Global marketing through collaboration of local marketing agencies

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Global marketing through

collaboration of local marketing agencies

How can local marketing agencies work together for global clients?

By: Sebastian Rubinsson

Supervisor: Kjell Ljungbo Södertörn University Stockholm

Bachelor’s Degree Thesis 15 HE credits Marketing | Spring semester 2020

Programme: Economy, Technology & Design

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Abstract

Background: The world becomes more connected as technology advances and with the internet as a distribution channel more companies internationalises. However, there are still cultural differences around the world that marketers must take into consideration. The marketing industry faces difficult challenges in adaptation to international marketing, as collaboration between local marketing agencies could be a solution.

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to contribute with understanding of how local marketing agencies can work together for global clients, and how these agencies can adapt local marketing for these clients. In order to understand how marketing agencies can work together, this study will contribute with understanding of this collaboration between local marketing agencies and how they can help each other grow their businesses.

Method: This study uses a qualitative method with unstructured interviews of five people operational within a network of local marketing agencies.

Theory: The theoretical framework for this study consists of theories in international marketing, collaboration and learning.

Results and conclusions: By collaborating in a network, local marketing agencies get access to international markets and can support global clients. By having multiple local agencies working together for global clients, these agencies all provide local knowledge and create local communication. The collaboration in a network is most effective if the competition is eliminated, which can be done through shared ownership and personal connection within the network.

Keywords: International marketing, globalization, collaboration, network.

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Sammanfattning

Bakgrund: Världen blir mer sammanlänkad av den teknologiska utvecklingen och med internet som distributionskanal blir allt fler företag internationella. Det finns däremot kulturella skillnader som marknadsförare måste beakta. Marknadsföringsindustrin har stora utmaningar med att anpassa sig till internationell marknadsföring, en lösning för detta skulle kunna vara ett samarbete mellan lokala marknadsföringsbyråer.

Syfte: Syftet med studien är att bidra med förståelse av hur lokala byråer inom marknadsföring kan arbeta tillsammans för globala kunder, samt hur dessa byråer kan anpassa lokal marknadsföring för dessa kunder. För att förstå hur marknasföringsbyråer kan arbeta tillsammans kommer denna studie att bidra med förståelse över samarbetet mellan dessa lokala marknadsföringsbyråer, och hur de kan hjälpa varandra att utvecklas.

Metod: Denna studie använder en kvalitativ metod med ostrukturerade intervjuer av fem personer som arbetar inom ett nätverk av lokala marknadsföringsbyråer.

Teorier: Den teoretiska referensramen består av teorier inom internationell marknadsföring, samarbete och inlärning.

Resultat och slutsatser: Genom att arbeta tillsammans i ett nätverk får lokala marknadsföringsbyråer tillgång till internationella marknader och kan stödja globala kunder.

Genom att ha ett flertal lokala marknadsföringsbyråer som arbetar för globala kunder, kan dessa byråer bidra med lokal kunskap för att skapa lokal kommunikation. Samarbetet mellan dessa marknadsföringsbyråer fungerar mest effektivt om konkurrensen elimineras, vilket kan åstadkommas genom delat ägande samt personlig kontakt inom nätverket.

Nyckelord: Internationell marknadsföring, globalisering, samarbete, nätverk.

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List of figures:

Figure 1. The marketing mix ... 14

Figure 2. The connection between selected theories ... 19

Figure 3. Map of the members in Worldwide Partners ... 29

Figure 4. Centralized model ... 34

Figure 5. Decentralized model ... 35

Figure 6. Worldwide Partners online platform CoLab ... 39

List of tables:

Table 1. Theoretical framework applied to this study ... 20

Table 2. Respondents ... 24

Table 3. Framework of local marketing agencies collaboration ... 51

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Definitions

International marketing: Marketing that is performed on multiple markets.

Global marketing: Marketing that is performed on a global scale.

Local marketing: Marketing that is created with adaption to the local market.

Glocal: International marketing that is adapted to local markets through local knowledge.

Scale: Is used in this thesis as the degree of global reach for a company.

Network: Is used in this thesis as a group of companies that collaborate.

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1. Introduction

The introduction chapter describes the history of the selected subject. Next, the introduction explains the problem of this subject and why it is a current issue. Further it presents the purpose and research questions of the study. Lastly delimitations and expected contribution of the study is presented.

1.1. History

Economic borders are fading away as the globalization of markets are rapidly developing through technology and most importantly the internet (Mooij, 2019. p. 2). Just about anyone could start a company today and make bracelets, and tomorrow start selling them on the internet on a global market. This is also a result of governments reducing trade and investment barriers, making it possible for multiple companies to compete in domestic markets (Hollensen, 2017.

p. 1-2). These changes in the world economy puts pressure on marketers that must reflect these trends of firms selling products to countries all around the world (ibid.).

Although technology and the internet are making the world more connected as a large market, there are still cultural differences over the world (Muthukrishna & Schaller, 2019; Mooij, 2019.

p. 2). These cultural differences are languages, beliefs, practices, expressions and many other parts making the global market diverse and complex to understand (Mooij, 2019. p. 2). Another aspect is that global companies that operate on several markets have different market-share on each market. This derive to the fact that marketing needs to be performed differently dependent of the market-share in the specific market (ibid.). These variables are the fundamental thought behind “think global, act local” as companies operate on a global market with a large amount of countries and different cultures (ibid.). Philip Kotler once said “All good marketing is local.

