Introduction:
Can the consumers in different markets be persuaded with the same advertising message? Will they respond favorably? Or should the advertising message be customized to reflect the local culture? There are many such intriguing questions that arouse while planning an advertising strategy.
Central to this topic is one issue: Mountain Dew should produce new advertisements or re-run the US commercials.
Mountain Dew ad
Mountain Dew:
Mountain Dew, a PepsiCo, Inc, is a caffeinated, sweet, citrus flavored soft drink which is bright yellow-green and semi-opaque in appearance. It is a hugely known and favored brand in USA. It was Available in UK in the late 90’s but due to bad sells it was pulled from shops. But still there is a high public awareness of this brand in UK as Mountain Dew is one of the sponsors for the Xgames and several other sporting events. It can be seen in many movies and mentioned in ‘’The Simpsons”. Though there is a demand of this soft drink in UK it has to face a breakdown due to some circumstances whereas it remained to achieve a desired position for itself in US. The overall study brings us to a conclusion that both the countries perceive things differently and so are completely different market.
Mountain dew sponsoring a sport event
To find out whether and to what extent such differences exist, lets evaluate the factors that are to be considered while deciding the advertising strategy for the launch of Mountain Dew in UK:
Differences in the CONTENT
FCB matrix:
An analysis was conducted using the Foote, Cone and Belding (FCB) matrix (Vaughn 1986; 1980) in which advertisements were categorised into four cells of level of involvement along the two magnitude of think and feel factor. (Weinberger and Spotts, 1989)
The Information Content of U.S. and U.K. Advertising Compared by Matrix Category.
1 + Cues (%) Mean No. of Cues
U.S. U.K. U.S. U.K.
High involvement/think 75 61 1.34 1.14
High involvement/feel 50 50 .84 .65
Low involvement/think 63 55 .90 .73
Low involvement/feel 52 37 .79 .44
The table represents that the ‘’thinking” cells displayed higher level of informativeness than the others. The information content of US commercials is higher than UK ads. These ratios drives the decision making process while creating an ad in the respective countries (Nevett Terence, 1992).
Concluding the differences showcased in the information content it is clear that the think and feel for Mountain Dew or any product cannot be absorbed in the same way at different places. Mountain dew has to be characterised according to the particular tastes of the related region. Providing the right content to the right place can isolate the difference and produce desirable effects.
Differences in the CREATIVE APPROACH
Hard sell and soft sell approach:
There is a considerable amount of difference in the British style of advertising when compared to the American form of advertising. The lower information content of British commercials articulates that the American advertising is more of Hard sell whereas British style of advertising is characterized by a soft sell oriented-market (Arlett 1988, Brenstein 1986, Garrett 1980 and researchers Lannon and Cooper, 1983).
USA hard sell example:
For examplewhen the new dew campaign was launched in US it covered Facebook, Twitter, UStream, 12seconds, YouTube and many such social medias to interact with its consumers (David Pierce, 2010).
Mountain dew Hard sell
UK soft sell example:
The Burger King advert is one of the example where the burger itself doesn’t enter until right at every end. But still it’s catchy and successful. burger king
Balance the selling strategy:
Hard sell strategy works in American market but it won’t create the same impact if presented in the equivalent manner in UK as they keep a low preposition for hard sell.
Humor sells rapidly:
In a related survey it was found that there is a much wider acceptance of the element of humor in advertisements in UK than USA (Nevett, Terence 1992). Mountain Dew commercials have rightly captured this essence of humor that makes their brand so valuable. They’ve made viewers laugh, but not at those numb or nasty kinds of jokes. It has created humor that truly makes sense (Robyn Tippins Aug 2, 2006).
Differences in CONSUMER OPINIONS
Consumer Opinions of British and American Television
Advertising
UK% US%
Television Advertising is:
Agree Agree
Informative 19 29
Entertaining 51 29
Boring 13 22
Irritating 17 20
Source: Ogilvy and Mather (1987).
