A consensus emerging from writings about attitudes towards advertising in general is that such attitudes consist of two dimensions: the social and economic effects. However, as is the case with other marketing concepts and propositions, the findings pertaining to the structure of advertising attitudes are primarily based on American research. This study investigates the dimensionality of advertising attitudes in a non-US setting. The results obtained from a survey of Saudi adult consumers suggest that advertising attitudes do indeed decompose into social and economic effects dimensions as espoused in the US-based literature. The measures developed to capture the two dimensions demonstrate satisfactory internal consistency reliability and pass the tests for convergent, discriminant and concurrent validity. The implications of the findings are discussed and suggestions for future research are provided.

As an emotional appeal to reach the target audience, humor is a creative tool that uses laughter and entertainment to disarm the cynical viewer to deliver the advertising pitch. In this manner, a funny advertisement would capture audience attention and would have a greater chance of increasing the recall of the brand and the general marketing message. The presence of humor in advertisements spices up the content; thus, making it more interesting and amusing. However, due to the influence of culture to both individual and collective tastes in humor, the universality of humor may not apply to advertising, particularly to international advertising campaigns, at all times. Cultural differences challenge local and international campaigns to understand what the audience would understand, appreciate and buy in the long run. Adapting the Berger’s humor categories (1993), this thesis identified the prevalent humor categories in American and Filipino advertisements from January 2001 to March 2008 through content analysis. Although some categories are similarly prevalent in both samples, they are used portrayed in different ways. The various uses of these humor techniques are noticeable based on subtlety, physicality, intentions, nature and implied and latent definitions. Also, some humor techniques were combined with others to send the marketing message across effectively. This required the understanding of the overall picture and interaction of audio and visual elements in the advertisement. Therefore, this revealed that even both American and Filipino humor are characterized by their obvious, physical and sometimes vulgar expressions, there are still some differences between the two. American humor has a blunt, straightforward nature, whereas Filipino humor is subtle, conservative and visually goofy. Inferential statistics, on the other hand, revealed that only a few humor categories (four in the audio element, 1 in the visual element), showed the significant difference between American and Filipino advertisements. To further see the meaning beneath the similarities and differences between the funny American and Filipino advertisements, this thesis provided a textual analysis of the prevalent humor categories that appeared in the content analysis. The humor categories both reflect and challenge the cultural values of both countries. What is present in the society could be seen in the humor content of the advertisements, which may be a validation of the mirroring function of advertising. However, poking fun at the cultural value system in the United States and the Philippines gives them a taste of freedom and a feeling of relief from rules and constraints.

This study addresses the question of cross-country standardization of advertising by identifying existing cross-national differences in magazine advertisements. A content analysis of 1,983 advertisements in business, women's and general interest magazines was performed. The sample included 1989 and 1990 magazine issues from the United States, United Kingdom, France, India and South Korea.

Abstract Background Companies today are becoming more and more internationalized. In their home countries they have already established strong brand recognition and a strong image. This image is in turn visible in their advertising. As Swedish companies travel abroad some aspects have to be adapted to the new culture. A culture viewed as very different from the West is the Japanese culture. Swedish companies entering this culture must adapt in many ways in order to reach the Japanese consumers. Some companies with well established images might not be willing to make some of the adaptations. Purpose The purpose with this thesis is to establish if Swedish companies who have established themselves in Japan have to change their image through advertising in order to match the culture. Method This gathering of empirical data in this thesis was performed through a qualitative method. Six companies were contacted for phone interviews. Five of these companies were Swedish companies established in Japan and one of them was a Japanese company established in Sweden. All interviews were conducted with people in managerial positions. As a compari-son between Sweden and Japan, ads for each company were also used in order to make our conclusions. Results This thesis will show that most likely, Swedish companies must to some extent adjust their brand images to fit the Japanese culture. These adaptations are viewed mainly through their advertising efforts though also through their service and product improvements.

<p>Abstract</p><p>Background</p><p>Companies today are becoming more and more internationalized. In their home countries they have already established strong brand recognition and a strong image. This image is in turn visible in their advertising. As Swedish companies travel abroad some aspects have to be adapted to the new culture. A culture viewed as very different from the West is the Japanese culture. Swedish companies entering this culture must adapt in many ways in order to reach the Japanese consumers. Some companies with well established images might not be willing to make some of the adaptations.</p><p>Purpose</p><p>The purpose with this thesis is to establish if Swedish companies who have established themselves in Japan have to change their image through advertising in order to match the culture.</p><p>Method</p><p>This gathering of empirical data in this thesis was performed through a qualitative method. Six companies were contacted for phone interviews. Five of these companies were Swedish companies established in Japan and one of them was a Japanese company established in Sweden. All interviews were conducted with people in managerial positions. As a compari-son between Sweden and Japan, ads for each company were also used in order to make our conclusions.</p><p>Results</p><p>This thesis will show that most likely, Swedish companies must to some extent adjust their brand images to fit the Japanese culture. These adaptations are viewed mainly through their advertising efforts though also through their service and product improvements.</p>