Global companies know this and are going glocal” (Hollensen, 2017. p. 826). This statement is connected to the famous quote “think global, act local”. Marketing agencies need to adapt to globalization of markets and make the marketing locally (Tharp & Jeong, 2001). This requires insight in the local market with broad knowledge of the customers and the culture (ibid.). For a local marketing agency, it is not possible to have insight in markets all over the world, at least not on their own. This makes the situation complicated for the global clients, to find an agency

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with the capability of making global marketing campaigns, which often leads to the thought that the global companies require a global marketing agency (ibid.).

There are a few global marketing agencies that have been dominant for a long time. An article in The Drum, written by Dave Reed, claims that revenues have dropped for some of the largest marketing agencies in the world lately (2019). Dave Reed mentions that this fall in revenues could indicate a change in the advertisement industry. Traditional agency business model could be moving into a transformation (ibid.). These large marketing agencies have remained the same for a long time, meanwhile media and other industries have already changed with Netflix, Amazon Prime and NOW TV as examples. Media has adapted to the changes while the large marketing firms struggle to justify their existence in the digital world (ibid.). Bigger companies have come to the realisation that they do not need an agency that can match their size, instead they want one that can match or exceed their ambitions. Speed and flexibility are valuable in today's era but hard to find in the bigger agencies (ibid.). The marketing industry has reached a critical point in its development (Farmer, 2015. p. 24). The prices have been driven lower by hard competition between marketing agencies. Large, traditional marketing agencies have failed to protect their creative capabilities in order to maximize their profits for the shareholders (ibid.).

Global companies can increase their knowledge of the many different markets they operate in by creating an in-house agency (Bamberger, 2019). This is a team within the company that manage marketing activities, which is a large trend growing in global brands with the majority now using in-house agencies (ibid.). According to a survey made by ANA (2018) 78 percent of their members use in-house agency. In 2008 the same survey showed that 42 percent used in- house agency. These teams working as in-house agencies provide services as content for marketing, creative strategies, data analytics, media strategies, programmatic media and social media (ibid.). These services provided by the in-house agency has a lot of benefits for the company such as cost efficiencies, better knowledge of the brand, institutional knowledge, dedicated staff and speed (Bamberger, 2019). This is a great way for companies to get more efficient marketing and a lot more content than a regular agency can provide. Still, 90 percent of these companies prefer to work with external agencies as a complementary (ANA, 2018). Bamberger (2019) states that it is difficult for companies to find experts that can execute everything that is needed for campaigns, even if the company would find such experts it would

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cost a lot more. Companies can save money and find right experts for the specific occasion by working with external agencies as a complementary (ibid.).

To work with an external agency as a complement is hard to find for global brands as the options are limited (Farmer, 2015. p. 58). This is a substantial current issue as more companies grow to become global brands and with a high amount of competition the best possible marketing is vital (ibid.). The global companies are more likely to work with an international marketing agency or an international network than finding foreign marketing agencies on their own to work with (Mueller. 2011. p. 167). It is easier for global companies to work with one single agency than to work with separate agencies for each market (ibid.). As the options of global marketing agencies are limited, global companies could use an international network of marketing agencies.

1.2. Problem area and research gap

The current issue is that technology and the internet has paved the way for globalization of businesses, while marketers are having trouble to create global marketing with local knowledge (Farmer, 2015. p. 60). The expression “think global, act local” is hard for marketers to execute, especially for local marketing agencies (Vignali, 2001). As more and more companies operate on a global scale, the marketing industry is changing (ibid.). Traditionally the global companies have used a global marketing agency that match their size (Tharp & Jeong, 2001). These traditional agencies have dropped in revenue lately, according to an article in The Drum written by Dave Reed (2019), this could indicate the beginning of a change in the marketing industry.

There are not enough large marketing firms with the capability to create global marketing campaigns, to match the expansion of all the international businesses around the world (Farmer, 2015. p. 60). This generates a lack of supply for the demand on international marketing, which creates an opportunity for marketing agencies to adapt themselves for (ibid.).

The golden age of the traditional marketing industry is over, as marketing agencies now are in need of adaptation to the new, more globalised world (Farmer, 2015. p. 25). However, this change in the marketing industry creates an opportunity for agencies, as the ones that adapt in the most efficient way will become successful (ibid.). Collaboration between agencies in a network gives the agencies access to international marketing (Hollensen, 2017. p. 366). As local

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marketing agencies get access to international marketing, they will meet the demand from the clients (ibid.). To summarize the problem, marketing agencies are having a problem adapting themselves to international marketing. However, existing research in the field is low, as this thesis tries to shed light on the subject.

1.3. Purpose

The purpose of the study is to contribute with understanding of how local marketing agencies can work together for global clients, and how these agencies can adapt local marketing for these clients. In order to understand how marketing agencies can work together, this study will contribute with understanding of this collaboration between local marketing agencies and how

they can help each other grow their businesses.

1.4. Research questions

• How can local marketing agencies work together for global clients?

