Globalocal
A global pandemic focuses the mind.
Forcing a new narrative.
A new normal?
People’s worldview and behaviour quickly follow.
65% of global consumers say they prefer to buy products made
in their home country.
A retreat from globalisation?
Maybe. More a readjustment.
Online shopping and digital subscriptions are surging higher
than spring tides.
We’re staying connected, but less tangibly.
And with insurance:
93% of corporations say they’ll add ‘resilience’ to the
supply chain.
‘Just in time’ not looking quite so smart.
“Think Global, Act Local”
A slogan with its own Wikipedia page.
Does it still apply to brand communication?
Depends what you’re aiming for, really.
Efficient, standardised, targeting a ‘global consumer’.
No humour, no word-play, no sharp edges.
Maths has a term for it: Lowest Common Denominator.
But creativity thrives on risk-taking. Creativity
is risk-taking.
There are no global brand ideas.
But local brand ideas with razor-sharp insights can charm
the world.
Maths has a term for that too: Highest Common Factor.
The common factor in branding is we’re all humans.
Striving for social status and recognition.
Tomorrow’s consumers use new benchmarks.
People we want to be like…
Global status monkey: meet local hero.
Places we want to go to…
The neighbourhood is the new exotic.
Feelings we want to feel…
Now trending: Security, Community, Dependability.
Better dust off some of those less sexy Archetypes.
Brand re-positioning is in for a busy time.
Despite the pandemic, global brands retain their allure.
They signify modernity, progress, the future.
Hopes and aspirations.
Psychologically, local brands connect us to the here and now.
The visceral appeal of tastes, smells, textures.
Instant gratification.
Naturally we want to have our cake and eat it.
All the above, plus:
A brand that tries to do good in the world.
For employees, customers, and our planet.
Globally and locally.
A country, A city, a locality can become a global brand.
Milton Glaser’s “I ? NY” led the way,
tripling tourist spending (not just on T-shirts).
Who hasn’t been photographed next to I AMsterdam?
France’s brand is globalised by French expressions:
Savoir-faire, Avant garde, Creme de la Creme,
Adding a certain je ne sais quoi.
Or déja vu.
Icelandic was a harder sell,
until we heard the hardest Karaoke song in the world.
To sell ourselves, The UK became Cool Britannia.
Now re-branded as GREAT Britain.
We’re sometimes known as a nation of Eccentrics,
’Kooks, oddballs and non-conformists whose colourful
personalities shock, amuse and fascinate in equal measure’.
Fertile territory for creative risk-taking.
Monty Python, The Beatles, Punk,
The Mini, the mini skirt, Alexander McQueen,
Richard Branson, Harry Potter, Grand Theft Auto.
We’re also known as a ‘nation of Shopkeepers’.
Perhaps that’s why we love making brands.
This month we started new projects in Belgium, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Georgia, Romania and Iran.
Still travelling the world, if only from our Designer chairs.
Here’s to shaking our clients’ hands again.
We hope you enjoyed this edition of Unpredictable.
If you did, checkout some of our Globalocal work here.