International Media Planning

The reality is that different markets behave in different ways, and replicating the same campaigns, formats and messaging in various countries won’t deliver consistent returns. In some cases, it can even be detrimental if branding isn’t seen as relevant, or is offensive or unusual within the context of the local culture, language or region.

It’s also essential to consider economics and technology. While price sensitivity may be highly important to consumers in some countries, in others, the emphasis should be on quality and authenticity. 

That is why it’s always important to have a strategic plan before investing in international campaigns.

There are lots of challenges businesses encounter when trying to break into new markets, all of which can be anticipated and addressed in advance through media planning. As a few examples:

• Regulations: Almost every country and major city around the world has laws, limitations, restrictions and ordinances that dictate how and where brands can advertise – and breaching those rules can have serious repercussions and cause untold reputational damage.

• Consumer expectations: Campaigns need to be displayed in the right language and tone, with respect for cultural and social nuances, and use natural linguistics - such as avoiding humorous phrases that in some languages can be offensive.

• Availability: While developed cities will often have a broad mixture of media placements, this isn’t universal. It’s important to know how prevalent conventional formats like billboards are, and how their performance compares against programmatic and digital screens.

Well-researched media planning ensures brands don’t become unstuck, know about the variations to be aware of, and build these into their campaigns to prevent problems from occurring.

Potentially, yes, but to a point. There’s often no need to completely reformat all aspects of your campaigns, such as messaging, tone, graphics and style, but at least some of those elements will likely need to be tweaked and adapted to each market in question.

That ensures you have consistent campaigns that establish a global presence and are easy to recognise in any location, but that also don’t miss local relevance or mean you’re creating placements that won’t be perceived in the intended way.

Examples might include changes to symbols and icons that may be interpreted differently across cultures, or to a primary colour that holds religious or spiritual significance.

The primary goal of media planning is to maximise the outcomes you see from your campaigns, whether that’s about boosting revenues, gaining a presence in a new country, expanding your market share, or filling gaps in markets with little in the way of existing competition.

Planning draws on numerous data points and analytics to look at the best ways to adapt campaigns and avoid expensive mistakes, while ensuring brands have opportunities to keep scaling and expanding without falling foul of advertising regulations.

If you’d like to learn more, whether you already have a media strategy that doesn’t factor in cross-border expansions, or haven’t ever worked with a media planning team and want to ensure your campaigns stand the best chance of success, please get in touch.

We’d also point you to some of our real-world case studies, which quantify the impacts of professional media planning, buying and strategy we’ve delivered.