This happened when I was in the middle east. A new regional CEO of an MNC had come in from Europe and was into the "getting to know the business" mode. Around 2-3 weeks after taking charge he was coming over to meet the agency. The news coming in from the client side was that he was a focussed person, agenda driven, not prone to lose talk or informal conversation. " Tough guy, too serious, impatient" were some of the common descriptors that were being thrown around. Most of the managers and senior to middle level staff in the clients office were Asian. Indians, Pakistanis, Egyptians, Saudi......
The meeting progressed very well and then we came to one slide which was about the cultural differences between Europeans and Asians.The purpose of the slide was to highlight how global positioning platforms need local insights for successful executions. But somewhere it touched a raw nerve with the CEO. We spent the next 45 minutes discussing the slide and derailing the whole presentation. But I sensed that the CEO had suddenly grown very warm towards us.
Next day he invited me for lunch and over lunch he confessed. He spoke about how he was struggling to adapt to the work culture in the office. He would walk into meetings on time and invariably he would be the first person in the room. He would ask for an agenda and it would be rarely there. He would want to start earnestly on the critical points but would be discomfited by his team chit chatting about weather or some recent sports match or even ask him about his family and his dog. To the CEO this was unprofessional and he was becoming impatient about it. But during our presentation he realised that Asian sense of timing was in time bands and not exactitudes of time. 10-10:15 was the Asian interpretation of 10 sharp. Exchanging more than pleasantries, enquiring about family and gradually warming upto the meeting was a given. And meetings had a starting time but no finishing time. For a European work and personal life were neatly compartmentalised and the two did not overlap. But that was not the case with Asians.
Of course, I am generalising a bit, but you get the picture. The CEO because of his professionalism was seen as cold, tense and too work oriented where as he himself saw his team a bit too casual, relaxed and even flippant.
Don't get me wrong. I am not criticising the CEO or his team. I am giving this example to highlight how cultural differences can be disastrous if not understood well. I believe in the sixties when some Japanese businessmen like Akio Morita ventured into the west there were some amazing misunderstandings because of culture differences. But Morita made it a point to understand and master the differences. That was one reason why Sony expanded so rapidly even as a manufacturer in the west.
In today's world where expat postings are very common it is very important for the expats to know and understand the local culture. Not just to be a good marketer but also to adjust and integrate well into the local society.
And of course it helps you as a marketer. I remember when I was in Egypt in the mid nineties, lunch would be around 5 pm. Offices usually had no lunch break. But at 5 offices would be empty. The reason was simple. When Nasser introduced nationalisation in Egypt it was absolute. Almost every industry was covered by it, including believe it or not advertising. And to sell the goodness of nationalisation subsidised lunch should have become the norm of the day at all offices. But the state could not afford it. So all offices worked 6 days a week from 7:30 to 3:30 pm with no lunch break. People would reach home by 5 and have lunch! This aberration within a generation became a norm. As lunch was late, snacks became the order of the day and as a good marketer this insight helped some of my clients. Also as lunch was late, dinner was light so that was another market waiting to be tapped. And the biggest insight we had was that lunch in Egypt was the equivalent of the family dinner time in Europe and rest of the world.
I can go on and on with many such cultural examples. It is fascinating and huge learning plus it can really help in work. Yet one needs to be careful and not attribute everything to cultural differences.
I believe strongly that the youth of the world are the same. They may have religious differences but their dreams, aspirations, motivations, turn ons etc are the same. So when focus groups in middle east showed that the youth were rejecting the Axe commercials, I was surprised. But the local brand and marketing manager were supporting the findings saying that the middle east culture does not allow such overt sexist tones in communication. After some meetings with the research agencies we changed the research methodology from groups to one on one in depth interviews. And lo and behold we discovered that youth were the same all over. Except it was politically incorrect for them to admire Axe type of communication in public. So groups were rejecting them but one on ones were revealing the truth.
And if you thought that the South Asian and Chinese or Indonesian mother's thought the same, you would be surprised. The famous dishoom dishoom Pepsodent Indian commercials were rejected by mothers in Indonesia and China. The reason being the prevalence of Confucian culture, wherein showing kids talking disrespectfully about the mothers was just not on. And the respect for parents by children manifested itself wonderfully in Indonesia in a commercial for Rinso detergent. A new perfume variant was launched with a simple ad showing mother doing laundry and the son kissing the mother's hand to say bye before going to school. The perfume was so captivating that the kid refused to let go of the mothers hand.....
As communicators it is important that we understand local cultures. Specially in Asia where differences within countries and provinces also make a mockery of geographical boundaries. Unlike Europe which today has even economic homogeneity, the challenge and excitement of Asia is its diversity. And the more we understand this diversity the less Culture Vultures we shall be.
