Guinness Vs. Bud Light

I thought it would be interesting to take a look at two similar beer advertisements, one from Ireland and one from the U.S. I chose two ads involving sports that are popular in each country.  First, let's take a look at the Guinness advertisement. Guinness is the official beer of the Irish Rugby team, a sport that is extremely popular in Ireland. It features 3 members of the team playing rugby. The advertisement is saying to drink a Guinness and support the Irish national team.

The advertisement for Bud Light is very similar. Bud Light is the official beer of the NFL. I feel as though the NFL in America and rugby in Ireland are equally as popular in each country. This advertisement is targeting all of the football fans out there, saying that Bud Light is a must have beer for tailgating.

Looking at the Hofstede dimensions for each of these countries will show that they do not differ too much. Both scores for each dimension are relatively close ( although the U.S is slightly higher in PDI and IDV). If I were analyzing these advertisements for the different dimensions, I would say that they definitely do exist. For the Guinness advertisement, it is dealing heavily with masculinity. The men on the rugby team are extremely strong and look very intense. If you're not familiar with rugby, it is a very violent sport. Also, I feel as if the advertisement has elements of collectivism, seeing as the players are all locked in and are in the fight for the win together. This contradicts the higher score ( 70) that Ireland has for IDV. Looking at the Bud Light advertisement, I would also say it deals with collectivism. Tailgating is a very social thing, and this is exactly what the ad is promoting. However, I feel as though it is difficult to advertise for a team sport without having collectivist elements in the advertisement. 

Hi/Lo Culture

For this blog post I will be finding ads that reflect each of the Hofstede dimensions. I will only be going into slight detail about what each dimension is, because they have already been explained in a previous blog post. I will be more focused on making the connection between the advertisement and the specific dimension. Most of these advertisements are from Guinness. Guinness serves as a good basis when looking at examples of good advertisement. It interesting to note the variety of different Guinness ads, yet they all serve a specific purpose and relate to the Hofstede dimensions. 

                    

Ireland scores a 40 in PDI (power distance). This score is low, and means that there is a higher focus on equality of rights and independence. This advertisement is for a medical centre. I found this ad in an Irish magazine. The main selling point of this ad is "Treating active people of all ages". This centre is not just for premier athletes, but is accepting any average person who needs some sort of medical attention. This organization wants the public to know that anyone is welcome, no matter what  your age is. They accept all sorts of people, and will not turn you away. This reflects the 40 that Ireland scores in PDI.

Ireland scores a 70 in IDV (individualism/collectivism). This score is very high, showing that Ireland is a very individualistic culture. Individual decisions are valued much more. This Heineken ad is one that is saying their product is a gateway to socializing and meeting new people. I am actually surprised at this ad, seeing how Ireland is more of an individualistic culture. This ad is reflecting more of a collectivistic view. However, the reason this ad is able to still be successful despite Ireland scoring a 70 in IDV, is because the popularity of bars and alcohol in Ireland is extremely high.

Ireland scores a 68 in MAS ( masculinity/femininity). This higher scores means that the population of Ireland is more of a masculine one than a feminine one. This advertisement for Guinness targets the masculinity of the people of Ireland. This ad is saying that Guinness gives you strength, and it shows a very strong man carrying a metal beam. Because of the 68 that Ireland scores in this category, it makes this advertisement a more convincing one. This ad would have much less success if it were displayed in a country with a low MAS score.

      Ireland scores a 35 in UAI (uncertainty avoidance). This means that members of this culture tend to hide their emotions better. People are more likely to accept imaginative things and creative/new ideas. This advertisement is claiming that drinking a Guinness is actually good for you. Although beer does have some beneficial properties ( when consumed in moderation), the advertising for this point is highly exaggerated. However, since Ireland scores only a 35 in this dimension, this advertisement is actually a very clever one.

     Ireland scores a 43 in LTO ( long-term orientation).  They would be more focused on short-term orientation and respect for traditions and gifts. This advertisement is reaching out to people telling them that they deserve a reward right away. This advertisement is telling people to take a break from their hard work, and to enjoy a nice pint of beer. This attitude reflects the short-term orientated culture of Ireland. Rather than reward yourself later on, this ad makes you stop whatever it is you are doing and to treat yourself to a nice reward. 

