The world is becoming smaller. A brands presentation and behaviour now affects an interconnected world, where the consumer has come to expect global consistency for their brands. It may have been quaint to see a hand-drawn facsimile of a Coca-Cola logo on the side of a hut in rural Africa, however the context for a brand is seldom so forgiving that anything goes.

It is becoming more and more difficult to isolate a brand and its reputation. You might be under the impression you've created an appropriate strategy for a local market, only to discover that the rest of the world has access to the very same communication. This small world phenomenon spoils any possibility of separating your local branding strategy from a global one.

This is the result of the speed and spread of communications, and for which there is but one culprit: the internet. It has enabled every person to access virtually every piece of communication in the world. Insurance companies, when researching consumers worldwide, are finding that data is no longer as discrete as it used to be. Why? Because Mr Smiths answer in country A could easily be influenced by Mr Joness answer on the other side of the world. In the same way that people are more connected globally, so too has the relationship between consumers and their brands become more of a global phenomenon.

This does not mean that cultural differences disappear across markets on the contrary, the nuances of consumers are as strong as ever depending on where they live. For instance, patting a child on the head is a great device to indicate good behaviour in advertising. Except in Asia, where one does not touch the head of another person. So, the local brand is far from dead and there will always be local brand-building activities supported by a global message. I can appreciate a Nike ad on YouTube, even though I may live in Africa which is not an appreciable market for the brand, or if I was the intended recipient (or target market) for that matter.

The purpose of global brand management is to construct and manage a brand's global direction, and this is done by defining and communicating the brand's core values and attributes with a specific style, tone, and image. If the medium is the message, then brand value is also dependant on the quality of the medium that carries the brands message. Thinking of this in concrete terms, the consumer may become confused to see a global brands logo scrawled on the side of a trading store wall or fluttering on a faded and torn banner.

A global brand is one which is perceived to reflect the same set of values around the world. Branding can be explained with the following metaphor: Long term brand loyalty is like getting the consumer to marry a brand and requires that the marketer provides the same set of information as one needs when deciding to marry a person, which includes information about the physical attributes as well as the character of the brand.

Although we may take some relaxation from an ale at the end of the day, Fosters Lager propose The Five Cs for reflection on global branding strategy:

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