• How can a network of marketing agencies apply local communication for global clients?

• How can marketing agencies share knowledge in a network in order to help each other grow their businesses?

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2. Theoretical framework

This chapter describes the theories that are central of the keywords of this study: international marketing, globalization, collaboration and network. The theoretical framework is divided in two branches, international marketing and collaboration & learning.

2.1. Theory selection

From the current issue explained above (see 1.2.), we must understand international

marketing and the strategy of using a network in order to research the purpose of this thesis.

This led to the keywords of this study international marketing, globalization, collaboration and network. From these keywords the following theories have been collected as they will be central in the comparison of the results of this thesis.

2.2. International marketing

2.2.1. Think global, act local

A phenomenon recognised all over the world is the saying “think global, act local”, the art of making something on a global scale but at the same time focus directly on the customers (Vignali, 2001). It sounds so simple, but the expression is easier said than done (Mooij, 2019.

p. 2). The expression is applicable on multiple fields, but in marketing it has become an essential aspect as more companies internationalizes (ibid.). With internet as a distribution channel this internationalization grows faster than ever making the expression “think global, act local” more important than ever (ibid.). It is hard for marketers to practice the expression as how people think, and their behaviour is a product of their culture (ibid.). Internet has become a global communication platform with the expectation to cross cultural barriers (Sheth, 2020). The internet makes it easy and accessible to communicate across the world, but at the same time the internet has become local. People in different parts of the world use the internet in different ways and in different languages (ibid.).

Vignali (2001) made a study of the company McDonald’s, and their way of thinking globally and acting locally. According to Vignali (2001) there is a difference in globalisation and

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internationalisation, the first mentioned focusing on the whole world as one large market. The globalised companies marketing standardized products for all the distribution channels.

Examples of this is Coca Cola, using total commitment to the global marketing with campaigns running all over the world. The products of Coca Cola are standardized and taste the same all over the world (ibid.). The internationalisation on the other hand customises marketing strategies for different countries over the world. The marketing strategies are custom made by different variables such as social, cultural, technological, political or economic similarities between the regions (ibid.).

2.2.2. Standardized vs. localized marketing

As an expansion of the “think global, act local” expression is the debate of standardized and localized marketing. A standardized marketing campaign can be run everywhere and usually demands a non-verbal presentation, making visuals and music the most important factors (Pae et al., 2002). The formula to create an international marketing strategy is two decision frameworks: theme and execution. Where the international campaign follows the same theme, but the execution can vary depending on the market (ibid.). The execution can be designed to reflect the local culture and therefore different from each country (ibid.). The debate whether to standardize or localize has two different sides (Sheth, 2020). One side, arguing for the standardized marketing claims that it is more efficient and has a better financial return (Levitt, 1983; Sheth, 2020). As the other side argue that the localized marketing is better as cultural, administrative, geographic and economic development differences between countries (Ghemawat, 2001; Sheth, 2020).

Standardized marketing only fits brands that are similarly positioned in every market (Pae et al., 2002). Most often brands are stronger in the domestic market and weaker in foreign markets, depending on cultural differences it will be more difficult for brands to establish themselves.

Therefore, most brands are in need of localized marketing (Mooij, 2019. p. 2).

2.2.3. The marketing mix

McCarthy (1975) created the concept 4P: product, price, promotion and place, together they make up “The marketing mix”. Product refers to the item that the company is selling. This could be a product or a service. The price refers to the value of the product. The price is set based of a calculation of supply, demand and all the steps in between. Place refers to where the product

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is to be sold. There is an expression “location is everything”, that indicates the value of the place. The last one is promotion that refers to all activities arranged in order to make the product known to the targeted market and customers (ibid.).

The marketing mix has been one of the most useful tools in marketing since McCarthy created the model in 1975. The marketing mix is used all over the world, but it has been more difficult to use for international companies. If the communication is adapted for each market, their marketing mix will also be different from each market (Vignali, 2001). In which degree companies should adapt the marketing mix to each market depends on how much companies are willing to invest in this process. There are great companies that have reached great success internationally by adapting their marketing mix to each market, such as McDonald’s (ibid.).

McDonald’s extended this model from the 4P to 7P. The marketing mix being product, place, price and promotion expanded to also include people, process and physical environment (Vignali, 2001). This way McDonald’s adapted the marketing mix, not only to globalisation, but to internationalisation which means their strategy included global thinking and local acting.

McDonald’s managed to translate their US brand culture into a local culture by franchising to local people (ibid.). Their extended version of the marketing mix has overthrown the original marketing mix for service businesses as it is more extensive (ibid.).

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Figure 1. The marketing mix

(Source: https://marketingmix.co.uk/)

2.2.4. Integrated marketing communication

In order to plan the marketing communication there are different methods that can be used.

Integrated market communication is when the firm makes an extensive plan for the communication (Kotler & Keller, 2009. p. 98). This includes different strategies in order to coordinate communication with the market (ibid.). There are a lot of different strategies to use in a large variety of distribution channels that can be used such as TV, print, interactive advertising and consumer promotions (Keller, 2001). Marketers must understand which distribution channels and strategies to use to create the most efficient campaigns. Simply creating posters and billboards is not enough anymore (ibid.).

