A report published in AdWeek this week, entitled ‘Going for the Gold in Global Marketing’, has highlighted the importance of thinking local in global marketing campaigns – using by way of illustration the various subtleties international marketers need to be aware of when planning campaigns due to roll out in the key BRIC economies.

Despite the inherent potential of these markets, for any marketer unfamiliar with the terrain, there are challenges to overcome. It is wise, for example, to avoid depictions of violence and corruption within ads in Brazil, since, we are told, Brazilians “wish for the media, to express alternatives to the social problems of poverty, street crime, and corporate and government corruption.”

In order to make a positive impression in China, it is important to emphasize your brand’s history or prestige. The country places a high value on tradition and longevity.

Meanwhile, what sells in Moscow may not impress buyers in St Petersburg, while Russian consumers have grown increasingly savvy, and the market is so dynamic that they “appreciate advertising that is as sophisticated, witty and subtle as they consider themselves to be…”

Nikon has launched an international advertising campaign, designed to inspire budding photographers in key country markets. The new ‘I am’ advertising campaign will include TV spots which premiere in the UK over the Easter weekend.

The ads – which will run throughout Europe and South Africa – are designed to portray professional photo techniques as accessible to a wide audience. Shot in Egypt, Germany and Spain, they portray a range of locations, including a desert, a wedding, and a nightclub.

Real-life scenarios are designed to show how people can reveal who they are with a Nikon camera. In one scene, a Spanish bride allows her final pre-wedding preparations to be filmed, while in another, people from across the globe are shown interacting via the Internet and with the help of their Nikon cameras. Other footage shows holiday-makers exploring the Egyptian pyramids.

The current campaign plays on Nikon’s strapline of being ‘At the heart of the image.’ In one ad, the international popstar Robbie Williams turns his digital camera on the crowds.

The Economist’s Technology Quarterly has highlighted the struggle international brands face when expanding their global footprints online. In its report entitled “The many voices of the web,” it highlights the fact that language is very often one of the first stumbling blocks for cross-border businesses entering new markets.

Yet taking short-cuts with language – perhaps in attempt to boost cost-efficiencies within global campaigns – rarely work. Companies need to ensure that they communicate their brand values effectively in new markets, whilst maintaining the consistency and essence of their brand image. And beyond the subtle nuances of language – which necessitate genuinely expert knowledge – brands also need to understand, and respond to, cultural context. For example, in Japan the numbers four and nine are considered unlucky; the words for these numbers sound like ‘death’ and ‘pain.’ No automatic translation service in existence in today’s world can tell you this, as the report makes abundantly clear

Now, more than ever, we live in a procurement-led world. The Financial Times reports that US advertising agency TBWA/Chiat/Day has appointed a new “chief compensation officer” to lead its negotiations on the fees it charges clients. “It is a sign that this agency has had enough of being squeezed by its clients’ procurement officers,” says the report. “Marketing is fighting back.”

At least it’s trying to. Yes, it’s common knowledge that chief executives can have a tough time knowing exactly what value has been derived from marketing spend. Add to this ongoing and international economic woes, and the job of selling products and services isn’t easy. Sadly, some would say, the world portrayed in Mad Men, doesn’t exist any more. We’ve moved on.

But have we really? The report in the FT is correct when it suggests that experimenting with new approaches, new business models, can lead to the interests of customers falling between the cracks of organizational silos. All too often, silos don’t work. As a consequence, many a structural change – client and agency-side – has failed to meet the demands of international marketers and their procurement departments.

Harvard Business School’s Ranjay Gulati claims that too many marketing departments describe themselves as “customer-centric” when in fact, “They look at customers only through the lens of existing products.”

True, but what compounds the problem is that international marketers must learn to look through the lens of the country markets they operate in.

Cable giant Discovery Communications is planning an international roll-out for TLC, the female- focused television channel best known in the US for controversial reality show Jon & Kate Plus 8, about a couple with eight children. Its ambitions plans for the network are designed to make it the most widely distributed female lifestyle channel brand in pay-TV.

Kicking off its expansion plans – which will involve more than 75 international markets by Spring next year – with a launch in Norway, the aim is to take the company’s second-biggest network after the Discovery Channel to about 100m additional subscribers within 18 months. It has so far only been seen outside North America in one test market, Brazil.

The roll-out will double TLC’s global viewership and make it the most widely-distributed female lifestyle cable channel. It will also allow the group’s international arm to offer advertisers and affiliates an alternative to the Discovery Channel. TLC currently reaches 107m North American households with shows including What not to Wear and Cake Boss. It will join half a dozen Discovery channels that reach an international audience.

