Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies

A global brand in a local market

Nükhet Vardar
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Nükhet Vardar , (2014),"A global brand in a local market", Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies, Vol. 4 Iss 8 pp. 1 - 11
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 A global brand in a local market
Nükhet Vardar

Nükhet Vardar is a James Aitchison[1] was in the office earlier than usual that morning[2]. He switched on his
Managing Director based personal computer and started to read the new e-mail messages he had received on
at El Izi Comm. November 19, 2008. He had a new pile of market research on his desk that he wanted to
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Consultancy Ltd., go through before his daily routine started. He had been working in the marketing
Istanbul, Turkey.
departments of two different international brands since graduating from university in 1998
and, after ten years, international branding was still a big mystery to him. He joined his
current company and its international non-alcoholic beverage brand team in 2005, and was
promoted to Marketing Manager in Turkey the previous fall. The position was very
demanding and exciting but he enjoyed his job, most of the time. Now in 2008, ten years
after graduation and a year after his promotion, it also happened to be the year of global
economic crisis! “Never mind”, he said to himself. He had survived so far. Actually, he and
his team had done quite well, as far as the latest market figures indicated. Looking at his
e-mail messages he glanced through the Marketing Society’s newsletter and started
reading the summary of a late research conducted by Millward Brown on global brands. It
read:
A survey conducted by Millward Brown for the global brands in 2008, helps illustrate the basic
drivers of brand success across countries and cultures. The survey was conducted in eight
countries (from west to east): the USA, Mexico, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia,
India and China. In each country, we compared two global brands to two local brands in each
of five categories: cars, beer, fast food, shampoo/conditioners and soft drinks. In total, we
interviewed 3,307 people about 91 different brands. The global brands included in our survey
were stronger than the local ones; they were more often considered for purchase and received
higher scores on almost all statements, including ‘setting the trends’, being ‘very easy to
recognize’ and having ‘very distinctive identities’. In general, our analysis suggests that global
brands owe their strength to their reliance on the basics of brand-building. Local brands, not
surprisingly, scored far higher on being seen as part of the national culture, an attribute that is
I would like to extend my
appreciation to a number of a driver of purchase intent for all brands, both global and local. So that while local brands may
managers whom I had the lack the business acumen and deep pockets of the multinational brands, they draw strength
privilege of interviewing in
September 2002 and in April from their home-field advantage.
2009, enabling me to collect
valuable information about The lesson here for multinational companies (MNCs) is the importance of embedding the brand
Brand M. Without their input,
this case could not be written. in the local culture, and in this regard two global brands stand out. Ironically these are two of
the most iconic American brands – Coca-Cola and McDonald’s. Both brands were held in high
Disclaimer. This case is written
esteem, and were endorsed by a significant proportion of people, in countries other than the
solely for educational
purposes and is not intended USA, as being part of their own national cultures. If these two giants of USA culture can embed
to represent successful or themselves locally, any brand in any sector should be able to gain this kind of advantage (Hollis,
unsuccessful managerial
decision making. The author/s 2013).
may have disguised names;
financial and other
recognizable information to
James pondered on what he read for a moment. Yes, if an international brand is perceived
protect confidentiality. as a local brand, then it would make life easier. But this was easier said than done. He said

DOI 10.1108/EEMCS-12-2013-0232 VOL. 4 NO. 8 2014, pp. 1-11, © Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 2045-0621 EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES PAGE 1
 to himself ’Life would be much easier if the brand was highly regarded by the local
consumers as an international brand as well as having a local touch. And I am paid just to
do that!’
James was right. His job was all about branding and having a clear position in consumers’
minds, so that each time consumers were faced with making a soft drink decision, they
would prefer his brand versus others. To make things more difficult, as a brand in the soft
drinks sector, they had many substitute product groups and brands to compete with,
starting with still water, gassed water, covering the whole range of all other thirst-quenching
products. James recalled the work done by de Chernatony and McDonald (2003),
reporting the results of a consumer blind test between Diet Coke against Diet Pepsi. In this
well-known, widely cited research, the blind test results showed that 51 per cent preferred
Pepsi versus 44 per cent who preferred Coke (with an additional 5 per cent who could not
decide). Subsequently, the test was repeated with brand names and the results were quite
different. This time 23 per cent preferred Pepsi and 65 per cent preferred Coke, with an
additional 12 per cent who did not prefer one brand over the other. There could not be more
clear evidence of the brand value in the minds of consumers and it illustrated that any
brand name comes with a set of intrinsic values for each individual consumer.

