Contemporary thinking, topics and trends in international branding - Part II

Citation

Small, J. and Melewar, T.C. (2007), "Contemporary thinking, topics and trends in international branding - Part II", International Marketing Review, Vol. 24 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/imr.2007.03624daa.001

Contemporary thinking, topics and trends in international branding - Part II

Guest editorial

About the Guest Editors

Joseann Small is a Temporary Lecturer in Marketing at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Barbados. Having begun her career as a management consultant, she entered academia in 1995. She has published in international journals in the areas of international marketing and international branding. This is her first editorial experience.

Professor T.C. Melewar (BSc, MBA, PhD) is a Professor of Marketing and Strategy at Brunel Business School, Brunel University, London, UK. He has previous experience at Warwick Business School, UK, MARA Institute of Technology, Malaysia, Loughborough University, UK and De Montfort University, UK. TC's research interests include corporate branding/identity, marketing communications and international marketing strategy. He has published in the Journal of International Business Studies, International Marketing Review, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Global Marketing, Corporate Reputation Review, International Journal of Market Research and International Journal of Advertising among others. TC is the Joint Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Brand Management and in the Editorial Advisory Board for: Journal of Marketing Communications, Corporate Reputation Review, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, Corporate Communications: An International Journal and the Journal of Euro-Marketing.

Contemporary thinking, topics and trends in international branding – Part II

This special issue is part of an attempt to carve out a domain for international branding, as a separate area of study in international marketing. The work contained herein seeks to catapult international branding past the localisation/standardisation debate, to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of its dimensions and its related paradigms.

The paper by Wong and Merrilees helps in the fulfillment of the stated objectives in that it highlights the fundamental issues in international branding. These authors provide confirmation of the central role of branding in international marketing. Recognising that the small body of scientific research into international and or global branding has focused primarily on the “brand name” the authors adopt a wholistic approach to investigating the role and value of branding in the international marketing context. The study demonstrates that brand repositioning to account for cultural and economic differences in new international markets and a move to adopt a branding orientation serve to enhance the firm's international marketing strategy as well as its financial performance.

Much of research into international marketing and by extension, international branding has centred around the measurement and impact of the country of origin (COO) effects. In recent times, researchers have grappled with the phenomenon of hybrid or binational products. In this vein, Hamzaoui- Essoussi and Merunka sought to decompose COO into country of manufacture (COM) and country of design (COD), and to examine the interaction of these

This special issue is the second part of a double issue on International Branding. Part 1 is compiled as International Marketing Review, Volume 24, Issue 3.

variables with brand image in an emerging market context. Following Batra et al. (2000) and Agbonifoh and Elimimian (1999), the authors verify that emerging market consumers do pay attention to country-of-origin, and that foreign brands are considered to be more prestigious. The contribution of this current study lies firstly in its consideration of the emerging market context, which is still under researched. More specifically, the study indicates that COM image exerts a greater influence on perceived product quality than COD. It is however important to note the stronger impact of COD on public or symbolic goods. The ability to display a vehicle with German design and engineering (e.g. BMW) will convey much about the consumer's social class and sophistication in the developing country environment where consumption and status are often more closely linked than in advanced economies (Chaudhuri and Majumdar, 2006). A firm engaged in providing symbolic and shopping goods is therefore best served by ensuring that its COM(s) and its COD (s) in particular, have positive country images within the emerging market of focus.

Globalisation has also brought about an increase in brand alliances within and across several product categories. One highly publicized alliance has been the branding of mobile phones by Sony and Ericsson. Simonin and Ruth (1998) sought to model the antecedents of consumer brand attitude in the brand alliance context. Bluemelhuber, Carter and Lambe attempt to establish the external validity of the Simonin and Ruth (1998) framework with their focus on a cross – border alliance situation. The study introduces a new and meaningful construct called “country of origin fit” which emerges from the assertion that when consumers are faced with a transnational brand alliance, they will not only consider how two brands match with respect to quality, but will also examine the congruence of the images of countries from whence the two brands originate. A key finding is that country-of-origin fit exerts a greater influence on attitudes to cross-border brand alliances as brand familiarity decreases. In addition, in low brand familiarity situations, the COD fit is more influential than brand fit. International marketers must therefore consider the strength and favourability of primary brand associations (brand name) and secondary brand associations (COD fit) in the implementation of a marketing strategy for a cross-national brand hybrid. Alliance partners must also be chosen with care. In summary, due diligence must focus not only on the equity of the brand, but also on the image of the country from which the partner brand originates.

Cayla and Eckhardt bring methodological balance to the special issue with their interpretive approach to understanding regional branding practices in Asia. This paper seeks to address the dearth of knowledge which characterises regional marketing, and specifically, regional branding activities. An understanding of the impact of regionalism on branding strategy is critical given that most cross national trade occurs between neighbouring countries. Successful regional brands were found to have used either a monocultural approach or a multicultural approach. Where it is believed that a country has positive country of origin associations in a particular product category, regional marketing efforts emphasize that country-of-origin. The multicultural approach, on the other hand seeks to capture the diversity of national cultures and fluidity of regional cultural, social and economic flows in branding strategy. The monocultural-multicultural paradigm parallels the localisation/standardisation framework which governed much of past research efforts into international marketing mix and, by extension, branding strategy. Cayla and Eckhardt also raised the concept of “Asianess” or an appreciation for things Asian. Just as research into consumer ethnocentrism enriched understanding of COO effects on brand attitude in international markets, there is a need to investigate how a tendency towards “Asianess” impacts on regional brand attitude and on consumer choice processes.

The two papers by Jun and Lee and Pittard, Ewing and Jevons both address the highly under-researched area of brand (logo) designs and sit squarely within the domain of international branding. The first paper compares how cultural values are captured in the brand designs and tag lines for leading US and Korean brands. The paper refreshes in its departure from Hofstede. Brand designs and tag lines are examined through the specific versus diffuse dimension advanced by Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (2000). As expected for a collectivist society where face saving is important (Lee and Green, 1991) Korean tag lines and brand designs exhibit greater diffusiveness and symbolism than those of US brands.

Pittard et al. make an original and strong addition to the fledging literature in support of a global consumer culture and, by extension, the “global” brand. They found a culture-invariant preference for the Divine proportion (ratio of 1:1.1.618) in brand logos based on forms found in nature. Taken together, these two studies on logo design suggest a need for future research into which aspects of brand aesthetics will be sustainable across cultural orientations.

We trust that this Special Issue has made a valuable contribution to the field of International branding, and that it will provide great impetus to future research endeavours. Our confidence in the usefulness of this compendium lies not only in the breadth of issues addressed, but also in the expertise and international focus of the authors. Special thanks to Professor Jeryl Whitelock, the Editor of International Marketing Review, whose constant support and encouragement made the editing experience a more enjoyable and fruitful one.

Joseann Small and T.C. MelewarGuest Editors