How International CanEuropean Advertising Be?

ERIK ELINDER

Is it true that the variousmarkets m Europe are sodifferent that the same mes-sage -for the same productcannot appeal as success-fully to two or three or moremarkets as a campaign tai-lormade for a single nation?

Here is how an interna-tionally-recognized advertis-ing man answers this ques-tion.

Journal of Marketing, Vol. 29 (April,1965), pp. 7-11.

W HAT would happen if the advertising manager of, say. CocaCola suggested that his company should run 50 differentadvertising campaigns on the U. S. market, one for each state?Would you find him on the company payroll next month?

If, on the other hand, he proposes 18 different campaigns and18 different advertising agencies when marketing a product inWestern Europe today, he may be slated for promotion.

And he may have earned it. Up until now there have been anumber of obstacles to a uniform approach to European ad-vertising.

While industry all over Europe is undergoing an accelerationof mergers and while at the same time more and more refrigera-tors, bicycles, safety razors, cigarette lighters, and thousandsof other products are being mass produced, too many advertisingmen in European industrywhether in London, Paris, or Dussel-dorfare wrong about one basic fact.

Unfortunately, they believe that advertising for these goodswhich are identical in the majority of markets must be formu-lated differently and "dressed up" in arguments which vary fromcountry to country. Can this be justified?

On the contrary, everything from American hair-spray, Greektourism, Danish foods, too many other commodities and servicescan be sold with the same picture material, the same copy, thesame advertising approach. This can be done nownot just hereand there in specialized markets, but throughout Europe in thegeneral market. Moreover, the size and acceptance of this general,overall market is growing daily.

The leveling off in standards of living and habits is accelerating.The technical means for delivering an advertising message onan international basis are steadily improving. There is continuedgrowth in the reading by Europeans of publications from countriesother than their own, and the day will come when Eurovisiona chain of European television and radio stationswill be areality.

Can We Gain in Efficiency?Everyone knows how European statesmen have worked for

years to integrate Europe into two big markets. Powerful groupswish to mold these two into one, but what has been achievedso far is good enough.

International marketers today find an entirely new climate inEurope, and many national companies decide to "go European."This, of course, does not mean that all parts of their marketingmix will overnight be squeezed into an all-European scheme.

8 Journal of Marketing, April, 1965

The sales function, for example, will probably bedivided by national or at least language boundariesfor a number of years.

But even language boundaries will unquestion-ably be affected by two main factors: media andmobility. The developments in mass media willinfluence language to an extent which we haveyet to realize. In magazines and newspapers thereis a trend toward extended geographical coverage:Life International, Paris Match, the Neiv YorkHerald Tribune, and the New York Times interna-tional editions are examples of this. Some time agoPunch had a cartoon of an Englishman looking upfrom his paper and saying to his fellow clubmem-ber: "By Jove, Le Monde has bought the Times!"

However, the advertising medium which is reallygoing to break language barriers on a large scalewill be television. Already people in southernSweden watch television programs from Denmarkand vice versa. In southern Denmark people watchGerman TV, Austrians watch German TV, and alarge number of Frenchmen too. Germans watchTV programs from Holland and Belgium. Italianswatch Swiss TV. And so on.

Recently the Swiss government decided to allowdomestic commercial television, because Swiss pro-ducers had begun to lose business in their ownmarket to foreign producers advertising on Ger-man and Italian commercial television. SeveralEuropean governments are already "worried" be-cause the children especially seem to absorb foreignlanguage and culture by watching television pro-grams from neighboring countries.

But above all else, when through technical de-velopment TV programs can be relayed over asatellite without earth-bound intermediary stations,the influence on children and adults of one-language(English) TV programs and advertising, will beenormous.

This is definitely the change to be foreseen inEurope. In comparison with this barrier-breakinginfluence, other factors are no more than "peepholes" in the walls.

Nevertheless, mobilitytourism and migrationmust be taken into account in today's Europeanmarketing. Five million Germans went to Italyas tourists in 1960. One million Italians are todayworking in Germany.

