6, Snickers cross-cultural advertising communication strategy analysis

Snickers cross-cultural advertising communication strategy

Abstract: Advertising is an important carrier of cultural communication, in today's era of globalization and integration development trend has been very obvious, cross-cultural advertising communication has become an important channel for cultural exchanges in different regions, accelerating the exchanges and communication between the peoples of different cultures in the world. In this process, how multinational companies to adapt to the new cultural environment, to achieve effective information dissemination has become a new issue. The author learned from the information that both Chinese and foreign enterprises, in the cultural communication is to a certain extent affected by cultural differences, failure cases abound, then, how to carry out effective cross-cultural communication activities? So, how to carry out effective cross-cultural communication activities? How to create a new advertising communication paradigm, what are the laws of cross-cultural communication? From the perspective of cross-cultural advertising and communication, this paper analyzes and summarizes the advertising and communication strategies adopted by Snickers, a brand of Mars Group, in developing the Chinese market, and finds out the cultural values it assumes in its communication in the Chinese market. Of course, due to the need of the research, the article will briefly analyze Snickers' advertising and communication strategies in markets other than China, and analyze its global strategies from a macro point of view. The author expects that by analyzing the cross-cultural communication strategy of this global brand, it will inspire Chinese enterprises to "go out" in their advertising communication.

Keywords: Snickers, cross-cultural advertising, localization, standardization

Multinational enterprises are one of the most important manifestations of the integration of the global economy, and both China and other countries outside of China are actively exploring overseas markets. In the development of overseas markets, opportunities and challenges co-exist, most of the world's famous brands in the 1990s to enter the Chinese market, in the rapid occupation of China's huge market at the same time, but also continue to appear due to cultural differences caused by the phenomenon of "not suited to the soil," such as Lipang paint "falling dragon The "falling dragon" of Nippon Paint and the "bowing down of the lion" of Toyota Motor. In the face of fierce cultural conflicts, what should multinational enterprises do? For the Chinese market and how to do it?

Chinese consumers are influenced by ancient Confucian traditions and the Chinese character culture, and have formed a very different way of thinking, behavioral characteristics and habits of life from Western consumers. When foreign brands carry out advertising and communication activities in the Chinese market, if they do not fully take into account the cultural characteristics of the Chinese market, and insist on adding Western theories to the Chinese market, the communication activities will eventually fail due to the lack of "****common meaning space". With the in-depth study of cross-cultural advertising and communication and after a series of unsuccessful "cross-cultural advertising and communication" activities, modern multinational corporations have been able to fully utilize the theory of cross-cultural advertising and communication to guide the development of actual advertising and communication activities. The Snickers brand under Mars Group is an outstanding representative of successful cross-cultural advertising and communication activities. The following is an example of this brand to analyze and summarize its advertising and communication strategy in the Chinese market, and to study the general theoretical law of cross-cultural communication.

(I) Brand internationalization and cross-cultural communication

The inevitable result of economic globalization is the internationalization of brands. Nowadays, the East and the West have become one economy, and people's daily communication is becoming more and more frequent, which makes the scope of brand dissemination wider. Fundamentally, brand internationalization is the process of spreading brand culture in the international market, the purpose of which is to build brand equity in the international market, rather than simply achieving the goal of sales growth. In the process of brand internationalization, enterprises are facing the international market, and under the guidance of consumer demand-oriented strategy, they have to solve the problems of consumers' cognition, evaluation and acceptance, so they need to integrate all kinds of marketing means and methods, and establish strong and unique associations from the product quality, corporate image, place of origin and other aspects. Through the study of the brand internationalization journey of big international brands such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Uniqlo, the author found that enterprises in the process of brand internationalization more often adopt adaptive adjustment strategies rather than starting afresh to develop new marketing strategies. This brings us to the issue of cross-cultural advertising and communication. Generally speaking, in the process of internationalization, enterprises are subject to many external factors, such as national regulations, cultural practices and trade protectionism, which may affect their marketing approaches in both hard and soft ways. Therefore, in the process of international marketing, it is important to fully understand and respect the local culture.

From the development trend of internationalization of multinational corporations, multinational corporations have chosen two paths to realize the internationalization of their brands: one is to establish a unified global brand, such as Sony, Siemens, Panasonic and other enterprises; the other is to adopt a "multi-brand" strategy, which is suitable for fast-moving consumer goods and daily necessities. For example, the U.S. Mars Group of products on the use of "multi-brand" strategy, rainbow candy, Snickers, etc., independent of each other, their own development, but to follow the Mars Group's overall brand concept.

