Category: Case Studies

Lost In Arabization

arabization

In a highly globalised and an increasingly interdependent world, it seems as if countries are easily influenced by each other’s governments, companies, and cultures. The increase of global interaction and trade has obliged corporations to tailor their offerings to suit local needs and preferences.

Even more, in order to fit in with the environment they operate in, many brands have to either create special products for certain regions or to alter their advertising messages according to the local customer profile. The latter often results in many problems due to the fact that certain languages are hard to employ unless they were mastered first.

When advertising in the Arab world, many companies prominently fail to “localise” their messages using the Arabic language. The Arabic language is considered as one of the hardest languages in the world. What adds to the challenges is it being a really meaning-sensitive language in which each word could have many different meanings or expressions.

As we all know, language plays a huge role in communication and message transmission. It might affect people’s behaviour, perceptions, attitudes, or even shape their thoughts. This makes it even more important for brands to acknowledge this phenomenon and adapt their messages accordingly.

Translation vs. Arabization

Despite all of this, it seems that most brands often resort to translation rather than “Arabization” of their ads.

Translation had always been a crucial factor in the Arab culture. In fact, many caliphates used to reward the translator of a book into Arabic with the book’s weight in gold. Translation could be defined as writing the literal meaning of a word in another language.

On the other hand, Arabization is more about context and comprehension. Instead of merely writing the literal meaning of the word, it gets localised based on the locals’ ideology to connect with them on personal level.

Why Do Brands Resort to Ad Arabization? 

advertising

The Arab market is vast which sort of obliges brands to adapt to the local’s values, ideologies, and traditions instead of implementing their own. 

In order to appeal to the locals, many brands resort to ad arabization. They do so to avoid appearing too foreign or “alien” to their audience as well as to increase the brand’s familiarity. It helps brands adapt to the local Arab culture and allows people to accept and relate to it even more.

Moreover, ad arabization could help brands develop positive bonds with the consumers which later turns into a positive attitude and brand perception. It increases the consumers’ positive associations with the brand itself.

 All of this adds to the importance of revolving the brand’s messages of what’s most important to the target audience themselves. This would definitely make them pay more attention to the message and try harder to comprehend it.   

The Problem in Translation

It is crucial that brands localise their ads instead of merely translating them; the latter often results in drastic effects. When relying more on translation, a lot of context could get eradicated. It would make the message lose its sense of meaning which might later affect the brand’s offerings and value proposition.

Translation might also result in unwanted problems including socio-cultural or political ones as well. It could make the ad lose its intended outcome and divert the brand from its identity. Also, translation could cause confusion in the intended message which in turn hurts the brand’s image and positioning.

These are some of the reasons behind brands resorting to ad arabization instead of translation. In fact, there happens to be a lot of arabized ads which have succeeded in appealing to the locals and added to the overall brand’s strength.

AD-aptation

Ads adaptation could either be textual or graphical. Sometimes, using images of people who look like the target audience in ads might help to grab attention. Also, using texts or words in ads that are commonly said in the local area where the ad will be shown might also do the trick.

It’s important to note that not all of the ad arabization efforts are deemed as successful.  While trying to “Arabize” their ads, many companies fail miserably.

One of the reasons for failure is that brands believe that they’re localising their ad when they are just translating its language. This results in a lot of translation and grammatical mistakes which ends up killing the ad’s vibe or identity.   

There are a lot of cases where brands committed translation mistakes in their ads and marketing efforts. Such mistakes have proven to be costly for brands later on. To solve this, there has to be a team of Arab natives who oversee the ad arabization process and edit any language mistake to set up the ad’s tone.

translation mistake
“هراء” literally translates to “Bull-shi*”

Know Thy-“Product”

However, the key to Arabization extends far from language and translations. There has to be an understanding of the product’s feature as well as the brand elements to depict the advertising messages accurately.

