Marketing Communications

16 CHAPTER 1 INTEGRATED COMMUNICATIONS

Integration of corporate communications

Corporate communications can be defi ned as the total integrated approach to the commun-

ications activity generated by all functional departments of a company, targeted at all company

stakeholders, and aimed at establishing and maintaining the link between strategic objectives,

the corporate identity and the corporate image in line.^40 Corporate communications have

three main objectives:

The expansion of multinational companies into international markets has resulted in a large literature on positioning

strategies in different cultures or markets.^32 An important question is to what degree branding and marketing com-

munications in these markets should be standardised (globalisation), locally adapted (localisation) or glocalised.

The latter refers to ‘global localisation’,^33 a global brand identity strategy that allows for country-specific flexibility

in communications mix decisions. India, with a population of more than 1 billion people, which is growing at 1.41%

per year, is one of the booming markets of the twenty-first century. Moreover, the increasing purchasing power of

Indian consumers at the rate of 7.2% in 2010–11 indicates the ability of these consumers to purchase high-quality

products in the near future. The liberalisation of the Indian market from 1991 onwards, and the growth of domestic

demand, have provided the prerequisites for the entrance of multinational companies into this market.^34 Success in

such a lucrative market needs proper understanding of effective communications and branding strategies. For

international companies, India is therefore a very relevant context to study these strategies.

In a sample of 327 Indian consumers, the effectiveness of communications and branding strategies (globalisa-

tion, glocalisation and localisation) was studied by assessing the effect of different types of endorsers and types of

brand communications and their interaction on consumer responses.^35

Three types of endorsers were studied: an unknown Indian model, a local (Indian) celebrity and a global

celebrity. In an advertisement they were each combined with a global and a local brand communication for a home

cinema system. Brand globalness was manipulated by globalising or localising all the written elements (websites,

names of cities, language used, etc.) of the ads except the brand name. The experimental conditions represent

globalisation or complete standardisation (combination of a global endorser and a global brand), localisation or

complete adaptation (combination of a local model or celebrity and a global brand) and glocalisation (combination

of a local model or celebrity and a global brand; combination of a global celebrity and a local brand).

Previous studies of standardisation and adaptation of communications strategies reveal that both standardisa-

tion and localisation are able to positively affect a consumer’s attitudes and purchase intention towards advertised

products. On the one hand, it has been reported that adapted or localised messages are more persuasive and result

more often in positive attitudes than global ones.^36 On the other hand, other studies show that brands that are

perceived as global can create associations of wide availability and recognition which strongly affect a consumer’s

decision to purchase such brands through brand prestige and brand quality.^37 India is an ethnocentric country.^38 It

can therefore be expected that these ethnocentric tendencies lead to preference of local elements in brand adver-

tising. On the other hand, Indians are status conscious.^39 If global elements in the ad create a perception of brand

globalness, they may lead to more positive attitudes and a higher purchase intention than localised brands.

Testing the six ads (three types of endorsers with two types of brands) reveals that a glocalisation strategy (a com-

bination of a global brand with a local endorser) engenders the most positive consumer responses over complete

globalisation (a combination of a global brand and a global endorser). Moreover, highly ethnocentric Indians prefer both

glocalisation and localisation (a combination of a local brand and a local endorser) over globalisation, while the

attitudes and purchasing intentions of Indians who scored low on ethnocentrism do not differ for any of the strategies.

RESEARCH INSIGHT

Glocalisation is the best branding strategy in India

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