A person can arrive in a city within hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But to understand it, they need to observe more than its streets. They need to discover its customs, its habits, and the small rules that organize everyday life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What people eat. What they share. What they celebrate. What they consider normal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The same is true of brands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A product can cross a border in a container.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It can enter a supermarket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It can have a distributor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It can launch an Instagram account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It can invest in advertising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And still mean nothing to the people who encounter it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because being available does not mean being relevant.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps this is one of the most important differences between exporting a product and building a brand in another country:<\/p>\n\n\n\n A brand can arrive in a market long before it finds a place in it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The real question is not simply how to enter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How does a brand born in one culture begin to make sense within another?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n When a company enters another country, it usually thinks about concrete variables: distribution, price, competition, regulation, channels, consumers, and communication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All of them matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But there is another dimension that can be harder to measure: culture<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A category does not mean exactly the same thing everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A snack can be a treat. A gift. A reward. Something to share. Something to eat after school. Something to take on a trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The product can be the same. The situation in which it becomes meaningful can change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That is why the debate between standardizing and adapting a brand has no universal answer. Academic research shows that outcomes depend on the context, the company, the market, and how the strategy is executed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The strategic question therefore changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What should remain, what needs to adapt, and what still needs to be built for this brand to make sense here?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n KitKat began as a chocolate-and-wafer brand globally associated with a simple idea: \u201cHave a break, have a KitKat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A pause. A break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But something more interesting happened in Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The brand developed an association with good luck, particularly among students facing examinations. The Japanese expression \u201ckitto katsu\u201d<\/em>, which can be interpreted as \u201csurely win,\u201d helped reinforce that association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nestl\u00e9 documents how KitKat became associated with good-luck gifts and how the company developed products and flavors specifically for the Japanese market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n KitKat<\/p>\n chocolate<\/p>\n break<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n But in Japan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n KitKat<\/p>\n good luck<\/p>\n exams<\/p>\n gift<\/p>\n special occasion<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n The product did not stop being chocolate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But it began to mean something more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Culture can give a brand an occasion it did not have before.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n A brand begins to belong to a culture when it finds a moment in people’s lives in which it makes sense to exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not simply when it gains distribution. Not simply when it translates its advertising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When someone can think: \u201cThis is for this moment.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n McDonald’s shows another way of solving the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The question is no longer only what the brand means.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How can a global brand participate in the everyday life of a society without ceasing to be itself?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n India is a particularly clear example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n McDonald’s India developed products adapted to the characteristics of the market, including McAloo Tikki, a vegetarian burger made with a spiced potato patty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also established differentiated processes for vegetarian and non-vegetarian products. Its Indian operation does not use beef or pork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This was not simply a matter of translating an American campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n McDonald’s had to understand how an Indian consumer would eat McDonald’s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The adaptation reached the menu. The operation. The processes. The experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n culture<\/p>\n habits<\/p>\n product<\/p>\n experience<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n A foreign brand does not necessarily have to become a local brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But it does need to learn: How does this category participate in people’s lives in this place?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Now consider Ecuador.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2018, Ecuadorian company MARPENSA took Porto’s Chips, a fried plantain snack, into the Chilean market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n PRO ECUADOR documented the arrival of a 5,500-kilogram<\/span> container, following a business mission in Chile and with distribution through Delimaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the interesting part was not simply entering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During the process, the companies worked on a 45-gram<\/span> format and on product characteristics related to the Chilean market, including the use of merk\u00e9n, a Mapuche-origin seasoning made mainly from dried, smoked chili pepper and strongly associated with Chilean cuisine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here an important distinction appears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Internationalization did not begin with a campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It began with the question: How should this product be presented for this market?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Internationalization can begin with the product before it begins with advertising.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Adapting does not mean abandoning what makes a brand different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It means understanding: What needs to change so that this difference can be understood and valued here?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Case \u00b7 Question \u00b7 Concept<\/p>\n KitKat \u00b7 What can it mean here? Meaning<\/strong><\/p>\n McDonald’s \u00b7 How does it participate here? Participation<\/strong><\/p>\n Porto’s Chips \u00b7 What needs to adapt? Product<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n There is no universal formula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One brand may need to adapt the product. Another may need to find a new occasion. Another may need to deeply understand consumption habits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The important thing is not to confuse presence with relevance.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n A brand can be in the supermarket and still not be in the consumer’s mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It can be on Instagram and not be part of any conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It can have distribution and still lack a clear reason to be chosen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Identity<\/p>\n What the brand should preserve.<\/p>\n Adaptation<\/p>\n What needs to change to work in the new context.<\/p>\n Relevance<\/p>\n What needs to be built so the consumer has a reason to choose it.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n Adaptation does not mean erasing the origin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nor does it mean copying the local market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It means finding the point where what the brand is and what the market needs can meet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Internationalization is not about making a brand stop being foreign. It is about making it stop feeling foreign.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n This is where our territory begins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Advertising can help a brand become recognizable. It can explain a difference. It can build meaning. It can introduce a consumption occasion. It can connect a product with cultural codes the consumer already understands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But it cannot solve, by itself, a wrong product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nor a price the market will not accept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nor insufficient distribution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nor a category the consumer does not yet understand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That is why the most important advertising question before entering a new market may not be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n What are we going to communicate?<\/p>\n\n\n\n But:<\/p>\n\n\n\n What does this market need to understand, recognize, or experience for this brand to have a place?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n At that point, advertising stops being only communication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It becomes part of a larger strategy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n helping a brand move from being foreign to being relevant.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A foreign brand does not need to conquer an entire culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It needs to begin becoming part of specific situations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An occasion. A habit. A gift. A moment. A need. A choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From there, it can begin to build something larger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because relevance rarely appears all at once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is built through small associations that are repeated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A brand enters a culture when it stops being simply:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201ca product from another country\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n and begins to become:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201can option that makes sense for me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n The change may seem small.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Strategically, it can be enormous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A brand can cross a border in days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Its meaning can take years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n KitKat found an occasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n McDonald’s found a way to participate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Porto’s Chips found a way to adapt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n None of these cases proves that there is a single formula for internationalizing a brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They demonstrate something more useful:<\/p>\n\n\n\n entering is a business decision; belonging is a cultural process.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n And between the two lies a body of work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Understand.<\/p>\n Adapt.<\/p>\n Communicate.<\/p>\n Repeat.<\/p>\n Build relevance.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n Because exporting a product means taking it to another country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But building an international brand means achieving something much harder:<\/p>\n\n\n\n that someone, in that country, finds a reason to choose it.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n And perhaps that is the difference between being in a market and belonging to it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n How a brand finds a place in the life of another society.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_locale":"en_US","_original_post":"65","_ohl_title_split":2,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brand-strategy","en-US"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oneheadlight.ec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oneheadlight.ec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oneheadlight.ec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oneheadlight.ec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oneheadlight.ec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/oneheadlight.ec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68,"href":"https:\/\/oneheadlight.ec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66\/revisions\/68"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oneheadlight.ec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oneheadlight.ec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oneheadlight.ec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oneheadlight.ec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The market is not just a place<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
KitKat: when a product finds a new occasion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Concept: meaning<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
McDonald’s: when a brand learns to participate<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Concept: participation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Porto’s Chips: when the product also has to learn<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Concept: adaptation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Three ways of entering<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Identity \u2192 adaptation \u2192 relevance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
And where does advertising fit?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
From entering to belonging<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
References<\/h3>\n\n
\n