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IMR 24,4

borders:
regional
opportu
nities
and
challen
ges

444

Julien Cayla

Faculty of Business, University of New South Wales, Sydne

Giana M. Eckhardt

Suffolk University, Boston, Massachusetts, US

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to analyze Asian branding strategies at the regional
map of opportunities and challenges for Asian regional branding.
Design/methodology/approach The study takes, a multi-sited interpretive
interview 22 brand managers throughout the Asian region. The length of
approximately 1.5 hours/respondent. In-depth case studies of two prominent pa
Tiger Beer and Zuji, were also conducted. An interpretive analysis to this data se
themes were developed.
Findings The two major challenges for regional Asian branding are negative
perceptions and regional positioning being inherently fragile. Despite these key
respondents saw clear opportunities for regional branding initiatives. Brands ca
positioning by focusing on Asian modernity rather than on common cultural he
capitalize on newfound Asian pride and confidence, and finally they can use a
approval to signal to Asians the viability of the brand.
Originality/value The paper extends previous work on the globalization of m
by advancing the region as an important unit of analysis. It helps understand th
brands in a part of the world that is becoming more important at the economic a
study shows how marketers are shaping culture in the Asian context. Finally, th
better understanding of the opportunities and challenges associated with a regio
the development of regional branding strategies.

Keywords Marketing, Brands, Culture, Globalization, South Asia, South East A

Paper type Research paper

While most of global trade happens between neighbouring countrie

research examines branding activities at a regional level. This pape
gap by looking at the region as the context and unit of analysis for
branding strategies. We interviewed 22 managers participating in re
activities in the Asian region and derived a map of opportunities an
regional branding.
Despite the media hype about global brands and global business
economy is fundamentally regional. For example, while we te
G
r
Inter
natio
nal
D
Mark
O
eting
Revie
w
Vol.
24
No.
4,
2007
pp. 444456
q Emerald

Te
listedM
halphabetically; in
e both contributedni
a equally.
Thex
uauthors wouldfo
t like to thank ther
hAustralian
hi
oGraduate Schools
r of Managementda
s for funding thista
a research,
an
r Matthew
al

multinational companies as trading all

over the globe, the worlds 500 largest
multinationals generate most of their

ysis
assistance,
and
most
importantly
the authors
respondents
for sharing
their
insights
with
authors.

revenues
from
neighbo
uring

markets (Rugman and Verbeke, 2004).

Even as many companies try to reap
the benefits associated with a global
positioning (Steenkamp et al., 2003),
many of them do not have the
resources to establish a truly global
presence. Moreover, in the past 20
years,
regions
have
become
increasingly important at the economic
and political levels, as reflected in the
European Union and regional trade
agreements such as the Association of
South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Yet there is very little research in
international marketing that focuses on
regional issues.
In this paper, we use the region as the
context and unit of analysis for the study
of branding strategies. By regional
branding practices, we mean the set of
firm practices designed to increase a
brands equity in the region. Despite the
importance of regional trade, very little
research documents the way brands are
managed in a regional context (notable
exceptions for the Asian region include
Schmitt and Pan, 1994; Tai, 1997). So far
studies on international branding have
focused on global brands, explaining how
these brands are perceived (Holt et al.,
2004; Johansson and Ronkainen, 2005),
and how they adapt to local contexts
outside their home markets (Watson,
1997); or on local branding, explaining
how they can compete against global
brands (Eckhardt, 2005; Ger, 1999). In
contrast we focus on the development of
regional branding strategies within Asia.

