International brand management

International brand management - centralized or decentralized? Cost-optimal or impact-optimal?

Many companies based in Bavaria are active throughout Europe or globally. They are confronted with rapid changes. For example, innovations and technical developments are being copied ever more quickly. That is why it is important to strengthen one's own brand and marketing, because only those companies remain competitive that are perceived as brands with character and an unmistakable personality. They are not so easy to copy. This applies both to the appearance on the domestic market and on the international stage.

But how do you manage international brands? Centralized or decentralized? What is better in terms of cost and what is better in terms of impact? As is almost always the case, there is no patent remedy; it all depends on the circumstances.

Favorable: globally uniform appearance that strengthens the brand

We develop centralized and uniform international campaigns for a number of clients. For many reasons: budgets are limited, standardization is cheaper, the companies are centrally organized, their products are judged in the same way worldwide, or the target groups themselves are jet-setters. However, the most important reason for us is:

Uniform brand management, both across media and across countries, with a focused and clearly differentiating brand message generates strength.

Strong brands have a core message that builds on the brand's DNA. Different brand messages are just as confusing as colorful personalities. They jeopardize the trust-building that is essential to prevail against the ever-growing armada of low-cost providers.

Effective: local approach with strong market differences

Nevertheless, there are customers for whom it is advisable to take a different approach in different countries. This is appropriate wherever cultural conditions vary extremely, market structure and maturity levels differ, or strong national competitors require different positioning priorities and sufficiently large budgets are available. In doing so, we convey CI rules and train the understanding of the brand to our partner agencies in these countries.


Cheap and effective: mixed form with Big Idea

In most cases, however, we work according to our brain trust model, in which we balance efficiency and effectiveness. In doing so, we involve the foreign subsidiaries and country leaders already in the exploration of the brand DNA and thus motivate them for the brand. Together with our partners, exclusively owner-managed agencies that answer only to the client and not to an HQ on Wall Street, we gather and analyze insights about markets, competitors and target groups.

As a lead agency or together as a team, we develop a clear, consistent brand message.

As a lead agency or together as a team, we develop a clear unified brand message that builds on the core values. Crowdsourcing in our network helps to find the core creative idea. Core message and core idea are formulated and designed in such a way that they are accepted worldwide, both rationally and emotionally. We always look for the Big Idea and do not settle for the lowest common denominator, which would only lead to interchangeable, meaningless messages and images.

Once the Big Idea has been found and accepted, the design can be varied depending on the channel, medium or country and its cultural conditions. In this way, we multiply "The power of the idea". This is how many award-winning campaigns have been created that also deliver the desired business success in the important foreign markets.

The new communication culture virtually demands such mixed forms. A message can no longer simply be hammered home. The much-vaunted dialogue only works if you speak the language of the listeners and respond to their needs, expectations and psychological characteristics. That's why we create sales support material in such a way that flexible modules allow for adaptations while still conveying the core message in the best possible way.

New communication culture needs hybrid forms

Mobile real-time communication requires quick reactions to local dynamics. This is why PR and social media are often decentralized and responsibility delegated. But this only works with a clear, simple, unambiguous strategy - the Big Idea - that employees can align themselves with. If employees are convinced brand ambassadors, they are welcome to embellish individual communication measures, because they still pay into the brand account.