Executive summary of "Cultural values in financial services advertising: a cross-cultural study of magazine ads in the USA and Kore

Citation

(2014), "Executive summary of "Cultural values in financial services advertising: a cross-cultural study of magazine ads in the USA and Kore", Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 28 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-06-2014-0216

Executive summary of "Cultural values in financial services advertising: a cross-cultural study of magazine ads in the USA and Korea"

Article Type: Executive summary and implications for managers and executives From: Journal of Services Marketing, Volume 28, Issue 5

This summary has been provided to allow managers and executives a rapid appreciation of the content of the article. Those with a particular interest in the topic covered may then read the article in toto to take advantage of the more comprehensive description of the research undertaken and its results to get the full benefit of the material present.

When big, global financial services (FS) organizations advertise, it is noticeable how some of them put forward the message that they can be two things at once – huge and international, and small and local. It is a clever marketing device and that is not to say that the banks concerned cannot pull it off. Perhaps two of the best-known slogans in the sector are HSBC’s "The world’s local bank" and Citigroup’s "The whole world in one bank".

There are risks, however, in global brand positioning ignoring local consumers’ distinctive cultural backgrounds and failing to fully engage consumers, particularly if marketers favor standardized marketing strategies that deliver the same messages across cultures. To avoid costly mistakes, marketers are urged to reflect cultural values when creating promotional messages and applying marketing strategies abroad. Indeed, evidence points to culturally congruent messages leading to more favorable attitudes toward the companies than messages without cultural reflection.

In "Cultural values in financial services advertising: a cross-cultural study of magazine ads in the USA and Korea", Song et al. consider how FS companies accurately make cross-market comparisons of consumer appeals and executive marketing. They based the study in two countries which lead in the sector, yet are culturally very different. More specifically, they examine financial services advertising (FSA) in terms of individualism versus collectivism, low versus high cultural context, human model usage and time orientation.

They concluded that global FS advertisers need to understand that consumers from different cultures have different motivations and needs, which can be satisfied by the messages congruent with their culture. As many global advertising researchers have argued, culturally appropriate messages may be more effective and persuasive, especially in FS whose consumers tend to be more wary about purchase decisions. There may be some doubts on localized strategies in that they may create a different brand image in each culture and prevent companies from building brand equity. However, what global FS advertisers should ensure is that cultural perspectives in advertising determine how to deliver the messages or brand image more effectively, rather than what to deliver. That is, FS companies can project a uniform and consistent global image of their brand across nations while tailoring their promotional messages to reflect the cultural context of their local market.

The FS industry is a vital engine of economic growth, accounting for approximately 21 per cent of the services industry portion of global GDP. As international trade and cross-border investment flows have accelerated the expansion of overseas business, the FS sector has become one of the largest and fastest growing of the services industry.

Unique characteristics of FS influence the execution of advertising – notably because of their intangibility – and consumers also tend to be conservative and aware of the risks of making a wrong choice. In response, companies use advertisements to educate and inform potential customers that they are dealing with responsible companies with sound products. Sometimes even the mere regular exposure of the ads themselves, which is considered a sign of corporate soundness, can increase customer confidence.

The roles of FSA, however, could not be fully accomplished without appropriate strategies for its local target markets. Ads reflecting cultural characteristics are likely to lead to more acceptance by consumers. The failures of FSA are usually attributed to the improper use of ad messages as well as appeals that fail to recognize the local consumer’s distinctive cultural background, rather than to the inappropriateness of ads for this industry.

This study confirmed that Korean ads had more collectivistic themes than those in the USA, a finding consistent with the notion that Eastern countries tend to be collectivistic. However, in terms of individualism, although such themes were found slightly more often in the USA, the difference between the USA and Korea was not significant. There could be several reasons for this unexpected finding, including the view that collectivistic Eastern countries might tend to consider globalization and modernization akin to westernization. Accordingly, collectivistic countries might become accustomed to individualistic values. Another possible explanation could be that, because financial products and services aim to secure individual benefits and safety, it is assumed that an individualistic theme might be more effective at delivering these messages.

Another difference is that US ads tend to offer explicit facts with numerical data, tables and text that explain details of the service. Korean ads, in contrast, tend to have more images, rather than texts. Text-oriented Korean ads tend to focus on only one or two major benefits or traits, whereas those for the USA include every detail and benefit of the service. One could argue that this result would be because of local laws and regulations in ad execution in a given nation rather than cultural differences.

To read the full article enter 10.1108/JSM-11-2012-0220 into your search engine.

(A précis of the article "Cultural values in financial services advertising: a cross-cultural study of magazine ads in the USA and Korea". Supplied by Marketing Consultants for Emerald.)