In order to launch a successful marketing campaign there are a lot of different distribution channels that need to be used, with social media in the centre of modern society (Kotler &

Keller, 2009. p. 98). When these campaigns launch, they need to be carefully linked together in order to reach the target market and customers (Percy, 2018). In order to reach the targeted customers, the communication must be put together in a consistent and systematic way (ibid.).

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2.3. Collaboration & learning

2.3.1. Collaboration

As human knowledge is growing and becoming more complex over time, companies need to leverage themselves by opening to multiparty collaboration (Baldwin & von Hippel, 2011). By doing so, companies can increase their value creation by expanding knowledge and other resources (ibid.). Combine and complement knowledge and resources between the parties involved are the main purpose of collaboration (Colombo et al., 2006). Collaboration involves creating common goals, sharing responsibilities and working together in order to reach better results than what would have been possible on their own (Vygotsky, 1978).

There are different types of arrangements in collaborations. Transactional business arrangements are more flexible while shared ownership implies a highly formalized collaboration. The shared ownership has a higher durability than transaction-based, thus most often lasting longer (Bengtsson et al., 1998).

A strong collaboration can lead to a network identity in a sense of “we” or “them”. This perception can be created through shared values within the unit (Whetten, 2006). Companies can create a network identity from its business connections. This is created by the self- perception and how others view the company (Andersson et al., 1994).

2.3.2. Collaborative learning

Collaborative learning occurs when a group of people help each other to learn something (Laal, 2013). The people that take part of the collaborative learning are at various performance levels and the phenomenon is thought to influence intellectual growth (Loes et al., 2018). According to Laal (2013) “Collaborative learning is an umbrella term for a variety of educational approaches involving joint intellectual effort by members in the collaborative learning environment”.

There are five basic elements of collaborative learning that should be met in order to qualify the learning process as collaborative learning (Laal, 2013):

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- Positive interdependence, the people in the group rely on trust in one another to achieve a common goal. In this perspective the group should either have success together or fail together.

- Considerable interaction, that the people in the group should encourage and support each other in order to learn.

- Individual accountability, meaning that all of the people in the group are obligated to do their share of the work. This will prevent low quality work of the group as whole.

- Social skills, meaning that the people in the group develop and practice trust-building, leadership, communication and decision-making.

- Group self-evaluating, the evaluation of the group performance and how the goals are achieved or not. This will maintain effective working relationships. (ibid.)

2.3.3. International experience

Globalization has increased the amount of cross-cultural interactions and from this some people thrive more than others (Michailova & Ott, 2018). There are often two types of individuals, the first type is the people who alter their thinking and modify their behaviour and become successful with the cross-cultural interactions. Then there are those who struggle with cross- cultural interactions (ibid.). Those people are often conservative and struggle to adapt to the globalization, which can be a risk that could end up with offending other parts of the interactions (ibid.). The abilities that allow the first mentioned individual to be more successful is cultural competence, intercultural competence and cross-cultural competence (Spitzberg & Changnon, 2009). These competences are a result of knowledge and experience of cross-cultural interactions (ibid.).

Perception of opportunities comes from individual differences and the information relating to opportunities are the source of entrepreneurship (Shane, 2000). The entrepreneurs can perceive entering foreign markets as an opportunity (Ruzzier et al., 2007). The human capital of the entrepreneurs will affect the internationalisation activities. This human capital consists of advantageous skills and knowledge acquired over time by the entrepreneurs (ibid.). A high level of relevant human capital will be an advantage and key aspect in identifying the right opportunities (ibid.).

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There are formal and informal elements to human capital. Formal education is one aspect of human capital, while informal elements are knowledge and experience accumulated over time (Davidsson & Honig, 2003). The informal elements are harder to quantify and acquire for entrepreneurs. The informal elements are important as these will control and facilitate the internationalisation activities (Clarke et al., 2013).

2.3.4. The network model

Companies operating on international markets use different strategies depending on the specific situation. A common strategy among those are the network model that focus on the relationship between companies in a domestic network and other networks from foreign countries (Hollensen, 2017. p. 366). These relationships can be used as bridges in order to acquire access to networks in other countries (ibid.). This is an effective model to use when operating in different markets around the world in order to get insight into business networks (ibid.). The first step into international markets is challenging for companies as it often demands large investments (ibid.). For a company to use networks instead, this investment will be much smaller in both time and money (Liao & Welsch, 2003). This makes networks extra important for smaller or medium sized companies as resource limitations are common (ibid.). Another positive aspect in this is strategy is the flexibility it brings companies as it is easier to shift focus or relationships than it would be if investments such as foreign offices and employees were made (ibid.).

Establishing business networks can strengthen the competitive position for a company with access to new markets (Makipaa, 2008). This is an organizational strategy that can accelerate the process of internationalization, and lead to an acceleration of development of new innovations (ibid.).