Asia is fast becoming a major

economic centre. The success of brands
such as Giordano, Banyan Tree and
Acer all testify to the dynamism of
brands in the Asian region. Yet there is
little academic writing to guide or even
understand the expansion of Asian
brands in Asia. Past studies have
focused on the Asianization of
Western brands by emphasizing their
ability to adapt to Asian cultural
contexts (Watson, 1997), or on the
development of Asian brands for
Western markets (Ewing et al., 2001).
Few studies have examined the
development of Asian brands tailored

for
Asian
audience
s.
Studying
the
develop
ment of
Asian
brands
becomes
particula
rly
relevant
because
more
and
more
Asian
firms
increasin
gly
concentr
ate on
branding
and
image
manage
ment to
fuel
their
expansio
n
(Schmitt
and Pan,
1994).
In this
paper,
we
research
how
manager
s make
sense of
the Asian
region,
and how
their
understa
nding
impacts
regional
branding
activities
. How do

branding experts fashion a regional

positioning for brands? How do
marketers contend with the heterogeneity
of the Asian region when building
regional brands? To understand the
nature of Asian regional branding, we
took an interpretive approach and
conducted depth interviews with
branding, marketing and advertising
managers, all participating in regional
marketing activities, and developed a
map of regional branding challenges and
opportunities.

Conceptual foundations
Within the field of international
branding, there is a growing body of
literature that illuminates what it takes to
be a successful local brand (Eckhardt,
2005; Ger, 1999; Kapferer, 2002). This
literature emphasizes that local brands
should capitalize on their local cultural
capital to create unique value (Ger,
1999). At the same time, researchers have
shown how global brands can charge
price
premiums
(Johansson
and
Ronkainen,
2005;
Schuiling
and
Kapferer, 2004; Steenkamp et al., 2003)
because of the glamour (Alden et al.,
1999) and quality associations (Holt et
al., 2004) they convey.
It is unclear how past research on
local and global branding would apply to
regional
marketing
issues.
The
international branding literature typically
seeks to understand

Asi
an
brands
withou
t
border
s

445

IMR
24,4

446

when global and local appeals are most relevant (Zhou and Belk, 2004). At the heart of
this question is how a global firm can understand the other. That is, when the firm
enters a new market, how much should it modify the brand proposition or the brand
aesthetics to attempt to reach an imagined local consumer? When investigating
regionality, it is unclear how relevant this approach would be. In Asia, for example,
where migration patterns and history have let to a vast heterogeneity between and
within countries, what is the mandate for localization in each country market? When a
brand is developed to be regional in the first place, and thus sees an entire region, albeit
a diverse one, as the self rather than the other, is the question about achieving a
balance between global consistency and local relevance even applicable?
Moreover, models of global branding and international marketing have been based
on the expansion of Western firms into other countries. This is evident in the way we
talk of emerging markets, as if markets like China and India had suddenly appeared
on the map of global marketing. Like in other social sciences (Fabian, 1983),
academics in the field of international marketing have defined non-Western countries
as the periphery and the West as the centre of frameworks and preoccupations.
We take the examination of regional brands as a way to move beyond the debate of
global versus local. We cannot make sense of the world system in terms of neat
models of centre and periphery (Appadurai, 1990). Some of Appadurais insights have
already been used in international marketing (Alden et al., 1999; Steenkamp et al.,
2003) to talk about the existence of a global consumer culture that transcends national
boundaries. But his framework to understand globalization, which emphasizes
cultural flows within regions, is yet to have the impact it deserves in international
marketing, especially when it comes to branding practices.
Finally, this study helps us analyze branding issues in their global cultural context.
The marketing literature has amply discussed branding issues at the individual level
(Fournier, 1998) but brands have rarely been analyzed in regional or global contexts
(Askegaard, 2006). Brands provide symbolic resources for consumers to forge their
identity, but brands can also change cultures (Ritzer, 1993). This research helps us to
move from the micro perspective of most branding studies to the macro level of
regional branding activities.
Methodology
To understand regional branding practices, we used an interpretive approach. Rather
than testing hypotheses as in experimental work or survey research, the objective of
interpretive marketing research is the articulation of theory, and typically uses
qualitative methods. Qualitative marketing research is especially pertinent in contexts
that have not been well studied and where exploratory research is needed (Thompson,
1997). Given the lack of research on regional marketing strategies, qualitative
research projects for the purpose of theory development are critical at this stage.
The research is designed to gain both depth and breadth of understanding
(Hirschman, 1989). To develop depth of understanding, we focus on two brands: a
Singaporean beer with ambitions to be the regional leader in its product category
(Tiger Beer), and a travel portal targeting Asian audiences (Zuji). To gain breadth of
understanding, we rely on additional depth interviews with executives working on a
wide variety of Asian branding campaigns in a wide variety of positions and
companies. We specifically selected managers with experience in regional marketing
strategy in the Asian

