Global Marketing: Are the problems the same and the solutions different?

Global Marketing

Or is it that the problems are different and the solutions are just the same – or are the problems and solutions always different? Or is this just a rubbish set of questions?

I was lucky enough to attend a dinner in Dubai this week – at which The Marketing Society Middle East was launched. The new Chairman of the new society (Thomas Delabriere, VP marketing META, Mars) gave an enthusiastic introductory speech and asked the audience of CMOs and marketing leaders to suggest topics and issues that they would like to discuss.

The broad list that emerged would have been instantly recognisable, whether you are in London, Singapore, Hong Kong, New York, Sao Paulo – or Dubai (or, indeed, anywhere in between!): digital and integrating it with existing marketing programmes; insights and the problems of finding them and acting on them; the unreliability of a lot of the methods used for forecasting and predicting consumer choice; finding good data analysts and marketing scientists; training and developing marketing skills.

The list itself was not remarkable. Anyone who has managed global brands recognises that with the right perspective all of the problems of humanity (and marketing!) are shared. Indeed the great religious philosophers from Confucius to Socrates to Jesus Christ and the Buddha – all share a world view that is based on understanding people and encouraging and showing them how to live better, more purposeful lives. The same now seems to be true of companies and societies.

It also struck me that the situations and context always feel different – even when the problems are similar – and that is as true whether you are comparing London and Dubai – or even Dubai with Sharjah or Abu Dhabi. Indeed the more I thought about it the more I realised that the value of creating a network, or a community, lay only partly in the identification of the issues. Watching everyone talk and listening intently to what they were saying I realised it was much more about creating a coalition of the willing – and the feeling that there were kindred spirits and you were not alone.

The real purpose of The Marketing Society in the Middle East was not about having a nice dinner in a nice restaurant – but was about a group of people realising that together they could create a future of bolder, purposeful marketing that would help their organisations deliver long-term growth. Actually felt proud to have been there.

So my answer to the questions I posed at the start is that the problems are usually the same if you look at them from far enough away – but the solutions need to be adapted to the specific local situation and context.


If you want to join the ‘coalition of the willing’ in the Middle East then please contact Alasdair Hall-Jones, head of membership & global.

You can also read more from Brainjuicer in our Clubhouse.

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