Regional vs. local branding

A look at the global brand consultancy, Interbrand's, 2008 study on Latin America's most valuable brands shows up a few interesting points. For one, not a single brand from Argentina, the region's second largest country by land area, features in the study (an omission that is explained on p. 28). Furthermore, out of the twenty countries in Latin America, only five feature in the paper - Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Perú. Out of these five, the first three dominate, with Brazil on top with 15 brands, followed by Mexico's 14 and Chile's 13. Considering that Brazil is so often feted as one of the fastest growing economies in the world, the inability of some of its other brands to beat off its country's neighbours may come as surprising, or unsurprising, depending on your view of Brazil's chances of fulfilling its economic promise. The numbers also highlight Mexico and Chile's potential.

The thing that struck me most about Interbrand's study was that only two brands that operate throughout the Latin American region feature. Superficially, this seems a minute figure seeing as the majority of Latin America is united by the fact that it speaks Spanish (Brazil is a major exception to this), which must surely aid intra-regional brand communications. However, a unique aspect of Latin America is that its nations are associated by their desire to dissociate - their will to be independent, be it from the Spanish during the 18th and 19th centuries, the Americans ever since or the IMF since the beginning of the new millennium. This independent mindset hampers brands' attempts to expand throughout the region as they are met by a band of proudly local revolters. So, how can expanding brands win them over? A look at the two success stories may help.



Tigo came in at number 30 of Interbrand's Top 50. A telecommunications company, it took over the national brands of the neighbouring countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras in 2004, while replacing the old national brands of Paraguay, Bolivia and Colombia over the following two years. Looking at the brand's website for each country, there is a startling similarity in layout between each of them - certainly vital in the three Central American countries where inter-migration is frequent. I say 'vital' because this helps to maintain a solid and clear identity that its users can trust wherever they may need to use the network (trust is an integral part of a relationship between a telecommunications brand and its customer as seen in a previous post) . While consistent in its messaging and products in each country, it also maintains a local stance by using language and grammar specific to each country.

The other regional brand that appeared in the study is Claro, another telecommunications company though somewhat larger than Tigo - reflected in its position of 5th in the league table. Claro operates in El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Panama, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, Chile, Peru and Ecuador (as well as some Caribbean islands) and so it, like Tigo, requires consistent messaging throughout the region while maintaining a national identity in each country. Its verbal messaging centres on the use of the Spanish word 'claro', meaning 'clear' or 'clearly'. By employing these meanings in its advertising, Claro conveys its simplicity of use and customer service (in my personal experience of using Claro). For example, in Argentina the slogan "Es simple. Es Claro" (It's simple, it's clear / Claro) has been used. In El Salvador and Guatemala, "Hablamos Claro" (We speak clearly / Claro) has been another slogan. "Claro. Que sí" and "Claro que tienes más" or its variations have been used in almost all of the brand's messaging at some time to provide this transparent and clear identity that Claro conveys throughout Latin America. Similar to Tigo, though, are its local touches be it through grammatical inflections or through overt reference to the country in which it operates. One extended example is "Cubrimos tus momentos, Cubrimos tus lugares, Cubrimos tu Nación, Cubrimos tu Diversion, Cubrimos El Salvador" (We cover your moments, your places, your nation, your fun, we cover El Salvador). Not only is this communication very national, it is also extremely personal through the use of 'your' and words such as 'moments' and 'fun' (my translation). This helps to settle the more patriotic of Claro's users.

While the consistency of intra-regional brand messaging is not as important in Europe or Asia due to the many language barriers, in Latin America it is standard. What is essential in this region is the blend of this consistent messaging with more national and local messaging to help convey a brand's transparent, clear and relevant identity. Once that is achieved, the world (or rather, the region) is your oyster, as Claro state: "Si hablas Claro, Claro que tienes más".