Honor System

Intercultural Analysis blog entry # 4

Throughout my trip, especially in German, I encountered many things that caught my attention. Among these things was the honoring system which is implied by some European cities such as Berlin and Vienne.

Viapianos, Berlin

In Berlin we visited a local restaurant called “Viapiano.” This restaurant used the honor system by providing their customers with a plastic card to charge their meal. When the costumer is done with their meal they proceed to the cashier to pay for what was charge to the card. Also we attended a bike tour around the city that did not request any type of payment until the end of the tour. The public transportation rarely checks for payment.

Fat Tire Bike Tour, Berlin

What most impacted me was the way this honor system was implemented in Vienne. The newspapers in Vienne are placed in plastic bags which are hung in different types of posts, along with a plastic container where money is deposited for the newspaper, around the city. It would be possible for someone to simply reach in a newspaper bag, grab a copy, and just take it without paying a cent, but the culture has been raised to honor their system and pay for their copy of the newspaper like honest citizens.

I would not think this system would work in the Americas because the Americas culture is taught to be some how dishonest to be able to survive in society.

Cultural Influence in Berlin

Intercultural Analysis blog entry # 3

Berlin Carnival of Cultures, Brazil float

One of the experiences that influenced my opinion about the different cultures in Berlin was the famous carnival of cultures. This carnival has been held in Berlin for the past 14 years, it lasts a week, concluding with a parade on the last day, and portrays around 70 different nationalities around the world. Here I found a great amount of Latin American presence such as Peruvian, Brazilian and Ecuadorian cultures. This observation surprised me very much because during my stay in Berlin I would rarely see too much of these cultures in the every-day life of Berlin.

Berlin Carnival of Cultures, Ecuador float

When I arrived at the carnival of cultures, I observed that a greater amount of the public was of German culture, but the day advanced I begin to see a big part of this carnival was made up of foreign cultures such as Jamaica, Korea, India, Spanish, amongst many others. The conclusion I drew from this experience in Berlin was that when a person begins a new life in a foreign culture they begin to acculturate without losing perspective of their own primary culture. This kind of situation can be seen happen all around the world, I myself am a perfect example of this process. I was born and raised in Colombia, at the age of 14 my family and I moved to the United States allowing me to absorb this culture without losing sight of my Colombian background.

Berlin Carnival of Cultures, Korea float

With my experience of the carnival of cultures I can now reinforce the importance of research when trying to reach a selected target audience.

www.karneval-berlin.de/de/english.175.html

Sex and Beauty

IMC Analysis blog entry #4

While in Berlin I found much advertisment promoting people's safety when it comes to disease in general but mostly when it comes to transmitted disease. A great example of this advertising in Berlin has being mention by my fellow classmates as the H&M Fashion Against Aids campaign, which has been used around the world, and the Hepatitis B campanig. another campaign that is more localized in Germany also caught my attention. I found this campaign to be a great idea to target the adult and young adult population in Germany due to its content.

The German government started this new campaign in late March of 2009 nationwide. It has been created by the German health department. This campaign known as “Gib Aids Keine Chance”, which translated to something like “getting aids no chance”, promotes the safe sex to decrease the risk of aids.

The following video clip you will see is the TV commercial shown around Germany to promote this issue.

The campaign creates settings where sexual activity has taken place but it lacks the presence of people. For example: different emty house rooms, emty forest, emty kitchen and dining table.

One of my favored points of this campaign is the presence of people only found in TV commercials. In the print advertising of this campaign the presence of the people is only implied.

In my opinion, the German government conveys clever and well developed idea to promote the race against aids. I conclude this idea will work for the rest of the world because by using an empty setting the presence of people can be implied and partially left to the imagination of the viewing public.

www.machsmit.de

Promoting a Destination

IMC analysis blog entry # 3

In my journey around Europe I had the chance to see many different events that had become news throughout the times. One of this events was the visit of the Olympic committee to Madrid while my stay. Madrid was an applicant to host the 2012 Summer Olympic Games but if fail to become the host city. The same day that London was announced as the host city for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games Madrid decided to try again and became an applicant to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. I was very lucky to be in Madrid at this time of the year because I was able to see all the arrangements to advertise for this event.

