The first advertisement is OMO (Unilever’s product) done for Vietnam’s market during Tet Holiday.
The second advertisement is also OMO ad with different name ALA, introduced in Argentina.
From these two advertisements (ads), I can see that Unilever has succeeded in avoiding Barriers to Intercultural Communication into getting notice from their customers. Perception of reality, images or sense of self, and language are some ways that communication can be influenced by culture.
The two ads above were made in the order to transfer a message from Unilever to their customers that ‘Dirt is Good.’ Understanding of perception of reality plays a significant role in advertising strategy of Unilever. Why they are not using a same advertising for both countries. It’s simply because Vietnam and Argentina have different perception of reality.
Sense of self can be noticed obviously through the ads as well. Same idea ‘Dirt is Good’ was put smoothly in two different ways for both marketplaces to best fit their sense of self.
· In Argentina, kids like to play in outside, discover the world themselves. Sometimes they are even a little bit naughty, playing with dirt and mud. The ad come up with the title ‘Pedon Mama’ which means ‘Pardon Mama’ in English is just so cute, just like the kids. They play, they discover, and they know their mum will not mind. How great it is!
· Vietnamese like to help others. No wonder why Unilever has promoted the images of people helping people, no matter what. This has touched on the sense of self of Vietnamese. Especially when they even add in the traditional Tet Holiday in Vietnam, when everyone will try to do at least one good thing to other. So BOOM, they just Love the product!
Language is noticeably from the two ads. Spanish was used for ALA’s ad in Argentina, whereas Vietnamese was used for OMO’s ad in Vietnam. Would Unilever’s ad be effective anymore if the company only use one single English Ad for both markets? It would be a worse strategy ever. They even use two separated name for the product in the two countries. OMO for Vietnam and ALA for Argentina. Be flexible to change and adopt the language where the most of the products being consumed will bring best results to the company.
As I said at the beginning, Unilever is brilliant in avoiding the cultural barriers to communication when expend their brand to new and unfamiliar marketplaces. Something valuable for a future-businesswoman like me to learn.
Good observation!
As Unilever had entered Argentina and Vietnamese market for such a long time, it’s no surprise that they understand the culture by using local creative directors.
“Would Unilever’s ad be effective anymore if the company only use one single English Ad for both markets?”
Well, the targeted market for Unilever are household wives. I believe after intensive market research, they would be able to know that most of them did not speak English. Therefore, we have a local version of the campaign “Dirt is good”
Well, nice ads. I didn’t even know that Unilever use different names in different countries for their detergent
I also agree with PR 2.0 that good market research pays off. I have once made a big mistake by not doing careful market research in a familiar market. ” What dangerous is not what you don’t know but what you know but it just ain’t so”