Part 1 – Global Brands

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BBC Learning English
Talk about English
Insight Plus
Part 1 – Global Brands


Jackie: Welcome to bbclearningenglish.com and another chance to hear Insight
Plus, a series first broadcast in 2001 that looks at the language of issues
you hear about in the news. Today’s topic is Big Brands, companies
which see the entire world as their market. Brands whose advertising,
popularity, look and feel are in many respects the same from one
country to another. The presenter is Lyse Doucet.

Lyse: More and more, large Western and in particular American companies
are spreading their goods to the four corners of the earth in search of
new markets and, of course, bigger profits. In recent months, the
advance of these multinationals has hit the headlines. Global brands are
the topic of today’s Insight Plus - your guide to the language and issues
you hear every day in the news.

Clip
I’m wearing a Converse coat, Ralph Lauren shirt and Nike underneath it, Nike t-shirt
….I'm wearing a GAP sweater but I think it's not as big of a deal because I bought it in
the States where I'm from and I think if you bought it here it'd be giving in more
towards buying the brand just because it's American or it's not something that started
here ……… Today I'm wearing Nike trainers and I've got a Converse sweater on and
my trousers are from GAP


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Lyse: To explore this continuing rise of big brands across the globe, let's take
a look at a report by Rahul Sarnaik. It was broadcast on the BBC
World Service programme, Insight. Here’s the first extract.

Clip
“Coca-Cola, Microsoft, IBM, General Electric and Ford”
According to a survey based on their brand value, they're the world's top five corporate
names - and they're all from the USA. The number one brand-name, Coca-Cola, was
valued in June 1999 at more than eighty-billion dollars. Is it true that these brands are
penetrating deeper into more and more markets around the world?

Lyse: A brand like the ones we heard - McDonalds, Coca Cola, Microsoft - is
more than a label, or the name of a product or company. A brand
represents a set of values that the company wants the consumer to
associate with its products. These values go beyond the need for quality
or durability. For example, some companies try and appeal to the youth
market and its sense of adventure, whereas others target older
consumers who may be more interested in luxury, comfort and prestige.

We heard in the report that the biggest brands worldwide are the ones
with the highest international brand value. Brand value is becoming
increasingly important. It’s about how well regarded a brand is by the
consumer or the buyer. It’s measured by looking at the status of the
brand in a market and whether people remain loyal - whether they
continue to buy the product.

The report asks “Is it true that these brands are penetrating deeper into
more and more markets around the world?” In other words, are the big
American names trying to establish themselves in more countries? Well
let’s find out as we listen to more of this report.

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Clip
Is it true that these brands are penetrating deeper into more and more markets around
the world? Yes, according to Richard Robinson, of the London-based business
analysts Datamonitor:
Richard Robinson - Data Monitor
If you think about what's happened over the last 10 years or so there's been a massive
globalisation of the media. The result of that has been that brand values and consumer
values around the world have homogenised to a certain degree. And that's really played
into the hands of a lot of the big Western multi-national companies. For example from
the soft drinks industry - Coca cola, Pepsi Cola - over the past 10 years they've
established massive distribution networks worldwide in markets where they were
previously fairly under-represented

Lyse: According to business analyst Richard Robinson, the answer is yes. The
top companies’ market penetration is increasing. And why? Well, did
you notice the word globalisation in the phrase “the globalisation of the
media”. What he means is that all over the world people now watch the
same TV channels, log on to the same websites, and read and listen to
the same news stories. As Richard Robinson says:

Clip
Richard Robinson - Data Monitor
…there's been a massive globalisation of the media. The result of that has been that
brand values and consumer values around the world have homogenized to a certain
degree.

Lyse: The different types of media like television, print and the internet, have
been crucial in “homogenizing values”. That means that in promoting
the same images and messages about certain products they have played
their part in making the values of brands and those of consumers more

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and more alike. What we admire, trust and enjoy, both about ourselves
and the things we buy, is becoming much the same wherever we are in
the world.

The global market and global brands are the subject of today’s Insight
Plus from the BBC World Service - your guide to the language and
background to the stories that stay in the news.