All this means that advertising must be syn-chronized to fit the all-European media, and musttake advantage of border-crossing tourists, readers,and viewers. Advertisers will gain by "going all-European" now.

An interesting example of how a strictly na-tional approach produces a loss of efficiency isseen when several national brand names are usedfor the same product. Even Unilever with its so-phisticated marketing organization can attest tothis by sad experience. One of its major detergentsis sold under the name of Radion in Germany; but

for special reasons a similar Unilever detergent inAustriaaccording to a Unilever executivebearsa different brand name. The great majority ofAustrian housewives read German magazines, anda substantial number are also exposed to detergentadvertising over German commercial TV. But thisconsiderable geographical "extra-spread" of Ger-man advertising is of no value if Austrian house-wives cannot find the name Radion among the de-tergent boxes in their shops, although the productis there but under another name.

Standardized brand names offer the most obviousexamples of the advantages of all-European uni-formity. However, if we believe in a certain "repe-tition effect" when advertising certain consistentcopy themes in the United States, this ought toapply also when marketing in Europe. The im-pact of an advertising theme for detergents, ciga-rettes, or foods must be greater if, for example,a Swiss consumer meets practically the same ad-vertising theme when reading Life Internationalmagazine, watching Swiss TV commercials in theFrench language, watching TV commercials fromWestern Germany, going to England on business,or when visiting Italy or Spain or Greece as atourist.

The Swiss "perceptional sphere" is by no meansonly the Neue Zilrcher Zeitung and the nearest TVand radio station, but something much wider, some-thing almost all-European. There are such substan-tial arguments in favor of a common "copy plat-form" that advertisers ought to give seriousthought to the possibility of standardizing copythemes used in Europe.

This goes for picture material as well. A picture,of course, is the most international conveyor ofa message we have; and if we believe in a recogni-

ABOUT THE AUTHOR. Erik Ellnderis Chairman of the Board of the SwedishSales Institute, Stockholm.

With a Master of Arts from UppsalaUniversity, Mr. Ellnder devoted his earlybusiness years to building up the adver-tising sector of the Swedish savingsbanks; and for ten years he was Presi-dent of "Sparframjandot," the Swedishsavings banks' central organization forpromotion of savings. The savings bankshave 1200 offices throughout the country.

In 1950 he became President of the Wiih. Andersson Adver-tising Agency, which now is one of the six advertising agenciesin the Sales Institute group.

This Institute embraces advertising agencies, two public rela-tions units, a marketing consultant organiiation, a direct-mail unit,a media-servicQ bureau, a routine-service bureau, end a salesorganization.

Mr. Elinder is also publisher of the "Quarterly Report onSweden."

For many years he was a member of the Board of the SwedishAdvertisers Association, and Vice President of the ScandinavianAdvertisers Association. At present he is Regional First VicePresident for Europe of the International Advertising Association

How International Can European Advertising Be?

tion effect of pictures and symbols in U. S. cam-paigns, why not accept it on the European con-tinent, too?

The European ConsumerWhen Europeans think of the United States of

America, the great differences that still exist be-tween East and West, North and South, rich andpoor, are likely to be overlooked. We see the Ameri-can people as "one big happy family," with gleam-ing teeth gathering around a corn-flake breakfast,drinking Coca-Cola in the afternoon sunshine,raiding a well-stocked refrigerator, cruising alongparkways in sleek automobiles, and gathering tosee spectacular TV shows, with a leading brandof Scotch in their glasses.

This picture may not be correct, but what weshould not forget is that the lack of trade bar-riers within the United States is a force whichtends to "even out" differences between differentregions. In this process and in shaping the pat-tern of life, coast-to-coast advertising has playeda vital part. And this leads to the following point:To the consumer indiLstries considering how bestto formulate their messages to European consumers,it is more important to take into account trends inEuropean consumption habits than the "nationaltraits" and "traditional characteristics/'

Twenty years ago there were those who seri-ously claimed that the Swedish savings bank pro-motion program in northern Sweden should bedifferent from that in southern Sweden becauseof differences in traditions. Today such a claimwould be laughed off in the same way that futurereaders of this article may wonder how advertisingcould ever be limited by national boundaries.

