Unpacking Culture
Staff
Curriculum Day 2010
Laurimar
Primary School
_____________________________
Introduction
We
live in a world where the next must have is already yesterday’s technology. New
products appear and disappear on the market in a blink of an eye. So what makes
a product last? How is it that some products seem to have an endless life span
with little need for reinvention? Below are examples of 2 successful, global
products. See how an understanding of deeper human needs underpins their chosen
marketing strategies.
Coke
a Cola = ‘US’ – Need for Belonging
Pepsi = ‘The Individual’ – Need for
Autonomy
In
India, a culture with deep family first values, a mobile phone marketing
strategy was seen to take the following angle.
A
poster on a bill board had a young carefree woman, happy and smiling, who
was holding the latest mobile phone.
The caption below read, ‘Your parents would be proud’.
Would
this same marketing strategy work here in Australia with our 18 to 24 aged
market??????
I
don’t think so……….
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The
Question/Task
You are a senior marketing executive
at LIM (Laurimar International Marketing) and have just landed what could be
the next BIG must
have ………. The Thneed! This
is a product with global market potential.
from The Lorax by Dr Suess
|
The Question Is The Thneed, indeed, the How will you successfully market The Thneed to your cultural |
You have been asked to present your
teams marketing strategies to the CEO who is flying in for the meeting…… in
one hour!
Your goal is to develop market
strategies which include;
Identifying
the Cultural Market
Identify
Key Cultural Understandings
Constructing
A Marketing Story
Developing
A Possible Marketing Slogan or Designing A Marketing Logo
Each Level Team have been designated
the responsibility of developing the global marketing strategies for a cultural
group.
Level 1 – India
Level 2 – Japan
Level 3 – Indonesia
Level 4 – Korea
Exp. Ed. – China
You may choose to zone in on a more
specific niche audience or keep your marketing culturally broad.
__________________________________________
By completing this Webquest you
should achieve the following goals;
- to develop a deeper understanding of aspects
of culture - develop a greater understanding of the values
and beliefs of an asian cultural group - apply cultural understandings to ‘real world’
contexts - develop a greater sense of the importance of
developing cultural competencies in our students
GOODLUCK!
___________________________
Background
Culture influences our everyday decisions. Our own culture is largely invisible to us.
We often see behaviours in other cultural groups and label them ‘odd’ or ‘exotic’ because we do not understand the values and beliefs that underpin them.
Understanding the underlying thinking, values and beliefs is central to successful marketing.
The following is an activity that will help the members of your team to understand a little more about culture in general – Please just look at chapter one today,
- ‘Understanding Culture to Mind of the Beholder’ (skip Introducing Jan)
- you can always return to this site at another date if you wish to deepen cultural competencies.
Click Here to Access World Wise Schools - Culture Matters
The above website will help you as a teacher to ;
- Provide students with a wide range of
cross-cultural understandings and skills. - Build a framework to analyze cultures around
the world and at home. - Develop community and cross-cultural
understanding - Promote students’ understanding of themselves,
others, and the world. - Broaden students’ perspectives and increase
their ability to see the world from another culture’s point of view. - Appreciate how, despite our cultural
differences, we are all united in a common bond of humanity.
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The Roles
The proposed task of marketing The Thneed to a specific audience raises difficult and complex cultural questions and issues. Your group is required to each undertake one of the roles below and explore the quest from that perspective.
In the end you will need to negotiate the strategies from your role’s specific perspective and come up with a presentation that is representative of the team’s decisions.
Remember, your presentation will be presented to the CEO for is flying in especially for this meeting!
ROLES, FOCUS and GOALS
(Visible Culture) Advise on the ‘visible’ highly valued aspects of the cultural group specified
(Culture of Behaviours) Advise on behavioural aspects of culture
(Culture of Thinking) Develop group awareness of cultural values and beliefs
(Culture of Language) Advise parties on cultural aspects behind language
If your team consists of four members then you should each take a role. If there is more than four then some of you may need to share a role. If you have less than four then some of you will need to adopt more than one role.
When you are investigating, make sure that you adopt the persona of that ‘cultural expert’ role and interact with you groupmembers in that persona. This makes it more realistic and lots of fun.
Click above on your role name (NOW LISTED BELOW) and you will find a further outline containing more details about your role and some suggested links to investigate.
