Wanted: Chief Culture Officer

A disappointed marketer of ABC Cola recently returned from a Middle East assignment.  A colleague asked, "What happened? What went wrong?"

The marketer explained, "When I got assigned to the Middle East, I was confident that I would make a good pitch as cola is virtually unknown there. But, I had a problem: I didn't speak fluent Arabic. So, I planned to convey our message through images on a poster."

ColaAd

First image: A man lying in the hot desert sand, totally exhausted and fainting. 

Second image: The man is drinking our cola. 

Third image: Our man is now totally refreshed. 

"I had those posters plastered everywhere!"

"Then that should have worked!" said the friend. 

"So I assumed." said the salesman. "But I didn't realize that Arabs read from right to left!"

Moral of the story: Read my friend Grant McCracken's new book, "Chief Culture Officer."


Posted May 18, 2009
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Comments

Gabriel Rossi- Branding


That sort of thing happens a lot with naming as well. Ford once named one of its cars in Brazil as "Pinto". However, Pinto is Brazilian slang for small male genitals. They changed the name to "Corcel".

Have a great week Tom.

Posted by: Gabriel Rossi- Branding | May 18, 2009 at 01:44 PM

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