A globalização é um fenômeno amplamente estudado, em suas facetas econômica, social e cultural. Do ponto de vista da Administração, configura-se como ação estratégica das empresas, em busca de maior competitividade produtiva e extensão de mercados demandantes. O setor da propaganda, provedor de um serviço corporativo de apoio na cadeia de valor de empresas fabricantes ou prestadoras de serviços finais, pode ser visto tanto como reflexo quanto propulsor da globalização: se, por um lado, segue seus clientes para atendê-los além das fronteiras nacionais, por outro cria com as suas redes geograficamente pulverizadas a possibilidade de desenvolvimento de campanhas globais, incentivando outras empresas a se empenharem na internacionalização. Contudo, a complexidade das operações de comunicação integrada entre diversos países obriga as agências de propaganda a redesenharem suas estruturas organizacionais. As suas atividades, fortemente dependentes de informação, não se enquadram com facilidade nem nos modelos centralizados (que ignoram as especificidades locais de cada mercado) nem nos descentralizados (que reduzem os benefícios integradores da agência de alcance global). Este estudo descreve como duas agências de origem norte-americana que se instalaram no Brasil por meio de abertura de filiais próprias adaptam suas estruturas organizacionais para atender seus clientes internacionais. Para tanto, realizou-se um estudo de casos múltiplos, com a análise de duas agências de consolidada presença no mercado brasileiro: a McCann-Erickson (instalada no país desde 1935) e a J. Walter Thompson (a partir de 1929). A fonte principal de dados da pesquisa foram quatro entrevistas junto a executivos-chave na gestão de contas globais. A investigação empírica corroborou o modelo proposto por VARDAR e PALIWODA (1993) de que as agências de propaganda mimetizam as estruturas de coordenação global e regional de seus clientes. Este espelhamento facilita os fluxos de informação e decisão intra e inter-organizacionais, ao criar contrapartes nas agências para os principais núcleos decisórios do anunciante. Com esse objetivo, as redes de propaganda mantêm estruturas matriciais que lhes permitem espelhar simultaneamente seus múltiplos clientes. A política de negócios revelada pelos estudos de caso indica uma orientação ao mercado por parte das agências, que buscam por meio de sofisticados mecanismos adaptativos cultivar relacionamentos de longo prazo junto aos anunciantes. / Globalization is an extensively studied phenomenon, in its economic, social, and cultural dimensions. From the standpoint of Administration, it is configured as a strategical action of companies in search of better productive competitiveness and broader consumer markets. The advertising industry, caracterized as a corporate service backing up the value chain of final goods or services, may be seen either as cause as consequence of globalization: if, on one hand, it follows its clients to serve them beyond national frontiers, on the other it creates, with its geographically pulverized networks, the possibility of global campaign development, fostering the internationalization of other enterprises. However, the complexity of the operations envolved in globally integrated communication forces advertising agencies to rethink its organizational structures. Their activities, strongly information-dependent, do not fit well in centralized models (as they ignore local especificities), nor in decentralized ones (as they neutralize the integrating benefits of global networks). This essay describes how two US-based agencies with local representation in Brazil (through wholly-owned affiliates) adapt their organizational structures to serve globalized clients. Hence, the research method used was a multiple case study, analysing two agencies with strong relevance in the brazilian market: McCann-Erickson (running its local branch in Brazil since 1935) and J. Walter Thompson (sinca 1929). The main data sources were four personal interviews with key executives in the management of global accounts. The empirical investigation corroborated the hypothesis proposed by VARDAR and PALIWODA (1993), according to which advertising agencies mimic their clients global and regional coordenation structures. This mirroring effect facilitates the flow of information and decisions in and between organizations, by creating agency counterparts for every decision-making node observed in the advertisers structure. In order to achieve this, advertising networks use matricial structures which allow them to simultaneously mirror their multiple clients. The business policy revealed by the case studies indicates a market-driven strategy adopted by agencies, in search of long-term relationships with advertisers through sophisticated adaptive mecanisms.