Also, not having a wide grasp of the culture and its artefacts could result in misunderstanding the ad’s intended message. The audience could perceive the ad as offensive or even use it as a trigger to boycott the brand itself.

In order to successfully arabize the ad, it has to resonate with the Arabic heritage.

This also applies to brands which are advertising globally but using outdated representation of the Arab culture. Brands should consider the effect of such act especially if the business plans on entering a new market later on and expanding to the Arab world.

The effect of this act might go viral and affect the segment the brand is trying to reach in the new market. It might also result in a negative brand impression and a massive opportunity loss.  

This has actually happened when Coca Cola used an “oriental” view of the Arab World in one of its ads and the public viewed it as offensive and racist. Coca Cola had to take back its ad from the market which caused some financial and non-financial losses. 

– Expelling Arabs out of “The Chase”

Do You Believe in “The Tooth Fairy”?

Add to that, there are certain characters which don’t exist in the Arab culture such as the tooth fairy. This adds to the importance of knowing which images to avoid and which to embed in advertisements.

Dwayne the rock Johnson in the tooth fairy
“You can’t handle the tooth” – The Tooth Fairy

Ad Arabization is crucial for any brand trying to make an impact in the Arab market. Instead of relying on translation, localising their ads would add more value to the brand identity.

Arabizing ads could occur on different levels. These are often affected by each country’s culture and language, but it’s essential to merge all of these factors together for more representation in the brand’s ad messages.

Synesthesia – “Taste” the Words

synaesthesia

When you hear the word “banana”, are you able to “smell” it? Or by merely reading the word, do you picture a certain colour?

If your answer was yes to any of these questions then, you might be experiencing synesthesia. Synesthesia could be simply defined as the “crossing of the senses”. It occurs when the activation of a specific sense upon being exposed to a stimulus leads to the activation of another unrelated sense at the same time.

Synesthesia affects 3 – 5% of the population. This could be one of the reasons why marketers resort to it in their ads and in their marketing efforts.  

Billie Eillish winning 4 Grammy awards

Fun Fact: Famous singer, Billie Eilish, has synesthesia. In her case, she can visualise her own music!

In a world full of clutter, it became more difficult for marketers to grab the attention of their audience and to stand out from the others. However, the application of synesthesia in their ads could help them tackle such problem and cut through the noise.

Add to that, synesthesia can also help increase brand associations. It’s one of the reasons behind people associating Tiffany’s Jewellery shade of blue with luxury.

Tiffany's Blue Box
Something Blue..

Synesthesia allows marketers to appeal to their audience different senses upon exposure to a specific ad. This, in turn, affects their perceptual process and makes them focus their attention towards it even more. It will also allow the audience to visualise the message and to grasp its meaning easily.  

By having consumers experience synesthesia strategically, it’ll definitely make the whole brand experience more memorable and allow the brand to avoid habituation in its advertising.

Habituation occurs when an ad or a stimulus gets repeated too often resulting in a decrease or a lack of responses. The ad might appear too similar to others and have the audience lose their attention in a second. 

In advertising, it is important to manage the absolute threshold of intensity which is the minimal amount of intensity needed to grab the consumers’ attention. The exposure to millions of ads per day created a need for higher thresholds to grab attention.

This also adds to the importance of applying synesthesia in an ad. Achieving higher stimulus intensity and higher thresholds could be done through synesthesia. It could give advertisers the ability to manage thresholds and the intensity of the stimulus or the ad.

One company that managed to apply synesthesia in its ads effectively is Coca-Cola.  Recently, it created a very iconic, simple yet powerful #TasteTheFeeling ad campaign which leveraged synesthesia to make its brand more concrete.

Coca-Cola "Taste the Feeling" ad
“Try not to hear this”

By merely looking at this pic, you can’t help but to hear the sound of a Coca bottle opening and to imagine its taste, and that’s a sense of synesthesia for you.