The soft drinks market in Turkey

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The two well-known international soft drink brands had entered the Turkish market through
franchisees almost at the same time, in the summer of 1964. In their early days, they started
to compete with national and local soda producers. Both Pepsi Cola and Coca-Cola were
much higher priced than these soda brands, being sold in the market at nearly three times
the value of a daily newspaper in those days. Therefore, they started using sales
promotions, such as lotteries or free giveaways to increase trial and consumer awareness.
Since then, both of these international brands have come a long way in the Turkish market
as the market expanded. Considering that Turkey is a big market with an estimated
population of 71 million in 2007, with 64 per cent of the total population being under 30
years of age; this creates a huge market potential for all fast-moving consumer goods
companies. Research indicates that consumers need to consume two liters of quality liquid
per day on average, leading to 750 liters per annum per person. However, in Turkey, the
quantity of liquid consumption per person is still around 90 liters, due to the large share of
other “traditional” drinks. Carbonated drinks’ consumption per person is 41 liters with 2007
figures. In other words, the non-alcoholic beverage market has a growth potential eight to
nine times its current size. On the other hand, this means tough competition for all
international soft drinks because they compete against traditional drinks such as tea,
Turkish coffee or ayran, natural yoghurt mixed with water and salt, which is an ideal drink
to act as a thirst-quencher, a necessity in a country with a hot climate.
James was working in this market environment for the past couple of years. As far as his
company was concerned, Turkey was the sixth-largest market in Europe and the
seventeenth largest market in the world for their products. Year 2003 was considered a
base year in the company, since the 2001 economic recovery figures reached the
pre-crisis levels across the sectors. Therefore, also in James’s company, 2003 figures were
taken as a base for comparison. His company’s average growth rate from 2003 to 2007,
prior to the 2008 global economic crisis was 14.5 per cent. During the same period, from
2003 to 2007, Turkey’s GNDP (gross national domestic product) per capita increased
annually by 28.6 per cent on average, rising from $3,412 in 2003 to $9,333 in 2007. The
company’s 2003 sales, which was 222 million unit cases, went up to 382 million cases in
2007 (one unit case equals 5,678 liters). Similarly, 2003 sales revenue which was 884
million Turkish Lira (TL), increased to 1.6 billion TL in 2007. Their investments reached
approximately USD500 million during the past decade to improve their business in Turkey.
Overall, they had around 550 distributors, 250,000 sales points and a branded fleet of over
1,700 vehicles. Overall the company was well-equipped at the end of 2007 to face another
crisis, this time a global one.

PAGE 2 EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES VOL. 4 NO. 8 2014

 The economic crises in Turkey and how they affect the markets
Although this was the first economic crisis that James had faced as a marketing
professional, luckily the company had considerable research findings and data collected
in the 2001 economic crisis that Turkey faced. During the 2001 economic crisis, the total
non-alcoholic drinks market shrank by 14 to 15 per cent, whereas their sales only fell by 8
to 9 per cent. Within the total beverage market, their company had a market share of 6.8 per
cent in 2001, including all their brands in their portfolio. Unfortunately, Turkey started
heading towards a deep economic recession, starting in November 2000, which was the
worst financial crisis since the Second World War. The recession deepened in February 2001
and its harsh effects were felt throughout 2001 and 2002. Interestingly, 2000 was a boom year
in many respects. The gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate was 7.1 per cent and inflation
was at 55 per cent, but falling (The Economist, 2001). Then in February 2001, the Turkish Lira
was devalued by 94 per cent, literally overnight and the GDP growth rate dropped to ⫺8.0 per
cent. The economic recovery only started in 2003, which is why that year was taken as a base
year for making comparisons after Turkey’s 2001 economic crisis.
Now let us briefly look at the lessons learned by James’ company during 2001 economic
crisis and how these past research findings were put into practice while he tried to cope
with the 2008 global crisis.
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How did Brand M respond during the 2001 crisis?