Theme of the campaign

The city of Madrid placed many different banners hanging from the street lights. They also had advertisings in the different metro stations and in the streets. Around El Parque del Retiro you were able to see and stand statue of the hand that symbolizes the 2016 games.

Picture of advertising around Madrid

To me all this camping make me feel like Madrid deserved to be the Host city for the games. It all looks like if they were already the winners of this competition. The slogan of the campaign shows how cultural integration can work in the advantage of a promotion.

campaign Slogan

The whole advertising campaign was also spread around Spain in general. In my stay in Barcelona I encounter a couple of these ads also.

www.madrid2016.es

Non-traditional advertising/promotion strategies

IMC analysis blog entry # 2        

Since my arrival in Berlin I have seen a lot of advertising around the city but there is one in specific that has caught my attention. To me it is a form of non-traditional advertising. The form that I am talking about is when the ad is placed on the floor or on a staircase.

AlexanderPlatz, U-Bahn Station 

I found this type of advertising very unusual because we do not have this type of advertising in the United States or at less it is not common.

Advertisers in the United States could say that this would not be a very successful method of advertising because it would not only take away credibility of the product or brand you are advertising but you can also show that the product or brand is getting stepped on and is getting diminished. 

AlexanderPlatz, U-Bahn Station

As discussed in class, Germans in general are not offended at all by this method of advertising. In the other hand, they found it very useful especially when the ads are place in common places like the train stations and subway stations. They said that they think it is a very effective way to advertise and they explained that people usually look down when walking in the stations and they have the advantage of seeing these ads in the floor. 

Picture Sample from the internet

I have learned that this type of advertising is very useful in some places. I can use this as a great example of the importance of research when advertising in different cultures. In some cultures it may work but in others may not.

I want to know what is your opinion about placing an ad in the floor…

Standardization of Advertizing

2. Intercultural Analysis blog entry # 2 

This is just an example of an international advertising campaign that shows how standardization works in the advertising world.

Rome, Armani campaign

The first time I saw this kind of advertising I was in Rome. First, it caught my attention because the ad showed Victoria and David Beckham in their underwear; secondly, because the ad was placed in the center of the city as big as the building it was displayed on.  

Rome, Armani campaign

To me this celebrity endorsement advertising campaign works for various reasons:

First, we could say that this is one of the most famous couples in the world and besides being famous they are very beautiful.  Secondly, it shows them as a couple and with this tactic I conclude that Armani is using this campaign to not only target adults but couples as well. Finally, I found the campaign to be a great example of standardization because as I was looking on the Internet for more pictures from this campaign, besides the ones in Rome, I found that in San Francisco they are also using the same campaign.

San Francisco, Armani campaign

Expectations about cultural differences between Germany and US

1. Intercultural Analysis blog entry # 1

I will have to start by saying that I did not know how much influence the United States had in the European countries in general. It is amazing how you can see McDonalds and Burger King on every corner in urban cities. There is a Burger King and/or a McDonald’s establishment even in the smallest towns outside from the big populations and all the way around Europe. When we were driving from Munich to Berlin, we were able to see the big signs of either McDonalds or Burger King establishments even in the most isolated places. What has caught my attention about this phenomenon is that depending in which city and what country you are at the menu of the establishment automatically varies. We can say that this is an example of marketing strategy to adapt a product to another culture.

Picture of McDonald in Germany

With all my travels, I noticed an area where America is lacking. Like big cities in America, Berlin has a diversity of cultures. The biggest immigrant communities are Turkish and Russian, said Maria Elena Villar. I also realized how behind we are in the US. In Europe, the average person speaks at least 3 different languages. This inspires me to learn more languages. The first on my list will be Italian because I found it to be a very helpful for my future.

Picture of McDonald Barcelona, Spain

I have learned a lot from this experience so far and I am looking forward to learning even more.