Global Advertising
ADText: Advertising Curriculum
Unit 19: Global Advertising
1. Introduction
The emergence of global brands—that is, of brands that are available in many or even most parts of the world—makes it necessary for advertising to operate globally. Global advertising campaigns share many features with advertising in more restricted markets, but they also occasion some unique issues and solutions.
This unit features interviews with Marcio Moreira, Vice Chairman and former Worldwide Director of Multinational Accounts of McCann Worldgroup, and Shelly Lazarus, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide.
Both Moreira and Lazarus have worked extensively with global campaigns. Few individuals are better placed or more experienced than they to provide overviews of what global advertising is and how it works.
2. Marcio Moreira on Global Advertising
WMO: It’s been 20 years since we published “The Airbrushing of Culture.” That interview focused on the state of global advertising at that time. You talked about thinking globally and executing locally and explained how things that might look different on the surface can, in fact, be realizations of the same core idea. I remember the Sprite commercial for South Africa that you described. It was shot in a roller-skating rink instead of the usual beach scene that Sprite was using at that time. You explained that many South African blacks were not comfortable swimming and therefore the beach was more about danger than having fun. The execution using roller skating contained the same core ideas of youth, sociability, and having fun— but on the surface it looked really different from the beach scenes. Realizing that surprised many of our readers at the time. Does global advertising still work like that today?
