Global Expansion With Glocal Strategies

When you have a great product, the brand distribution is one of the most important aspects in branding that can either help to make or break your brand. Brand distribution covers more than just expanding a brand physically through outlet expansion or franchising to increase brand awareness. It also includes customer service and ambience branding that create a consistent brand experience for the consumers. When all these aspects of brand distribution are aligned, then only can it enhance the brand memorability and brand recall of the brand among the target audiences.

Outlet location is one of the main aspects of brand distribution. Effective and strategic distribution network as well as capable franchise partners can contribute to the expansion of brand coverage and brand reach. This promotes greater mind share and market share for a brand as well as generating higher opportunities for return on investment (ROI) for the brand. Take McDonald’s for instance – it serves nearly 54 million consumers in more than 120 countries every single day. And in Taiwan itself, there are 400 McDonald’s outlets and a handful of McCafe and McKiosk (Philip Kotler, Principles of Marketing An Asian Perspective).

Customer service is another powerful brand distribution tool that helps create positive and pleasant brand experience. Customers have the power to build or damage a brand. Hence, superior customer service is expected in order to keep existing customers and attract new customers. Many companies believe that losing one customer means losing the entire possible purchases that particular customer would make over a lifetime of patronage. In total, it could be 100 to 1000 times the value of one single transaction (http://www.mikeleejohnson.com/ServicesBookPag
e.html). For example, Lexus estimated that one loyal customer is worth USD$600,000 in lifetime sales (Philip Kotler, Principles of Marketing An Asian Perspective).

Creating a welcoming and inviting brand ambience that entices the target market is a highly effective method of making a brand come alive and romanticise with the customers. A good and consistent brand ambience creates better experiences among the customers that generate better brand relationship and brand memorability. For many of us, we have grown to be familiar with the soothing background music playing in Starbucks as its employees behind the counter greet us. And we can expect to find Starbucks interior design and product displays to be consistent in almost all of its outlets.

Distributing its fast food service all over the world since 1967 has gained McDonald’s a multi-local status – local loyalty with all the advantages of global connections. It consistently speaks the same message of it’s I’m lovin’ it campaign in 12 different languages to millions of consumers in over 100 countries. It also went full-fledge with in-store brand awareness, including prominent

displays and attractive point of sale material with a consistent brand message (www.mcdonalds.com.
my).

McDonald’s has become a symbol of globalisation and the spread of the American way of life with the successful expansion into many international markets. A key element of its success is its ability to adapt to local tastes. In order to fine-tune McDonald’s products and services to suit local tastes, it offers salads in the US, lamb burgers in India, vegetarian burgers in the Netherlands, teriyaki burgers in Japan, salmon sandwiches in Norway, McRice burgers in Thailand and Bubur Ayam McD in Malaysia.

Although McDonald’s offers localised menus, the secret to the restaurant’s global popularity has almost certainly been its understanding of its consumers. In order to reach to your target market effectively, you need to understand their lifestyle and need. In that sense, McDonald’s gains multi-local acceptance by offering the customers time-saving conveniences at affordable prices through its extensive brand distribution – drive thru services, 24-hour service at selected outlets and serving breakfast from as early as 4 in the morning. These create a convenient brand experience that increases McDonald’s brand memorability and brand recall.

McDonald’s has changed the American lifestyle, with more than half of the US population living within a three-minute drive to a McDonald’s outlet. Being America’s largest purchaser of beef, McDonald’s also purchases 5% of the entire US potato crop harvested for food and 2% of all the chicken yearly. It has such enormous purchasing power that McDonald’s creates fortune for other food, beverages and agriculture industries (John F. Love, McDonald’s Behind The Arches).

Imagine building and distributing brands worldwide to generate return on investment (ROI) for your brand. This effort will enhance and strengthen not just your own financial status but also Malaysia’s economy through ROI that channels back to the nation from foreign lands. Besides, developing local products and services also creates employment opportunities for fellow Malaysians to elevate the country’s development.

A consistent brand distribution creates a consistent brand experience that establishes brand relationship and brand association with the customers in the local and global markets. You too can take advantage of effective brand distribution to deliver your brand into a loved and wanted brand locally and globally.

To distribute your brand as a wanted brand, talk2us@peopalove.com or call
+604-2288 696.