Advertising- informative and entertaining:
A higher proportion of British consumers feel that they were being entertained and more American consumers felt that they were being informed (Ogilvy and Mather (1987). As Mountain Dew ads are informative as well as entertaining, it can produce great benefits if the viewers in UK are entertainingly informed. Also US allow more minutes of advertising than UK does. This fact limits the inventory in the UK (Jake Swearingen, Jun 20, 2008) as the frequency of the occurrence of an ad again is lower than in the USA. Mountain Dew commercials are being hammered into the minds of consumers in USA. Thus, the implication here is that a softer sell makes television advertising more acceptable to the viewer in UK reducing the proportion of who are bored and irritated by it.
Differences in the SOCIO-CULTURAL Context
Culture divided by language:
Since there are differences between the American and British cultures, it is expected that these differences be reflected in the two countries advertising. Such influences are by no means direct and straightforward. As Lannon and Cooper observe, ‘’Advertising carries its culture with it”. Basic needs may well be the same around the world, however the way in which these needs are met and satisfied differs from culture to culture. US and England are two countries divided by common language. (George Bernard Shaw).
Example of a blunder caused due to language:
Here’s one example of a mislead advertising proposed by UK whereas it didn’t matter the same way in US or any other place. When Samsung produced its advertisement on the new LCD TV’s, it used the term ‘’LED TV” in ads. The UK’s advertising Standards Authority states that the ads are misleading because Samsung does not offer a full LED display which is against what they reflect in their ads. According to Samsung ‘’LED TV” was just a phrase to mention what type of technology it is, evolved from ‘’LED-based LCD TV” used in a general way to simplify the term. But ASA forced the company to alter its online and print ads in the UK where it didn’t even bother in US or any other place. (Kevin Parrish, Sept 2, 2009)
Samsung LED TV
Perception:
This concludes that the UK and US consumer perceive things in different manner. The message send through an ad can be taken in a positive way in one country whereas can be mislead in another.
Gulf in Business culture:
Language isn’t the only stumbling block between these countries, there’s also a chasm between their business cultures. (DeeDee Doke, 2004)
In a new survey it was found that majority of the soft drinks categories have struggled following the poor sales in 2004 in UK. Though soft drinks remain to be a staple purchase of the consumer in UK , consumers have flipped from carbonated drinks to still and from regular to diet or no-added sugar (Paul Moody, 2009). So the launch of advertisements of Mountain Dew needs to prove itself as healthy product at first place and other values latter to attain stability in the UK market. This view is not majorly reflected in the US commercials. Also mountain dew showcased Hillybilly, Steven Seagal for the promotion of their brand who is known in America whereas this faces are not known in UK. So if same advertisement is launched in UK, people wont connect themselves to the brand.
Use of celebrity in US commercial- Hillybilly
Limit the exaggeration:
The Mountain Dew ads are exaggerated to a certain extent which contradicts the fact that British people tend to understatement whereas Americans towards Hyperbole. (David Barton, 1996)
Conclusion:
While there are few differences some similarities also occur between these two markets. Like, Mountain Dew reflects the values of being sporty, adventures and free. These values target the youth and the youth of these two countries are fun-seeking, wild, outdoorsy. As they reflect similar characteristics these values
should remain same.
Mountain dew- fun, adventurous, youth
The Tagline ‘‘do the Dew” has made the consumers to dance on to its tunes and carved a worldwide niche for itself. So any other Tagline shouldn’t replace this slogan because though the product is not available here it has high awareness among the people in UK.
Slogan ‘’do the dew”
As the UK tends to support the humor element more effectively which is already reflected in US mountain Dew commercials people will reciprocate expeditiously.
The language and toning should synchronize in the British comprehending mode. Though the language differs a lot the acceptance of the visual element in US is similar to UK. The celebrities should be altered accordingly so that they are able to relate themselves to the product. The level of exaggeration can be decreased, as consumers in UK are not impulsive. Due to the increasing health awareness in the UK soft drink market it has to promote values of being fit and fine. To concise US Mountain dew commercials can be launched in the UK only if few aspects of the ad are tailored according to the type of consumer of its origin.