Liberalization and the dawn of Digital Marketing compelled conglomerates aspiring universal leadership to conceive radical strategic facets in their marketing practices and philosophies. The buzz “GO GLOBAL” was phenomenal, and thereby its impulse, that many marketers overlooked the eminence of the basic law that: “though the products are global, the markets are local.” The dynamic process of globalization forced the imprudent to recoil and scripted success for the innovators, the ones that made the best & most are the ones which became glocal.

Glocalization is a strategic route adopted by organizations determined to lead and conquer markets beyond their cultural and geographical boundaries. Organizations that have managed to efficiently align and synergize their core global vision vis-à-vis their cross border market specific visions and mission have achieved leadership not just locally but globally. The best example one could cite for Glocalization is that of Mc Donald, which had stood all the challenges, yet managed to stick to its globally standardized menu, but see how they did sell local? The Big Mac of America has become the Maharaja Burger in India, to keep in tune with the culture in India, Mc Donald doesn’t sell any Beef or Ham products.

The loudest glocal communication of all was done by HSBC: “The World’s Local Bank”. They say that it defines the distinct personality of the brand. It took HSBC a worldwide research to understand that though people value international products and services, they question the global model, and buy products that relate to them as an individual in their “bound rationality”.

One would much admire and appreciate the global brands around, but when it comes to buying-in, one would always go in for a nearer brand. HSBC, through its campaign, not only did overcome this hindrance in the consumers mind, but also effectively created a difference between itself and even the other global brands.

Glocalization is practiced at multiple levels. In the category of Low involvement purchases & impulse purchases, Glocalization can be limited at the level of communication. Take for example Coke. Global brand, global taste, global communication differentiated with local language. The Classic Coca Cola Enjoy! Ask anyone to think of few global brands, and I bet Coke would be among the top five. Pepsi, though a global brand, it is surely not supported by its global communication strategy, but by its positioning worldwide. “A Brand that stands for nothing, can fall for anything” has been an effective mantra, for which brands have been aggressive enough to capture mind space of their respective targeted customers. But, the impact of Glocalization is so much that even positioning is also going the glocal way. Look into the recent past advertisements of Coca Cola, yes, it’s less of ‘Coca Cola Enjoy’, but Thanda Matlab Coca Cola, which has been shot with Aamir Khan, posing in different cultures, as a Hyderabadi, Punjabi, Lucknowi, Bombay-Bhai and as a Gorkha as well.

If one should take a look at the recent campaign of Mc Donald’s “I’m loving it,” combined with the “reasons to make a bahana,” no doubt it wouldn’t strike someone who hasn’t heard of Mc Donald that it is a firang brand, (except by its name)! Rather, one would be looking at the fellow consumers enjoying it- Indian ishtyle. More so, with the Pizza Hut range of pizzas. Who in blessed Italia would have conceived the concept of Tandoori Pizza or Pan Hindustani Pizza? To make it more effective, it was complemented by aggressive advertising showing the experience of Pizza at an ecstatic Indian marriage. I hope it is very interesting to notice how the global brand has become a glocal one here. ‘Pizza’ which was a new concept, first tried its customization of product, then tailored an appropriate desi (local) campaign, but one gap was left unfilled: The price distance. To cover this up, soon there was “Pachas ka Pizza,” which means Pizza for 50 (Rupees) is still yielding results. A perfect illustration of the Law of Marketing: “Price sensitivity and the perceived Utility/Value of a product play an extremely ‘make or break’ role”. Effective positioning elements to make the best impact and the maximum results can be identified from national players’ advertisements. ICICI, for one had much impact by associating its insurance packages with ‘sindoor’ (vermillion). It not only registers in customers mind, but because of the value it holds generates the necessary impact the marketer wants to make. Chevrolet for one had associated Optra (a high-end product in India) with Karva-Chouth which probably didn’t work the magic as must have been expected. Reasons? The market knows! On questioning about a serious issue in marketing, a Marketing consultant, who also served as a Marketing head at one of India’s largest FMCG Company said “The research undertaken by professionals today is not one with depth and more importantly sincerity. Frank Brown, the President of MTV Asia had also acknowledged the fact that the success of the channel could be attributed to the use of local and international cultures to captivate audiences. Roland Robertson, the sociologist who made the word “glocal” famous emphasized “the tempering effects of local conditions on global pressures”. Why then do companies ignore this rule when going global, but local somewhere? Companies come up with many new and creative campaigns, but very few make an effective advertisement. An effective ad being one which suceeds in “getting the message across” or “obtaining the expected feedback from the targeted group or market”. Many case studies have been compiled on industry experiences with failures and glorious successes of marketing. Many in the list of failures show how multinational and global products have failed in local or domestic markets. Observers sigh at the causes, and neo-professionals ridicule at the reasons. Why? The reasons are very elementary.

The marketer, when going global, must make a pitch and test its validity and relevance in every locality of the domain. Going global might not take much effort. But, going glocal means a lot of responsibility.