region. Sampling ceased when new sources and informants no longer added to the
insights. See Table I for details on the informants.
We used a variety of sites and companies for our data collection effort Hong Kong,
Hyderabad, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai, Singapore and Sydney. These are the cities where
the brand consultancies, advertising agencies and marketing departments for the Asian
region are located. In addition, our approach was also to follow the brand in the different
places where branding strategies were developed and refined. For a brand like Zuji, this
involved interviewing the consultant responsible for brand design in Sydney, the ad
agency in Singapore, and a regional marketing manager in Hong Kong. The globalization
of marketing activities leads to the creation of multicultural teams working on the same
brand from different locations. Overall, our approach is consistent with recent calls for
qualitative marketing research to go beyond spatially bounded studies of one culture in
one specific site (Kjeldgaard et al., 2006).

We used an interpretive analysis approach, in which we coded the interview

transcripts, first with lower level categories and eventually with higher-level
categories. We developed summaries of the interviews, and used various techniques
such as developing iterative coding schemes and diagramming to develop patterns in
the data (Spiggle, 1994). During the analysis period, we went back and forth between
the literature and the data, and between individual interviews and the entire corpus of
data, until we reached our final categorization scheme.
As a final note, we never attempt to define the physical boundaries of Asia. Like
other regions, Asia is not a natural category. It is socially constructed. As geographers
Kelly and Olds (1999, p. 2) put it: . . . perhaps more than any other world region, the
boundaries of the Asia-Pacific are indeterminate and open to contestation and social
construction. One of the primary objectives of this research is to understand how
managers conceptualize a region. We are interested in emic definitions of the Asian

Asian brands
without borders

447

Name

Position

Company type

Location

Midori
Damian
Mark
John
Anthony
Bhuvana
Sandeep
Navonil
Linda
Sharon
Ray
Katherine
Dave
Jovan
Jason
Mike
Bill
Angela
Martin
Joseph

Regional Research Manager

Director of Brand Consulting
Director of Marketing
Regional Planning Director
Managing Director
Marketing Manager
Consultant
Planning Director
National Creative Director
Senior Brand Consultant
Marketing Manager
Strategy Director
Market Researcher
Group Managing Director
Market Researcher
Senior Consultant
Senior Market Researcher
Account Planning Director
CEO, Consulting Company
CEO, Consulting Company

Market Research Company

Branding Consultancy
Branding Consultancy
Advertising Agency
Branding Consultancy
Business School
Branding Consultancy
Advertising Agency
Advertising Agency
Branding Consultancy
Brewery
Branding Consultancy
Market Research Company
Branding Consultancy
Market Research Company
Strategic Consulting Firm
Market Research Company
Advertising Agency
Branding Consultancy
Branding Consultancy

Sydney
Sydney
Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong-Kong
Hyderabad
Hyderabad
Kuala Lumpur
Singapore
Singapore
Singapore
Singapore
Kuala Lumpur
Singapore
Shanghai
Hong Kong
Sydney
Singapore
Singapore
Singapore

