Wanted: more books on global branding strategy

Citation

Check-Teck, F. (2005), "Wanted: more books on global branding strategy", Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. 26 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/jbs.2005.28826aae.001

Wanted: more books on global branding strategy

Wanted: more books on global branding strategy

Foo Check-TeckVisiting Chair of Competitive Strategy at the University of St Andrews this year, currently on sabbatical from NTU, Singapore. His research on corporate identity won the Literary Club’s Outstanding Paper (Corporate Communications) award. His book, Reminiscences of an Ancient Strategist, won the top Singapore book prize. His sole art photography exhibition, Vietnamese Entrepreneurial Spirit, was the result of a National Arts Council award.

Global Brand Strategy: Unlocking Brand Potential across Countries, Cultures and MarketsSicco van GelderPublished by Kogan Page

The subtitle of Sicco van Gelder’s Global Brand Strategy pulls me to his book. It reads promisingly as Unlocking Brand Potential Across Countries, Cultures and Markets. Now, every brand maker knows that despite the clutter, there is a void of truly good, in-depth works on global branding. Now here is a book with an author who clearly knows what’s missing.

The real issue remains – does he deliver as so promised? A treatment across countries, cultures (East versus West) and markets (poor, middle-class and rich) is exactly what is called for. Branding for the global marketplace is a critical arena for brand masters and especially for corporations out to continue on dominating markets. An example: despite the two billion people in the India and China markets, there is still far too meager a coverage about branding for these countries. I was expecting these topics to be inside Sicco van Gelder’s book.

Another of my expectations in this internet age (e-branding), is the consideration of the click-to-order customer (author’s focus). Whatever the time zone, he or she is just a click away. And click buying is fast becoming a habit of consumers, thus the need to factor in competitive aesthetics in such a book and answer questions such as: Will potential customers respond well across countries, cultures and markets to, say a proposed e-logo?

The cover of the book further convinces me that this may well be the definitive book on the subject. The globe is shot in six different “positions”: each time, a different configuring of landmass, a different continent. Reading the author’s curriculum vitae on the book’s jacket made me even more hopeful. Now I must commit myself to read the book from cover to cover. Why? If only to discover if the author having “lived, worked and traveled across four continents” had deeper, unique insights.

At a quick glance, the contents of the book disappoint me. Only a third of the book is apportioned to deal with global branding issues. Worse, the material on truly global branding strategy is relegated to the very last chapter. Before I put down the book in exasperation, the author finally admits, “A truly new global brand is a rare thing” (p. 250). But I am in search of what the author knows to be missing and rare!

The index does little to support the proclaimed “… across countries … ” treatment of the topic. Try to look for cases of branding by countries and you will be utterly disappointed. If you look for cases in China or Singapore or any other country, you are lost. This is a glaring oversight. To be fair to the author, the index is more often than not compiled by the publisher. Still, a book is the responsibility of the author. As a reader, I find this oversight to be rather annoying.

Otherwise, I find this work of Sicco van Gelder to be most impressive. From his perspective he achieved what he set out to do. He dealt with a practical subject matter without reducing its complexity. In the preface he challenges Levitt’s thesis of the more-of-the-same, global consumers. Levitt’s argument had the support of the 1980’s case of cheaper Japanese cars winning over the middle class consumers in the West.

Here is where the author’s counter thesis, a theory of fragmentation is by far even more intriguing. Why? Levitt’s underlying logic is economic: consumers’ preferences as a function of wealth. Yet experience tells the author this belief is unreliable. This is exactly what made his book so interesting to read. Throughout the book the author buttresses his counter-thesis with anecdotal evidence.

He is head and shoulder above many practice-oriented authors. There is depth to his thinking about branding. If anybody is competent to write another piece on global branding strategy, he is the one. His sensibility to branding is best manifested when he delivers in narratives. His stories provide far more insight than his discussion of conceptual models. In other words, his forte is in his citing vignettes in support of his arguments. Even as a Singaporean, I am learning afresh from him about typical preferences of Singaporean convention: cookies must be hard, not soggy.

For the academic, van Gelder’s internal-external, global brand proposition model should be put to the empirical test. Branding as part of corporate identity building should be integrated as part of the strategy process. The other academic appeal of his work lies in the author citing scholarly research (e.g. dimensions of brand personality) where it is relevant.

Between the two worlds – internal and external – the author devotes almost double his space to the external, and rightly so. It is in the discussion of the external factors that I find the more interesting pieces – for example, the author’s illuminating handling of color and packaging, contrasting the USA versus India. His reference to the perfection aesthetics of the Japanese is also interesting. He should, however, have developed more on his observation about the Japanese e-customers.

One metaphor for interpreting aspects of his text is in the rounds of a boxing ring: van Gelder versus Levitt. The author wins resoundingly when he cites Tiger Woods and how he symbolizes different meanings across three different continents: Asia, North America (USA) and Europe. So, even within Western culture, there is differentiation in the minds of consumers. On the whole I am especially delighted by chapter 7, his overview of affinity with vignettes across countries (e.g. for native affinity, he cited Malays and “Proton”).

In conclusion, I urge Sicco van Gelder to take up the pen again and write what he promised his readers: unlocking brand potential across countries, cultures and markets. Take up the challenge and write about global brand strategy! My own advice is for him to draw on his experiences – and envision what it will take to create a truly global brand. Begin with designing the e-logo for global reach … and write on.