Cultural ramifications

I couldn't find much other than some tips and examples of some previous blunders. Sorry this is really late!

The cross-cultural issues will provide more challenges and opportunities to the marketers in the 21st Century although they might not be totally new in the marketing area. There are many unsolved problems or issues that need to be solved and discussed by the scholars and marketing professionals in theories and in practice. In the theoretic area these themes and issues need to be probed: 1) culture impacts on marketing (international versus domestic); 2) cross-cultural dimensions of marketing research; 3) cross-cultural aspects of marketing mix (products, price, promotion, and distribution; 4) cross-cultural marketing education and professional training; 5) cross-cultural practice in electronic marketing.

The topics or themes listed above can be viewed as guidelines for further theoretic studies although they will not be treated as exclusive for the marketing scholars. More themes and topics will be discovered as the theoretic discussions going on. In terms of marketing practice, the following points should be guidelines for marketers to minimize the possible cross-cultural marketing mistakes: 1) develop cultural empathy (recognize, understand, and respect another's culture and difference); 2) be culturally neutral and realize that different is not necessarily better or worse; 3) never assume transferability of a concept from one culture to another; 4) get cultural informants involved into the decision-makings.

Cross-cultural marketing is defined as the strategic process of marketing among consumers whose culture differs from that of the marketer's own culture at least in one of the fundamental cultural aspects, such as language, religion, social norms and values, education, and the living style. Cross-cultural marketing demands marketers to be aware of and sensitive to the cultural differences; to respect the right to culture by the consumers in various cultures and marketplaces, marketers should understand that they deserved the right to their cultures. If the marketers want to be the winners in the cross-cultural marketing they must create the marketing mix that meets the consumer's values on a right to their culture.
http://www.studyoverseas.com/america/usaed/crosscultural.htm

Having a poor understanding of the influence of cross cultural differences in areas such as management, PR, advertising and negotiations can eventually lead to blunders that can have damaging consequences.

It is crucial for today's business personnel to understand the impact of cross cultural differences on business, trade and internal company organisation. The success or failure of a company, venture, merger or acquisition is essentially in the hands of people. If these people are not cross culturally aware then misunderstandings, offence and a break down in communication can occur.

The need for greater cross cultural awareness is heightened in our global economies. Cross cultural differences in matters such as language, etiquette, non-verbal communication, norms and values can, do and will lead to cross cultural blunders.

* When Pepsico advertised Pepsi in Taiwan with the ad "Come Alive With Pepsi" they had no idea that it would be translated into Chinese as "Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead."
* In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the name into "Schweppes Toilet Water."
* The soft drink Fresca was being promoted by a saleswoman in Mexico. She was surprised that her sales pitch was greeted with laughter, and later embarrassed when she learned that fresca is slang for "lesbian."
* Pepsodent tried to sell its toothpaste in Southeast Asia by emphasizing that it "whitens your teeth." They found out that the local natives chew betel nuts to blacken their teeth which they find attractive.
http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/cultural-services/articles/Results%20of%20Poor%20Cross%20Cultural%20Awareness.html

'Snakes on a plane' viral campaign was that you could send a message to a friend with Samuel Jackson saying your name. However, they found that if you used some non-American names, there would be error messages coming up.
http://rohitbhargava.typepad.com/weblog/2006/08/snakes_on_a_pla.html

This article talks about how they used African-American comedians in their viral ad to connect with the target urban audiences on a cultural level.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2007_March_19/ai_n27184410

Here are the seven tips for a good viral campaign:
1.Make people feel something.
2.Do something unexpected.
3.Make a good story, not an advertisement.
4.Make Sequels.
5.Allow sharing, downloading, and embedding.
6.Connect with comments.
7.Never restrict access!
http://www.baekdal.com/articles/Branding/viral-marketing-tricks/