28 July 2010
That’s easier said than done, Tato Cimato of technology giant Hewlett-Packard and other participants agreed at the July 23 meeting of Marketing Connections. Adapting a campaign from one market to another means understanding differences that span language, taxes, laws, local preferences and more.
Cimato explored the example of an HP campaign in China that promised buyers of a certain printer that they’d recoup their investment in three months using the machine.
His first challenge was figuring how long the “pay-back period” might be in each of the dozen major Latin American markets he oversees. That depended partly on local costs for electricity, transport and import duties – with costs in tax-heavy Brazil, for example, relatively higher, he said.
Then came language issues. A focus group in Brazil found Brazilians unfamiliar with the term “pay-back period” and asking if they’d get a check paid to them after a certain time. In Peru, local rules on ads required the campaign refer not to pay-back times but rather ways to grow the business, Cimato said.
HP now is rolling out the campaign in Latin America, but executing and planning “has been quite stressful,” said Cimato, director of marketing and communications for HP’s printing and imaging division in Latin America and the region’s representative for that division on a global level.
Participants shared their experiences in tackling the common challenge of planning and executing projects on multiple levels: global, regional, national and, sometimes, by individual sales account.
One widespread headache: “push-back” from country managers that a plan sent down from corporate headquarters won’t work in their local area. Latin American regional executives asked to execute the concept “are stuck in the middle” between the corporate and country leaders, said Roberto Ricossa, marketing leader for telecom giant Avaya for the Americas region.
Ricossa said he’s found one way out of the bind is aligning first with local markets and then, making sure that “corporate aligns with us.” It helps in his case that Avaya’s top leadership understands that international markets differ widely. “And I try to get some kind of consensus of the local markets” to make the case to corporate headquarters more easily, he added.
Ricossa also tries to involve local managers in the planning process early. That may involve bringing a local rep to a meeting at corporate headquarters in person or by conference call, “so a voice from the region is there” on the global level, he said.
Del Solar said he had tried to discuss corporate plans with big groups of co-op members, but found talks wandered and took too long. Working with co-op leaders ensures bottom-up input more efficiently, he said.
To execute better, Cimato has also been experimenting with new ways to work with outside agencies that handle HP ads, media, digital media and other tasks. He sometimes asks competitors to work together on a specific project, informing them that they either perform together or both risk losing the job. The results to date: After initial feuds between the rivals, “an amazing machine,” he said.
But “coop-etition” – that is, cooperation and competition together – can be tricky, said Luigi Belizzi, director of marketing and communications for Grupo Latino de Radio, which includes some 200 radio stations. He’s found it works well to ask ad agencies to compete for new lines of business. But after an agency is selected, it’s generally wise to build long-term relationships with that team, he said.
“Try to be loyal to them. Otherwise, it’s a big mess,” said Belizzi.
Avaya’s Ricossa said he had a bad experience asking two agencies to cooperate on a joint project. His own staff ended up coordinating between the two, working overtime. “It has a lot to do with egos,” he said. “If I had to do it again, I’d say: You are the point agency, and you work with the other agency.”
In trying to execute well, Cimato said he reminds himself of two maxims for success: “Failing to plan is planning to fail,” and his latest one, “The most successful people are those who are good at Plan B.”
Marketing Connections is one of six event series that WorldCity hosts to bring together executives on international business topics. The next meeting is set for Sept. 10.