"Yanzi Spring and Autumn Annals" has the cloud: "Orange is born in Huainan for orange, born in Huabei for Hovenia, the leaf is similar to the taste is different. So what? Soil and water are different." When the environment changes, the nature of things will also change. Similarly, for brand internationalization, cross-cultural communication is an unavoidable problem to overcome, which determines whether the brand is "dead" or "alive" in the market area. So how should we understand cross-cultural advertising and communication?

Professor Chen Pei-ai of Xiamen University of Communication Studies believes that "cross-cultural advertising communication is the movement of advertising information between different cultural domains "1 and that economic globalization has brought about the inevitable result of cross-cultural advertising communication. The process of information flow is inevitably affected by the environment in which it takes place, including the mother environment of the information and the environment of the new domain. The most important problem that cross-cultural advertising communication needs to overcome is the cultural differences between different regions. For example, the cultural differences between China and Western countries. Chinese consumers in the process of development gradually formed and Western values, unique mode of thinking and ideological concepts, which will be reflected in the consumer behavior, in the process of brand internationalization should fully respect and consider the psychological needs of the local audience, customs and cultural elements, so that advertising and branding to truly adapt to different cultural environments, and to achieve the purpose of expanding the market. This aspect of the U.S. Mars Group is a successful model.

The U.S. Mars Incorporated is one of the world's largest food manufacturers, is the world's chocolate, pet care, candy and other industry leaders, its own Dove, Snickers, M & amp; M chocolate beans, Baolu, Weijia and many other international brands. These international brands are also doing a great job of advertising and marketing campaigns, and each category of product advertising across five continents and four oceans, pervasive penetration of culturally diverse countries, and the brand's delivery of emotion to subtly eliminate the psychological barriers to consumers of different cultures.2 After all, no one can deny that good things happen.

Snickers is the main brand of Mars Group's energy-based chocolate, which has been on the market in the United States since 1930, and has grown into the world's chocolate family giant over the decades, and Snickers entered China in 1993 to formally develop the Chinese market. Snickers entered China in 1993 and formally opened up the Chinese market. Its products are positioned as energy-based chocolate, with "sports", "energy" and "hunger" being the specific descriptions of its product positioning. Snickers has become synonymous with "sports" and "energy" in its brand and product communication in the global market, which is closely centered on this positioning. Snickers advertising and marketing communication activities in the entry into the market of various countries in the strong, in overcoming cultural barriers at the same time to play the brand characteristics, a perfect fit for the needs of consumers, that Snickers is how to do it?

(2) The unity of globalization and localization of brand communication

"Globalization strategy, localization implementation" is the **** knowledge reached by major contemporary brands in the process of internationalization, and Snickers is no exception. Snickers' advertisements are characterized by the core values of sports, fashion and energy and the main theme of "Sweep away hunger and be yourself". Although there is a main theme, Snickers does not stick to the stereotypes, on the basis of the unchanged, there are many variations, to deal with young people in different markets, showing the innovative spirit and creativity of the brand marketing, and this creativity stems from the perfect fusion of Snickers and different cultures. The following is a specific case to demonstrate in detail how Snickers brand communication activities to achieve the perfect combination of globalization and localization.

(1) Consistency in Global Creative Strategy

Economic globalization includes a global marketing strategy, in which a company develops a unified plan to sell its products in the same way around the world. Advertising globalization refers to the use of consistent advertising and communication methods in markets around the world to achieve a global marketing strategy.3 Snickers chose the strategic global advertising theme "Hunger" in its cross-cultural communication, positioning itself well as a brand that "conquers human hunger", while at the same time using the slogan "Conquer Human Hunger". "At the same time, Snickers takes "Less Hunger, Be Yourself" as its brand appeal, and its advertisements are unified with "sporty" and "funny". Whether it's "hungry" or "sports" or "funny", all belong to the universal truth of human nature, who is not hungry, who does not mix humor and funny content? Snickers ads are approachable and easy to accept for most young people, and the overall strategy has a cross-cultural tolerance.

