Like to ride your own ass? Careful research is the key to global marketing.

• Author: Jernudd, Disa
• Position: Last Word

The Mexican selling donkey rides had the right idea, but unfortunately not the linguistic and cultural competence. Whether big or small, the reality for businesses today is that the whole world is their marketplace, requiring a different approach to marketing compared to a few years ago.

It is no longer possible to only understand international rules and to conduct standard market research to successfully reach your target audience. Companies need to consider linguistic and cultural issues to realize success. English is the lingua franca of the world, but that doesn't mean that it is the best way to reach your audience. Effective marketing is when it speaks to an individual and gets him or her to react and then act--that can only be done by knowing your target market. What makes an American consumer tick might offend the Brazilian.

Most of us can quote some examples of cross-cultural marketing bloopers: The slogan used in the U.S. campaign for Swedish-made Electrolux vacuum cleaners was ''Nothing Sucks Like An Electrolux." Coca-Cola's initial attempt to translate its name into Chinese was a disaster. The first version was pronounced Ke-kou-ke-la and meant "Bite the wax tadpole." With some research it was changed and now means "Happiness in the mouth." Or, we have Gerber baby food, which used the same packaging as in the U.S--cute babies on the label--when it first started selling in Africa. Gerber later learned that, due to high illiteracy, labels in Africa usually feature pictures of what's inside.

Every culture has its own idiosyncrasies, and assuming that countries that are close in proximity will react similarly is a serious misconception. Strategies that work in Japan are very likely to fail in China. Global marketing needs to be approached with insight, and a good, strong campaign should transcend culture and language.

Some examples of cultural differences that might affect a global campaign can be as basic as choice of color or body language. If you saw an ad in the form of a wedding scene with the...