I admit, I am guilty of delivering global communication toolboxes to 50+ markets for my brand launch. If you are a marketer sitting in global, this is what you do.
Hundreds of hours are invested in reviewing consumer insights and trends, conducting market research, debating the use of this or that word, the tone of voice, the brand persona and all the elements which will be integral in the communication.
So after having gone through a couple of years developing the brand, managing people, opinions, management and so on, the communication is admittedly the most fun part.
Large toolboxes of content are then created and distributed to the regions, including copy, product photography, mood, styling, models and so on.
If the budget permits, one, might even thrown in models of different ethnicities in order to assure greater diversity is captured.
Then the local team will take the material and hopefully implement it as such.
More often than not, the feedback is “I don’t like the model”. Makes sense if one doesn’t know what they are supposed to comment on.
With online media taking the center stage and influencer marketing growing like never before, there is a growing need for locally curated content which does not always follow the brand guidelines.
I have had to defend why a local influencer posting popping champagnes on a wild weekend in Las Vegas on their youtube channel and retouched pictures to the point of no recognition is not a good fit for a skincare brand even if she has 100K followers, or why a 40 year old (admittedly very famous) local actor is the wrong fit for a youth brand.
How can we create a common framework to enhance communication?
You guessed it, cooperation! Instead of inviting all the GMs and regional heads to HQ every year and spending ’00s of hours to create impressive ppts for next year’s launches, how about involving the local marketing teams early on so they can understand the process and appreciate the result?
Train them to understand what briefing entails, invite them to participate even let them drive the briefing process, so they experience first hand what it takes to put together a brand.
In turn, they can share their invaluable local perspective, what is needed for their ongoing communication and raise their pain points and needs.
Walking in each others shoes is the only way to appreciate one’s experiences and challenges.
Is that the definition of empathy?