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448

Table I.
Informant characteristics

region, rather than imposing our own definition. From a practical perspective,
however, the brands we are researching encompass various countries located in East
Asia, Southeast Asia, or the Asia-Pacific region.
Findings
There is an emerging stream of literature documenting the rich intraregional cultural
exchanges happening within Asia (Iwabuchi, 1999; Moeran, 2001). These studies
stress how television, music and cinema producers are increasingly tapping into the
sense of cultural proximity existing in Asia. Asian audiences feel the US type of
modernity portrayed by Hollywood is too distant from their lives. Asian TV series and
hip-hop acts, with their emphasis on the difficulties of balancing modernity and
traditional values, have a stronger regional appeal (Iwabuchi, 2002).
At the same time, most of the managers we spoke with described the
overwhelming religious, ethnic, language, economic and cultural heterogeneity in
Asia as a major hindrance for developing a regional branding platform. For example,
Sharon says, I think a lot of people look at Asia as one market. But each country is
completely different, the cultures, the people, the norms, the behaviours, and I think
its a real challenge to try and build the bridge between markets. With these two
opposing trends in mind regional cohesiveness vs heterogeneity we outline what
managers see as the major challenges they face in developing a regional branding
strategy before moving to the most promising opportunities for overcoming these
challenges.
Challenges for regional Asian branding
Country of origin perceptions. The managers we interviewed outlined negative country
of origin perceptions as a major challenge for Asian brands that want to achieve a regional
presence. Perceptions of certain Asian countries and products made in those countries can
be quite negative. This is due in part to the history of the region. For example, because
northern parts of China were subjugated by Japan during the second world war, consumers

there
are
reluct
ant to
buy
produ
cts
that
were
made
in
Japan
, even
as
they
ackno

wledge the superiority of those brands to local ones (Klein et al., 1998). These negative
country of origin perceptions are also due to a history of poor quality in the past. For
example, Made in Vietnam, or Made in Cambodia tend to symbolize low quality
products to residents of other Asian countries (Eckhardt and Hahn, 2006). And finally,
managers argue feelings of superiority from one country versus another permeate the
region. To wit, Mark relates that:
No Chinese person with a soul would buy a Thai brand. For Chinese people Thailand is that
murky little country down there. [They think] To me we are China, we are the future of the
world. We would not have anything in China thats a Thai brand at all, either give me an
American brand or give me a local brand. It is difficult for an Asian brand to have
credibility in a market like China if the brand is not international.

Branding Asian products is often as much about reassuring consumers that Asian
brands can carry status and cache as much as promoting particular aspects of the
brand. In the following narrative, Bhuvana talks about the challenges of attracting
Asians to an Indian business school, when most of them would not perceive Indian
brands and schools as aspirational:

So it was not so much selling ISB [Indian School of Business] as an Indian school but it was
more selling India as a brand. That was a very big lesson that we learnt. Trying to attract
Asians to come to India for higher education. It is a very big task.

Despite these negative associations, managers also recognize the ability for brands to
capitalize on a newfound desire for Asian cultural products and brands. For example,
when it comes to Japan, resentment and admiration coexist throughout the region.
While resentment toward Japans colonial history still runs deep, the admiration for
Japans trend leading aesthetics is stronger than ever. For example, Coca-Cola
developed a regional brand of juice called Qoo (pronounced coo) that capitalizes on
the attraction for Japanese pop culture in many parts of Asia. The brand hinges on an
animated character named Qoo. An account planner working on the Qoo campaign
discusses the attraction for these types of animated characters that exists in Singapore:
Coke saw an opportunity in the Singapore market, with the female teen market, who were
consuming less carbonated soft drinks. The character of Qoo is especially appealing to these
teens. He is a silent character, he is nave and makes a lot of mistakes. He is always trying,
failing but then ending in a good place. Thats surprising in a region that is supposed to love
winners. In Asia and especially here in Singapore, you want to be a winner not a loser. Our
point of reference was Hello Kitty, and Hello Kitty was hugely successful in Singapore.
Somewhere Qoo seems to be a very lovable character, someone these teen girls want to
protect. And the Japaneseness also makes it appealing. The Japaneseness of the brand was
essential to building its appeal because of the appeal in Singapore of things that come from
Japan, especially with the younger generation.