Value Map

Here are the two value maps I constructed-

American Car Ad-

Irish Car Ad- 

The product category I chose was automobiles. I was able to find two car commercials, one from the U.S and the other from Ireland. The U.S car commercial is for the 2012 Honda CR-V. The Irish commercial is for the Kia Rio. The two advertisements took different approaches. The U.S commercial focused on a guy faking sick and going out to be adventurous in his new car. The ad was promoting that sometimes you have to just live a little, and that their car can help you do so. It targeted those who are stressed out and burdened by work, and need some relaxation in their lives. The Irish commercial was about a bank robbery. However, while the robbery was taking place, the guy who was watching the car was encountered by strangers who wanted to be his friend and take pictures of the car. The advertisement was saying that their product was a friendly one, and by owning it you will be able to branch out to others and meet new friends. It's values weighed heavily upon friendships and social status. The values, benefits, and attributes of each advertisement are seen in the value map. Each ad was geared towards its audience. For example in America, everyone tends to be overburdened by their work and everyday lives. This is the reason for the commercial portraying an adventurous person  having a good time taking off from work.   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qjTuWb8cKo - Irish car ad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrInJIqxUMA&feature=relmfu - American car ad

Interbrand

The top five ranking brands are 1) Coca-cola, 2) IBM, 3) Microsoft, 4) Google, and 5) General Electric. It was not surprising to see these brands listed amongst the top five. All five of these brands are extremely popular and prevalent in everyday lives. I myself encounter several of these top 5 brands everyday one way  or another. In order to see what makes these brands so successful I will be taking a look at each one individually.

                Coca-Cola ranks number 1 in 2011. This should come as no surprise seeing how Coca-cola is responsible for thousands of products which are consumed each day. Not only is Coca-Cola finding success here in America, but it's products can be found all over the world. Coca-Cola uses clever advertising to continue to be the number 1 brand. It sponsors many popular events, such as the FIFA world cup. By sponsoring such a huge event, it helps Coca-Cola to promote its product to a large audience. It was also Coca-Cola's 125th anniversary, and they used this as a marketing point as well. They have also recently developed a new bottle which is environmentally friendly. Many people are in support of the "go-green" craze that this also helps to sell more products.

                IBM ranks number 2. IBM stands for International Business Machines and specializes in computer hardware and software. IBM is responsible for many products that you use and may not even know about, some of them which are installed on your computer. IBM also had an anniversary year ( 100 years), which is something that always helps out when advertising. IBM had a major success when its computer, Watson, was used on Jeopardy to help garner massive earned media. IBM continues to develop new technology, making it so successful.

                Microsoft ranks number 3. Microsoft products can be found anywhere. They are responsible for the a large amount of technology that has been developed over the past few years in the PC world. In today's world, computers are found in every household and in many other buildings as well (hotels, libraries, etc). This opens up a great path for the PC industry. Microsoft continues to develop new products and systems to make our lives easier. The programs they continue to develop are faster and better than the previous ones. With Apple becoming increasingly more popular, it will be interesting to see if Microsoft will continue to see the same success as it has. These two brands are at a constant war with each other. Apple has jumped from 17 to 8 in just one year, and will continue to grow. This will without a doubt hurt Microsoft.

                Google is a brand which continues to see success. They keep on developing new ideas and products. They have had a 27% increase in brand value in one year. This is the second highest among the top 100 brands ( Apple is first with a 58% increase). Google has recently developed Google +. Although it has not become as popular as Facebook yet, I believe that it will eventually become one of the most popular social networking sites.

                General Electric continues to be a very successful brand. It operates in over 100 countries and employs 300,000 people worldwide. They are an example of power imagination. It was interesting to note that they had a 0% increase in brand value, but were able to still stay in the top 5 brands. GE continues to try and build the master brand and plans to keep expanding into the healthcare and environmental fields. GE also has a "go-green" campaign, making them a number one choice among people. With the continual stress put on the environment, this is always an effective selling point. 

Moderately Monochronic

                  Based on the "Monochron or PolyChron" survey, I scored a 58, making me Moderately Monochronic. The description of being moderately monochronic is " These individuals demonstrate an organized approach to projects and are committed to their completion on time. They ultimately prioritize the successful completion of projects, and tend to address tasks in an analytical and information-oriented manner. These individuals tend to prefer an isolated and uninterrupted work environment; social interaction has its appropriate time and place. Their significant communications are usually to the point, logical and written. Though group input is an important element in these individuals’ decision-making process, they ultimately rely on personal judgment to make important final decisions."

                  I feel that I have taken surveys similar to this one in the past. Each time, my end result seems to always be the same. I agree with the description given for my score. My major is engineering, and I feel that this  personality is one that fits perfect for an engineer, seeing as though a large portion of my work is done both in groups and by myself as well. I have had to learn to work effectively alone, and be able to present my work and ideas to a group for a project or assignment.  As a person, I take due dates very seriously, and make sure that whatever my assignment is, I will get it done by the assigned date. I find that throughout my life I have always preferred to do my work on my own. If I have an extremely important assignment, a quiet and isolated work environment best suits me and will help me to complete the work. However, I do not mind working with others in a group as well, especially if it is for a project. I enjoy listening to other opinions and inputs when it comes to group work.

