About AMA

Executive Summary
Despite the growing presence of brands from emerging countries in international markets, little is known about their strategies, and the literature on branding in an international context is somewhat scarce. Given the increasing interest in understanding cross-border relationships and how brands from different cultures globalize, Guzmán and Paswan aim to address these critical knowledge gaps by focusing on the internationalization of cultural brands from emerging markets. Cultural brands embody a sum total of a group’s cultural identity, including a surrounding myth, a tie to its cultural roots, and associations of its past and aspired future. Specifically, the authors investigate whether cultural brands are perceived similarly by the home- and host-country target consumers.

This research focuses on two cultural brands from Mexico and analyzes whether their brand images remain consistent when they cross the border into the United States. The authors measure brand image of two Mexican television media brands using a brand personality scale. The results indicate that the association between brand personality dimensions and the cultural brands from Mexico is stronger among consumers in the host country than their counterparts in the home country. Thus, cultural brands form cultural anchors for the immigrant population living in various host countries and should be viewed differently than other brands. These findings provide support for a branding strategy that is rooted more strongly in the target market’s cultural context and reflect a broader conceptualization of international branding strategy.

Potential managerial implication areas include international brand positioning, advertising, development of the offer in terms of content and how it is promoted, and possible segmentation. In particular, managers could reinforce the cultural root of a brand when developing an internationalization strategy for cultural brands. Factors such as the acculturation process, exposure to new media sources and information, and enhanced feelings of attachment or detachment toward the home country significantly influence immigrant consumers’ perceptions of cultural brands from their home country. Overall, this study contributes to brand personality literature and presents an important insight into the brand image of cultural brands from emerging markets.

Biography
Francisco Guzmán (Ph.D., Universitat Ramon-Llull ESADE), is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of North Texas.  His research focuses on branding, corporate social responsibility, and new product development.  His work has been published in journals such as Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of Brand Management, and the Harvard Business Review América Latina.  He is a visiting professor both at ESADE in Barcelona and Monterrey Tec in Mexico.

Audhesh K. Paswan (Ph.D., University of Mississippi), is an associate professor of marketing at the University of North Texas.  His research focuses on branding in an international context, country branding, franchising, channels, services marketing, innovation and new product development.  His work has been published in journals such as the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Services Marketing, Journal of Brand Management, and Journal of Product and Brand Management.

Member Comments (0):

To rate or comment on articles, you must be a logged in AMA member. Click here to join