6th Jul 2006 07:01
SDL PLC06 July 2006 Companies struggling to manage brands across multiple markets, a new report fromthe Economist Intelligence Unit reveals Maidenhead, UK - 6th July, 2006 - Strong brands are increasingly recognised as acompetitive asset, according to a new survey of 145 senior executives around theworld by the Economist Intelligence Unit. However, managing brands effectivelyacross multiple markets is proving to be a significant challenge, with half ofexecutives stating that brand consistency is becoming harder to maintain astheir firms enter new markets. Executives also reveal that cultural barriers(63%) and language and translation issues (44%) have become the two primarychallenges in brand management. Localisation of the brand does pay off though:two-thirds of survey respondents agreed that efforts such as translation andcultural adaptation had a positive impact on sales in those regions. The findings are published today in Guarding the brand, a briefing paper writtenby the Economist Intelligence Unit and sponsored by SDL International. It findsthat companies are responding to the challenges of brand management by focusingtheir resources on a smaller number of stronger brands, while also relying morethan ever on technology to improve the brand experience. "Just as brands become more crucial, they're also getting harder to manage, asfirms grapple with a proliferation of new channels and an increasingly globalmarketplace," said James Watson of the Economist Intelligence Unit, the editorof the report. "In response, firms are focusing on fewer, stronger brands, whichcan be used more flexibly in a variety of markets." Key findings of the report include the following: • Globalisation is making brand management harder, but more vital thanever. Firms today are highly globalised: nine out of ten firms surveyed for thisreport are generating at least 10% of their revenue from outside their homemarket. To avoid being just another commoditised rival competing solely on cost,strong brands are crucial. However, operating in an international environmentprovides companies with considerable challenges. Forty-nine percent of firmsagree that brand consistency is getting harder to achieve as they enter newcountries. • An explosion of channels is adding to the challenge. Technology isintroducing a plethora of new channels that marketers must deal with, frommobile phones and e-commerce sites, to newer variations, such as blogs, wikisand podcasts. Forty-five percent of firms polled for this report agree that itis difficult to deliver a consistent customer experience across both online andoffline channels, while 33% describe themselves as ineffective when it comes toonline marketing. Almost 10% of executives polled for this report believe theirglobal, regional and country-specific websites are entirely inconsistent. Onlyone-third of respondents believe their company's brand is maintainedconsistently across all customer touch-points. • Firms are putting their resources behind a few star brands. Maintaininga large stable of brands is no longer financially feasible for most companies,with the majority choosing to focus their marketing spending on a few starbrands. Companies surveyed for this report also see their corporate brands asbeing more important than individual product brands. Eighty-one percent ratetheir corporate brand as critical, while just 64% think the same about theirproduct brand. • Technology is helping to facilitate better brand management. For manyfirms, a range of communication and collaborative technologies are helping themto manage their brand experience across multiple channels and geographies. Forexample, companies can effectively manage the life-cycle of brand-relatedmaterials, such as advertising posters or customer-facing websites, fromcreation in one language to publication in many different languages, using theInternet to facilitate consensus without losing control. • Brand issues are being led from the top, but middle management supportis often lacking. Considering its importance to the firm, there is littlesurprise that nine out of ten of those surveyed for this report say their chiefexecutive takes active consideration of brand issues across the company.However, there are warning signs that the same enthusiasm may not extend to alllevels of the business: 41% agreed that senior executives in their organisationsimply pay lip service to brand considerations. "This research illustrates the paradox of managing global brands," commentedMark Lancaster, chairman and CEO of SDL International. "On the one hand,economic and technological advances make global trade easier; on the other hand,managing global information for different languages and cultures is a complexand difficult business issue. New technologies and best practices are now addressing these global brandmanagement challenges to achieve consistent, high-quality and revenue-generatinglocal language communications." Guarding the brand is available from Nicola Bogle: +44 (0)1628 417225 [email protected]. Notes for editors: Guarding the brand is an Economist Intelligence Unit briefing paper, sponsoredby SDL International. The research is based on a survey of 145 executives fromacross the globe, conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit between March andApril 2006, as well as in-depth interviews with senior brand executives at sixfirms worldwide. About the Economist Intelligence Unit The Economist Intelligence Unit is the business information arm of The EconomistGroup, publisher of The Economist. Through our global network of over 650analysts, we continuously assess and forecast political, economic and businessconditions in 200 countries. As the world's leading provider of countryintelligence, we help executives make better business decisions by providingtimely, reliable and impartial analysis on worldwide market trends and businessstrategies. About SDL International SDL International (London Stock Exchange: 'SDL') is the leader in globalinformation management (GIM) solutions that empower organizations to acceleratethe delivery of high-quality multilingual content to global markets. Itsenterprise software and services integrate with existing business systems tomanage global information from authoring to publication and throughout thedistributed localization supply chain. Global industry leaders rely on SDL to provide enterprise software or hostedservices for their GIM processes, including Audi, Bayer, Best Western, Bosch,Canon, Deutsche Bank, Kodak, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Reuters and SAP. SDL hasimplemented more than 150 enterprise GIM solutions, has deployed over 130,000software licenses across the GIM ecosystem and provides access to on-demandtranslation portals for 10 million customers per month. Over 1000 serviceprofessionals deliver consulting, implementation and language services throughits global infrastructure of more than 50 offices in 30 countries. For moreinformation, visit www.sdl.com. For information on SDL, please contact: Nicola BogleTel: +44 (0)1628 417225Email: [email protected] All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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