A globalização é um fenômeno amplamente estudado, em suas facetas econômica, social e cultural. Do ponto de vista da Administração, configura-se como ação estratégica das empresas, em busca de maior competitividade produtiva e extensão de mercados demandantes. O setor da propaganda, provedor de um serviço corporativo de apoio na cadeia de valor de empresas fabricantes ou prestadoras de serviços finais, pode ser visto tanto como reflexo quanto propulsor da globalização: se, por um lado, segue seus clientes para atendê-los além das fronteiras nacionais, por outro cria com as suas redes geograficamente pulverizadas a possibilidade de desenvolvimento de campanhas globais, incentivando outras empresas a se empenharem na internacionalização. Contudo, a complexidade das operações de comunicação integrada entre diversos países obriga as agências de propaganda a redesenharem suas estruturas organizacionais. As suas atividades, fortemente dependentes de informação, não se enquadram com facilidade nem nos modelos centralizados (que ignoram as especificidades locais de cada mercado) nem nos descentralizados (que reduzem os benefícios integradores da agência de alcance global). Este estudo descreve como duas agências de origem norte-americana que se instalaram no Brasil por meio de abertura de filiais próprias adaptam suas estruturas organizacionais para atender seus clientes internacionais. Para tanto, realizou-se um estudo de casos múltiplos, com a análise de duas agências de consolidada presença no mercado brasileiro: a McCann-Erickson (instalada no país desde 1935) e a J. Walter Thompson (a partir de 1929). A fonte principal de dados da pesquisa foram quatro entrevistas junto a executivos-chave na gestão de contas globais. A investigação empírica corroborou o modelo proposto por VARDAR e PALIWODA (1993) de que as agências de propaganda mimetizam as estruturas de coordenação global e regional de seus clientes. Este espelhamento facilita os fluxos de informação e decisão intra e inter-organizacionais, ao criar contrapartes nas agências para os principais núcleos decisórios do anunciante. Com esse objetivo, as redes de propaganda mantêm estruturas matriciais que lhes permitem espelhar simultaneamente seus múltiplos clientes. A política de negócios revelada pelos estudos de caso indica uma orientação ao mercado por parte das agências, que buscam por meio de sofisticados mecanismos adaptativos cultivar relacionamentos de longo prazo junto aos anunciantes. / Globalization is an extensively studied phenomenon, in its economic, social, and cultural dimensions. From the standpoint of Administration, it is configured as a strategical action of companies in search of better productive competitiveness and broader consumer markets. The advertising industry, caracterized as a corporate service backing up the value chain of final goods or services, may be seen either as cause as consequence of globalization: if, on one hand, it follows its clients to serve them beyond national frontiers, on the other it creates, with its geographically pulverized networks, the possibility of global campaign development, fostering the internationalization of other enterprises. However, the complexity of the operations envolved in globally integrated communication forces advertising agencies to rethink its organizational structures. Their activities, strongly information-dependent, do not fit well in centralized models (as they ignore local especificities), nor in decentralized ones (as they neutralize the integrating benefits of global networks). This essay describes how two US-based agencies with local representation in Brazil (through wholly-owned affiliates) adapt their organizational structures to serve globalized clients. Hence, the research method used was a multiple case study, analysing two agencies with strong relevance in the brazilian market: McCann-Erickson (running its local branch in Brazil since 1935) and J. Walter Thompson (sinca 1929). The main data sources were four personal interviews with key executives in the management of global accounts. The empirical investigation corroborated the hypothesis proposed by VARDAR and PALIWODA (1993), according to which advertising agencies mimic their clients global and regional coordenation structures. This mirroring effect facilitates the flow of information and decisions in and between organizations, by creating agency counterparts for every decision-making node observed in the advertisers structure. In order to achieve this, advertising networks use matricial structures which allow them to simultaneously mirror their multiple clients. The business policy revealed by the case studies indicates a market-driven strategy adopted by agencies, in search of long-term relationships with advertisers through sophisticated adaptive mecanisms.

The study examines attitudes toward and effectiveness of cause-related marketing initiatives in Poland. As the results indicate, the factors, which lead to the popularity and effectiveness of the cause-related marketing initiatives in the United States and the United Kingdom, lack in the Polish culture. Even though CRM is popular in Poland, it does not influence the purchase decisions. Poles do not have any expectations toward businesses in the area of corporate social responsibility. They believe that the government should take the responsibility for solving social issues, and value only the functional dimensions of the products, because their emotional needs are fully satisfied by their families, friends and religion.

This study sought to enrich the research in cross-border strategic brand alliance (SBA), an international business practice highly utilized today. In order to spread out the risk of competing in international markets, firms formed alliances with overseas counterparts. However, confusing positioning and inaccuracies in communication in cross-cultural settings reduced the success rate of these partnerships. The content analysis examined cross-border SBA advertisements to shed light on their communicational strategies. Taiwan and the US, representative of inherent cultural values in Eastern and Western countries, served as great research subjects for this comparative study. The findings suggested that cross-border SBA advertisements do not have significantly distinctive communication strategies except for the inherent difference in multi-national characteristics. However, cross-border SBA advertisements in both countries differ from generic advertisements documented in previous studies in terms of information cues, advertising appeals, and general communication strategies. The comparison between cross-border SBA advertisements was reflective of the cultural differences in these cultural contexts. In sum, cross-border SBA advertisements were embedded with stronger cultural distinctiveness and in need of special execution to integrate proper messages. / text