America as a brand is hurting overseas. Indeed if the United States had an ad agency, that shop would be fired, observed Keith Reinhard, chairman emeritus of DDB Worldwide, during a session at the recently concluded Advertising Week in New York. To come up with means to improve our country’s image abroad, Reinhard chaired two discussions–one with agency creatives asked to come up with viable campaigns; and the other to pick the brains of clients whose brands enjoy success in foreign nations.
In the latter session Mary Dillon, executive VP/global chief marketing officer for McDonald’s, identified three guiding principles for McDonald’s in foreign markets: being local; acting responsibly; and giving back. She related that being local is “not just about appreciating local culture and giving a nod to it.” Instead McDonald’s is viewed as a local restaurant in other countries because it is committed to having its local franchisees becoming “part of the local culture. The management teams of our restaurants are from that country.”
Dillon noted that franchisees embrace local customs. In Saudi Arabia, for example, McDonald’s closes five times a day for prayers. In China–which is very much a face-to-face culture–there are no drive-through orders forcing customers to talk to an audio speaker box.
For the Advertising Week gathering, Dillon screened a McDonald’s spot in which kids in different countries run about excitedly and say in their native languages that dad is making dinner tonight. Finally we hear that message in English as fathers of different nationalities and cultures bring home bags of McDonald’s food. Dillon described it as a global ad with local insight.
In terms of acting responsibly, Dillon defined this as understanding what perceptions of the brand aren’t positive and addressing them “head on.” For McDonald’s this principle primarily entails caring for its employees and for children. The latter involves taking on childhood obesity through alternative Happy Meals and marketing them in a responsible manner. While the notion of tying into Shrek the Third this year got some initial bad press, once the details of that campaign were disclosed, the media coverage turned positive. For example, getting kids to check on Shrek online led them to messages encouraging them to be active offline, getting out of the house, playing sports and having fun. And the Shrek campaign promoted Happy Meals with apple dippers, milk and proper portions.
As for employees, McDonald’s advances its workers to the point where 70,000 store managers today started out on restaurant crew. And every McDonald’s employee is found to drive the employment of someone else in jobs ranging from construction to transport, farming and ranching, positively influencing the local economy.
The third principle figuring in brand success outside the U.S. is “giving back” to local communities. For example, there are 270 Ronald McDonald Houses around the world providing accommodations for families of children who are seriously ill.
These three principles outlined by Dillon, said Reinhard, offer lessons for branding America globally. Reinhard should know; he founded Business for Diplomatic Action, which enlists U.S. business to help improve the perception of America around the world.
Supreme Court Allows Multibillion-Dollar Class Action Lawsuit To Proceed Against Meta
The Supreme Court is allowing a multibillion-dollar class action investors' lawsuit to proceed against Facebook parent Meta, stemming from the privacy scandal involving the Cambridge Analytica political consulting firm.
The justices heard arguments in November in Meta's bid to shut down the lawsuit. On Friday, they decided that they were wrong to take up the case in the first place.
The high court dismissed the company's appeal, leaving in place an appellate ruling allowing the case to go forward.
Investors allege that Meta did not fully disclose the risks that Facebook users' personal information would be misused by Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported Donald Trump 's first successful Republican presidential campaign in 2016.
Inadequacy of the disclosures led to two significant price drops in the price of the company's shares in 2018, after the public learned about the extent of the privacy scandal, the investors say.
Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the company was disappointed by the court's action. "The plaintiff's claims are baseless and we will continue to defend ourselves as this case is considered by the District Court," Stone said in an emailed statement.
Meta already has paid a $5.1 billion fine and reached a $725 million privacy settlement with users.
Cambridge Analytica had ties to Trump political strategist Steve Bannon. It had paid a Facebook app developer for access to the personal information of about 87 million Facebook users. That data was then used to target U.S. voters during the 2016 campaign.
The lawsuit is one of two high court cases involving class-action lawsuits against tech companies. The justices also are wrestling with whether to shut down a class action against Nvidia.... Read More