It is a fact that Brand M is a refreshing product which is usually consumed with friends,
family and at all kinds of social gatherings. Therefore, it is important to create an
atmosphere where the consumer feels a physical, as well as an emotional, refreshment
effect. The brand is usually cheerful, fun, full of energy and overall shows the positive side
of life. Past research also indicates that there are four different platforms that Brand M could
use in their communication strategy. These are:

1. Sports, especially football – Acting as an effective binding agent for the masses, where
people are divorced from their demographic and psychographic backgrounds and join
each other on the basis of their love for football.
2. Food – Another important common denominator, whether rich or poor, they all want to
enjoy good food and consider food as an easy way out for indulgence.
3. Music – Music also bonds the young and the old, being an important tool for effective
communication.
4. The current agenda – Following the current agenda, moving with the time makes Brand
M up-to-date, trendy, popular and forever young.
However, when economic crisis hit the country, the Brand M brand management team was
aware of Turkish consumers’ changing consumption habits and the prevailing consumer
behavior. For instance, they had tracked that Turkish youngsters turned more towards their
families, some even moving back to their parents’ homes, and started spending more time
with the family, which was probably for financial reasons as well as emotional support.
Considering all these facts, Brand M took various marketing-related measures for its brand
in the Turkish market after the 2001 economic crisis, which could be summarized as:
 Although their communication budget was reduced by 35 per cent in 2001, they
continued their communication to consumers. The reduced budget was taken from
price-off promotions. No concessions were made from the TV budget, as consumers
started watching more TV during the crisis (daily adult TV viewership increased from
3.5 to 4 hours up to 5.0 to 5.5 hours during the crisis). Therefore Brand M chose to
continue consumer communication without any disruption.
 The necessary alterations were made to the communication message. The messages
were chosen to be cheerful and happy, instead of reflecting on the present misery in

VOL. 4 NO. 8 2014 EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES PAGE 3

 the society. In addition, the current situation was not acknowledged in the
communication, as it would be stating the obvious. For instance, right in the middle of
the crisis, they conducted a soft toy campaign, giving away 1 million toys.
 As research showed that 200 ml is a sufficient amount for thirst-quenching, the
company introduced a new bottle size of 200 ml, in a less costly non-returnable bottle.
This new pack size offered an alternative to consumers who were extra-careful with
their budgets. So, in a way, the brand was giving a price discount without really
reducing the price of the usual bottle.
 The price-off message was not communicated in the mass media, only at the point of
sale to be able to influence the consumer at the point of purchase and to retain a
competitive edge. However, knowingly, consumers were not made aware of the current
situation not to distort the brand image (Vardar, 2003).
Taking into consideration the above points, Brand M continued sales with correct pricing
strategies and tactical sales promotions at the point of purchase during 2001 economic
crisis. In addition, Brand M made sure that the messages delivered always had a positive
element ingrained to make sure that brand– consumer bond was strengthened during
economic crisis.
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The missing element in the crisis: excitement and the thirst for success
After isolating changing consumer behavior during the economic crisis and the necessary
measures to be taken with regards to marketing, Brand M also decided to take an active
part in the 2002 World Cup, primarily because the Turkish National Football team was going
to take part in 2002 World Cup for first time after 48 years, which alone was an obvious
source of happiness for the general public. As an initial marketing action, the original World
Cup, weighing 4.97 kg of pure gold, was brought to Istanbul, Turkey and given an extended
city tour, and this exciting PR campaign got broad TV coverage, both from national and
international TV stations. At that point, according to Time magazine, Turkey’s chance in the
World Cup 2002 was 1 in 51. In other words, Brand M was actually taking risks by investing
heavily in football. During the April to July 2002 period, the brand produced three different
TV commercials – one for getting ready for the Cup, the second one during the Cup and the
third reflecting the end result of the Cup. Numerous other activities had been planned
around the World Cup. AC Nielsen surveyed 380 people and found that 51 per cent of
respondents named Brand M as the first “top of mind brand” when asked: “Which brands
can you think of when you think about the World Cup 2002?” With this score, Brand M was
in the number one position, with the number two being recalled by just 31 per cent of the
respondents (at the end of the competition, the Turkish National Team finished the 2002
World Cup as number three, which also must have helped in boosting recall rates).