The meeting progressed very well and then we came to one slide which was about the cultural differences between Europeans and Asians.The purpose of the slide was to highlight how global positioning platforms need local insights for successful executions. But somewhere it touched a raw nerve with the CEO. We spent the next 45 minutes discussing the slide and derailing the whole presentation. But I sensed that the CEO had suddenly grown very warm towards us.
Next day he invited me for lunch and over lunch he confessed. He spoke about how he was struggling to adapt to the work culture in the office. He would walk into meetings on time and invariably he would be the first person in the room. He would ask for an agenda and it would be rarely there. He would want to start earnestly on the critical points but would be discomfited by his team chit chatting about weather or some recent sports match or even ask him about his family and his dog. To the CEO this was unprofessional and he was becoming impatient about it. But during our presentation he realised that Asian sense of timing was in time bands and not exactitudes of time. 10-10:15 was the Asian interpretation of 10 sharp. Exchanging more than pleasantries, enquiring about family and gradually warming upto the meeting was a given. And meetings had a starting time but no finishing time. For a European work and personal life were neatly compartmentalised and the two did not overlap. But that was not the case with Asians.
Of course, I am generalising a bit, but you get the picture. The CEO because of his professionalism was seen as cold, tense and too work oriented where as he himself saw his team a bit too casual, relaxed and even flippant.
Don't get me wrong. I am not criticising the CEO or his team. I am giving this example to highlight how cultural differences can be disastrous if not understood well. I believe in the sixties when some Japanese businessmen like Akio Morita ventured into the west there were some amazing misunderstandings because of culture differences. But Morita made it a point to understand and master the differences. That was one reason why Sony expanded so rapidly even as a manufacturer in the west.
In today's world where expat postings are very common it is very important for the expats to know and understand the local culture. Not just to be a good marketer but also to adjust and integrate well into the local society.
And of course it helps you as a marketer. I remember when I was in Egypt in the mid nineties, lunch would be around 5 pm. Offices usually had no lunch break. But at 5 offices would be empty. The reason was simple. When Nasser introduced nationalisation in Egypt it was absolute. Almost every industry was covered by it, including believe it or not advertising. And to sell the goodness of nationalisation subsidised lunch should have become the norm of the day at all offices. But the state could not afford it. So all offices worked 6 days a week from 7:30 to 3:30 pm with no lunch break. People would reach home by 5 and have lunch! This aberration within a generation became a norm. As lunch was late, snacks became the order of the day and as a good marketer this insight helped some of my clients. Also as lunch was late, dinner was light so that was another market waiting to be tapped. And the biggest insight we had was that lunch in Egypt was the equivalent of the family dinner time in Europe and rest of the world.
I can go on and on with many such cultural examples. It is fascinating and huge learning plus it can really help in work. Yet one needs to be careful and not attribute everything to cultural differences.
I believe strongly that the youth of the world are the same. They may have religious differences but their dreams, aspirations, motivations, turn ons etc are the same. So when focus groups in middle east showed that the youth were rejecting the Axe commercials, I was surprised. But the local brand and marketing manager were supporting the findings saying that the middle east culture does not allow such overt sexist tones in communication. After some meetings with the research agencies we changed the research methodology from groups to one on one in depth interviews. And lo and behold we discovered that youth were the same all over. Except it was politically incorrect for them to admire Axe type of communication in public. So groups were rejecting them but one on ones were revealing the truth.
And if you thought that the South Asian and Chinese or Indonesian mother's thought the same, you would be surprised. The famous dishoom dishoom Pepsodent Indian commercials were rejected by mothers in Indonesia and China. The reason being the prevalence of Confucian culture, wherein showing kids talking disrespectfully about the mothers was just not on. And the respect for parents by children manifested itself wonderfully in Indonesia in a commercial for Rinso detergent. A new perfume variant was launched with a simple ad showing mother doing laundry and the son kissing the mother's hand to say bye before going to school. The perfume was so captivating that the kid refused to let go of the mothers hand.....
As communicators it is important that we understand local cultures. Specially in Asia where differences within countries and provinces also make a mockery of geographical boundaries. Unlike Europe which today has even economic homogeneity, the challenge and excitement of Asia is its diversity. And the more we understand this diversity the less Culture Vultures we shall be.
Brilliant analysis. Agree. Sometimes culture can be a yawning gap between people and companies.
ReplyDeleteGlad I read this post.
ReplyDeleteWell written, Vikas.
Wondering why I had not seen it before.
Because you wrote it after you were in Dehra Dun