The emergence of the global consumer.

• Author: O'Reilly, Anthony J.F.
• Position: Chairman's Agenda: Acquiring in Eastern Europe

Europe's economic revolution is forcing manufacturers to look at their marketing opportunities in a new way. Six predictions about the future.

For many years I resisted the concept of the global brand. The diversity of language, taste, and customs seemed to me insurmountable barriers to the worldwide marketing and advertising of brands. This certainly seemed true for H.J. Heinz Co. Our company is global, but much of its success is based on the consolidation of distinct regional operations catering to local tastes and customs.

Of course, the Heinz label in known and respected worldwide. It is particularly strong in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. More recently, Heinz has become a potent brand in Japan, Korea, and China. But 65% of our annual sales come from products that do not bear the Heinz brand. In the U.S., we are known also for Weight Watchers meetings and foods, StarKist tuna, 9-Lives cat food, and Ore-Ida frozen potatoes. An Italian may know us by our Plasmon baby food; a Spaniard by our Orlando brand of tomate frito; a Frenchman by our Petite Navire tuna. In short, Heinz is a world brand, but it is to a greater extent a world of brands.

At first, this situation made me quite skeptical about the notion of the global brand. But subtle, profound revolutions in technology and culture have begun to transform consumer attitudes. They also have caused me to rethink my earlier prejudice against the global brand concept. I would maintain that the communications revolution and the convergence of cultures have now set the stage for truly global marketing. In many respects, the age of the global brand is at hand.

From a financial perspective, Heinz is a company with substantial resources and ample margins. We can employ those resources to spend back on our big brands and support their growth. But how and where we choose to do that spending remains the question of the moment. Marketing has become an almost hydroponic exercise. Exact amounts of nourishment applied directly at proper intervals can produce substantial yields in practically any environment. But one needs the proper vehicle, or vehicles, to make this process work.

My thesis is that there is such a vehicle today that is at once powerful enough to cover immense areas, and personal enough to reach the individual consumer. That vehicle is satellite/cable television. It is a technology that is changing all the rules of global advertising. For those with sufficient resources and resolve, it is the premier instrument for building global brand power.

But what exactly is brand power? The skeptics among us might regard the phrase as a hollow promise. That is an understandable observation but one that I think ultimately cannot be sustained. I believe brands do have power, which we can discern and even measure. When successfully marketed, they can become international symbols of significant import.

We must keep in mind what brands are. The truly great brands are far more than just labels for products. They are symbols that encapsulate the desires of consumers. They are standards held aloft under which the masses aggregate. Brands can extend beyond national boundaries if they symbolize universal desires. Or they may have a more segmented appeal to certain age groups or occupations in a number of nations.

Coca-Cola is certainly among the true branded gentry, the pantheon of brands that have become...