Hollensen (2017. p. 366) presents different ways of internationalization of corporations. When a business expands to other markets there are a lot of different ways to make it happen. One of the easiest ways to expand is through export. The strategy of exporting is a flexible and simple way for companies to expand to other markets. This way they can establish themselves on foreign markets without large investments that comes with opening offices and hire new employees (ibid.). Hollensen (2017. p. 366) focus on three different export modes: indirect export, direct export and cooperative export. In these different export modes marketing is

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performed in different ways. For the indirect- and direct export modes the marketing is performed in the home country of the company (ibid.). Meanwhile, in the cooperative export mode the marketing is performed in the foreign target market. In these export modes there are more than just marketing included, but it is a great way to understand expansions to foreign markets. This is connected with the network model as the cooperative export mode use the same strategy with connecting to networks from foreign countries (ibid.).

2.4. Theoretical summary

The theoretical framework presented above is divided in two branches (see Figure 2), the first one is international marketing and the second is collaboration and learning. The combination of the two branches will be the central in this thesis in order to research the purpose of this study. These branches are the core of the framework and will be compared with the results in this study.

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Figure 2. The connection between selected theories

(Created for this thesis)

Figure 2 has been created in order to give an overview of the selected theories and their connection to each other. This figure has been used as the central part of the interviews in this study.

The first branch, international marketing, focus on the marketing aspect on multinational markets. Think global, act local is a central part of international marketing. In which degree a company should act local is a debate of the standardized vs. localized marketing and how companies should adapt to this. The marketing mix is a theory highly connected to think global act local, as it can be used to adapt the brand for either global markets or local markets. The last part of the branch of international marketing is integrated marketing communication, a strategy used to make an extensive plan of the communication which is linked to international marketing. All these theories are highly connected to the subject international marketing.

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The second branch is collaboration and learning, which is important to understand, in order to understand the international marketing. As the chosen subject of research in this study is a network of marketing agencies operating in international marketing, we must understand the collaboration and learning within the network. Collaboration is a key part in a network and collaborative learning is an important part of collaboration, as we seek understanding how the network is working towards a common goal. International experience, which focus on the knowledge and experience of the parts within the network and how it affects the collaboration.

The last part of collaboration and learning is the network model, a strategy that connects a company on a domestic market to foreign markets which is central in an international network.

All the presented theories are connected with each other, as both of the two branches together will be used to understand how a network is functioning in international marketing. The two branches in the theoretical framework will work as corner stones during this study of an international marketing network. Table 1 will present the theoretical framework applied to this study.

Table 1. Theoretical framework applied to this study

International marketing Collaboration & learning

Think global act local: how local marketing agencies applies the thought of thinking globally but acting locally.

Collaboration: how marketing agencies work together in a network.

Standardized vs. localized marketing: to what degree the network applies standardization or localization.

Collaborative learning: how the collaboration of marketing agencies share knowledge and learn as a group.

The marketing mix: how the marketing mix is connected to international marketing in practice.

International experience: how the network share knowledge and experience.

Integrated marketing communication: how the network plans their international marketing communication.

The network model: the strategy of connections in order to enter foreign markets, and how it applies to marketing agencies.

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3. Method

In this chapter the selected methods will be described and explained. How the study was made will be described and why the selected methods was appropriate for this specific study.

3.1. Method overview

This thesis is explorative as it aims to clarify and find understanding of the chosen subject. The study is performed with a qualitative research method primarily based on qualitative theories.

The qualitative research method in this study consists of unstructured interviews. The foundation of the unstructured interviews was based on Figure 2, as it covers the theories of this study and their connection. The interviews are with people operational within Worldwide Partners (see Table 2), which is a global network of marketing agencies. The people operational within this network will be able to provide understanding of a network as a strategy. Most of the interviews are via webcam over the internet or by telephone, except one of the interviews that take place at Blomquist Communication, a marketing agency placed in Stockholm.

Relevant data from the interviews will be presented and analysed in order to answer the research questions.

3.2. Qualitative research method

According to Bryman et al. (2019) there are two research methods, qualitative and quantitative.

The quantitative research method gives the presumption of more answers and a larger amount of data (ibid.). The qualitative research method provides a deeper understanding of the subject as it focus on in-depth knowledge with less amount of data (ibid.). If this study aimed to test or verify a phenomenon, a quantitative research method would be preferred. As the purpose of the study is to contribute with understanding of how local marketing agencies can work together for global clients, a qualitative research method is the most effective approach. If the study was performed by a quantitative method, it would not achieve this in-depth knowledge.

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3.3. Deductive approach

According to Davidson and Patel (2003) and Alvehus (2013) a deductive approach is when the research is based on earlier studies and theories. From the earlier studies and theories, a hypothesis is created and tested in the study (ibid.). In this thesis, previous studies and theories in international marketing, collaboration and learning created the hypothesis. These hypotheses are then tested with empirical data, which in this case is the interviews with the respondents from Worldwide Partners. The deductive approach is the most common perception between theories and reality (Bryman et al., 2019).

3.4. Collection of data

3.4.1. Primary data & secondary data

Bryman et al. (2019) states that there are two different types of collection of data: primary data and secondary data. Primary data is collected specifically for the study, while secondary data has been collected earlier with another purpose for another study (ibid.).

This study uses both primary- and secondary data. At first, secondary data was collected in order to bring the research with the fundamental understanding in order to implement the study.

The secondary data was found by searching on the internet and by reading adequate research of the subject. The research consisted by the keywords of this study: international marketing, globalization, collaboration and network. The secondary data also consisted of research of Worldwide Partners on the web to understand the history of the network in line with the purpose of this study. The primary data was collected by unstructured interviews with people from Worldwide Partners.

