Marketing Across Cultures

Blue Diamond — a food company based in California

almond — миндаль

What is the difference between the U.S. and Canadian markets? Not much, most people would say. But Blue Diamond, a food company based in California, found that there are indeed significant differences.

Blue Diamond had run a successful advertising campaign for its almonds in the United States. The TV ads used American almond farmers and a humorous message. But when tested in Canada, the same commercials didn't work. The Canadians found the ads too silly. They also said they prefer to buy products from Canadian farmers. So Blue Diamond hired a local advertising agency to create commercials that targeted its Canadian market. The new commercials expressed positive feelings for Canadians in both French and English. They used Shakespeare, Napoleon and Michelangelo to promote «Blue Diamond Almonds — the Classic Snack».

Since the development of this promotional campaign, Blue Diamond's sales in Canada have increased. This is just one example of Blue Diamond's ability to adapt to different market tastes and trends. As a matter of fact, Blue Diamond has become so successful that it now exports 70 percent of its almonds to more than 90 different countries.

It says the key to opening markets is market research. In each market it hires local agencies to research the region. The local agencies then develop a marketing strategy to plan how they will introduce the product and sell it. This process of research, planning, and testing can take as long as five years.

The product, as well as its ads, must be adapted to reach new markets. In the United States, Blue Diamond offers eight different almond flavors that appeal to American tastes. In Japan it markets twelve different products, eight of which were developed just for the Japanese market. Blue Diamond also produces an almond cracker for Japan's many cracker consumers. In Mexico, Blue Diamond markets lemon and chili flavored almonds. In Korea, it markets soy flavored almonds. In Saudi Arabia it markets sweet honey almonds and in Canada it markets a salt and vinegar flavor. Blue Diamond packaging also varies around the world. The words on the Blue Diamond can be translated into eighteen different languages. The actual can is smaller and thinner in Korea and Japan because consumers have less space for storage. Blue Diamond also plans to market the smaller can in Eastern Europe, so the product will be more affordable.

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