Mark Hollinger, chief executive of Discovery Networks International has described pay-TV as ‘stagnant’ in many mature markets. “What we believe it needs is more big audience delivery vehicles,” he said, adding that TLC would form a vital part of the network’s global advertising portfolio.

The roll-out will involve a rebrand of existing Discovery International channels as well as new distribution deals. Although TLC will include existing programming from its domestic line-up, Discovery plans to

International energy giant BP has outlined plans to boost efficiency and reduce costs with the aim of improving its annual underlying pre-tax profitability by more than $3bn over the next two to three years. The majority of savings will come from refining and marketing – the most troubled of BP’s divisions in the past five years.

Group chief executive, Tony Hayward, who cut layers of management after taking over the helm in 2007, said the company had made great progress in reducing costs but that there were more opportunities to improve operating and cost-efficiency right across the company, from marketing operations to project management and procurement.

The oil and gas group has committed to significant organisational restructuring in order to centralise project management, improve cost efficiency and inject greater consistency into operations. In particular, a ‘Centralised Developments Organisation’ is being established. Based in Houston, this new unit is

Marks & Spencer has unveiled plans to become the world’s most sustainable retailer by 2015, as it extends its commitments under its ethical ‘Plan A’ programme.

The global retailer has said its green targets, originally introduced in 2007, are making the company more efficient and will allow it to develop new markets and build customer loyalty.

Plans include the conversion of 50% of its food, home and clothing items across 36,000 lines to Plan A status over the next five years. To achieve this benchmark, each product must have at least one ethical or sustainable quality, such as being made with free-range ingredients.

M&S wants all of its products to comply by 2020 and is encouraging suppliers to put best practice in place. “We believe sustainability is a key ingredient of business success,” said M&S executive chairman, Sir Stuart Rose. “Plan A will continue to make us more efficient.”

M&S has also said it will work with clothing suppliers in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka to agree a fair ‘living’ wage for workers after a pilot programme in Bangladesh.

At launch, Plan A included 100 commitments over five areas, including climate change, sustainable raw materials, waste and health.

Global beauty giant Estée Lauder has appointed Georgia Garinois-Melenikiotou in order to lead a newly-created “Corporate Marketing Center of Excellence” from April. This new team is designed to support Estée Lauder’s Brands, Research & Development teams as well as the multinational’s regional teams by developing its global consumer knowledge and marketing capability. The move is part of a bid to increase the efficiency of activities such as CRM, advertising, ‘multicultural’ marketing, consumer research and digital strategies.

Garinois-Melenikiotou – as Senior Vice President, Corporate Marketing – will report to President and CEO Fabrizio Freda. She joins from health care products and pharmaceuticals company Johnson & Johnson, where she has held marketing positions for over 20 years, including the role of president of the global beauty business unit. She will be based in New York and said that she was looking forward to playing a role in “fostering even greater creative and efficient marketing efforts to further benefit the company.”

Late last year, the global beauty giant offered women in the US free makeovers and branded photos to use as their profile pictures on social networking sites. A report in DMNews described the company’s approach as

Michelin’s first ever global marketing campaign hits Australian TV screens this weekend, featuring the 112 year old, iconic Michelin Man in an animated film where he saves drivers from the costs of an evil petrol pump with energy saving tyres.

The worldwide campaign launched in the US in October last year and is rolling out in 55 countries using the same core creative, localised to country markets.

In Austalia, the TV campaign for Michelin’s Green X fuel saving tyres will be backed up with print, online and below-the-line activities, rolling out in March.

The  Michelin Man will also appear in in-game advertising, on Facebook and in online news sites and press ads.

The campaign is part of  Michelin’s plan to

Advertising Age took a worldwide look at the state of digital marketing this week, having surveyed executives at ICOM, a global network of independent ad agencies, about the top digital trends and issues facing their markets in 2010.

The findings underscore the importance of understanding local trends and behaviours as marketers worldwide seek to leverage the growing power of digital marketing. They also highlight the opportunities available to those marketers who do grasp regional peculiarities and differences – and harness these – as internet use continues to increase and evolve in key country markets.

For example, we are told that in Brazil and Estonia Google-owned social networking site Orkut is proving popular. Social media is a hot topic in both markets.

Take global restaurant chain T.G.I. Friday’s in Brazil. It used Orkut, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to launch