This desire for Japanese brands and cultural products can be read as evidence for the
shifting nature of transnational cultural power away from a centre-periphery model. In
other words, the currency of Japaneseness illustrates how cultural globalization does
not just mean the diffusion of Western products all over the world. Cultural
globalization has also activated intraregional cultural flows, illustrated here by the
appeal of Japaneseness in East/Southeast Asia.
Regional positionings are inherently fragile. While our managers acknowledged the
currency of Japaneseness, they also questioned the relevance of an overtly Asian
positioning. For example, Mike described a regional Asian positioning as a no-mans
land. He explained that being Asian does not necessarily have a clear-cut meaning in the

eyes of consumers,
especially
when
pitted against strong
local
or
global
positionings. Brands
with a strong local
character, such as
motorcycle
maker
Bajaj in India or
Tsing Tao beer in
China, play on the
potential
identification
between the brand
and consumers. These
brands
position
themselves as sons of
the
soil
who
understand
local
consumers.
In
contrast,
global
brands such as Nokia
or Levis are built on
powerful narratives
with universal appeal
(for Levis, the myth
of independence; for
Nokia, connection).
From the perspective
of the managers we
interviewed, it is
unclear whether a

regional positioning captures either local or global benefits. Mark talks about the weakness
of the middle ground that regional positioning occupies:

Asian brands
without borders

The difficulty with a Pan-Asian positioning is that it is a sort of grey area. In China you
need either to be local or to be international the middle ground is very grey and risky.

449
Managers like Mark who worked on the
development of Zuji.com all emphasized the

challenge oftwo strong positions of the global and local. Zuji.com

being stuckis a travel portal similar to travelocity that was
between thedeveloped by a consortium of airlines

IMR
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450

operating in the Asia-Pacific, specifically to address the increasing demand for travel in
the region. A global travel portal such as travelocity has the advantage of being trusted
due to its global presence. An Asian positioning helps Zuji build its reputation for being an
expert in regional destinations, something the brand tries to leverage through the tagline
Your travel guru. But at a local level, Zuji still faces the competition of travel agents who
have long-term relationships with their clients. A regional positioning cannot leverage one
of the key advantages of both global and local brands familiarity.
Opportunities for creating a regional Asian brand
In spite of the above challenges, almost all the managers we interviewed also mentioned
opportunities for overcoming them. In this section, we focus on brands that have
developed a regional positioning namely Zuji.com and Tiger Beer. Following are the key
themes that emerged from our analysis of the opportunities for Asian branding.

Focusing on Asian modernity. The brands that achieved a regional presence

capitalized on a vision of the future, rather than focusing on common cultural heritage
or any symbols that may be representative of the past. Symbols that previously had
been thought of as representing cultural heritage are now seen as old fashioned. In the
following discussion about Malaysia Airlines, Navonil contrasts old-fashioned
cultural symbols to more contemporary ones:
What is interesting in Malaysia is the element of surprise. You dont expect the roads to be
good, the airport to be so good. It surprises you. That spirit was brought into the [Malaysian
Airlines] campaign. The campaign is very slick, there is no national association, its very
business oriented. And so for example the TV commercial, it is about this business traveller
who starts off saying that you know, I had a very good meeting today. It kind of leaves
behind a very professional kind of feel. Prior to that there would always be a tribal
character, a guy with a lot of colourful head-dresses and all that.

Another example where managers tried to focus on Asian modernity is the travel
portal Zuji. The name Zuji means footprint in Mandarin, and has no meaning in
most other major languages in Asia. The font used in the logo is deliberately modern,
with a subtle hint of calligraphy in the J. The banner used above the J is an Asian
style banner or kite, and is also an eastward pointing arrow, again a subtle reminder of
the Asianness of the brand. The colours used bright blue and green were
deliberately chosen over the more common colours of red and gold that are typically
used in depictions of Asian-ness in the region. Blue and green are more typically
Thai colours, and symbolize the vibrancy of a forward thinking Asian brand.
To build modern Asian brands, the brand managers we interviewed rely on a mix of
cultural symbols from different Asian cultures. Zuji uses a Chinese name, colours that are
associated with Thai imagery, and consumer research undertaken by the company suggests
that the name is perceived to be Japanese, imbuing the brand with a sense of trust. These
multiple cultural cues allow Zuji to be subtly associated with Asia.
Another branding example where managers used symbolism from different cultures to
achieve a positioning based on modern Asia is Tiger Beer. Tiger is an established brewer
from Singapore with regional aspirations of becoming the flag bearer for modern Asia.
Tiger was forced to become regional, as their home market of Singapore, with less than
four million residents, is so restricted. In their marketing and branding activities, they do
not emphasize their country of origin, but instead portray an image of Asian-ness that
cannot be identified with any one country. For example, in their pan-Asian advertising
campaign
entitled,

