Unilever has actively launched new brands in the Japanese market as well as maintaining and expanding its presence in other Asia-Pacific markets. At the root of the approach has been a combination of using internal expertise in marketing techniques and experience, and a disciplined but creative approach to market research. It is a teamwork approach where the market researcher represents the consumer in the internal decision making process: by being a member of the marketing team, the researcher makes use of the findings from research studies ranging from the most simple to the most complex in such a way that the techniques are totally transparent to the rest of the team. The continuum of research is bound into a single process, taking the disciplines and philosophy of modelling, together with a common view of consumer behaviour, as the shell into which to fit various components from set of research techniques available. A series of mini case studies exemplifies the process as it occurred in a number of markets in the region.
This paper addresses the issues arising from an objective review of a dozen years observing and participating in brand building exercises in the Asia Pacific region. An examination of the way in which available budgets are deployed led to questioning the objectives of the researches conducted. A recognition that even fully globalised brands performed differently in different environments led to an examination of what really drives brand success. Two conclusions were reached: 1) that robustness of a brand - a measure of its likelihood of realising its potential - is a vital and easily measured aspect of brand management. 2) that whilst global brands and hence global positions can be achieved, the elements of the actual marketing mix will have to be adapted to achieve those positions in different socio-marketing environments. This process is referred to as glocalisation.
Unilever has been actively launching new brands in the Japanese market as well as maintaining and expanding its presence in other Asia-Pacific markets. At the root of the approach has been a combination of using internal expertise in marketing techniques and experience, and a disciplined but creative approach to market research. It is a teamwork approach where the market researcher represents the consumer in the internal decision making process: by being a member of the marketing team, the researcher makes use of the findings from research studies ranging from the most simple to the most complex in such a way that the techniques are totally transparent to the rest of the team. The continuum of research is bound into a single process, taking the disciplines and philosophy of modelling, together with a common view of consumer behaviour, as the shell into which to fit various components from set of research techniques available. A series of mini case studies exemplifies the process as it occurred in a number of markets in the region.