Abstract:

Increasingly affordable information and other technologies allow brands to be customized for local cultures and for individual consumers. The question for brand strategists is whether, when, where and how to do this. Are global brands merely those that are distributed worldwide, or can 'globalness' itself be an element of a brand's equity? Based on extensive qualitative and quantitative research on how consumers around the world relate to global brands, this paper provides a typology of brands and decision criteria for choosing among various globalization versus localization strategies.