It’s not just the global media which has helped big brands to spread
their appeal. The changing political scene has also played a part. The
collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet
Union, and the improvement in relations between the West and China,
have meant that vast new markets have opened up for western goods.
Big brands have also been able to spread their influence because of the
worldwide fascination with certain aspects of western life. Two
interviewees from Rahul Sarnaik’s report make this point. Shoba De is
a novelist and media commentator based in Bombay in India. Professor
Cary Cooper lectures in social psychology at Manchester University in
England. They both say that western culture has an “all-pervasive
influence” - its influence can be felt everywhere. To begin with, Shoba
De talks about how the big brands are making great advances - or
inroads - into newer markets such as India. Although she says that
awareness of big brands - or brand consciousness - has always been
strong there.

Clip
Shoba De
They're making incredible inroads and more rapidly than I could have imagined
possible even a couple of years ago. The brand consciousness has always been there in
urban India because we have access to satellite television as well as imported

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magazines, fashion magazines. But ever since our beautiful young ladies started to win
international beauty titles I think the focus has changed and urban India seems
obsessed with labels of all kinds - particularly those coming out of Europe. And of
course the American sub-culture - that has such an all-pervasive influence on all of us
Prof Cary Cooper
What they see through films, through American Television is only the positive side and
that is what they aspire to, to wealth, to the visual side of wealth, i.e. the clothing the
brand name and the brand products. Countries in Eastern Europe, certain countries in
the Far East, in the Middle East… where they want the good life and don't see the
potential downsides of a society that's very much acquisition and money-driven.

Lyse: There are potential downsides or disadvantages of Western society -
such as a perceived obession with money and gain, but much of the
world seems fascinated by it and some people even aspire to it. And that
plays into the hands - and indeed the pockets - of the big multi-national
companies.

Take the McDonald’s food chain, it started in the 1950s and now
opens up on average 5 new restaurants a day somewhere in the world.
And Coca Cola - invented back in 1886 - now sells more than one
billion drinks every day. These two companies have operated globally
for a long time but they were always considered an exception. Now
more and more businesses are realising global branding is the key to
success. Companies are spending millions of dollars on branding in a
bid to build a powerful international image.


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Clip
You feel that maybe that there’s more quality involved that you're maybe a bit more
sure about the production methods, bit more secure about knowing things like that…I
see people wandering around with the big label brands and the clothes don't actually
look any better - you've paid four times as much for something that actually looks
worse, what's that about? ….Normally I do go for something which is quite popular
because at least you know you're getting value for money, at least you're getting
something reputable…I think everybody knows about Coca Cola and Nike and
everything some of them and everyday you wear them as a good thing because there's
a convergence - everybody's going for the same trend. But there are bad things about it
because everybody's so obsessed with his or her friends that they're spending a fortune
out of it just to have branded goods themselves…It's in some way a bit all pervasive, a
bit oppressive - there's a Starbucks on every corner…..Regional and cultural
differences are becoming less important to the fashion industry and people are buying
similar clothes, looking for similar fashion regardless of whether it suits their locality,
their person and just going for the image, this global image.

Clip
For the consumer, the branded good can bring a lot of benefits. A globally recognised
name offers reassurance, security, and quality, as well as status. But it's actually more
complex than that. While it's challenging for advertisers to promote a brand that
appeals across many different cultures, the long-term goal is to sell a way of life, not
just a product.

Lyse: Reassurance, security, quality, status - these are some of the reasons
why big, international brands are popular. But as the report also points
out, consumers aren’t just sensible shoppers they’ve also bought into
the image, the lifestyle, the very dream that big multi-national
companies have carefully created.


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Global brands have hit the headlines recently. And not just for their
market penetration and end of year profits. Demonstrators have
disrupted big international trade meetings, campaigning against
globalization and global business. They fear this relentless spread of big
brands is posing a real threat to our communities, small business and the
environment. And it could also mean the end of individuality. As Rahul
Sarnaik says in his report, individual choice and expression could be
become a thing of the past …

Clip
The power of global marketing-strategies has been demonstrated by the inroads that
branded Western goods are making across the globe. Some commentators have
predicted a future in which the world's young people will all dress alike, eat the same
food, listen to the same music, drive the same cars, and drink the same drinks.

Lyse: Today on Insight Plus we’ve heard how global branding is helping large
multinational companies make inroads into new markets. We’ve also
heard that the globalization of the media - the fact that many of us are
reading, watching, and listening to the same news and advertisements -
has meant that the desires of the consumers and the promises made by
the big brands are converging - they’re becoming the same.