Selling Democracy to Iraq: Cross-Cultural Marketing Strategy

First Principles

As businesses globalize, the degree to which marketing strategies are standardized (i.e., not localized) within a culture is an important issue for marketing teams to consider. Product packaging, publicity campaigns, and advertising creative executions typically need fine-tuning from one culture and country (i.e., geographic area) to another to achieve maximum return on investment (ROI). However, the expense with respect to elapsed time, effort, and resources expended must be less than the incremental revenue attributable to tailoring the campaign for the culture or geographic area. Hawkins, Best, and Coney (2001) suggested seven cross-cultural considerations for framing the decision to localize geographic marketing campaigns:

• Homogenous Culture
• Product Needs Fulfilled
• Consumer Affordability
• Consumer Values and Behavior Patterns
• Distribution Channels, Regulations, and Applicable Laws
• Available Media to Impact Culture
• Ethics of Targeting Geographic Area
  
  

Application

For example, if an organization were to attempt marketing of democracy in a country with a large Islamic population, such as Iraq the following cross-cultural considerations should be addressed:

• Homogeneous Culture – The Iraqi population is far from homogenous and is comprised of three ethnic groups that traditionally have been in conflict over religious, social, and political issues.
• Product Needs Fulfilled – Democracy would help under-represented groups under the Sunni-controlled government, such as Kurds, Shia, and women, gain more voice in political dialogue. Is democracy needed or wanted in Iraq?
• Consumer Affordability – Can Iraqis afford the religious, social, and political capital required to implement and maintain democratic processes? Participating in democracy could have unanticipated costs to individuals as the adopt beliefs that may not be supported by friends, family, or neighbors.
• Consumer Values and Behavior Patterns – is individual choice or political representation important to the Iraqi people? Allowing women to vote in elections could be perceived as undermining traditional Islamic family values.
• Distribution Channels, Regulations, and Applicable Laws – in what ways is it possible to education the population on democracy, encourage democratic social structures, and make it legal for democratic political processes to take root? It may not be legal to sell or possess democracy or any other product.
• Available Media to Impact Culture – are radio, print, outdoor, and other media available to educate, encourage, and affect political processes toward democratic goals? Existing media infrastructure must be exist to promote awareness.
• Ethics of Targeting Geographic Area – is it ethical to encourage democracy in Iraq? Perhaps what is legal, desirable, or expedient is not ethical or in the best interest of the consumer.
  
  

The above application example of cross-cultural marketing strategies is not meant make a political statement but to show how marketing an idea, service, or product is highly dependent on the geographical and cultural context.

Reference

Hawkins, D.I., Best, R.J, & Coney, K.A. (2001). Consumer behavior: Building marketing strategy (8th ed.). New York: Irwin McGraw-Hill.