Cultural decoding empowers brand development by creating meaning, relevance and differentiation, anchored in the local culture. Culturally-tuned brands resonates with the local consumers.
The Cultural Blueprint is the distillation of the in-depth understanding of how the culture impacts the behaviour, at the subconscious level.
It serves as the base to develop the brand identity and communication strategy bringing clarity and objectivity.
The framework maps the key domains, the unwritten cultural codes, the expression cues, cultural tensions, the code trajectory. The approach is foundational, predictive in nature.
Cultural decoding creates business value
Taps into Future Possibilities
Improves Global-Local Strategy
Fuels Creativity and Innovation
1. Taps into future possibilities.
The Cultural Framework of the Sport Culture ( India 2010) opened a new emotional space for the category. IPL challenged the conventional discourse, bringing in new codes of Money Power, Glamour and Life-style in the sports category
2. Improves Global-Local Strategy
1. Cultural sensitivity anchors global brand locally.
In Chinese culture toddlers go diaper-less, in split pants during the day. Its part of the toilet training ritual. This pushed the global brand, Pampers, to occupy the night-time. Its interesting to capture how the Chinese have adapted to the use of the diapers, along with the split pants. The culturally ingrained habit is hard to die but the consumer adapt around it.
2. Helps global brand localise the communication.
Window display of Nike outlet in Shanghai
What’s a shoe got to do with a rose? Nike strategically used the Rose -a traditional Chinese symbol, to subliminally anchor the brand in the local consumer’s mind.
3.Diagnoses brand-culture dissonance and how meaning is created
The Korean Face Mask was a disconnect with the Indian women. The Monkey symbol connotes masculinity and jester – contrary to the Indian beauty codes. Unlike Korean culture , where monkey stood for motherhood and success.
3. Fuels creativity and innovation.
1.Opportunity to reinvent the residual codes:
Semiotics identifies the residual, dominant and emergent codes. The dying residual codes are rooted in the culture, and offers an opportunity to reinvent. Lomography illustrates how a brand can reinvent the out-dated code of analogue cameras into a contemporary language .
2.Creating differentiation at the express level
The Cultural Blueprint clearly articulates how a code expresses itself, within the culture – functional, visual, sensorial cues.
3. Enhances the Experiential Level.
Cultural decoding empowers the brand to enhance consumer experience at the touch-points. Using the codes of premium beauty salon – textured walls, paintings, beautiful wall papers, soothing colours, the Medical Diagnostic Lab transformed its context, creating a calming experience for the patient, subliminally
4. Art is the product, and the creator of culture.
Brands across the world take inspiration from art. A handcrafted premium handbag brand of Spain takes inspiration from the unique architectural blueprint of the avant garde artist Gaudi. A young lady in Shanghai is wearing a bold coloured shirt, straight out of Pete Mondrian’s painting. Swatch frames time as an art piece in a rich gothic frame. Art inspired cultural code – Bold, edgy, innovative, style statement.