5 ms·

I can understand why every new market requires an operations team on the ground, but marketing ought to be centralized.

choppaface 7y ago
It might be centralized, but not entirely automated, at least not yet. Thus each city requires headcount.
_bxg1 7y ago
I could see there being localization challenges, especially when you start talking about multiple countries. Not just languages; cultural nuance, idioms, and political awareness all matter.
- Twirrim 7y ago
  Does that particular aspect require full time staff in-situ, though?
  - Angostura 7y ago
    Just the legal aspects of regulation would. See Uber's struggles in London.
  - freewilly1040 7y ago
    Where better to get expertise in a region's culture than the region?
    - Twirrim 7y ago
      By hiring a local business to do it, rather than hiring a set of full-time staff yourself? For a company that's about the gig economy, they make some strange staffing choices.
- bduerst 7y ago
  This is precisely why you have regional marketing teams. It's all situational, but IME a dedicated team for a region (APAC, EMEA, etc.) is better at executing than a single centralized global team. Typically the operational aspects can be delegated to the regions who know the individual markets best, while things like branding stay central.
lonelappde 7y ago
That roaring sound you hear is the majority of the world's population wailing about how Silicon Valley companies don't understand that San Francisco is a tiny portion of the wide world.
quickthrower2 7y ago
I'm not sure. There is a big billboard ad here in Sydney, which seems to be coordinated with a radio and online marketing campaign, around saying how 'safe' Uber is. Could campaigns like this all around the world be centralized into a smaller team?
- cpeterso 7y ago
  A small centralized team will have a challenge trying to coordinate billboard, radio, and online ad campaigns in dozens of cities in dozens of countries. There will be different language, culture, legal, and logistical issues in every market.
- zemotion 7y ago
  It's not quite that simple. The needs and responses of a local market can be completely different from one to the next. Because of differing cultures, we respond very differently to color palettes, design aesthetics, safety concerns, cool factors, etc. And since the entire point of marketing is to sell, then the the brand's visuals, branding strategy, responses to concerns, etc, all have to be completely customized for the local market in order to engage customers. For example one common difficulty tech companies often encounter while trying to enter Japan was how difficult it was to acquire and retain users compared to anywhere else. Some gave up, some would keep trying, and surprise—it would magically work out when you hire a local ad team, local designers, art directors, etc. Western companies' sleek, advanced designs are easy to use and navigate, but the locals understand that culturally, the Japanese society resists change. They are used to early day yahoo/geocities level of banner ads and flashing gifs on a page so that they can feel certain that what they are using can be authentically catered to the Japanese people and supported. Overly simple designs like a Bootstrap framework was simply too frightening, new and confusing. Same can be applied to pretty much anything from fashion, beauty, food, retail of any kind, to things like Uber, which specifically has its own complexities to solve while trying to enter a taxi-efficient market like that; a completely different marketing problem to solve than say Australia's safety concern as you mentioned. TL;DR: Can't easily centralize marketing because local cultures and needs are always different; and you need locals to know what locals will want/engage with.
astrodust 7y ago
Localization is a big deal, or you're going to make an epic cultural faux-pas. What if "Uber" means something lewd or offensive in the local language? What if your marketing team cranks out English copy that doesn't translate well, or at all?

It might be centralized, but not entirely automated, at least not yet. Thus each city requires headcount.

I could see there being localization challenges, especially when you start talking about multiple countries. Not just languages; cultural nuance, idioms, and political awareness all matter.

Twirrim 7y ago
Does that particular aspect require full time staff in-situ, though?
- Angostura 7y ago
  Just the legal aspects of regulation would. See Uber's struggles in London.
- freewilly1040 7y ago
  Where better to get expertise in a region's culture than the region?
  - Twirrim 7y ago
    By hiring a local business to do it, rather than hiring a set of full-time staff yourself? For a company that's about the gig economy, they make some strange staffing choices.
bduerst 7y ago
This is precisely why you have regional marketing teams. It's all situational, but IME a dedicated team for a region (APAC, EMEA, etc.) is better at executing than a single centralized global team. Typically the operational aspects can be delegated to the regions who know the individual markets best, while things like branding stay central.

lonelappde 7y ago

That roaring sound you hear is the majority of the world's population wailing about how Silicon Valley companies don't understand that San Francisco is a tiny portion of the wide world.

quickthrower2 7y ago

I'm not sure. There is a big billboard ad here in Sydney, which seems to be coordinated with a radio and online marketing campaign, around saying how 'safe' Uber is. Could campaigns like this all around the world be centralized into a smaller team?

cpeterso 7y ago
A small centralized team will have a challenge trying to coordinate billboard, radio, and online ad campaigns in dozens of cities in dozens of countries. There will be different language, culture, legal, and logistical issues in every market.
zemotion 7y ago
It's not quite that simple. The needs and responses of a local market can be completely different from one to the next. Because of differing cultures, we respond very differently to color palettes, design aesthetics, safety concerns, cool factors, etc. And since the entire point of marketing is to sell, then the the brand's visuals, branding strategy, responses to concerns, etc, all have to be completely customized for the local market in order to engage customers. For example one common difficulty tech companies often encounter while trying to enter Japan was how difficult it was to acquire and retain users compared to anywhere else. Some gave up, some would keep trying, and surprise—it would magically work out when you hire a local ad team, local designers, art directors, etc. Western companies' sleek, advanced designs are easy to use and navigate, but the locals understand that culturally, the Japanese society resists change. They are used to early day yahoo/geocities level of banner ads and flashing gifs on a page so that they can feel certain that what they are using can be authentically catered to the Japanese people and supported. Overly simple designs like a Bootstrap framework was simply too frightening, new and confusing. Same can be applied to pretty much anything from fashion, beauty, food, retail of any kind, to things like Uber, which specifically has its own complexities to solve while trying to enter a taxi-efficient market like that; a completely different marketing problem to solve than say Australia's safety concern as you mentioned. TL;DR: Can't easily centralize marketing because local cultures and needs are always different; and you need locals to know what locals will want/engage with.

astrodust 7y ago

Localization is a big deal, or you're going to make an epic cultural faux-pas. What if "Uber" means something lewd or offensive in the local language? What if your marketing team cranks out English copy that doesn't translate well, or at all?