Author: Ana Ingold
The new IPhone 5 is designed in California, made in China and held together by Swiss screws. 90’000 flights are starting from around 9’000 airports each day and over 900 million people are using social media channels. The entire world seems to be unified and working together however, remember, cultural barriers are still in place.
Culture, values, needs, emotions, body language and the language patterns themselves – all these can tell you more about the way you need to communicate with a person than a thousand words. A global message ensures consistency but a local adaptation ensures success.
In today’s global world there is a huge need of international communication but the challenges people are facing in cross-cultural communication are probably as big as the need itself. And cultural awareness is key for the success of international business.
So remember, “the most important thing in communication is to hear what isn’t being said”. Peter Drucker
If this caught your interest, go compare cultures based on Hofstede’s research and get more insights and tips on international communication.
Glocality matters again! As the the world shrinks to a global village (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_McLuhan) the need and hope of the people for more personalised relations and hands on activities rises again. At least this is true for Europe where the sales of Starbucks decrease and Facebook is about to become a shelf warmer. Or Switzerland: its nation brand speeds up the peoples emotions as never before. Times of uncertainty favour the need for local integration (in a globalized world).
Global campaigns may help companies to save money. However, in a long-term view I do not believe that this way of communication will be successful. Why? Because values are influenced by culture and these again are influencing the emotional reaction on advertisements. That is why, local adaptations are always necessary when doing worldwide campaigns.