Case 3 Harmony Water Analysis PDF

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How should Harmonie Water position itself? 1.1 Introduction Harmonie Water has consistently adopted the communication adaptation strategy, where the brand promotes the same product to different cultures differently, based on local context. However, the company’s marketing director, Antoine Comeau is contemplating revamping the company to deviate from their traditional practices and eventually adopt a global branding strategy, where they will adopt a dual extension communication strategy. 1.2 Problem Statement With the proliferation of social media conduits and technology, there has been a shift toward homogenization of tastes and preferences amongst many individuals. Comeau believes that the adoption of a global branding strategy will be effective. By having a global brand, the company would have the same positioning and image throughout the world. This would be propelled by the adoption of similar products and advertising strategies across different contexts. Comeau believes that the cut in costs from economies of scale, coupled with how locally produced campaigns pale in comparison to campaigns executed by a global brand thus portrays going global to be the better option. However, country managers are against this one-size-fits-all approach as they feel that their current strategy of curating specific strategies for specific countries is more relevant and applicable. These diverging views can be illustrated by how country managers feels that there are distinct differences across different contexts in the advertising of bottled water. How should Harmonie Water position herself? 1.3

SWOT Analysis of Harmonie Water

Strengths Weaknesses ● Second-best-selling bottled water in ● Low PCC in Middle East and Africa both its home country of France and North America (Table 2) worldwide ● Strong presence in dominant markets (i.e. Argentina - 10.4% market share and Indonesia - 282% market share) Opportunities Threats ● Total global consumption of bottled ● Consumers are tending towards their water has increased by 33% between local brands 2010 and 2015 ● With globalisation, more developed countries are turning to bottled water for healthier reasons and substitutes for sugary drinks

1.4 Analysis One of the key characteristics of possessing a global brand would be quality signals. Here, global brands are perceived to produce products of higher quality than regional brands. This is coupled with how global brands allow marketers to charge premium prices. 1.4.1 Differing Maslow Hierarchy of Needs across contexts Another key point worth taking into consideration in the evaluation of such a strategy would be how one’s perspective of one’s Maslow Hierarchy of needs is determined by one’s context. The most fundamental need under this framework would be physiological needs. In order to fulfill other needs, this need has to be satisfied first. This need is preceded by safety, social, esteem and self-actualization needs. With reference to the case on page 2, in developing countries, bottled water can be seen to fulfill the basic physiological necessity. This is largely different from developed countries as developing countries tend to have fewer access to safer alternatives in their consumption of water. For developed countries, individuals perceive bottled water as a method to gain nutrients and vitamins, thus going beyond the basic necessity of hydration. This is further shown on page 5, where in Spain, the brand is about being French and classy, which largely differs from Japanese consumers. This implies that in Spain, the brand satisfied one’s esteem needs as it alludes to a particular status, which is not a priority for Japanese consumers. These differing needs and ability to consume can be traced back to one’s context. As conveyed by country managers in the case on page 5, in Brazil, there are large income differences. Adopting a global branding strategy with a dual extension communication strategy fails to take into account these differences and will inevitably fail to capture potential consumers. 1.5 Reflections, suggestions and solutions Target locally because it’s tough to overcome cultural differences. Brand image refers to the perception of a brand by consumers. Project Unify and Project Aqua has made it apparent there are different perceptions of the terms ‘revitalizing’ and ‘refined’ in the eyes of different consumers. Hence, Harmonie has to be careful to position their product appropriately to specific countries. We recommend they do market research in each country and suit their positioning locally. Local celebrities can also be used to demonstrate “refined.” Standardize globally because the global market trends toward homogenization. However, Harmonie Water should leverage on its strength by engaging in global standardization with local adaptation so as to reap the benefits of global standardization such as saving costs, leverage synergies across the markets and increase brand awareness while targeting the needs of different consumers in different countries by overcoming its threats. This can be achieved by standardizing social media advertising and actual product packaging....