Yet in countries and environments as different as Mumbai and Miami, a global traveler will see many familiar brands. It’s no mean feat to maintain a successful global brand; managing brand positioning and communication strategies across countries is a tricky business. And in recent years, global media, the Internet, and an increasingly well-traveled population of consumers have made it more important than ever for brands to have a consistent tone and message. In addition, if they can harmonize a brand’s position across regions, marketers can save money by reducing the number of campaigns and executions that must be developed. But with the world’s cultures so diverse, can advertising communications really cross borders effectively?

The answer is that developing such communication is a challenge. The dream of reaching a worldwide audience with just one ad is rarely realized. Very often, something important gets lost in the translation. But with a bit of due diligence, campaigns can be developed that will work effectively across many geographies and cultures, allowing advertisers to realize great efficiencies while establishing seamless brand positionings.

To create communication that can cross borders effectively, marketers must follow a three-step process:

• Determine the global brand promise, based on applying the unique product benefits to a universal human need.
• Identify the marketing task that faces the brand in each geography.
• Implement the creative idea with sensitivity to differences across countries and cultures.

By following these steps, described more fully here, an advertiser can leverage the economic power of multi-country scale while achieving a cohesive brand position around the world.

Determine the global brand promise

A successful brand has unique and distinctive benefits that set it apart from other offerings. Coca-Cola appeals to our emotions with its promise of happiness through refreshment, while Gillette Fusion offers the functional advantage of a fifth blade. Whether their advantages are tangible or intangible, most brands that succeed on the world stage do so by building on a consistent brand promise that transcends cultures and countries by tapping into some universal human truth.