Description

Exploring the Glocalization of Advertising Strategies in

Egyptian Context: A Content Analysis of Television

Commercials

Eiman Medhat Negm*

Due to a globalised and competitive world, global brands are growing stronger, and

the competition for consumers’ attention worldwide is becoming more intense. The

aim of this study was to explore the glocalization of advertising strategies in the

Egyptian context, as standardization and adaptation of global advertising

(globalization versus localization) in foreign markets is a topic of constant debate

among scholars. Content analysis was used to investigate three global campaigns:

Coca-Cola “Open Happiness”, Snickers “You're Not You When You're Hungry",

and Comfort “Cloth World”. These advertisements were compared to the ones

aired in western contexts in order to understand the degree of glocalization. The

research finds illustrate that the international companies tend to revise their

communication strategy by mixing up global and local cultural appeals in television

commercials (Characters, Length, Music, Scenic Background, Slogan, Story of

commercial, and Voice-over) in order to attract maximum audience and stimulate

intentions for purchasing the product or service. In the Middle East, specifically

Egypt, this study acclaims that international companies need to recognize and

comprehend the local culture of the country, the Islamic religion, and follow the

regulations of the country in order to be successful in implementing an influential

marketing advertising strategy.

Key Words: Glocalization, globalization, localization, international business,

advertising strategy

1. Introduction

An increasing number of companies now market internationally, employing

global advertising to drive demand for goods and services across multiple

geographic locations (Kotler and Armstrong, 2013). Global advertising usually

requires tailoring of the broadcast to reflect national market cultural differences

and preferences (Orth et al., 2005). Thus, international companies embrace a

compromise between global and domestic advertising, adopting the “glocal”

(global-local) strategy (Walkosz et al., 2008). With careful research on foreign

markets, global campaigns are able to: “standardize certain core elements of the

advertising strategy while incorporating local cultural influences into advertising

executions” (Boykin, 2015, p.1).

Global advertisements have long been at the very center of research interest

(Kotler and Armstrong, 2013). A thorough investigation into the topic leads to

numerous and valuable cultural data (Bhatia and Bhargava, 2008).