3.4.2. Selection

The selection process was made consciously in order to research the purpose of this study.

According to Alvehus (2013) this type of selection process is called a strategically selection as it consciously selects the subject of examination. In this case my father, Mikael Rubinsson, is CEO of Blomquist Communication and a board member of the network Worldwide Partners.

Mikael Rubinsson was able to provide intel about the network which is the reason this study focusses on Worldwide Partners. As my father is on the board of Worldwide Partners, this was

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a great opportunity to do research on collaboration between marketing agencies, which is why Worldwide Partners was chosen as the subject of research. This study used a comfort selection, according to Bryman et al. (2019) comfort selection is when people simply happen to be available for the people doing the research. In this case, Worldwide Partners and people working within the network happen to be available for me to study. The respondents in the interviews was gathered by snowball sampling. Bryman et al. (2019) explain this method as when the researcher gain contact to one respondent, this respondent than provide the researcher with another respondent. In this study John Harris, CEO of Worldwide Partners, was able to provide more people within the network to participate in interviews.

3.4.3. Interview method

There are three different methods of interviews: structured-, semi-structured- and unstructured interviews (Kvale & Brinkmann, 2014). This study used unstructured interviews as it allows the respondents to speak freely and provide deeper and more nuanced answers. Unstructured interviews provide variegated answers as the respondent can speak freely from their mind, making this an appropriate approach for this study. Depending on the respondent’s answers, supplementary questions allow the interview to reach deeper insights (Kvale & Brinkmann, 2014; Bryman et al., 2019).

According to Creswell and Creswell (2018) there are three main types of research interviews:

physical interviews, telephone interview and focus groups. In this study physical interviews took place at Blomquist Communication in Stockholm, the rest of the interviews was made over the telephone or webcam on the internet via the service Zoom. As the network is international telephone interviews are convenient and effective, this facilitates for the research as more respondents will be available. The interviews were supposed to be “face-to-face” in Austin Texas, US, during a conference of all the members of Worldwide Partners. Because of the prevailing situation of the virus COVID-19, the event got cancelled and that is why most interviews took place over the internet or via telephone call.

From the theoretical framework, Figure 2 was created and was used as a central part of the interviews. The unstructured interviews allowed the respondents to speak freely from their knowledge and experience. When they spoke of something relevant for this thesis and relevant to Figure 2, the researcher asked questions to make the respondents elaborate their reasoning.

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All interviews were one hour long, as scheduled with the respondents, which was enough in order to receive more developed answers and let the respondents speak freely. The interviews took place between 2020-05-05 and 2020-05-11. All respondents were informed of the questions before the interview, when the date and time for the interview was scheduled.

Table 2. Respondents

Name: Company (Position): Country: Method:

John Harris Worldwide Partners (CEO)

USA Internet webcam:

2020-05-06 Mikael Rubinsson Blomquist

Communication (CEO)

Sweden In person (face-to-

face): 2020-05-05

John Keane Ardmore (CEO) Northern Ireland Internet webcam:

2020-05-07

Dominik Bermel Moon (CEO) Germany Telephone: 2020-05-

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Viveca Chan WE Marketing

(CEO)

China Telephone: 2020-05-

11

3.5. Analytical process

All interviews were performed in English in order to reduce the risk of misunderstandings. The sound of every interview was recorded, with the consent of all respondents. After the interviews the recordings were transcribed. According to Denscombe (2018) the transcription makes the process easier in order to compare the answers and try to clarify the meaning of the answers. If there was any uncertainty of an answer, the respondents were contacted after the interview in order to verify. This way the misunderstandings could be reduced.

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3.6. Trustworthiness

In this study the trustworthiness consists of four different criteria: credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability. These four criteria will explain the trustworthiness of this study.

3.6.1. Credibility

The criteria of credibility are met in this study as the respondents have been contacted with the interpreted results of the interviews in order to verify and eliminate misunderstandings. Rules such as approval of recording of the interviews have been followed which also meet the criteria of credibility (Bryman et al., 2019. p. 381).

3.6.2. Transferability

In this study there are both advantages and disadvantages to the transferability. According to Bryman et al. (2019. p. 382) the transferability is judged by the ability to transfer the research to other contexts (ibid.). This study research a network of marketing agencies and the aim is to gain understanding of how marketing agencies can work together. This study will contribute with a framework of the collaboration between agencies, which can be transferred to other contexts within networks or collaborations. This study only research one network, which lower the transferability. However, this network will be an important example of the collaboration within the marketing industry.

3.6.3. Dependability

According to Bryman et al. (2019. p. 382) dependability in qualitative research is the equivalent of reliability within the quantitative research method. In order to have high dependability the study would need a comprehensive account of all the phases of the study. There was not enough time when this study was created, and this would be too comprehensive for this study and because of that the dependability is low (ibid.).

3.6.4. Confirmability

The criteria of confirmability are met through objectivity from the researcher (Holme &

Solvang, 2012; Bryman et al., 2019. p. 382). Full objectivity is impossible to reach in qualitative research (ibid.). As the author has preunderstanding of the subject, objectivity is difficult to

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implement. In order to limit the effect of the preunderstanding the interviews were based on the theoretical framework, and the results are analysed together with the theoretical framework.