Hero, the hero is a Korean and the heroine is a Chinese actor, with neither of them
physically identifiable with any particular country. The advertisement is set in an
ambiguous epic struggle along the lines of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, an
immensely popular movie in the West as well as Asia. And the latter half of the ad is
actually set in modern day New York City. The journey of the hero in the advertisement is
designed to mirror the journey of Asia itself from heroic beginnings to its current place
as part of the global new world order. The Tiger Beer Hero campaign, with its mix of
Korean actors, medieval Chinese imagery and Manhattan bar scenes illustrates the type of
multicultural process that is used to build Asian brands with a modern flavour.

Asian brands
without borders

451

Overall, managers build brands that have regional appeal by invoking different
cultural references and by using contemporary Asian symbolism. These are the ways
managers contend with the heterogeneity of a region like Asia where there are few
commonalities. To create regional appeals, managers are more concerned with a
vision of the future than on any commonalities that have a basis in the past.
Capitalizing on newfound Asian pride and confidence. Asians realize that they
are leading rather than following in many domains. The managers we interviewed are
embracing consumer trends that emerge in Asia, and realize that many global fashion
trends are actually emerging in Asia rather than the West. Navonil explains this
change in mindset that has occurred over the past 20 years:
In the 1980s, Asians still looked upon the West for fashion. But there is now this sense of
pride, of being confident about yourself. Its now kind of quite cool to be Asian. There is an
overall sense of pride in Asians that I didnt see before, Asian brands going to the Western
markets in a very outlandish manner highlighting the Asian-ness.

Many of the trends shaping the development of Asian brands are emerging from
within the region, echoing the notion that globalization operates from multiple centres
(Appadurai, 1990). Anthony explains the results of some recent market research
conducted by his consultancy that illustrates this process:
Younger Asians particularly Asian females, and Im talking under 28 years old, will consider
Japan and Korea to be more fashionable than France or America. America comes next
actually, and then France, in terms of fashion and music. So its not just technology, its
actually fashion and that Japanese-Korean sort of fashion thing is very strong across Asia
its very strong in China, Im talking urban, Shanghai, Beijing, its very strong in Thailand,
its very strong in Philippines, its very strong in Singapore also and Taiwan. In terms of the
arts, in terms of fashion, pop culture, its at the top.

Thus, the brands that emerge as regional leaders will take advantage of this newfound
pride and confidence, and those that can reflect this onto their own brands will be
successful. Bill explains:
I think you look at brands that stand for not so much Asian cultural values but Asian vertical
leaps if you like, self confidence, and I think people in Asia take a certain pride from brands
like Cathay and Singapore Airlines because they are now fantastic world class airlines. Look
at shitty Heathrow compared to Changi Airport. I think that sense of whats the world going
to be in 50 years from now in our time is quite powerful.

Using a Western stamp of approval to signal

to Asians the viability of the brand. To

overcome country of origin interpretations mentioned earlier,

the
successful Asian brands are signalling their high
negative quality and prestige by using what we call

IMR
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452

Western stamps of approval, references to the West through advertising imagery,

slogans, logos and other branding elements. While this may seem paradoxical to the
Asian pride just mentioned, it may still take some time to overcome histories of poor
product quality in the region, so in the meantime, proxies like Western stamps of
approval are used to signal quality and prestige. We can see this with Chinese brands
like Haier, whose impressive reputation in Western markets allows it to compete
against Western brands in China.
In the following narratives, our respondents describe the various ways they use
Western stamps of approval. Navonil relates how being successful in the West
increases the success of Asian brands in Asia:
The acceptance of a product is easier if it goes from here, gets accepted in the West and
comes back here. Its a bit like Jimmy Choo whos one of the biggest shoe designers, he was
a Malaysian guy, he made it big in the UK and then came to Malaysia. There is still a need
for recognition in the West or Global/Western context.