Coca-Cola Advertisement

The taste, smell, and look of Coca-Cola had been widely communicated worldwide. By seeing the soda bubbles effervescence inside the glass, it will certainly trigger memories of the sound of a Coke being poured into a glass. What added to its effect is the “try not to hear this” title which worked in a form of reverse psychology.

Coca-Cola ad by ogilvy

Perhaps, what helped Coca Cola achieve its goals is the fact that they have communicated the “feeling” of tasting a Coca-Cola across all of their marketing campaigns over the past years. The sound of opening a Coke or pouring one into a glass could be found in all of its ads. This made it easier for consumers to visualise such sounds effortlessly.

You can check out their ad below:

“Taste” the Feeling

This campaign allowed Coca-Cola to leverage synesthesia to make the stimulus of their ads more intense. It certainly grabbed the attention of the audience and made them “taste” the feeling. Most importantly, these ads got Coca-Cola 86 million impressions and got people talking about it across four European markets in the first two months only.

Although it has become way harder for advertisers to cut through the noise, it had certainly made them come up with new and creative ways to grab the audience attention.

Synesthesia could be applied in a form of multi-sensory marketing to make the ads more powerful. However, it needs to be done strategically and with relevance to the brand involved so that it doesn’t harm it or cause any confusion in the process.

The Beauty Behind the Mould

Burger King "Mouldy Burger"
“Mould” is the New Black

In their new advertising campaign, Burger king (BK) broke the internet with “The Beauty of No Artificial Preservatives” in which they depicted a furry, green, and mouldy Whopper to show that they’re about to cut artificial colours, flavors, and preservatives from their signature product.  

The aim of this ad was to communicate that BK wanted to offer a healthier food option all over the countries in which they operated in and to make the customers crave healthier and organic ingredients. The whole point was to show transparency and the “real” factor behind the making of their burgers.

You can watch the ad in the video below;

On social media, the people’s opinion on this ad was divided. Some people praised BK for their daring method of communicating their message, but others did not seem to appreciate the mouldy burger as much.

Nonetheless, we have to give credit to BK that this move was pretty bold and daring.  

Although most people seemed to react negatively towards the burger’s image, it didn’t stop the social media sharing of this burger. In fact, the # for this campaign got more than 21 million impressions.

To say the least, this campaign got everybody talking about BK and their “mouldy” burger. It certainly got most marketers impressed by it.

The vivid and jarring image of this burger played a major role in grabbing everyone’s attention. It had the shocking factor which allowed it to stand out and enhanced its ability to go viral.

However, did the campaign really achieve what BK aimed for?

That just depends on BK’s goals. Had the aim of BK been to have everyone talking about its brand, then, yes it did. However, the real aim, as we mentioned above, was to emphasise on the “real” aspect of BK’s products.

BK actually managed to achieve the latter, but it might have entailed some negative consequences.

According to a social analytics company called Brandwatch, the data they’ve collected shows that nearly 50,000 people perceived the “mouldy burger” ad as disgusting. Their data also showed that about 60% of BK’s mentions during the campaign were negative. It’s also important to mention that the whole campaign received a lot of negative publicity from talk shows and different media.

Burger King's outdoor campaign for mouldy burger

Due to the controversial nature of this ad, it certainly sparked a lot of online debates. However, it must be kept in mind that the aim of this ad wasn’t to increase sales but rather to communicate the brand’s values. It aimed to show BK’s commitment to cut all artificial preservatives.

The key problem here might lie in associations. Whenever someone thinks about BK, the image shown in this latest ad is most likely to appear in their mind. This is due to the shocking value of this image which gives it an added chance of memorability.

This might also increase the likelihood of associating such image with the brand on the long run, and it might affect our purchasing decisions later on.

If we come to think about this ad rationally, we shouldn’t be surprised by the burger’s appearance after 34 days. On the contrary, we should be paranoid if it doesn’t decay.

Another problem lies in the fact that we as humans aren’t as rational as we think we are when we’re making decisions.