3.7. Authenticity

In this study the authenticity consists of fairness, ontological-, educative-, catalytic- and tactical authenticity.

3.7.1. Fairness

The fairness refers to the ability to present a fair image of the opinions from the participants (Bryman et al., 2019. p. 383). In this study the respondents were contacted after the transcription of the interviews were made, in order to verify if there was any uncertainty. The respondents were also allowed to read the results of the study in order to reduce misunderstandings and for the study to present a fair image of the opinions from the respondents.

3.7.2. Four types of authenticity

The next four criteria of authenticity focus on the respondents and what this study can bring them:

- The ontological authenticity refers to how this study could help the participants to receive a better understanding of their social situation.

- The educative authenticity refers to how the participants could receive a better understanding of how other people experience things.

- The catalytic authenticity refers to how this study could help the participants to change their situation.

- The tactical authenticity refers to how the participants could take necessary actions.

(Bryman et al., 2019. p. 383)

As this study aims to gain insight and knowledge of the subject the participants will speak freely in the unstructured interviews. When the respondents speak about relevant information for this study, follow-up questions will develop the reasoning. This could bring the respondents better understanding of their social situation and how other people experience things. Hopefully the

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results of this study can be significant and inspire the participants to change their situation for the better and take necessary actions.

3.8. Epistemology

Epistemology can be described as the doctrine of what knowledge is and the difference between knowledge and opinions (Bryman et al., 2019. p. 584; Jacobsen, 2002). Epistemology is often divided in two different parts, positivism and phenomenological. Positivism assumes that there is only one objective reality, and the researcher take an objective stance and analyse measurable variables (Collis & Hussey, 2003). The phenomenological aspect considers the world as a complex entity, which could be understood through subjective meanings that people assign to social actions (Bryman et al., 2019. p. 584). This thesis treats the phenomenological aspect as the researcher has interacted with the subject before the research. By the interaction between the researcher and the practitioner, this thesis has been able to create and provide knowledge.

3.9. Ontology

Ontology has been briefly mentioned in 3.7.2., the ontological authenticity, but will now be deeper explained. Ontology can be described as the doctrine of the perception of existence, or how we see our world (Gray, 2013). Ontology can be divided into objectivism and subjectivism (Bryman et al., 2019. p. 52). Objectivism occur if the researcher is not a part of the study and believes in an objective reality where the social context should be seen as external facts (ibid.).

Subjectivism occur if the researcher sees the reality from the respondent’s point of view (ibid.).

This thesis use subjectivism as the researcher sees the reality as social phenomena that is created by social actors (ibid.).

3.10. Method discussion

Qualitative research method has both advantages and disadvantages. In this case the unstructured interviews allowed the respondent to speak freely and contribute with deeper insights of the subject. At the same time interviews allowed interpretations and may result in misunderstandings. To limit this, interviews were made with several people operational within

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Worldwide Partners in order to generalize the discussions. The qualitative research method paved the way for deeper insights from experts of the subject which was the purpose of the study. If the study were to test or verify a phenomenon a quantitative method would be preferred, since that was not the purpose of this study the qualitative method is better adapted.

A few people’s reflections and thoughts cannot be generalized over global markets. However, these respondents can still contribute with understanding of the subject and how a global network of marketing agencies work together. This knowledge can be of interest for many other companies in this line of business.

3.11. Ethical considerations

This study has followed the guidelines made by the Swedish Research Council (2017) regarding information and confidentiality. All respondents in this study gave their consent to participate in the interview and that it would be recorded. The respondents were informed of the purpose of this research and that their answers would be used and citated in this study. Participation in the interviews was voluntary and the respondents were informed that they could interrupt and end the interview at any moment. The collected data was only used for the research and actions was taken to ensure the confidentiality of the information gathered from the respondents.

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4. Results

In this chapter the results from the collected data will be presented. The results consist of interviews with members of Worldwide Partners. Information relevant to the subject will be presented.

4.1. Worldwide Partners

The chosen object to research in this study is Worldwide Partners, a global network of 70 independent marketing agencies from 43 different countries. The network was created in 1938 when a group of agencies started to work together in order to help each other grow their businesses. The members own the network, which means that the members remain independent.

The network has worked with a lot of international companies such as Coca Cola, Google, Microsoft, Mastercard and many more. (Worldwide Partners, 2020)

Figure 3. Map of the members in Worldwide Partners

(Created for this thesis using data from: https://www.worldwidepartners.com/)

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4.2. International marketing

4.2.1. Think global, act local

How local marketing agencies applies the thought of thinking globally but acting locally.

According to John Harris, CEO of Worldwide Partners, the network has worked with clients working all over the world and one of their biggest strength is the local intel. With agencies in 43 countries placed across the world the scale of the network is global (see Figure 3). The fundamental thought of thinking global while acting local is something that is deeply in the core of Worldwide Partners. Each member of the network has something that they are extra good at, and they perform this on a local basis. The performance of their niche is in local actions, but as a part of an international network the members think in a global scale. Harris states “The new business initiative is marketing the network and begin to tell our story of independence and scale to clients”. The agencies that are seeing most success in the network are the ones that are making Worldwide Partners a part of their “DNA”. Those agencies have expanded their view of themselves, they are no longer a local marketing agency. These agencies see themselves as a global agency, not just a local agency that are a part of a global network. The fact that the agencies own the network adds credibility to the members and the network. Their model is to see the network as a “reverse holding company”, John Harris continues with that “the model of the network changes the conversation with the clients”. Some members even have “Worldwide Partners” in the name of their agency to show the clients that they are an international agency.