The developers of the Zuji brand cited the Chinese actor Chow Yun Fat as an analogy
for the development of their brand: Asian but modern and global enough that it avoids
parochialism. Signalling that your brand is successful around the world, especially in
the West, is a defining dimension for the development of regional Asian brands. In the
following narrative, a creative director working on the Tiger Beer campaign explains
how it was essential to shoot part of the Hero commercial in New York:
In creating the advertising campaign for Tiger Beer, a very important thing was to set part of
the film in New York because part of the driving force of this is a sense of dynamism, of
being successful around the world. The idea is that Asians now play on a global playing
field, are accepted and recognized on the global playing field, and therefore to take our hero
and place him actually in the West (Linda)

While many of our respondents emphasized the pride Asians (including themselves)
feel in the economic vitality of the region, they recognized the limits of Asian appeals.
Although brand managers working in Asia are increasingly looking at intraregional
cultural phenomena to develop brand positioning, either being successful in the West
or using Western imagery and symbolism seem crucial. They are heading east while
gazing back at the West.
Discussion
We have mapped out the challenges and opportunities for creating a regional brand in
Asia. While country of origin perceptions and the fragility of a regional positioning remain
stumbling blocks for many companies with regional branding aspirations, we also
identified various platforms that can be utilized successfully in a regional campaign,
including focusing on Asian modernity, capitalizing on newfound Asian pride and
confidence, and using a Western stamp of approval to signal the viability of the brand.
This detailed exposition of the intricacies of being located in the no mans land of
regionality has important implications for international branding, and enabled us to gain a
few key insights. First, rather than relying on an exotic notion of Asia, the Asian brands we
studied are imbued with modern notions of what it means to be Asian. Importantly, the
ideas and imagery driving this notion of Asian modernity emanate from within Asia,
demonstrating that the centre and periphery model of globalization is largely irrelevant in
the Asian branding context. Regional brands such as Tiger

capitalize

on

this

newfound pride in being Asian. The modernity of Asian brands is very much tied to
the Asian experience of globalization, the feeling that Asia has arrived on the world
stage. One of Tiger Beers advertising slogans illustrates this feeling of confidence by
claiming: This is our time.
Second, the development of regional brands seems to take two varying approaches. In
the first approach, brands like Qoo rely on a single cultural stamp in Qoos case, the
aesthetics of Japaneseness that appeals to the entire region. This approach is premised
upon the country-of-origin having a leading position within the region, and a history of
positive country of origin associations. In the second approach, a multicultural process that
relies on the diversity of regional cultural flows is used, which results in brands without
borders. Brands like Zuji and Tiger distil their Asianness by invoking symbols and
associations from different cultures. These brands mix cultural influences so that the origin
of the brand is not clear. These hybrid brands can be contrasted to global and local
positioning approaches, and indeed serves to illustrate that brand cannot be neatly
categorized as global on one side and local on the other. Whether using a monoculture or a
multicultural approach, the very nature of developing regional brands involves judging
and making decisions about a host of cultures at the same time, a process that has not been
documented in detail in the international marketing literature.
Finally, we find that Asian brands are somehow stuck between pride and prejudice. On
one hand, most managers we interviewed emphasized the coming of age of Asian brands
and perceived Asia to be a leading centre of economic and cultural activity. Asia remains
one of the most heterogeneous parts of the world, but the common experience of
globalization and the pride in economic vitality seems to be truly Pan Asian. This pride
permeates the imagery of brands like Tiger Beer. On the other hand, running parallel to the
pride of being Asian, managers emphasized the negative perceptions of Asianness, which
are partly explained by the history of low-priced products being manufactured in Asia. To
avoid being too closely associated with Asia, the regional brands we studied made ample
references to the West (e.g. scenes of New York City in Tiger Beer ads; references to
Travelocity, the US web site, on Zujis web site). Associations with the West form part of
the multicultural branding process and allow regional Asian brands to appear less
parochial, more global and modern.