_____________________________
Real World Feedback
Ideo is the design company that brought us the mouse, among many other design products. The link below will offer you some feedback on their ‘human centred’ approach.
http://www.ideo.com/thinking/approach/
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Evaluation Rubric
|
RUBRIC |
beginning |
medium |
expert |
|
Individual Expertise |
Little |
Clear |
New |
|
Group Synthesis |
The group’s decision seems more a mixing than a blending. Everyone’s ideas are thrown together, not necessarily thought through. Still no ”Slackers” on this team. | The group decision is based on clear understanding of all team members’ persepctives and the decision works to balance them. Some weak spots may still exist. |
This |
|
Final Outcome |
The final work seems rushed or incomplete. Careless errors may confuse the |
Care has been taken to create a finished product. Few errors exist and these wouldn’t be confusing. |
Care and creativity make this an interesting and polished final work. The quality |
Linguistic Analyst
Congratulation
on your appointment!
You
have been asked to join the working party to develop cultural marketing
approaches for the next BIG thing………THE THNEED!
Your job is to develop a model of the
product which takes into account cultural understandings demonstrated in
language.
Your focus is ‘Culture As Language’ - the inextricable link between language and
culture.
In your team pack you will find a
blank thneed to record your findings. By using these resources and the links
below you can begin the process of unpacking your cultural group.
http://www.culturalsavvy.com/japanese_language.htm (Japan)
http://www.mcdonaldsindia.com (India)
http://www.meertens.knaw.nl/ss17/contributions/abstract.php?paperID=132 (Japan, China)
http://library.thinkquest.org/C004367/la5.shtml (All)
http://www.maec.org/cross/4.html#cultural (All)
Marketer
Congratulation on your
appointment!
You have been asked to join the working party to develop cultural
marketing approaches for the next BIG thing………THE THNEED!
Your job is to develop a model of the product which takes into
account common cultural values and beliefs.
Your focus is ‘Culture As A Way Of Thinking’ – modes of
preception, beliefs and values.
In your team pack you will find Hofstede’s Model of Understanding
Aspects of Culture using the links below and this guide you will need to begin
the process of unpacking your cultural group.
Once all of your team members have completed this task you will
need to come together to discuss your approach.
http://www.geert-hofstede.com/ (All)
http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/at_japan_soc/ (Japan)
http://afe.easia.columbia.edu (All)
Cultural Behaviouralist
Congratulation on your appointment!
You have been asked to join the working party to develop cultural
marketing approaches for the next BIG thing………THE THNEED!
Your job is to develop a model of the product which takes into
account cultural understandings in behaviour.
Your focus is ‘Culture as Behaviour’ - the
set of shared meanings or the ways people agree to behave, act, respond
In your team pack you will find x,y,z. By using these resources
and the links below you can begin the process of unpacking your cultural group.
http://www.culturalsavvy.com/korea_cultural_concepts.htm (Korea)
http://www.culturalsavvy.com/jp_etiquette.htm (Japan)
http://www.culturalsavvy.com/India%20Mission%20Critical%20Cross-cultural%20Issues.pdf (India)
http://www.cyborlink.com/besite/china.htm (China)
http://indonesia-ok.com/culture.htm (Indonesia)
http://www.cyborlink.com/besite/indonesia.htm (Indonesia)
http://www.culturalsavvy.com/gift_giving.htm (All – Gift Giving)
DESIGNERS
Congratulation on your
appointment.
You have been asked to join the working party to develop cultural
marketing approaches for the next BIG thing………THE THNEED!
Your job is to develop a model of the product which takes into
account factors of ‘High Culture’.
Your focus is ‘High Culture’ - the achievements of society in terms of forms of
literature, the arts, music, etc.
In your team pack you will find a blank thneed to record your
findings. By using these resources and the links below you can begin the
process of unpacking your cultural group.
http://www.sibagraphics.com/colour.php (All)
http://www.topendsports.com/design/color-culture.htm (All)
http://www.ibiblio.org/chinesehistory/contents/07spe/olympics/relay.design.htm (China)
http://www.japaneselifestyle.com.au/culture/culture.html (Japan)
http://www.lifeinkorea.com/Culture/spotlight.cfm (Korea)
http://www.pbs.org/hiddenkorea/culture.htm (Korea)
http://indonesia-ok.com/culture.htm (Indonesia)
http://www.taggalaxy.com/ (All – search for your culture)
I want to express my love for your generosity giving support to men and women that need help with your theme. Your real dedication to getting the message along appeared to be especially informative and has allowed those like me to attain their objectives. Your own interesting guideline entails a lot a person like me and far more to my mates. Thanks a ton; from each one of us.