Package Design as a Communications Vehicle in Cross-Cultural Values Shopping
Published 3/1/2009
Author: Yonca Limon, Lynn R. Kahle, and Ulrich R. Orth
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Executive Summary
International marketing managers have the choice of offering globally standardized or locally differentiated packages. This decision depends on local preferences and on how consumers form their purchase intentions on the basis of package design. To improve the efficiency of package decisions, firms need to understand consumers’ decision-making processes and, in particular, whether consumer response to brand packages is influenced more by cultural or individual characteristics.
This research tests a universal model across cultural groups. The finding that consumers infer brand values (i.e., internal, external, and fun and enjoyment values) from packages and form their purchase intentions on the basis of those values has several important practical implications.
First, the study underscores the communicative power of packages and suggests that package design should be at the forefront of marketing managers’ branding strategies. Second, given that consumers infer brand values in brand packages, international marketing managers should use the concept of brand values for strategic planning. Third, the results highlight the role of brand values in forming consumer purchase intentions. In particular, the finding that the influence of rand values on purchase intention varies across cultures suggests that brand managers should adapt rather than standardize their brand meaning to specific cultural groups.
Firms should create package designs to transfer brand meaning to target groups that hold a specific set of personal values. For example, whereas internal brand values may drive purchases in one culture, fun and enjoyment brand values may drive purchases in another. Brand managers must learn the value compositions of target audiences and should differentiate brands with respect to those values. Creating brand designs that match those values will elicit the responses desired in a specific culture.
Biography
Yonca Limon is a doctoral student in the Department of Agribusiness and Food Marketing at Christian-Albrechts-Universität in Kiel, Germany. She gained international experience at University of Illinois,Urbana-Champaign, Istanbul University, ,and University of Bologna. Her practical experience includes product management at Schwarzkopf & Henkel KgaA and marketing consulting with C2C. She holds a Master’s in Business Administration (2007) from Christian-Albrechts-Universität in Kiel, Germany Her research interests include cross-cultural consumer behavior and psychology, particularly in a brand management context. She has published in various trade journals and presented at conferences, and currently serves editorial assistant for International Journal of Wine Business Research.
Lynn R. Kahle is Ehrman Giustina Professor of Marketing at the University of Oregon. He has served as President of the Society for Consumer Psychology. He is interested in the information processing implications of social values and lifestyles.
Ulrich R. Orth is Professor of Marketing and holds the Chair for Agribusiness and Food Marketing at Christian-Albrechts-Universität in Kiel, Germany. Before joining Christian-Albrechts-Universität, he was Associate Professor at Oregon State University and Professor of Marketing at Mendel University, Brno. Prof. Orth holds a doctorate in Agribusiness Management (1993) and a Super-PhD (Habilitation, 1998) in Agribusiness Marketing, both from Munich University of Technology, Germany. His research interests include design, brand management, and cross-cultural consumer behavior and psychology. He has published in Journal of Advertising, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, and Journal of Social Psychology. Prof. Orth is currently serving as editor of International Journal of Wine Business Research, and is also founder and chair of the advisory board of C2C, a consulting enterprise that specializes in marketing and customer relationship management.
J International Marketing, Volume 17, Number 1, March 2009
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