Managing global brands from a centralised team requires a delicate balance between global consistency and local relevance. Success depends on effective communication, understanding local markets, and adopting flexible strategies that accommodate diverse cultural and market dynamics.
And that is a challenge when it comes to digital advertising and that is why we help our clients with localised digital solutions.
Global clients must address local market needs.
Global clients with centralised teams can face certain localisation challenges when creating and implementing advertising campaigns across different regions and cultures.
Common challenges include cultural nuances, customs, and sensitivities in each target market. What might be acceptable or appealing in one culture could be offensive or misunderstood in another. For example, in the Middle East, Black Friday is White Friday and what is the Single’s Day in western societies, it is the 11:11, the biggest sales moment in Asia Pacific. Cultural and seasonal differences can also impact the timing and relevance of advertising campaigns. Events, holidays, and seasons may vary, and advertisers should be mindful of these variations, such as back to school campaigns and religious holidays celebrated in different regions – Diwali, Eid, or Easter.
The language differences are also a challenge as translating ads accurately is crucial. Wordplay, humour, and idioms may not translate well, and literal translations may not convey the intended message. Advertisers need to ensure that the language used is appropriate and resonates with the local audience. Visual and design elements such as colours, symbols, and images can have different meanings in various cultures and advertisers need to consider how visual elements may be perceived and adjust them accordingly to avoid unintended associations or misinterpretations.
Different markets have different regulatory compliances regarding advertising, including restrictions on certain content, claims, or product representations. For instance, when targeting all adults on Meta, we cannot advertise to under 21 in Southeast Asia countries but in the EU, we can advertise to 18-year-olds.
Another very important point to take into consideration is the consumer behaviour and preferences. Understanding the target audience’s preferences, behaviours, and purchasing habits in each market is essential. Advertisers may need to tailor messages and offers to align with local consumer preferences. At JOLT Digital we are subscribed to GWI, a consumer research platform covering 54 countries where we can create audiences and gather insights about their online behaviours, how they engage with brands and where, etc. With this tool, we can build localised strategies for our global clients.
The popularity and effectiveness of different media channels vary by region too. Advertisers need to choose the right mix of channels to reach their target audience effectively, considering differences in media consumption habits. For example, TikTok being one of the lead social platforms globally, but it is banned in a few countries such as Taiwan and India and from government phones from the US, UK, France, Canada and a few more.
There are also local competitors that global advertisers should take into consideration when navigating the competitive landscape in each region. What works for one brand in one market may not be effective if local competitors have established different norms or strategies.
As a global digital media agency, to address these challenges, we conduct research, work with local partners, and customize campaigns and messaging to align with the specific needs and preferences of each target market. This process, known as localisation, is crucial for creating successful global advertising campaigns.
It is important to know local and global players.
At JOLT Digital, with a diverse team and offices around the world, we understand market nuances and the need to innovate to reach consumers in a cluttered environment.
As a global digital media agency, we tend to give our clients localised approaches based on data, research, and trends.
Given our range of global clients, we built a curated AdTech/ Ad Solution inventory list with local and global partners, committed to game-change the industry. We are not tied to media vendor contracts which allows us freedom to select the best fit to our client on the different markets.
This is why when one of our clients saw their global programmatic partner not driving results in one of the regions, they reached out to us, to help them identify a different partner that could improve performance on that region.
Leveraging GWI, we discovered that 56% of users in the region spend more than 4h a day online on mobile so we knew we had to find a performance partner with strong mobile inventory in the region. Taking the insights and matching them with our AdTech curated inventory list, we matched the client with MiQ.
MiQ is a programmatic marketing partner. This means that they can access ads space in various websites across the web. They help agencies to run programmatic activity, accessing multiple DSPs (demand-side platforms – software that uses automation to buy advertisement space on the web) such as DV360, Xandr, Grapeshot, Oracle and Bluekai. They can also help us to tailor a programmatic plan to meet the client’s business KPIs, and to reach relevant audiences in an innovative way. Not only through ad formats but also through placements such as connected TV.
We’ve tested them for 6 months with our client and the results improved. MiQ helped to unlock new region audiences and reach them through their inventory and the client saw ROAS increase by +36% with the same budget.
In summary, the combination of JOLT Digital’s global scale with localised approaches with the constant lookout for new digital partners and the careful curation process led us to once more demonstrate that we are changing the game for our global clients.
Our mission and focus are to keep changing the game by driving strong results through innovation, not disregarding the power of traditional digital media giants, like Google and Meta but understanding that each client is unique, sometimes budgets are limited, and one solution doesn’t fit all. Embracing change helps us to introduce modern and upcoming technologies that can help responding to digital media challenges faced by our different range of clients.
