When it comes to making a splash on the international stage, you don’t have to go too far to find the attention of global brands.
According to an article published in the prestigious journal National Geographic magazine, the most prominent names in international branding have all been from the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Australia.
They include Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Johnson & Johnson, Adidas, BMW, Honda, Panasonic, Sony, Samsung and Vodafone.
The list is just as impressive when you consider that only two of the 20 brands in the magazine have international operations.
“If you look at the history of branding, it’s very global,” said James Gorman, a professor of branding at the University of Pennsylvania who is a co-author of the article.
“In some cases, it doesn’t even have an international presence.”
“It’s not surprising that we have so many global brands that we’ve seen over the last few decades,” he added.
“It really depends on how they are going to be perceived,” Gorman explained.
“If it’s a local brand, there are people that will say, ‘That’s not my style.’
But if it’s an international brand, they’ll probably say, `Wow, that’s not the way I look at things.'”
The article also explains why brands that are successful abroad are not as successful at home.
“It’s hard to get a big international brand to come to your country,” Gopher said.
“And they’ll take a chance on you if you’re a little bit off-the-charts.
But that doesn’t translate to success.”
Gorman explained that it is the brands that can be perceived as more authentic that can bring success to a country.
“I think the reason we’re seeing so many brands come here is because people can see the authentic, local brand,” he said.
“In the case of Coca-cola, they have their own logo that’s so different than what’s popular overseas,” Gomer added.
“They have their logo that is so similar to a Mexican logo.
That’s how the brand works.
It works really well in the United States.”
In the article, Gorman also noted that the American-centric approach is something that has been working well.
“If you think about brands in Europe, there’s an incredible amount of differentiation.
They’re not just the same company,” he explained.
“So, they’re going to try and make sure that they’re more like you and less like your competitors, which is what brands have always done.”