Culture, branding and national identity in the era of globalization : a study of beer brands in the Finnish market

Abstract

Branding and marketing encompass some of the core elements of intercultural communication. Brands are derived from the existing cultural capital and the interaction that brands have with consumers in the marketing and consumption process involves an exchange of meaning and messages and therefore constitutes a form of communication in itself. Due to the economic imperative behind brand development, it is necessary that the brand react to changes in fashion, but also to changes in culture, in order to be competitive in the market place. However, this is not a one-way process as brands and products themselves influence trends and cultural shifts. The objective of this thesis was to analyze brands in a specific industry (brewing) that are available in a specific market place (Finland) in order to gain an insight into the nature of brand identity and its development in the era of globalization through the prism of existing concepts in the field of intercultural communication, within a broader context related to intercultural communication, globalization, identity, marketing and branding. At first glance, there appears to be an apparent dichotomy related to branding specifically derived from national cultural values and branding with an altogether more international and cosmopolitan character. However, this analysis illuminates an underlying relationship across the spectrum of brands between brands and national cultures of their countries of origin, albeit with certain specific deviations. There was also an apparent cultural dichotomy, whereby the overtly national brands espoused values that were related more with the traditional, pre-industrial values while the overtly international brands were related strongly with modern values that characterize post-industrial societies. The key finding here is that regardless whether brands purport to be cosmopolitan or national, the influence of their national cultural backgrounds abide beneath the veneer of the global and international. However, the veneer of the global and international represents an affirmation that a deterritorialized, global, cosmopolitan identity derived from across the international cultural spectrum, but principally derived from the ’Western lifestyle’ and embodied in the profile of ’Modern 2 2 man’ as outlined, is proliferating wherever the global economic system penetrates. In the era of globalization, it would appear that it is no longer sufficient for intercultural communication to focus on national or ethnically based cultural value systems. The impact of globalization and the supra national is an essential consideration in examining shifts and patterns in the field of globalization.