ANALYSIS OF THE INFLUENCE OF CULTURAL ASPECTS ON INTERNATIONAL MARKETING AND ADVERTISING AND PROPOSAL OF APPROPRIATE ADVERTISING STRATEGIES: A COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN GERMANY AND BRAZIL OF BANK AND BEER COMMERCIALS

Resumo

What people value around the world depends on their cultural background. That is why, some people value individuality while others value togetherness; some value spending, others saving; some value cooperation and others competition. Marketing and advertising should be based on consumer’s backgrounds. Yet many ethnocentric approaches can be found in the area of marketing. A study shows that Germany and Brazil will be among the ten biggest and most powerful economies in 2050. As both countries are of such importance, many foreign companies try to import their products or even establish subsidiaries. Considering the economic and cultural impact of both countries, this study aims at investigating characteristics of German and Brazilian culture and their influence on advertising, especially in the areas of banking and beer represented by this case study. Furthermore, appropriate advertising strategies based on the findings have been developed in order to avoid intercultural problems. The findings show that the theoretical concepts and models defined by culture researchers can be found in all commercials of the case study. Consequently, the cultural aspects have an influence on advertising. The findings not only confirm differences between German and Brazilian culture, but also point out some similarities. Since the developed strategies include cultural aspects, such as cultural difficulties and the influence of culture on a consumer’s behavior, and consider the different stages of marketing, they intend to prevent marketing failures. As most of the analyzed beer brands and banks were national ones, it was assumed that a hypothetic international bank or beer brand would apply these strategies. The findings show that in most cases adapting ads to local culture is the best option.