The truth is, when purchasing products and ordering food, especially when we’re feeling hungry, our decisions aren’t going to be rational. When doing so, it is likely that the picture of the green mouldy burger will remain stuck in our head and at the top of our minds whenever we think about BK.

To add on, the fact that most consumers viewed it as “disgusting” might affect the overall brand sentiment. It might create new unwanted links and associations with the BK’s brand.

This new ad campaign by BK certainly took the communication of “no artificial preservative” to a whole new level. By doing so, they certainly planted a concrete image of “100% non-artificial” in the consumers’ minds, but this might result in negative consequences on purchasing decisions in the future.

After all, a brand should not really want its customers to have a negative perception of it. The ultimate aim should be to decrease the negative associations and correlations with the brand and to limit them.

What’s your personal opinion on Burger King’s “Mouldy Burger” ad, was it a Hit or a Miss? Do you think it might entail some consequences for BK in the future?

Teaching the World a Lesson, One Burger at a Time

(The ad can be found in this link; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erSgUag9F_4 )

To answer the question in my previous post, let’s have a look at how a brand managed to teach its customers a lesson and to increase the people’s awareness in the society.

As a method to criticise some regulations that were going on concerning Net Neutrality, Burger King created an ad aiming to teach its customers about this concept. This social experiment by Burger King was done to criticise the repeal of Net Neutrality regulations and to showcase to the people the impact of such regulations on their lives.   

To those who are not familiar with the concept, Net Neutrality refers to having equal access to the Internet. Without it, the internet service providers will have the sole power to charge people more for higher speed and to control the content shown on their web pages.

As an opposition to the repeal of Net Neutrality, Burger King created the “Whopper Neutrality”. Burger King stated that “the brand believes the Internet should be like the Whopper sandwich; the same for everyone.”

This creative method by Burger King to explain the effect of an event going on in the society made a strong impact on the consumers. Such usage of the brand’s products helped to increase its customers’ awareness as well as to attract many people’s attention to the brand’s efforts.

By making use of on-going events in the society, brands can help stir up change and create social movements. When doing so, it certainly helps in creating a long lasting impact in the consumer’s lives and in developing a positive relationship with them.  

The Scent of Failure

An Interesting Case; Harley-Davidson Perfume

Introduction

From the very start, Harley Davidson (HD) was able to build bonds with its customers and remain one of the most popular brands till this very day.  It has built a lot of communities around it such as Harley Owners Group (H.O.G) and organised a lot of riding events. HD positioned itself as a lifestyle rather than a regular brand which helped it to create a strong relationship with the customers and to ensure their loyalty.

To grow its business, Harley Davidson made a lot of brand extensions that communicated its message and catered to its brand image. This allowed it to attract new customers and to retain the existing ones. The brand extensions done by Harley were usually consistent with its brand image and values. Its core values represent freedom, authenticity, toughness, masculinity which is represented by the unique sound of the exhaust, and community building.

Harley Davidson positioned itself as a way of living freely in the minds of the consumers. It was shown at first as a representation of rebellion. Its ads campaigns always show the motorcycle as the “machine of freedom and independence”.

When choosing a Harley, it is never about transportation for the customers, “It’s about living life in the way you choose.” Also, Harley Davidson sponsored a lot of riding and sports events such as “The Ultimate Fighting Championship” in order to alter the brand’s perception and to create certain attitudes and associations with the brand. It also helped it in its positioning in the minds of the consumers.

HD is popular with its wide variety of brand extensions, from accessories to match the bike to clothing and restaurants which matched the brand’s heritage. Brand extensions need to always be consistent with the brand’s image and core values.

For the consumers, they are kind of a representation of what the brand stands for, so consistency is a must. HD once failed when introducing a new product because it “did not resonate with the brand’s tough identity.”

Product

Harley Davidson introduced in the mid-90s a perfume which faced a major failure. They launched a perfume for the men and another one for the women that would presumably give them “the scent of freedom.” The HD perfume received a lot of criticism which led the company to stop its production. One of the major reasons of its failure was due to its incoherence with the brand’s values.