Is it not true that we in Europe already havea gigantic all-European indoor market, whereeverybody has the same needs and desires for prac-tical labor-saving kitchens; restful, comfortable liv-ing space; beautiful bathrooms, etc.? And do we nothave a Euro-American outdoor market, which islargely identical in climatic conditions? Whatdifferences are there between the beach resortsof Italy, Spain. Florida, and California? Are theairplanes so different, or the automobiles we usefor commuting and leisure trips? Can anyonehonestly claim that all these internationally ac-cepted goods and services must forever be mar-keted in one way in the U. S. A. and in a numberof different ways in Europe?

The European consumerdoes he really exist?Yes! Right now there are millions and millions ofEuropeans living under largely similar conditions,although they read and speak different languages.They have about the same incomes after taxes.They may live in private houses or in modernapartments, with bathroom, TV, radio, and refrig-erator. By and large they tend to have the samedrinks, and their food becomes more and more

all-European every year. They see the same filmsand plays. They read the same magazines or syndi-cated articles. Their vacations are spent on thesame European roads or at the same Europeansummer resorts. Wherever they work, their fac-tories have much the same kinds of machinery;and office equipment is so standardized that youcan almost find your way through a modem officein the dark, no matter in what country.

Industry and trade in Europe are at the fore-front of internationalism in their consumption.Most of their technical inventories and raw ma-terials are bought without the least regard to na-tional barriers.

Go into the nearest record shop, the nearestself-service store, household appliance store, beautyshop. Make a list of the products made locally bylocal companies. Make a similar list of all theproducts that have foreign names, manufacturedunder license or imported. It may surprise youhow all-European, how international, Europeanconsumption is as of today. Soon it may be onlyadvertising which stubbornly "refuses" to adjustitself to the new situation. Europe right now is amelting pot of goods without the label "madein . . ." National origin is usually of little orno importance. The possession and availability ofcertain goods is changing people's lives into amore uniform patternjust as tools, materials andtechniques have had a great influence on livinghabits and spiritual outlook in all historical cul-tures.

In Europe people read about largely the sameproducts. But the picture material is not the same,nor the copy, nor the persuasive appealseven inthe thousands of cases where there is no neces-sity whatever for them to differ.

It would be unjust to blame advertising managersfor not having used an all-European approach inthe past, but today differences in living habits arerapidly diminishing. The time is ripe for adver-tising practitioners to take this into account.

Legal and Administrative ObstaclesWhen the plans for integrated tariff unions were

drawn up in Europe, the politicians were quiteaware of the fact that some governments mighttend to misuse various legal and administrativerules to protect domestic industries from foreigncompetition. There have been some tendencies inthat direction, but on a much smaller scale thanoriginally feared.

Advertising has not been particularly protectedby any such means. However, the rules governingthe remuneration to an advertising agency usingmaterial from an agency in another country havehampered this particular form of unification.

As production costs for advertising are of rela-tively minor importance to the advertisercom-pared with the negative effects of non-uniform copy.

10 Journal of Marketing, April, 1965

layout, pictures, etc, produced by national agenciesthis is not too serious a matter, although nega-tive attitudes may have been created among ad-vertising agencies toward the broader concept ofan all-European approach.

Structural ObstaclesHave differences in distribution structure among

various countries prevented the use of unifiedEuropean advertising themes?

In some cases this has unquestionably been so,as the total marketing strategy is generally de-pendent on the type of outlet used. On the otherhand, when it comes to fast-moving consumer itemssuch as typical food and drug articles, we arerapidly moving toward an all-European distribu-tion system. In 1961 the number of inhabitantsper self-service store was some 1,300 in Sweden,1,900 in Western Germany, 2,200 in Norway, 2,700in Switzerland, 2,900 in Denmark, 4,000 in Holland,4,800 in Austria, and 5,900 in Englandall veryfavorable figures compared with those only fiveyears earlier.

Retail development in Western Germany can bestbe characterized as an "explosion"from 1,400self-service stores in 1956 to 30,700 in 1961. InSweden the self-service share of total retail salesis now 40%, and in England 16%, as comparedwith 85% in the U. S. A. Only France has laggedbehind.

