What Does Globalization Mean for Your CPG Brand?

The one thing that a global pandemic can teach us is that we are in this together. It should be clear that global forces can even affect local brands. Going global with your brand may be the inevitable result of growth, or it may be a strategy to fuel growth. Either, or both, can create complexities for CPG marketing. Maybe your brand has local appeal, but how can you take things to the next level in a global economy?

Tips for Going Global with CPG Marketing

Inc. suggests that we are seeing the resurgence of a global marketplace. They recommend CPG marketing efforts focus on “smart globalization” as a key business growth strategy. Technology and the Internet have allowed even the smallest companies to scale. 

But these same innovations create marketplace ripples that require companies to shift CPG marketing or risk losing sales. The old ways of marketing are long gone and must be replaced by scalable and more agile brand building techniques. MartinRoll suggests there are three challenges to brand globalization that could disrupt our success in this environment:

• Successfully managing the pressures of multipoint competition. Global brands compete at all levels, so when they enter a new market, local competitors can have an unexpected impact.
• Reconciling the scope of your brand portfolio to adjust to global markets. It’s a constant process of realigning the value proposition, marketing messages, and strategies of each product as well as the overall portfolio.
• Optimizing local product rollouts in ways that maintain the global brand identity. If we assume that each local market impacts the global brand (and we should), then it requires adjustments between the corporate brand standard and the local rollout. How can you create local brand messages that resonate while staying true to the global brand?

The good news is we can lessen globalization’s risk by learning from those that have gone before us:

1. Pick the best market for your products. This doesn’t necessarily mean the biggest market, but instead, the right one for your product or services. CPG marketing must take into account local cultures; marketing 101 classes are rife with brands that failed to take into account the geographic, demographic, or social nuances. Consider which markets are poised for growth, then align your products to fit that audience.
2. Don’t over group your markets and miss a segment nuance. Globalization can drive similarities between unexpected market segments, so making assumptions in your growth strategies can harm, not help, CPG marketing. The traditional ways of grouping regions no longer work as well.
3. Develop trend recommendations at both the macro and micro levels. Globalization creates increased interactions between local, national, and international markets. CPG marketing must work to understand trends at each level and how they interact to create the most successful strategies to sell products.

Marketing magazine points out the biggest impact of increased globalization on product sales, “Creating greater relationships with people involves knowing what unites human beings; where people get information; and how a brand earns its way into people’s lives.”

Hangar12 is at the forefront of CPG marketing strategy and more. Having a globalization strategy is one way that CPG brands can set themselves apart. You can start this process by optimizing your online presence. Download our ebook, "Playbook to Get Your eCommerce Product Into Stores," to receive our latest insights. Simply fill out the form below to receive instant access.