Additionally, the key to success for a global brand is to "find a globally relevant brand story".4 Through extensive research, the Snickers team and its global agency BBDO realized that people don't act like themselves when they're hungry, which creates a threat to the environment, and that this insight into the consumer's sense of belonging led to the creation of an innovative campaign. This insight into consumers' sense of belonging led the creatives to develop the creative theme of "Who are you when you're hungry? In the video ads, Snickers expresses the brand's slogan "Be yourself" through the exaggerated comparison between before and after the hungry people eat Snickers, and demands that advertising strategies in different markets around the world be guided by this strategy. This "global economic thinking" allows Snickers to enjoy good ideas on a global scale, and makes it mandatory for the brand to maintain a globally unified image and identity.

(2) Localization of Creative Strategy Implementation

Localization refers to the intuitive use of local cultural elements by international brands when entering countries or regions with different cultural backgrounds, to strengthen communication with consumers, and to close the relationship with consumers.5 Localization is related to the consumer's sense of identity with the national culture, and each country has its own unique culture, so international brands have to make use of local cultural elements when entering a country or region for advertising performance and communication. When an international brand enters a country and region for advertisement performance and communication, its advertisement strategy, expression form, brand image, etc. should be differentiated to cater to the local traditional cultural characteristics and aesthetic tastes.6 When Snickers enters a new market area, that is to say, it will strictly follow the global unified strategy of promotion and marketing, branding, creativity, etc., and will consider combining with the local specific consumption habits, cultural background, thinking habits, etc., so as to ensure that the brand message is effectively and correctly conveyed, and to cultivate the consumers' understanding of the brand message. In order to ensure that the brand message is effectively and correctly conveyed, and to cultivate consumers' awareness and loyalty to the brand. In order to successfully open up the Chinese market, expand its brand awareness and market share, and strengthen its communication with consumers, Snickers consciously introduces intuitive and influential elements of local Chinese culture when implementing its advertising strategy in China.

In 2011, an advertisement for Snickers quickly became a hit. In the ad, a group of young men are playing a fierce soccer game, but the goalkeeper is a weak "Lin Daiyu", and when the opposing team shoots the ball at the goal, Lin Daiyu faints like a weak willow on the road. A hot-tempered player came to say, "Buddy, dare to be a little more false not?!" Another handsome man then comes out and hands Lin Daiyu a Snickers bar, and instantly, Lin Daiyu is transformed into a young boy full of energy. The viral spread of the advertisement was the rapid spread of Snickers across the country. The advertisement utilized the Chinese audience's perception of Lin Daiyu's soft image inherent in classical literature to highlight Snickers' product positioning of enabling consumers to "be themselves", which strengthened the marketing power of the product and the value of consumers' memories. In 2012, Snickers released three commercials with the same creative expression, namely, "Episode 1: A Sad Korean Female Prisoner "Hungry" for a Hug", "Episode 2: An Irritable Landlady "Hungry" Roars to Shake the House", and "Episode 3: A Lazy Porky Pig Who Doesn't Come to Life", as part of the 2011 campaign. BS", as a continuation of 2011's "Lin Daiyu", this time the story is still about the exaggerated behavior of hungry people before and after eating Snickers, and the series of episodes starring the four boys also makes the plot coherent. 2013 invited Hong Kong actor Law Kar-Ying to star in "Hungry Monk", which ends with the story of the hungry Monk. In 2013, Hong Kong actor Law Kar-Ying was invited to star in "The Hungry Monk", and the ending line "only you" evoked many people's fond memories. At the same time, the opening of the "hungry goods TV" program - invited harmonic star Jialing, beast Yi Xiaoxing and other opinion leaders in China at the same time with the brand's conceptual fit of celebrity endorsement host; 2014 is to take advantage of the World Cup, the release of the "hungry goods fan training camp" series of video advertisements, as always.

Meanwhile, on August 14, 2014, Snickers released a video advertisement starring Mr. Bean, a leading British comedian, in which Mr. Bean follows a martial arts master as he walks along a wall, but is unexpectedly in poor condition due to "hunger", and loses his footing for a moment and falls into the enemy's camp, where he plays the "Hungry Fist" in a fox-like manner. "In order to save Mr. Bean, the brothers handed him a Snickers bar, and after eating it, he was resurrected as a martial arts master and escaped from the enemy's tiger's mouth. The presentation of the ad's images and production techniques were comparable to those of a top Chinese martial arts movie. Subsequently, the PR agency planned a series of PR activities to create a hot topic of "Bean's first trip to China", such as the promotion of Bean's "Hungry Fist", to seize the high point of entertainment marketing. In terms of character selection, scene setting, music production, and martial arts elements, the commercial not only fits the Snickers brand's international positioning and its global advertising strategy, but also takes into account the cultural background of local Chinese consumers and the resulting demand for advertisements.

