Brand Positioning through Advertising in Asia, North America, and Europe: The Role of Global Consumer Culture

TLDR

The study investigates how brand positioning strategies in advertising have emerged alongside the expansion of the global marketplace. The authors introduce and operationalize a new construct, Global Consumer Culture Positioning (GCCP), linking brands to universally recognized symbols of emerging global consumer culture. Results confirm GCCP’s validity, showing that a substantial share of advertisements employ this construct rather than local or specific foreign positioning, indicating a pathway for brands to be perceived as global and offering managers strategic guidance in multinational markets.

Abstract

In this study, the authors examine the emergence of brand positioning strategies in advertising that parallel the growth of the global marketplace. A new construct, global consumer culture positioning (GCCP), is proposed, operationalized, and tested. This construct associates the brand with a widely understood and recognized set of symbols believed to constitute emerging global consumer culture. Study results support the validity of the new construct and indicate that meaningful percentages of advertisements employ GCCP, as opposed to positioning the brand as a member of a local consumer culture or a specific foreign consumer culture. Identification of GCCP as a positioning tool suggests one pathway through which certain brands come to be perceived by consumers as “global” and provides managers with strategic direction in the multinational marketplace.