Foresight is, of course, a profit-producing factorin marketing-. Those Swedish manufacturers whoforesaw the great switch to self-service and non-food items in the domestic food trade after WorldWar II were able to increase their market sharesand to strengthen their positions, at the expenseof competitors who kept on fighting for shares inthe shrinking or "stagnant" retail branches. Itwould be a good idea for U. S. corporations tohave their European headquarters not necessarilyin a large country, but in one of those which areahead of others in living standards, distribution,structure, etc.

Another structural factor making European ad-vertising heterogeneous is the way in which theEuropean advertising business is organized. Someof the national agencies have established or takenover agencies in other countries and built up biggeror smaller "chains." The drawback is that theseso-called international agency chains have remainedlocal. Their ambition seems to be to create na-tional campaigns for international products. Swedes,Danes, and Norwegians, who speak practically thesame language, meet entirely different advertisingcampaigns even for a product like razor bladesthat is used in exactly the same way by consumersenjoying the same standard of living!

Large American, British, German, French, andScandinavian advertising agencies have built up anumber of voluntary chains. It is surprising that

they almost always present themselves as inter-national chains of national agencies.

In the United States there are hundreds of ex-ecutives of advei-tising agencies who consider thewhole of the United States as their sales territory,and who plan and think on the basis of coast-to-coast advertising. But there is no single Europeanagency today that has systematically built up itsbusiness for bigger markets, not to speak of all-European advertising.

People who try to promote a European "commonmai-ket" dwell almost exclusively on its advantagesto producers. Yet in the long run the advantagewill be far greater in the distribution sector. Inmany cases industry is responsible for only 20to 30% of the final consumer price. The mostimportant benefit of a European common marketwould be to lower the costs of marketing, whichin numerous cases account for 60 to 80% of productprices.

Current ObligationsI have never yet heard an American marketing

man speak of insurmountable difficulties in applyingbrand advertising and centralized marketing strat-egy directed at the highly disparate mass of humanfeelings and emotions called the American con-sumer. But I am every day "up against" real re-sistance to the thought of an all-European approachin advertising.

How International Can European Advertising Be? 11

Some of the objections relate to subordinatematters, such as differences in legislation as to theadvertising of liquor, pharmaceutical products, etc.Others point to the differences in language, climate,sales channels, and physical distribution, and drawfar-reaching conclusions based on insufficientknowledge.

The business leaders of Europe ought to followthe American example, and step by step build uptheir advertising on a greater-market basis. Toomany businessmen emphasize only the differencesand constantly overlook the similarities in theEuropean market picture!

The swelling flood of practically identical prod-ucts used in the same way all over Europe to coveridentical needs demands a unified strategy in ad-vertising. So does the great increase in migrationacross national and language border lines. So does

the great expansion of tourism. So does the de-velopment in retail and wholesale structure inthe various countries. So does the political deter-mination to "even out" differences in legislation.

Consider the fact that all over the world theslogan used in advertising Lux soap is "9 outof 10 film stars use Lux"the self-same sloganTin different languages), the same beautiful girls,the same name, and the same success. (See theillustration.)

The point is that advertising must become in-ternational. Advertisers, advertising agencies, andmedia need to play as active a part as possible inspeeding up this process of development.

The coordination possibilities are much greaterthan ever have been imagined. The responsibilityof advertising men is to support the serious at-tempts to internationalize the European market.

-MARKETING MEMOCan the Marketing Concept Work? . . .

One of the more tangible facets of the marketing concept is the unified directionof all marketing functions: traditional functions, such as sales, advertising and market-ing research, and other functions for which responsibility may previously have beenplaced elsewhere, such as product planning and order processing. It is perhaps onthis question of unified direction more often than any other that good intentions bogdo^vn in inaction. It may be too much of a change to be acceptable or, even if theprinciple is accepted, the man chosen to exercise this broad control may be unableto meet the challenge.

"Who's The Man To Manage Market-ing?" Marketing For Profit, a reportfrom Stewart, Dougall & Associates,Inc. (November-December, 1963).