Personality

When it comes to explaining personality, the textbook refers to what is known as the Revised NEO Personality Inventory. It consists of five different factors- Neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Each of these factors have six specific traits. First I should explain the five different factors. 1) Neuroticism involves anxiety, hostility, depression, self-consciousness, impulsiveness, and vulnerability to stress.2) Extraversion involves warmth, gregariousness, assertiveness, activity, excitement seeking, and positive emotion. 3) Openness to experience involves fantasy, aesthetics, feelings, actions, ideas, and values. 4) Agreeableness includes trust, straightforwardness, altruism, compliance, modesty, and tender mindedness. 5) Conscientiousness includes competence, order, dutifulness, achievement striving, self-discipline, and deliberation.

                Based on these traits, I would consider myself a very extraverted person because I am very a very talkative and social person. I do not consider myself to be shy, and I am always willing to meet new people.  I am also very open to experience and willing to try new things. I can also cooperate well with other people and am highly agreeable. Especially in school, many of my classes require group work  and projects, I find myself to be very good at working in groups. I would not describe myself as neurotic , seeing how the traits under that category fail to describe me. I would also consider myself slightly conscientiousness, but not too much. I find myself to be organized at some points, but at times to be impulsive too.

                The two products I am going to be looking at are Carlsberg and Bud Light. In Ireland, I felt as though Carlsberg was the Irish version of Bud Light. Not only did the products have a similar taste, but the way they were presented and advertised were similar as well. Carlsberg was the official beer of the Euro cup in Ireland. Similarly, in the United States, Bud Light seems to be the beer associated with sports such as football. It is the official beer of the NFL. Both of these products have a strong connection with sports, and rely heavily on this factor is advertisement. Both of these brands seem to be extraverts. Their advertisements are exciting ( mostly due to them being related to sports), and get people fired up for their favorite sports and teams. Seeing as these products have very similar personalities, it makes it interesting to see how they are both successful in two different countries. Both brands rely heavily on sports in order to make their advertising have an impact. These products use the same strategies, with only slight difference to accommodate the difference in cultures (such as the different sports being used in ads).

Value Paradox

"Paradoxes are statements that seem contradictory but are actually true. Value paradoxes are found in the opposing values in value systems such as freedom-belonging, tradition-innovation, order-chaos. Value paradoxes are part of people's systems; they reflect the desirable versus the desire in life" (2). Value paradoxes are different across the world. Each culture has a different paradoxes unique to themselves. By understanding a particular culture, it will help you to understand why certain paradoxes exist.

                One of the major value paradoxes in our country is the fact that our society puts so much emphasis on our weight. However, at the same time, our country is full of fast food and unhealthy products that are responsible for our country's weight problem. It is no secret that America has an obesity problem. This is because people eat at fast-food restaurants on a daily basis. Some people have no choice, because eating healthy does cost more money. Although our country has a high percentage of overweight people, you will never see these people in advertising. Our advertisements are full of models with perfect bodies. These images of supermodels cause people, especially our youth, to strive to be like that. This can cause them to actually become unhealthy, by starving themselves and even do more extreme things. There are a countless number of gyms across the country, and I see new ones opening up every week. The fact that our culture pressures us to look good and be skinny, yet is filled with fast-food restaurants on every corner, is a perfect example of a value paradox.

                A product in Ireland that can be considered a value paradox is Guinness. All alcohol can be considered one, but Guinness has such an influence in Ireland and is extremely popular, making it a very good example. In Ireland, they claim that Guinness is actually good for them, and even our tour guide explained that when someone may feel a bit under the weather they will drink  a Guinness to help them feel better. People in Ireland drink Guinness with their daily meals. It may be true that Guinness can provide a small dose of antioxidants, but the Irish over exaggerate this. They make it seem as though a pint of Guinness can solve all of your problems. If you decided to have several pints of Guinness, you will find out that like any alcohol, too much of it is a bad thing. 

Magazine Advertisements

            The two magazines I will be taking a look at are "Sports Illustrated" (purchased here in the U.S) and "Emerald Rugby" (purchased in Ireland). Both of these magazines are sports related. "Sports Illustrated" covers all popular American sports, while "Emerald Rugby" focuses purely on Irish Rugby. I will be taking a look at the different advertisements found in each of the magazines.

       The first two advertisements I noticed in "Sports Illustrated" were for a car (Lexus) and a watch ( Bulova). Both of these items can be considered luxuries, considering they are very expensive products. The Lexus advertisement was very plain and simple, and had no relation to any sports. The Bulova ad featured a swimmer diving into water. There was also a beer advertisement for Michelob Ultra. The ad featured a professional golfer as well as the golfing brand "Callaway". Other ads included Gatorade, Dicks Sporting Goods, and more. In the Emerald Rugby magazine had several different advertisements for athletic supplements such as protein powder and protein bars. There was also a watch advertisement similar to the one in "Sports Illustrated", but was for the company "Boss". Other advertisements included cars (Honda), beer (Heineken), the Bank of Ireland, and others.