In 2015, Snickers launched its "Nickname Pack" in the U.S. market, a campaign that continued the "You are

not you when you are hungry" campaign. Cranky, Curmudgeon, Goofball, Snippy," and 21 other symptoms of hunger, in slightly pejorative terms and with a darkly humorous American style. In addition to writing all the side effects of hunger on the package, they also use these words to create sentences to express a central idea: "My friend, you're hungry. You're not you when you're hungry, you're all XX-like!" . The campaign was executed in China with the same creative content and distribution channels as the rest of the market, only localized in terms of creative expression. The campaign featured Jiang Xin, who starred as the Chinese princess in "Legend of Concubine Zhen Huan", as "Sister Hua", and was filled with unique elements of the Chinese Qing Dynasty and Chinese humor.

From "Lin Daiyu" to "Rongmu", Snickers' advertisements in the Chinese market basically include virtual characters from Chinese literature, movies and TV shows, as well as cultural traits unique to the Chinese people. The slogan of "Sweeping away hunger" is combined with Chinese elements, and the brand image of Snickers is shaped in a funny and humorous style. It can be said that the Chinese cultural characteristics used by Snickers in its marketing promotion in the Chinese market are the core of its communication strategy and strategy to develop the Chinese market, and the Chinese culture and the life style of the people permeating the advertisements are the tactical application of its localization strategy. The penetration of Chinese culture and people's life style in advertisements is the tactical application of its localization strategy. From the final sales results, Snickers' localization strategy in the Chinese market is undoubtedly successful.

Of course, Mars Group's advertising in the development of the global market can be strong, see the enemy to kill the enemy, strong marketing strategy, flexible localization strategy is the secret weapon of its victory. Snickers' global road follows Mars' marketing concepts, not only in the Chinese market for localization, in the opening of the African market when the release of the advertisement is more unique.

In 2008, TBWA produced print ads for Snickers in the African market, "Feast" (Figure-1, Figure-2).

(Pic-1) (Pic-2)

The print ad in Pic-1 shows a lion eating an explorer on the savannah with a Snickers product on it, and the entire print piece says "You think you're tasty? No, you don't! The animals are after the Snickers in your belly!". The creative content of the campaign was followed by the rest of the print ads in the series. We can see that this series of print ads use elements such as explorers, pristine oceans, deserts, grasslands, lions, sharks, bears, etc., and organically combine the elements to achieve the purpose of brand presentation. Whether it is lions and other animals that are commonplace in Africa or explorers that are regular visitors to this magical continent of Africa, the advertisement respects and takes into account the psychological needs, customs and cultural background of the local market audience from the creative strategy to the creative performance, so as to establish a broad and good interactive relationship with the consumers and to provide a good platform for the subsequent development of the brand. The advertisement, from creative strategy to creative performance, well respected and considered the local market audience's psychological needs, customs and cultural background and other elements, so as to establish a wide and good interactive relationship with consumers, laying a foundation for the development of subsequent supplementary marketing activities.

Conclusion: The localized advertising strategy and multi-pronged marketing activities have made Snickers' sales in the Chinese market soar, and the Chinese market ranks among the top 10 in Snickers' global market, which confirms the correctness of its advertising strategy of "think globally and act locally". For Snickers, the unity of the brand's cross-cultural communication strategy is not an empty word, because behind the strategy is an in-depth investigation, precise analysis and efficient implementation of the business environment, consumer situation and cultural background of each market. This may be a real lesson to be learned by many Chinese companies that want to make a difference in overseas markets.

Notes:

[1]Chen Pei-ai. Advertising cross-cultural communication strategy[J]. Southeast Academic, 2004, (12)

[2]Lin Lang. Creativity on the tip of the tongue[J]. China Advertising,2013(1):92

[3]Chen Pei-ai. Selected Cases of World Advertising[M]. Xiamen: Xiamen University Press,2008:155

[4]David Taylor. Snickers' global "economic thinking"[J].NEWMARKETING,2012: 34

[5]Ruan Yuanbin,Dai Shifu. Business Manager[J].2004(8):37

[6]Chen Pei Ai,Selected Cases of World Advertising[M]. Xiamen: Xiamen University Press,2008:156