Cross-cultural marketing communication may target multicultural consumers living in the same region or represent an international advertising initiative. Global advertising communications are created specifically for a worldwide audience. In some cases, a local or regional message is universal enough to be adapted to suit a cross-cultural audience. In other cases, the advertisements need slight adjustments depending on the region or culture of the audience.
Encoding
Successful advertising involves the conveyance of the business' intended message through a process called encoding. The business decides on a message about the product, the advertiser uses art and writing to encode the message, mediums such as print and television transmit the message and the audience receives and decodes the message. Even in homogeneous settings, the encoding process is difficult to master. In the multicultural setting, encoding encounters language and cultural barriers.
Cross-Cultural Advertising Issues
Advertisers may have a difficult time reaching the product's target customers because of lack of media permeation in the region or insufficient knowledge of the customer's media preferences. Messages that reach the target customer may be misunderstood because of encoding issues. Advertisements that reach and are comprehended by the audience can still fail because the message wasn't compelling enough to cause the recipient to take action. What constitutes persuasive calls to action differ from culture to culture. Finally, advertising "noise," such as competing messages, distraction and confusion can take away from the effectiveness of the message.
Standardization vs. Localization
Localization and standardization are two ways to advertise in the cross-cultural environment. Localization involves adapting each advertising message to meet the specific requirements of each market. Standardized advertisements use the same or similar messages in all markets. Localized advertising can be expensive, but their is less room for cultural misunderstanding. Pattern advertising is a mix between the two types; it involves uniform messages slightly altered for each market. This cuts down on the expenses of localization while adapting to each culture.
Advertising Appeals
Cross-cultural advertisers use creative strategy to effectively convey product messages. This creativity could come from the type of appeal; advertisers generally use either rational or emotional appeals. Rational advertisements use logic to persuade and emotional advertisements appeal to sentiments such as humor, feel or love. Different types of appeals are appropriate for specific cultures, while some product appeals are nearly universal. Cross-cultural marketers research each audience to determine the appropriate approach.
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