Analyses of the Differences on Huawei’s Cross—cultural Marketing and Advertising Strategies at home and abroad

【Abstract】： The growth of international business has been paralleled by the growth of international marketing. And there are many factors for marketers to determine how they might impact the marketing mix. Recent years have greatly witnessed the importance of cultural environment on the marketing success， which can differ from country to country. So for the sake of achieving success in the area of international marketing， business marketers must have a good knowledge of diverse cultural environments. Here list some advertising extracted about Huawei， and analyze the reasons why they have got such a success.

【Key words】： International business； Marketing and Advertising； Huawei’ advertising； Cultural environment

Nowadays every year more than 40，000 products are introduced into the global marketplace， and about 85% of these products fail. That’s to say， the road to international marketing success is built on the debris of failed marketing and advertising campaigns. And such failures are always caused by intercultural communication misunderstandings and the miscalculating or ignoring of the cultural environment. Here we extract two successful advertisements from Huawei and give a more detailed analysis for the reasons based on the theories of Intercultural Business Communication， hoping to help some multinational companies deal with the cross-cultural business marketing and advertising better.

1.Descriptions of Huawei’s two advertisements

The first advertising is designated for China’s market. A man walks through many dangerous places and tries to achieve his dream whatever the risks and dangers ahead are. When someone tells him that there is no way in front of him， he throws a big doubt on the statement. Instead， he answered that the road is not under our foot； Your dream will create your defined potential. The whole advertising is in Chinese， and no doubt what it intends to deliver is the watchword “Making it possible”.

The second advertising is the latest promotion advertising abroad， with the name of “Dream it Possible”. The whole advertising goes on with one English song of the same name by an American singer， Delacey. The advertising mainly tells a touching story happening on a little girl who has a strong desire for piano since her childhood. Inspired by her grandfather and supported by her family， she chooses to pursue her music dream further and eventually becomes an outstanding pianist. During the process， she has encountered many challenges and difficulties. But when she gets contact with her grandfather by Huawei phone who she loves deeply， she gains back the courage and at last she makes the dream possible. As the song tells， when your dreams come alive， you are unstoppable. We will dream it possible. The whole advertising is surrounded with one catchphrase “Dream it possible”.

2.Detailed analysis on the two advertisements

The two advertisements come from Huawei， the largest telecommunications equipment maker in the world. There is no denying that those advertisements have reached their expected targets and enhanced their reputation at home and abroad. Here are some analysis we try to give based on the theory of intercultural business communication.

（1）The advertising combines the standardization and localization well.

There are two main schools of culture-cultural universals and cultural variations that relate closely to the development and creation of multinational marketing. They are George Murdock’s theory of cultural theory of cultural universals and Hofstede’s theory of cultural variations.

On the one hand， what we can see clearly from the two advertisements is that they both set the great store on the spirit of challenging. “Dreaming it possible” and “making it possible” are such that we can find in common between the two. And this is the spirit of Huawei， famous for his “wolf culture”， also widely shared by many nations and countries in the world. This is the claim of standardization that consumers in the world have the same needs and desires so that universal appeals can be utilized to persuade them.

On the other hand， it’s natural that marketing practices will vary from one to another. This requires the marketers to think locally directed entirely towards the targeted region or country. The most obvious point is the different languages it uses. The latter mainly targets for the western customers so it uses the universal language， English to advocate his product. And the main characters in the latter advertising are the typical images of one western family and the adoption of the English song helps greatly to get close to the customers abroad. Compared to that， the first advertising caters to the mentality of Chinese young generation to take risks and challenge the impossible.

All in all， from the advertising， Huawei did a great job in the combination 0f standardization and localization. Think globally and act locally and differently.

（2）The advertising makes good use of Hall’s high-and low-context orientation.

Edward Hall distinguishes among cultures on the basis of the role of context in communication. In high-context cultures most of the information is in the physical context or is internalized in the people who are part of the intention. But in low-context culture， very little is embedded in the context and most of the information is contained in the verbal message.

From the two advertisements， we can see clearly that the former advertising targeting for Chinese customers uses more ambiguity words， but the targeted audiences know what they are meaning. The Chinese could decoded the encoded messages and acknowledge that Huawei is preparing to overcome the potential challenges and trying a totally new road to develop， inspiring the strong sense of identity among Chinese customers.

Instead， for the advertising shown especially for western customers， it adopts the method of telling one story. For one thing， it uses the song lyrics to tell customers what was happening and helps them to understand what the point is. For another， it pays more attention to the logic and details. Many small details in the video such as written words and gestures help to understand the plot. There are little non-verbal cues and complicated logic inside.