Brand M’s response to the 2008 crisis

James and his team had a head start on the 2008 crisis as they had major lessons learned
during the previous crisis. These were: continuity and sustainability in communications, as
well as concentrating on consumers and their needs. Although these items seemed to be
what brand management teams were constantly talking about, they were not easy tasks to
realize. For instance, as mentioned above, Brand M made use of football and the World
Cup in 2002. When the Turkish team did not take part in the 2004 World Cup, they still
continued the communication, saying “We believe in our team, we will meet in 2006.”
Similarly, in the 2008 European Cup, Brand M was conducting a special “thank you”
campaign together with “the target is 2010” communication. The important point is that the
brand always found something to say to the consumers with regards to football. The
second theme that Brand M always chose to communicate was food. Also, in 2008,
the brand continued its communication with regards to food and enjoying food with the
family, by running a specially produced TV commercial for Ramadan. It must be stated that
the Brand M continued to give a positive message to the public to keep their morale high,

PAGE 4 EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES VOL. 4 NO. 8 2014

 emphasizing being together with our loved ones. “Coming together at a dinner table with
other family members and friends” theme definitely enhanced the positive image that Brand
M wanted to deliver. This approach also worked in tandem with Brand M always targeting
to be considered current, aiming to move with the times and associating itself with current
events, whether it be the World Cup, Ramadan, Christmas or any other special day, even
going so far as celebrating April Fool’s Day in Singapore, a big event. Brand M also
transferred these messages to its packaging, ensuring that the communication is carried in
all relevant mediums.

Measures of success
As a result of these measures taken, the brand was not negatively affected by the economic
crises. Similar studies were also conducted before and after the crisis, enabling local
management to make better-informed decisions. In Table I, we can see the image
attributes and the values assigned to each of these attributes as 2001 yearly averages, as
well as 2002 and 2007 averages. In general, we see a positive trend in all the image
attributes. The most noticeable change was in “makes me lively” attribute, which increased
ten points from 2002 to 2007. Therefore, Brand M was well-prepared before the 2008 crisis
was hit.
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Similarly, in Table II, when we compare the consumption units in 2001 to 2002, the
company’s overall consumption figure increased by 9 per cent, whereas this same figure
rose by 65 per cent from 2002 to 2007. The Brand M’s figures are also more or less stable
between 2001 and 2002, showing an upward trend by 61 per cent from 2002 to 2007
(Vardar, 2009).
Finally, we need to highlight that total carbonated drinks market in Turkey was 873 million
liters in 1994, increasing to 1,944 million liters in 2003. This gives an estimated 9.3 per cent
compounded growth rate in the ten years, between 1994 and 2003 but, on the other hand,
Brand M’s annual growth rate between 2001 and 2003 was 2.5 per cent. These figures
indicate that Brand M fought against all other carbonated drinks alone! Brand M continued
to dominate the carbonated drinks market in volume, selling 2.5 times more than all the
other brands put together, two years after the 2001 crisis. This same trend also continued
during the next crisis in 2008 and Brand M continued to build upon what they learned in
each crisis, preparing itself better to overcome the market hurdles. All the measures taken
made the brand more accepted by the market and by its consumers because the brand
showed the consumers that it cared about them, and shared their feelings in its messages.

Table I The change in image attributes of the brand

Image attributes 2001 2002 2007

Thirst-quencher 60 63 62
Delicious taste 62 67 67
Goes well with food 63 69 72
Just for me 60 64 65
Makes me lively 56 61 71
Good quality 67 70 73
Source: TNS Piar audits & survey data obtained from the company

Table II The company’s and the brand’s consumption figures

(In 2001, 2002 and 2007 in 250-ml bottles per person)
Identification 2001 2002 2007

Total company 65.5 71.4 118.1

Brand M 44 44.9 72.4

VOL. 4 NO. 8 2014 EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES PAGE 5

 The brand is sad if consumers are sad or happy if they are happy, whether it be while
cheering for the national team or dining with the family.
As both Pepsi Cola and Coca-Cola are celebrating their fiftieth year in the Turkish market,
we see both of these brands running various campaigns to be perceived as an international
brand with a local face. For instance, Coca-Cola Turkey has run a TV campaign in 2014,
listing some typical sayings in Turkish which are hard to translate into other languages, and
finishing off the advertisements by spelling Coca-Cola in Turkish! (in Turkish, the letter “c”
is pronounced and written as “k” in Turkish) [for the original TVC www.dailymotion.com/
video/x1v1ick_koka-kola-50-yildir-turkiye-de_tv].

