Page 33 - MYM 2016

by Yoovidhya’s son, Chalerm. anks to Dietrich Mateschitz’s marketing savvy, Red Bull (the English translation of Krating Daeng) would become a worldwide brand with sales last year of $6.7 billion.
What the world needs is hundreds of people like Dietrich Mateschitz who would spend some of their time in the poorest countries of the world looking for future Red Bulls.
Where will we nd the marketing experts?
Suppose some far-sighted individuals got together to create an organization called “Mar- keting Without Borders.” Where would this organization nd the experts to send to the small countries of this world?
Most marketing experts have zero experience in building a new global brand. And many of the existing global brands were built decades ago. Lipton, the world’s largest tea brand, is 126 years old. Coca-Cola, the world’s largest cola brand, is 130 years old. Gordon’s, the world’s largest gin brand, is 247 years old.
Where would Marketing Without Borders nd the people it needs? One place to look is the 100 most valuable global brands, an annual list pub- lished by Interbrand, a global branding consultancy. Only 15 countries account for the 100 most valu- able global brands. And only ve countries account for more than three brands.
fig. 3: the ve countries that own the most number of global brands
The problem is going to get worse
In many of the developed countries of the world, including America, income inequality is generating a lot of social unrest. But how about income inequality among countries? Isn’t that just as big a problem? Isn’t income inequality among countries likely to cause even bigger problems than income inequality among people? Like terrorism and war? I think so. And unless a poor country strikes oil or some other inherently valuable natural resource, there’s no solution to the problem except building global brands.
And isn’t that what many marketing experts in the more-developed countries of the world have been trained to do?
Why not apply this expertise to the millions
of people who have been unlucky enough to have been born in the dozens of small, poor countries of the world?
It’s nice to have free medical help from time to time, but I’m sure that most of the people unlucky enough to have been born in dozens of small, poor countries would rather have a substantial amount of money instead. ■
Al Ries is the Chairman of Ries & Ries, focusing consultants. He is the father of the Positioning concept and a member of the Marketing Hall of Fame. He has written 10 books on the subject of marketing, including the key text “Focus.”
MarketiNg for social chaNge
country
# global brands
America
52 brands
Germany
10 brands
France
7 brands
Japan
6 brands
United Kingdom
6 brands
So it’s obvious that Marketing Without Borders will have to do most of its recruiting in these ve countries.
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