Because China is a typical high-context culture so Chinese people can understand the meanings embedded at many socio-cultural levels. But there are still other countries especially such as America， which belongs to the low-context culture. The people can’t understand visual messages easily and often understand meaning at one only level. So for the sake of reducing the ambiguity， the advertising uses more clear information and easy logic to help understand the point.

（3）The advertising considers fully the theory and the wisdom of Hofstede’s final five dimensional models of cultural values.

Here we present the breakthrough of Geert Hofstede and his final five dimensional modes of cultural values. He believes that cultures differ in power distance， uncertainty avoidance， individualism vs. collectivism， masculinity vs. femininity， and long-term vs. short-time orientation.

a. Individualism vs. Collectivism

Living in countries characterized by high individualism， people tend to rely on their inner values or standards in evaluating the products. And they emphasize the achievement of personal values. However， those living in high-collectivism context advocate interdependence and often distinguish between in-groups and out-groups. Collectivistic consumers tend to prefer ads that feature a social environment or stress social acceptance so as to appeal to their need for approval.

In the advertising especially for American customers， the story ends with the achievement of the girl’s music dream. The little girl reaches her goals and such endings are pretty acceptable for those customers living in America， a country of admiring for high individualism. And the advertising aimed for Chinese stressed the efforts it is making to go ahead and evoked the strong sense of identity and acceptance to buy the deal. The Chinese customers often regard Huawei as their in-group brands. In a nutshell， the plots of the advertising consider the cultural environments.

b. Uncertainty Avoidance

Uncertainty avoidance is a measure of how accepting a culture is of a lack of predictability. High uncertainty avoidance cultures try to avoid uncertainty and ambiguity by providing the stability for their members. However， countries like the United States with low uncertainty avoidance accept the uncertainty more easily and are more willing to take risks and prize initiative.

The latter advertising is more obvious about this theory. America is a typical country with high uncertainty avoidance. They love to try new things and take risks to challenge life. This advertising tells that a little girl went out alone to pursue her dream bravely and dream everything possible. The spirit coincides with the characteristics of most America.

c.Power distance

The effect of power distance on consumer behavior can be observed in many areas， particularly in the areas of decision-making and promotional strategies. In high power distance cultures， consumers value conformity and behave as they are told. Conversely， in low power distance cultures， decisions are made after consulting with others and people seldom worship the authority. And those advertised products seldom list the certificates in the ads but would usually exemplify individual opinion in the advertisement.

The advertising abroad has not listed any certificates about the quality or the functions of the products to persuade the customers. Instead， it tells us one story of the little girl， and it shows the power of the mobile phone， through which she retained the passion， motivation and enthusiasm for her dream. This caters to the American’s thinking and accepting styles.

d. Masculinity vs. Femininity

People living in countries with high masculinity scores think possessions are important， which can reflect a person’s achievements. However， in countries with high femininity scores， concern for the environmental would tend to create demand for products and services that are environmentally friendly. They pay more attention to the quality of life.

To some extent， China and the United States are of more the high masculinity than the high femininity. As a result， both of the advertising put an emphasis on the struggles to explore and to achieve our better future. The two advertisements have noticed the feature of the culture.

e. Short- and Long-term Orientation

Compared to short-time-oriented cultures， long-time-oriented cultures are characterized by patience， perseverance， and respect for the elders with a sense of obedience. They are willing to defer gratification in pursuit of long-range goals while the members of the short-time orientation cultures look for quick payoff. China is a typical country with the long-time orientation. The first advertising advocated that we should challenge everything and spare no efforts to make it possible. This is rightly consistent with the values of many Chinese.

From the above， we have analyzed the two successful advertisements of Huawei in details based on the theory of the Intercultural Marketing Communication. But in fact， as an international business marketer， we should do a lot of homework when we begin our foray into the targeted market. Here we take the example of Huawei’s cross-cultural marketing and advertising activities in the North-American marketplace and analyze the potential causes.

3 The Introduction of Current Situation and Development of Huawei

During the last two decades， more and more Chinese multinational companies have speeded up the pace to go international. And as Ren Zhengfei has ever said， the goals of Huawei are going to be an internationalized company which will develop its business based on the global resources. And since 1990s， Huawei has greatly improved its inner management system， grossly enhanced the company’s cultural construction， and put its insight into the global market in the fierce competition within the industry.

But the way to go international is never an easy task. Although Huawei has done a great job and performed well in many markets such as the African market， the South-east Asian markets， and even the European market， Huawei has ever failed twice in the foray into the North-American marketplace in 2003 and in 2010. No one can deny that these two failures indeed gave a hit to the Huawei， and a shock to many other domestic companies which aspire to go international and take a share in the huge North-American market.