Notes
1. Names have been changed to retain the anonymity of the case.
Keywords:
Business environment, 2. This case takes place at a multinational company’s Turkish subsidiary towards the end of 2008. The
Economic crisis, Marketing Manager, James Aitchison, has been trying to face the 2008 global economic crisis
making use of company’s data and market research insight collected over Turkey’s major economic
Global brands,
crisis in 2001. Therefore, this case must be read like a flashback, using the market knowledge
Advertising, accumulated over 2001 crisis to the 2008 global economic crisis that our main character is facing
Communications with. Hence 2001, 2002 and 2007 figures are made use of in the case.
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References
de Chernatony, L. and McDonald, M. (2003), Creating Powerful Brands, 3rd ed., Elsevier,
Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford.

Hollis, N. (2013), “Global brands and local culture” (accessed 7 November 2013).

The Economist (2001), “The world in 2002,” The Economist.

Vardar, N. (2003), “Biraz Cesaret: Krizde Bas¸arılı On Markanın Öyküsü,” Markalas¸mada Hayat İksiri,
Reklamcılık Vakfı Yayınları, Istanbul, pp. 59-82.

Vardar, N. (2009), “Yeniden Biraz Cesaret: Krizde Bas¸arılı Markaların Öyküleri,” Kriz ve Mutluluk
Üzerine, Reklamcılık Vakfı Yayınları, Istanbul, pp. 99-110.

Further reading
Company Annual Reports 2007 and 2008.

About the author

Nükhet Vardar has been studying and practicing international marketing and advertising
since 1983. After her PhD in international advertising from UMIST, UK, in 1990, she worked
in international advertisement and media agencies as a professional; while pursuing
academic degrees. In 2002, she returned to academia at Yeditepe University, Faculty of
Economics and Business Administration, Istanbul, Turkey, where she received
professorship in marketing. She is giving consultancy at her own El Izi Comm. Consultancy
since 2002. (For more info: http://elizi.net/cv_eng/). Nükhet Vardar can be contacted at:
[email protected]

PAGE 6 EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES VOL. 4 NO. 8 2014

 Abstract
Title – A global brand in a local market.
Subject area – Marketing
Study level/applicability – Primary target: Marketing and communications undergraduate students,
especially coming from emerging countries. Secondary target: MBA students studying Principles of
Marketing, Integrated Marketing Communications (a similar version of this case, has been used for the
MBA students at Yeditepe Univ. Istanbul, Turkey in the “Strategic Marketing and Management” course.
The submitted case is an expanded version, with the 2008 crisis data added, as well as being
tailor-made for the Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies).
Case overview – Global brands are all around us but the true winners are global brands with a local
touch in every market they operate. However, this is easily said than done. This case looks into a
well-known global carbonated drinks brand in Turkey and what it has done to become a true global
brand with a local touch, especially at hard times when the country was facing a major economic crisis
in 2001, and then later in 2008 during the global crisis. In this case, we see how this international brand
reacted under these harsh circumstances, what they have done to be able to move closer to the hearts
of Turkish consumers. We also see the importance of continuation of marketing and communication
efforts for brands when economic conditions are not so good. Consumers are quick to respond to
brands which keep talking to them, keeping the dialogue channels open and give those brands credit
long after the crisis is over. Brand M sets a good example in this regard, showing how research can be
used for setting tangible measures. The questions posed: How could market research help an
international brand to move closer to its local customers? How should international brands act when
economic conditions are not that promising? How could a brand be built upon learned knowledge in one
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economic crisis to the other? The case tries to answer these questions based on an emerging country
experience, showing ways of becoming a global brand with a local touch.
Expected learning outcomes – To show the importance of branding and market research findings for
an international brand while operating in a local market. Although it is iterated that consistent,
continuous and sustainable communication is important for brand’s marketing, in general advertising
budgets are the first to be cut when economic trouble sets in. This case will help in showing that brands
which choose to continue advertising during economic crisis actually make long-term marketing
investments and this will be exhibited with the help of market data obtained from an emerging country.
The case also sets an example on how the message given should be adopted to the current economic
conditions. To simulate difficulties of being an international brand with a local touch. Although it is
common knowledge that decision-making in business life is crucial for the continuation of business, we
do not come across many cases showing us volatile market conditions, coupled with drastic changes
taking place in the economy overnight. This case sets out to do that, based on an emerging country
example. On the other hand, 2008 global economic crisis showed us all that today’s global managers
should be better prepared for such sudden changes wherever they may be based.
Supplementary materials – Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your
library to gain login details or email [email protected] to request teaching notes
Subject code – CSS 8: Marketing

VOL. 4 NO. 8 2014 EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES PAGE 11