Duffy Seán - International Brand Strategy

Sean writes from the perspective of someone who has pondered the vagaries of product naming while standing in a shop in rural Ethiopia, reimagined adapting automotive ad copy sitting in a sleek conference room in Sweden, and walked the streets of Beijing to meet with engineers to find insights on a clients QA testing. Hes a practitioner who knows what works and why, and any marketer who wants to sell internationally or adapt a global brand locally would do well to follow his lead.

Jonathan Salem Baskin, President, Arcadia Communications Lab and Author of Branding Only Works on Cattle

Value is as perceived in the eyes of the buyer, as the LOrals, Nestls, Unilevers and P&Gs of the world have discovered and learned to exploit. Sean Duffy shows you the way to do it too! He has condensed his 30 years of handling strategic marketing and brand development exercises over six continents in a slim, practical but comprehensive book. It provides a framework of understanding the issues, analysing the options, and developing the actions needed to avoid the pitfalls in carefully crafted chapters.

Sanjay Kumar, Strategy and Operations and Professor, Delhi School of Business

Sean Duffy removes all the fuzziness from marketing and brand management with his new book. He clearly demonstrates how to grow brands and how to grow as marketers. Several classes of my MA students have developed into skilful marketers implementing the ideas from this book. Recommended reading for anyone serious about building brands and business.

Veronika Tarnovskaya, International Marketing and Researcher and Lecturer, docent, Lund University School of Economics and Management

This book is very practical with useful methodologies and concrete case studies. Im really eager to see the Chinese edition quickly, so it will be a timely gift for those Chinese companies and marketers who are planning to run or are already operating businesses abroad. Marketers can take this book as a marketing bible for international market entry and operations.

Edward Zhang, Founder of ZEN.EST Public Relations

You could argue that this book is like its author: all at once highly entertaining but also serious, deeply structured and brimming with practical tips. If you are a marketing practitioner, it will become your bedside reading with pen and paper to jot down those new ideas in the middle of the night. If you are a top executive discover how you can build brand equity, intentionally. And if you are a business student, this may well be your passport to a successful international career!

Donovan Hawker, Founder, Hawkers & Partner and Lecturer, Sorbonne University (CELSA)

Sean has captured both the how and, more importantly, the why in building successful multinational marketing efforts. Im happy that TAAN Worldwide has played a supporting role over the years as Sean traversed the globe acquiring the wisdom he is now sharing with everyone.

Peter Gerritsen, President, TAAN Worldwide

Today global marketers dont hesitate to turn to independent agencies for international work. Sean Duffy, CEO of one of the most proficient, explains how. If you are looking for the definitive hand guide on how to successfully market your brand across borders, this is it.

Elliot Polak, Chief Consultant, Social Dividend Global

Sean Duffys book is truly a gem. A must-read for every marketing and business leader growing their company across borders.

Nataly Kelly, VP of Localization, HubSpot and Author of Found in Translation

The hyper-practical (and uber-inspiring!) guide to taking your brand global. (Hint: Its way more than running your website copy through Google Translate!)

Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer, Marketing Professors and Author of Everybody Writes

Youre just about to enter a new market with your brand. Excited? Consider this: the odds are high that you will fail... So if you dont want to become another sad statistic, then this book is a must-read!

Dr Ana Iorga, CEO and Chief Neuroscientist, Buyer Brain, and co-editor and author of Ethics in Neuromarketing

To the memory of Dr Paul E Duffy

Sean Duffy is an international brand strategist. Over the past three decades he has worked with dozens of global brands including IKEA, the United Nations, Volvo, VF Corporation, Absolut, Pfizer and GSK in over 40 countries across six continents. Originally from Greater Boston, Sean has lived and worked in Boston, London, San Francisco, Copenhagen and Stockholm before founding Duffy Agency in 2001.

Duffy Agency is a marketing consultancy and part of the TAAN Worldwide network. The Agency helps CEOs, CMOs, brand managers and ad agency planners see the world through the eyes of their target audiences around the world. Having done that, Duffy Agency then helps them create and execute marketing strategies to drive sales, maintain margins and build brand equity globally.

Outside Duffy Agency, Sean serves as Adjunct Professor of International Strategic Marketing at the Lund University School of Economics & Management in Sweden. He has also served as mentor in the Masters Program in Entrepreneurship at Lund University. Sean is an active member of TAAN Worldwide, where he has served two terms as the European Governor. Established in 1936, TAAN Worldwide is a global network of over 50 independent marketing agencies with annual billings of $1.5 billion USD.

When people think about cross-cultural marketing blunders, what usually comes to mind are the funny translation gaffs. Youve probably come across a few of these yourself, like the list that Inc magazine published with examples like:

• Paxam, the Iranian company, whose laundry soap was called Snow in Farsi. It wanted to launch in English-speaking countries and so translated the brand name to Barf, which appeared on all its packaging.

• Nike added some styling to its shoes intended to look like a flame, but after it was released, it was noted that the graphic resembled the Arabic word for Allah and the products were recalled.

• Swedish company Electrolux marketed its vacuum cleaners in the US with the tag line: Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.

• US air carrier Braniff International wanted to advertise its new leather seats in the Mexican market. When it translated the US headline Fly in Leather into Spanish it read Fly Naked.

• Clairol launched a curling iron called Mist Stick in Germany and decided not to translate the product name. Unfortunately, mist is German slang for manure.

• Many companies have struggled with Mandarin, including Coca-Cola. In its first marketing attempt in China the name was translated to the equivalent of Bite the Wax Tadpole.

While amusing and well circulated on the internet, these are not the types of things that ruin businesses. These are the small hiccups that occur when executing a campaign in a foreign country. While these blunders can be embarrassing, their effects are usually fleeting so long as they are corrected in short order. To my knowledge, none of the brands mentioned in these online anecdotes have suffered any lasting consequences as a direct result of their cultural faux pas.