The North-American market is a huge cake for many communication companies. But at the same time， it’s also a very complicated marketplace， which requires the business marketers to have a good grasp of the cultural environment and know more about the cultural variance and even overcome some cultural obstacles.

4 The Cultural Obstacles Affecting Huawei’s Development in the North-American Market

（1） The Differences of Values

The values are the heart-rooted thinking styles of the people in the whole cultural system. Once the values are formed， it’s very hard to totally change. The countries in the North-American marketplace are often those with low power distance and low uncertainty avoidance. And obviously， they adore the spirit of individualism more. However， China is one country with high power distance， high uncertainty avoidance and high collectivism scores. As a result， those values’ differences will make a difference to the advertising and marketing.

Under such circumstances， the international business marketers must find the harmony and the similarity between two and even more different values when making the international cross-cultural marketing and advertising campaigns.

（2）The Differences of Thinking

The thinking style and the culture have a very complicated relation. The culture makes a big difference to the formation of the mode of thinking. First of all， Chinese pay more attention to imaginal thinking while the western people more like abstract thinking. And in addition， Chinese prefer the synthetic thinking and the western people prefer the analytical thinking. Furthermore， Chinese stress more the unity while the westerners emphasize more the opposition.

Those with the opposite mode of thinking have a tendency to consider things in a separate and opposite way and stress the differences between the two sides. However， those with the unified mode of thinking tend to combine the differences within things to consider the question as a whole and stress the relation and harmony between them.

（3） The Differences of Rules

As for the rule management， it emphasizes the systematism of the management and the scientism of the system. The main differences are not only the rules themselves， but also the understanding to the rules. For Chinese， the rules indeed exit， but the understanding and execution may be different according to the specific circumstances. Chinese tend to use the “emotional management” in the company. Conversely， the westerners are stricter with these rules and they often obey the rules rationally according to the standardization.

（4） The Differences of Languages

Language is the carrier of culture. The languages formed in different cultural environments often carry the indelible cultural differences. The differences are also greatly affecting the communication between the encoder and the decoder. Everything ranging from the publication of company files to the communication of work flow and operation procedure is largely subject to the effect of language differences.

As a consequence， the managers of the company should consider fully the language differences and enhanced the language training of the company’s staff when necessary. And be cautious when using the language in the advertising and marketing campaigns for the sake of avoiding unnecessary blunders.

5 The Suggestions for international companies to make successful cross-cultural advertising and marketing in the North-American marketplace

（1）The international business marketers should have a good grasp of knowledge about the intercultural business communication and intercultural marketing communication.

Enterprises should enhance the training of marketing staff about the intercultural theories and foster the intercultural awareness. The marketers should know fully about the cultural environments such as the languages， signs and symbols， and rituals and religions in the targeted North-American marketplace. The advertising and marketing shouldn’t make obvious cultural mistakes and cause unnecessary cultural offence.

（2）International companies should deal with the relations between the standardization and localization better. Think globally and act locally.

As for the products for the targeted market， companies must ensure that not only the quality of their products are good enough， but also make the proper and attractive advertising and marketing to attract our expected customers. We should find one element in our product which is universally accepted in the world， and the element of course， caters to the pursuit of most people in the targeted marketplace. And based on different countries and regions， we should adopt different channels to express the universal values in order to impress the customers and persuade the customers.

Think globally， and the advertisements with the same themes that appeal to the basic human need can go international. Act locally and the ways to satisfy basic human needs can be varied in different cultures to best suit the targeted customers’ tastes.

Anyway， for a successful marketing and advertising in the cross-cultural environments， international enterprises have to think globally and act locally.

（3）International companies should consider enhancing the construction of cross-cultural team groups. Through employing local managers and local staff， companies could know more exactly what the potential customers want and integrate into the local cultural environment more easily.

（4）Cross-cultural companies should pay more attention to the rules’ construction based on the North-American cultural environment. And raise the awareness of patent protection and defend the legal rights of our own company.

（5）Enhance the relationship with the local government and foster the overseas merger and acquisition in a proper way. International corporations should set the big store on the importance of the ‘Relationship Marketing’ to overcome some potential damper from the government for the excuse of national security.

Complimentary Close：

Marketing is a crucial element of any business’s success， and it is an important channel to communicate the product to the targeted audiences. With the rapid growth of international business， we must make sure that our advertising and marketing are efficient despite the potential obstacles caused by the cross-cultural environment.

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[3]顧秀君.在華跨國公司跨文化營銷策略研究[J].中國市場，2010，（18）：46-48，55.

作者簡介：李杰（1996—），男，漢族，安徽巢湖人，安徽財經(jīng)大學(xué)外國語學(xué)院2014級商務(wù)英語專業(yè)本科生。