have adapted their franchise to conform to different cultures (Holt, 1998). The same applies to Cadbury. The marketing of these firms is specifically adapted to suit the cultural norms of the consumers from the advertising they use in these markets.
Culture influences the consumer behaviors, hence, investing in the research of the target audience is important in the world of advertising.
Communication in Advertising
Understanding the cultural differences can assist a business to establish a more effective content while reaching out to consumers beyond borders. It is important for the marketing team for a business to travel abroad and have some time with the people who come from different places with the aim of examining how their culture impacts how they view advertising. The ways in which a person reacts, respond or interprets the content in advertising is greatly influenced by their cultures. For example Toyota strived to integrate the difference in culture and motivations into their communications through establishing their six-version TV ad for the Camry in the US (Holt, 1998). There are numerous global communications that are regularly released by international brands (Adorno, & Horkheimer, 2000). The major objectives of these brands should be to work on how to improve the effectiveness and the power of their messages across borders. Improved awareness and understanding of a culture by a business is important in an effective communication with customers in different regions and markets and in more subtle ways. Through becoming both culturally sensitive and sharing more compelling messages, a company can easily tap into international markets with a diversity in cultures. When a business is also able to understand the ways in which other cultures communicate, it is able to communicate the advertising campaign to the potential customers in a way that they easily understand and appreciate. A communication style can either be implicit or explicit. An explicit communicator like US assumes that the listener is normally not aware of the background information and issues related to the topic and hence obtain it on their own (Frank, 1997). Japan encompasses of implicit communicators who often assume that the listener is sufficiently informed and hence minimizes the information shared with the listener. A business cannot introduce implicit communication style to a country like US just the same way it cannot apply explicit communication to consumers from Japan.
Cultural Values and Norms in Advertising
When advertising across the border, it is important for a business to analyze the cultural values that underpins the target audience from a particular society. The religious values and perception of the people from a certain culture influences their choices in consumption. Companies should establish brands that respects the religious values of the people across cultures in order to be successful in advertising. Failure to respect the cultural values of the people can result to a ban or a decline in the consumption of the product by the people from a specific culture (Strasser, 2003). For example Nike, declined in perfomamce in Chinese markets due to the symbol of Dragon that was used in its adverts. The Dragon in the Chinese culture is highly respected by the people. A business must also focus on the country to determine if it is collectivist or individualist nations so that they can formulate the best advertising strategy. Advertising that focuses on h success of individuals or independence by stressing on the word “I” can be received negatively in certain nations where team work is a positive quality. Lack of respect for authority or rebelliousness should be avoided by business in hierarchical or family oriented families like Italy. At the same time emotions of the people, are influenced by culture (Holt, 1998). In advertising emotions drive engagement, the intention to purchase and brand recall. Understanding and conceptualizing culture in advertising is significant in defining emotional palette that can be used by a brand for a specific audience. A business that aims to tap into international markets characterized by different cultures should perform a research on the emotions, cultural values and norms of the people in the country.
Generally, culture plays a significant role in advertising for business that wish to expand into international markets. Culture influences the consumer behaviors of people across cultures and hence the message conveyed in advertising should promote positive behavior among the consumers. Effective communication in connection to the culture of the people should be formulated by businesses that wish to expand into international markets. The cultural norms, values and attitudes of the people across cultures also influences the advertising of brands.