            Looking at the different advertisements, I found them to be very similar in the way they tried to target the audiences. For the watch ads, both magazines portrayed very elegant looking men wearing the watches. For some of the other ads, athletes were used. The main difference was that in "Sports Illustrated" a variety of athletes from different sports were in the ads. In "Emerald Rugby" only rugby players were being used to advertise the particular item. This shows a major cultural difference between the two countries. The popular sports in each country are extremely different. Rugby can be seen in many advertisements in Ireland, but it would be extremely rare to see a rugby player featured in an American advertisement.

            I had trouble finding a sports magazine out of Greece. I came across some images of a few, and they seemed to be mostly geared towards soccer. It is safe to say that soccer would be just as popular in Greece as it is all over Europe. The ads in the Greek sports magazine would be more similar to "Emerald Rugby", because rugby and soccer are two of the most popular sports throughout Europe. As far as the Hofstede Dimensions go, I found that some of the dimensions were prevalent throughout the magazines. The individualism/collectivism dimension can be seen in many of the ads. Ireland and the U.S are both very individualistic cultures, and the ads reflect this by showing . Ireland and the U.S had a decent score in the masculine/femininity dimension. The advertisements I came across seemed to be slightly more masculine, due to the fact that mostly men read these magazines, and also the athletes featured are men. Ireland and the U.S score low on the long-term orientation dimension, and you can see the ads are focused on the short term effect of their product and not concerned with the long-term.  

Hofstede Cultural Dimensions

Country	Abbreviation	GNI/cap	PDI	IDV	MAS	UAI	LTO
United States	USA	34,870	40	91	62	46	29
Ireland	IRE	23,060	28	70	68	35	43
Greece	GRE	11,780	60	35	57	112

                This chart is a model of Hofstede's Five Dimensions of National Culture. This model helps to explain the basic value differences between  The two countries that I will be mostly comparing are the United States and Ireland. Greece will also be compared and used as another example. First off, in order to understand this chart, you will need to know what each category represents. The five dimensions are power distance, individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity, uncertainty avoidance, and long term orientation.  

                The PDI (power distance) is "the extent to which less powerful members of a society accept and expect that power is distributed unequally" (De Mooij 60-61).  USA scores a 40 on this dimension ,while IRE scores a 28. Both of these scores can be considered low. A low score usually suggests that authority can have a negative connotation. There is a higher focus on equality in rights and independence. GRE (60) has a much higher score then USA and IRE. A higher score suggests that in Greece, they value the respect of elders much more, and there is a greater social distance between individuals. These individuals in countries with a high PDI score are raised to be dependent on themselves.

                The IDV (individualism/collectivism) is defined as "people looking after themselves and their immediate family only, versus people belonging to in-groups that look after them in exchange for loyalty" (De Mooij 61-62). USA scores a very high 91, while IRE has a high score of 70 as well. This score shows how America is a very individualistic country. Looking at GRE (35), their score is very low. Individuals from GRE would be much more likely to stick to their specific social system in which they belong. If an individual of a country with a low IDV score did something negative, it would not only affect them, but bring shame to their social group as well. This is much different then USA and IRE, where individual decisions are valued much more then group ones.

                The MAS ( masculinity/femininity) is defined as : "The dominant values in a masculine society are achievement and success; the dominant values in a feminine society are caring for others and quality of life" (De Mooij 65). USA ( 62), IRE (68), and GRE (57) all score relatively close in this dimension. Achievement and performance are essential in masculine cultures. These scores fall around the middle, meaning all three countries have a mixture of masculinity and femininity. In masculine cultures, being a winner is considered to be a positive thing. In feminine cultures, it would be viewed negatively.

                The UAI (uncertainty avoidance) is defined as "the extent to which people feel threatened by uncertainty and ambiguity and try to avoid these situations" (De Mooij 67). USA (46) and IRE (35) score somewhat low on this dimension. GRE has a very high score of 112. Cultures with a high uncertainty avoidance tend to need rules and formality to structure life. People in these cultures usually have a higher level of tension and anxiety. Greece would be a perfect example of this type of cultures. Cultures with lower scores such as Ireland and the United States tend to hide their emotions better.

                The LTO (long-term orientation) is "the extent to which a society exhibits a pragmatic future-oriented perspective rather than a conventional historic or short-term point of view" (De Mooij 69). USA has a very low score of 29 and IRE has a score of 43. GRE does not have a LTO score. Countries with a high score in this dimension have values that include long-term orientation and having a sense of shame. The United States and Ireland would be the opposite of this. They would be more focused on short-term orientation and respect for traditions and gifts. Cultures such as China and Japan have high scores in this dimension, and have strong value in their reverence for nature.