The Globalization of Advertising

Four arguments in favour of the global standardization of a brand's advertising are analysed: that a single message worldwide strengthens a brand's image and its sales performance; that markets across the world are becoming more and more alike in their demand characteristics; that the marketing skills in a company's headquarters are under-utilized unless applied internationally; and that there are sufficiently significant economies of scale to justify globalization. The author challenges each of these arguments and suggests that it is only in very rare cases that there is any economic logic behind the drive for advertising standardization across the globe.