COMM428C:

Lesson 2: Paradoxes in Global Marketing Communications

Paradoxes in Global Communications Overview (1 of 4)
Paradoxes in Global Communications Overview

Paradoxes in Global Communications Overview

 

Introduction

Lula Mae's Attic International ExpansionThis lesson will introduce the notion of paradoxes in global marketing communications, including value, technology, and media paradoxes. The impact of culture on global advertising will be introduced. The global/local dilemma and the standardize/adapt debate in global marketing will be discussed, as well as variables that influence decisions concerning the standardize/adapt debate in the global market.

Objectives

Here are the objectives for this lesson.

Lesson Readings & Activities

By the end of this lesson, make sure you have completed the readings and activities found in the Lesson 2 Course Schedule.

Please direct technical questions to the World Campus Help Desk.

Lula Mae's Attic (2 of 4)
Lula Mae's Attic

Lula Mae's Attic

In addition to our weekly readings and discussions, we will be examining strategic communications in a global environment through the lens of a fictitious company, Lula Mae's Attic. The Attic is launching in global markets and will experience several roadblocks, cultural challenges, and opportunities in its global marketing and advertising efforts.

Lula Mae's Chief of International Operations will be checking in with us several times throughout the semester. She will bring us up to speed on the challenges and opportunities that Lula Mae's is facing during its global launch. Lula Mae's Attic logo

After she explains the situation, you will have to complete a quiz by answering a few questions on the week's readings and Lula Mae's current situation. The quiz questions will give you an idea of the type of questions you are likely to find on the midterm and final exams. 

Once you successfully answer the questions, you will have access to the rest of the week's discussions and activities. 

The challenges faced by Lula Mae's Attic during the week will allow you to evaluate an issue of strategic communications in a global environment. In addition, you will be able to synthesize what you are learning to provide solutions to the challenges. This should be an opportunity for you to brainstorm and participate in robust discussions to craft solutions to global strategic communications challenges.

Watch this introduction to Lula Mae's Attic to familiarize yourself with the company's history, client base, and plans for a global launch. Then, complete the Knowledge Checks to continue in the lesson.

Video 2.1: Lula Mae's Attic Introduction.

Loading the player
Video 2.1, Length: 00:03:07 COMM 428C Lula Mae's Attic Introduction Video Transcript
NARRATOR: Lula Mae's Attic, the place where America gets comfortable. Growing from a single Dallas, Texas, based store in 1999 to national powerhouse in the US women's clothing and lingerie sectors, the company now operates 35 wholly owned locations in major cities across the USA. And a growing network of mall-based franchise stores in smaller cities and college towns. Lula Mae online, the successful online boutique, supplements the bricks and mortar store clothing offerings with a wide range of home, personal care, and novelty products, including high quality linens and bedding, jewelry, and seasonal food items. Lula Mae's Attic founder, Egberta Gertie Egbertson, has become a well known figure on the international fashion scene. Born and raised in Red Ridge, Texas, population 996, Gertie grew up working in her family's general store. Her keen sense of style was evident from an early age, when she began to create her own fashions for the store's mannequins. Her company's approach continues to reflect her early Americana aesthetic, combining cutting edge shapes and forms with the country calico's and patchworks Gertie grew up with. The Lula Mae's Attic shopper is typically a college aged or young professional woman who is beginning to make her own fashion choices. She wants products that help her feel young and pretty. Her budget may be small, but her plans are big. She wants a career, a relationship, and a family down the road. She's not flashy or loud. Gertie calls her country, quiet, sexy. In fact, country, quiet, sexy ties together the whole Lula Mae's Attic line. From the romantic country music playing in the background at our store locations, to our choice of products and fabrics, to our in-store personnel. The company has traditionally sourced many of its products from suppliers within the United States. Gertie took Lula Mae's Attic public five years ago, promising her shareholders continued growth. This is the year that her promise becomes a reality. Lula Mae's Attic will be launching its first set of stores outside of the United States. And offering millennial audiences around the globe access to the products their United States counterparts have been enjoying for years. Lula Mae's Attic is poised to begin its international success story. A success story we'll be sharing with students across the United States and around the world.

 

World Ad Cafe (3 of 4)
World Ad Cafe

World Ad Café

Discuss how the following ads demonstrate some of the paradoxes discussed in the text. Feel free to include links to ads that you think embody paradoxical information in your own responses. Be sure to look at the comments made before you. You may refer to the answers of others in your own response. Duplicate comments will not get full credit.

One of the most fun things about studying international strategic communications has to be discovering new creative ideas from around the world. Copywriters and artists all over the globe are reinventing advertising, pushing the envelope of traditional ads, and imagining new ways of delivering messages in the digital world. Public relations professionals are finding new and exciting ways to engage increasingly fragmented publics.

There are a couple of great repositories for international ads online. One is Ads of the World, a site where creative personnel upload new spots to get industry feedback, often in advance of sending the ads to juried shows, such as the Cannes Lions. Another is the BBC Advertising. The Old Spice Man and Love Distance ads are examples.

Video 2.2: Old Spice - The Man Your Man Could Smell Like.

Video 2.2. Old Spice | The Man Your Man Could Smell Like Transcript
No transcript available.
 

Video 2.3: Condoms Sagami - Love Distance.

Video 2.3. Condoms Sagami - Love Distance Transcript
No transcript available.
 

Remember, World Ads in Open Discussions, will be open throughout the semester so you can share examples of favorite ads you view in the course of your research. Please include a link to the ad, and tell us why you found it interesting. You might address:

Paradoxes Wrap Up and Looking Ahead (4 of 4)
Paradoxes Wrap Up and Looking Ahead

Paradoxes Wrap Up and Looking Ahead

 

Summary

De Mooij (2014, p. 21) states, "The global-local paradigm is a paradox: One cannot think globally; every human being thinks according to his or her own culturally defined thinking pattern. One can act globally, and that is what global companies do." Marketers have to start to realize and understand the value paradoxes of the global marketplace, including marketing, branding, and communications, as well as value, technology, and media paradoxes.

Value paradoxes may interfere with understanding other cultures. An understanding of the impact of culture on advertising is critical in the global market.

Check and Double Check

By the end of this lesson, make sure you have completed the readings and activities found in the Lesson 2 Course Schedule.

Looking Ahead

The next lesson will focus on brand concept models, as well as aspects of global branding. Companies increasingly recognize and realize local consumer demand as they focus on global branding and marketing.

Reference

De Mooij, M. K. (2014). Global marketing and advertising; Understanding cultural paradoxes. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishing.


Top of page