As we demonstrate in this paper, with regional brands, managers try to reach a

balance between the quotidian and the compellingly distant. The power and attraction
of regional brands depend on what Mazzarella (2003) has termed close distance; that
is, their ability to appear at once distant and familiar. Regional brands can create this
close distance through the hybrid brand development process that we describe a mix
of cultural symbols and associations that fuel aspiration and identification. Achieving
this close distance, as some of the brands we studied managed to do, is one way that
brands can achieve a regional presence while overcome the paradox of a region
having homogeneity in some dimensions and heterogeneity in others.
Conclusion and future research
Overall, this study contributes to international marketing theory and practice in the
following three ways. First, we extend previous work on the globalization of marketing
activities by advancing the region as an important unit of analysis. More specifically, this
paper helps go beyond the debate on the globalization/localization of branding activities
by highlighting the importance of regional cultural flows and their impact on

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branding practices. By looking at the region as our unit of analysis, we go beyond

marketing studies that always study Asia in reference to the West. Many studies have
looked at the domestication of Western cultural forms in Asia (Tobin, 1992; Sherry and
Camargo, 1987). By solely studying East/West types of cultural exchanges, we have
not paid enough attention to the rich intraregional cultural flows permeating Asia. Our
regional focus helps move beyond the story of overpowering global brands and
resisting local ones by shifting attention to the regional. We illustrate that globalization
encompasses a complex mix of influences being circulated around the globe, not just
Western influences being imposed on the rest of the world (Appadurai, 1990).
Second, our paper helps understand the development of brands in a part of the
world that is becoming more important at the economic and political level. While a
practitioner literature on Asian brands is beginning to emerge (Aitchison, 2002;
Temporal, 2001; Williamson, 2005), the academic literature on the way Asian brands
compete in the international arena is still limited. This study helps bridge that gap by
linking the development of Asian brands to international marketing theory. Academic
studies focusing on brand relationships have flourished (Fournier, 1998; Muniz and
OGuinn, 2001) but we still do not know much about the way brands impact the
global cultural context (Askegaard, 2006), especially in the Asian context.
Third, we show how marketers are shaping culture in the Asian context. More
specifically, we illuminate the type of Asian modernity brands like Tiger Beer and
Zuji promote: an East Asian, urban and multicultural modernity. In doing so,
marketers join the cortege of political leaders trying to define what Asia means
(Milner and Johnson, 1997). We show that the Asia brand managers promote is quite
different from the promotion of Asian values and often avoids references to Asian
tradition. Finding out how Asians react to this different depiction of Asia is beyond
the scope of this study but seems to be a critical path for future research.
Finally, this paper contributes to a better understanding of the opportunities and
challenges associated with a regional positioning and the development of regional
branding strategies. As we have shown, establishing a regional positioning is a difficult
task, where marketers have to compete against familiar local brands and aspirational
global ones. Understanding how marketers negotiate this terrain is important in advancing
international marketing theory, and suggests that analyzing regional brands should proceed
in a qualitatively different way to analyzing global or local brands.
Our study has focused on the creation of regional brands. More research is needed that
examines the way consumers interpret the meaning of these brands. While we have some
evidence that citizens of different Asian countries feel connections to some of their Asian
counterparts (Iwabuchi, 2002), it is still unclear how this newly articulated Asianness
contributes to brand success, and how it could overcome the immense economic, religious and
cultural differences inherent in the region to be able to provide a consistent platform for brand
building activities. Future research examining Asian brands should specifically investigate
notions of cultural proximity and distance and their different dimensions. These concepts will
become increasingly important as media products and brands are circulated in a region where
cultures, being so near and yet so far, are increasingly juxtaposed.
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Corresponding author
Giana M. Eckhardt can be contacted at: geckhardt@suffolk.edu
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