Advertising Standardisation in The Asia Pacific Region: What Stands In The Way?

This empirical study examined U.S. advertising agencies' practices in the Asia Pacific Region to decide whether they were following Theodore Levitt's advice to promote products and services the same way everywhere. Information regarding environmental factors and advertising strategy were gathered from 200 Asia Pacific Region affiliates of U.S. advertising agencies in 11 countries. It was found that in general, agencies were neither standardising nor customising their sales platforms and creative contexts. Instead they tended to utilise the adaptative approach‐‐a strategy that is becoming viewed as the optimal approach by multinational ad agencies.