Harley Davidson failed to understand the consumers and their behaviour when launching this product. They only wanted to gain profits without thinking of the consequences or the impact that it may have on the brand positioning and its image.

HD stands for freedom and individualism, this product did not seem to fit in with its core values and brand identity. The customers perceive HD as a way to express their freedom and individuality, they perceive HD as something that makes them feel powerful, and such a product did not seem to resonate with their perception of the brand.

Harley Davidson has managed to meet the needs of its consumers from the very beginning, it gave them something that would allow them to experience new things and reach a point of self-actualisation. Part of the messages that they communicated was to make and encourage the consumers to go out on the open road in search of their true self and identity. However, Harley seemed to have a faulty understanding of its consumers upon launching the perfume.

HD had been constantly associated with a tough identity and this product seemed too soft for the consumers. They perceived it as something that does not belong to the brand. The consumers interacted with and responded to the product based on affection. Their emotional response and their perception of the brand seemed to be disrupted by this perfume.

Products that do not resonate with the brand’s image and identity might affect perceptions and cause confusions about the brand’s positioning. HD should have taken the psychological factor that affects the consumers into consideration. The continuous exposure to Harley’s messages affects the customers’ perception, attitude, and motivation.

Upon making a decision, consumers tend to be affected by a lot of factors. The past experiences of the brand extensions could have affected their perception of the perfume as well. Due to Harley’s messages and constant brand extensions that resonate with its image, the consumers perceived this product as a misrepresentation of the brand. Their attitude about the brand could have also contributed to this brand extension failure.

Harley seemed to create an attitude of rebellion which encouraged the customers to always try new experiences as well, it is very difficult to cause a change in that attitude . Producing a product that does not resonate with that attitude would also be very risky. HD did not understand the motivation of the consumers when launching the perfume. The experience and the heritage of the brand is what drive the consumers to act. HD encourages the costumers to be rebellious and to find and explore their true self out there on the road.

The perfume does not fit with this lifestyle, and it was not personally relevant for the consumers. They were not able to make a link with the perfume and the lifestyle and values of the HD. Customers are motivated by things that are consistent in their minds. Their perception of the HD is hedonistic and symbolic at the same time. The customers perceive the HD products as things that are for their personal enjoyment which signal and say a lot about their self-image at the same time. It seemed to cater for the need of affiliation and belonging to a specific group and pack of people.

When it comes to HD, it is always about the pack and enjoying the ride. In addition, having an attitude towards a brand usually makes it easier for the consumers since it does not require a significant amount of mental effort to make associations and links with the brand. Products need to always be consistent to compliment the attitude and the image the brand is trying to create for itself, it also makes it less risky for the brand as well. The perfume contradicted the links and associations with the HD brand. It did not resonate with the customers’ attitude and expectation of the brand.

Launching this product was very risky; it could have caused a change in the attitudes and the perceptions of the consumers due to its contradictions with the HD values. There always needs to be a consistency in the products and the brand’s message and identity so that the attitude and the perception of the consumers of HD do not change.

The continuous exposure to the wild and adventurous side of the brand led to a positive link with it, and it personalised the experience of the consumers which caused them to reject the idea of having a product like a perfume which does not match with these links.

When Harley Davidson launched the perfume, it was very likely that they were only thinking about profits disregarding the customers and their attitudes and perceptions. However, profit should not be the main incentive for HD or any other brand, building relationships and loyalties that could last for a very long time are more important.

Before launching a product, HD should make sure that they do the appropriate research to understand the consumers and how they will perceive the product. The priority should always be that the product matches and is consistent with their image and brand identity. It is very risky to alienate the consumers and affect their relationships and perceptions toward the brand.  A product like a perfume could have meant a short-term gain for HD, but it would have certainly affected the brand and its core products a lot on the long run.