Assignment

“Example of Cultural Branding in Bangladesh”

Course Title: Principles of Marketing

Course Code: MBA 507

Submitted To:
Kohinoor Biswas
Assistant Professor
East West University

Submitted By:
Md. Abu Yousuf
ID: 2016-3-95-045
Introduction:
Innovation is not just about product design, it can also come from a marketing campaign that
taps into cultural and societal issues, argue the authors of a book on how to create an iconic
brand, writes JOHN FANNING
IN 2004, DOUGLAS HOLT, a Harvard marketing professor now at Oxford University,
published a provocative thesis on how some brands become cultural icons, ensuring loyal
customers and a profitable premium price. The core proposition was that products or services
that base their marketing communication on cultural themes reflecting current societal anxieties
and desires have a better chance of achieving iconic status than by any other means.

Examples of Cultural Branding in Bangladesh:

A brand can only connect with its consumers if it understands the value system in which its
consumers operate. An effective brand aligns itself with the vital elements of its consumers'
culture. It is absolutely essential for a brand to understand the culture of its consumers at its
entirety, because culture is an integrated pattern of human belief system and behavior pattern.
Brands will have to depend upon its target consumers' culture and festivals to make the best use
of their symbolic thought and social learning. For an example when a brand connects the
consumers effectively through Eid in Bangladesh, it does not only connect with the Eid-day, it
connects deeply with the consumers on basis of values like joy, celebration, togetherness and
peace.

A Bangladeshi brand that has imbibed culture is Mojo. When Adcomm first started looking at
positioning the brand, we saw an absence of a purely Bangladeshi brand. Most carbonated
beverages were aping western youth culture. Bangladeshi youth on the other hand were very
aware of their cultural roots. Actually they were very proud of it. While at the same time not
afraid to accept, adopt, modify, enjoy or celebrate bits of foreign culture that they liked. To give
an example, they loved rock music but when AyubBachchu, James or Azam Khan sang it. They
loved their Levis and put a fotua (short shirt) on top. They danced their heart out when, what is
basically a Hindu religious song was infused with a technobeat - Krishno! Mojo understood this
and very unapologetically embraced it! We said it is "cool" to be a Bangladeshi with a global
taste! Essentially a Bengali soul with a western eye! This worked for the brand.

How Mojo connected the brand essence with culture?

Culture is an important part of the communication mix. Consumer insights are based on the
potential's experience and environment. And culture is merely a reflection of that. No brand can
succeed if they are diametrically opposed to the cultural context of where it is sold.

 Mapping the cultural orthodoxy

Before implementing the cultural branding a brand must identify a crowdculture as a potential
target and then should deep-dive into that culture. It is imperative to understand the strength and
the depth of crowdcultures to harness it to build the brand. Just like communities and nations,
crowdcultures have their own language, norms and subtle nuances. To truly connect with
consumers, marketers should not only understand the culture but also respect it. So, what Mojo
did? They identified the youth as their crowdculture who are very aware about their cultural
roots while at the same time not afraid to accept, adopt, modify, enjoy or celebrate bits of foreign
culture that they liked.

 Locating the cultural opportunity

Over time, disruptions in society trigger consumers to start searching for alternatives, which
opens up a cultural opportunity for innovative brands to push forward a new ideology. For
instance the young generation of Bangladesh, they loved rock music but when Ayub Bachchu,
James or Azam Khan sang it. They loved their Levis and put a fotua (short shirt) on top. They
danced their heart out when, what is basically a Hindu religious song was infused with a
technobeat - Krishno! Mojo understood this and very unapologetically embraced it!

 Targeting the Crowdculture

After embracing a massive cultural movement, brands have the task to target sub-crowdcultures
and customize their cultural expression. For example, Mojo targeted the young group of the
society who were very aware & proud of their cultural root and the same time not afraid to
accept, adopt, modify, enjoy or celebrate bits of foreign culture that they liked.

 Diffusing the new ideology

Distribution of the new cultural ideology is vital for the brand’s success. Crowdculture has
turbocharged interactions between like-minded consumers both in speed and in quality. Mojo
understood the demand of the youth group and embraced it without hesitation! We said it is
"cool" to be a Bangladeshi with a global taste! Essentially a Bengali soul with a western eye!
This worked for the brand.

 Continuous innovation through cultural flash points

Once the brand is established it can sustain its cultural relevance by playing off particularly
intriguing or continuous issues that dominate the media discourse related to an ideology and
Mojo did it successfully in this step as well. Because of this inherent nature of the brand, Mojo
can now approach festivals with honesty of purpose. A few of years ago for Qurbani Eid Mojo
gave away the services of a "Koshai" (butcher). I don't think any other brand could do that. This
set the brand apart in the minds of the drinkers. Mojo could remain close to the essence of the
brand and still be part of the cultural fabric. The brand has seen a fantastic increase in sales
during that campaign.

Conclusion:
Indeed the reason why some brands are successful while others are not- is because these brands
"resonate" with their consumers. They affirm deeply rooted values in addition to fulfilling needs
and aspirations of their consumers. Culture as we know plays a major role in defining/shaping
these values, needs, aspirations. A brand that effectively decodes the cultural influences has a
greater chance of creating a bridge between itself and its consumers.