Harris also states that “If agencies are just saying that they are members of a network, they are missing an opportunity. Those who consistently bring in global context to how they think and behave are the ones that are seeing more success”.

John Keane, CEO of Ardmore and board chairman of Worldwide Partners, states that “thinking globally and acting locally is in the root of our DNA in Ardmore”. Ardmore is placed in Belfast, Northern Ireland, which is a small city compared to London, Manchester or Dublin in the UK.

Keane mentions how global thinking have changed the perception of their agency, “from being an agency in Belfast to a global agency that happen to be placed in Belfast”. By raising their reputation to a globally capable agency they now have the access to a different calibre of client, and different calibre of talents. For Keane it is important to attract young talent which can be

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hard when the agency is not placed in the biggest city. When Ardmore became members of Worldwide Partners, they integrated the global thinking to everything they did, which resulted in much more success for the agency.

4.2.2. Standardized vs. localized marketing

To what degree the network applies standardization or localization.

According to John Harris, CEO of Worldwide Partners, standardized marketing will always be weaker than localized marketing.

“I fundamentally believe that a product or service is much more likely to succeed if it is customized to the unique audience dynamics which are: consumer behaviour, perceptions, media consumption and the culture that exist within each local market” – John Harris.

Harris expand his argument that consumers have a high expectation of customized marketing.

The customers know when a global brand implement a global campaign. These campaigns are often based on basic fundamental thoughts that is not specific to the customers culture or region.

Customers expect the personalized experience, standardization without some degree of localization is going to result in missed out revenue opportunities for the company. The local relevance is what drives the global revenue, and relevance is something that comes from familiarity. Harris mean that companies need advertising that is created from the market, not simply adjusted to the market. Standardized marketing can result in negative brand perception.

Harris present an example of this, “If you are a food brand and you are not taking consideration that chopsticks are different in (Asia) Japan, Korea, China and Vietnam. And you run a regional campaign with Korean chopsticks in it? You are going to offend people from other countries”.

The standardization is an efficient solution as companies save time and money in the short term.

To quote Harris attitude towards the efficient solutions: “If it is efficient but it doesn’t work, it’s useless”.

John Keane states that “it is important that the theme is standardized for global clients, because people travel so they are going to be exposed to the brand message in different markets. But you still need to tweak for your local markets”. Keane explain these “tweaks” for local markets as smaller adjustments in the communication in order to reach the customers in the most

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effective way. Keane talk about how there are global behaviours, but in order to make the most of your money you need understanding of the local markets to make the delivery of the communication as efficient as possible. Keane bring up an example of an industrial bakery in the UK that was large in all markets there except for Scotland because the brand was seen as English. The company adapted to the local market by buying a local bakery and put the slogan on the packages “Proudly baking in Scotland”, not “Proudly baked in Scotland”, just that they now are currently baking in Scotland. By knowing their markets and locally adjust their communication, they became successful in Scotland. Keane means that “There is gold in making something special for the market”, which is done by understanding each market.

The global chief marketing officer’s desire to control all of the brands marketing, according to Viveca Chan. This desire and the cost efficiency of standardized marketing is what makes it so tempting for companies to do one campaign across large regions, instead of country by country specific campaigns. Chan explain that what often happens is that companies create global brand assets, that they vary the casting for and translate to different regions. Chan states that this translation is not enough in order to have a truly successful campaign. The marketing must be built from the ground up and to do this companies need to work with local agencies that understand their market. The localized marketing will then be a “glocal” (see definitions) campaign that is developed for the specific markets. In Worldwide Partners they have built a structure that allows the local agencies and local sales teams to give input into the global brand strategy from the beginning.

4.2.3. The marketing mix

How the marketing mix is connected to international marketing in practice.

There are different strategies that can be used in order to adapt a marketing campaign for local markets. According to Mikael Rubinsson the marketing mix is a tool that can be used to adapt the marketing in a structured way. By using the marketing mix extensively for a whole company, they can adapt to the markets in a better way according to Mikael Rubinsson. The agencies are mostly working with the promotion, but in-house agencies or marketing departments of larger brands often use all the parts of the marketing mix, even if they don’t think about the model specifically. Mikael Rubinsson mentions that if agencies work with larger

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brands, they must adapt the promotion with all the other parts of the marketing mix in order to follow the same theme.

Two brands that are great at adapting to local markets are McDonald’s and Starbucks according to Dominik Bermel. Bermel states that “McDonald’s is great at localization, not only with their marketing but with their products as well”. Starbucks are also great at localization and adapting to markets in foreign countries when expanding according to Bermel. Without mentioning names, Bermel continues with a comparison with the car industry, where many companies never adapt to local markets and use the same approach to all markets. This makes it hard to really connect with the customers. The marketing mix of those car companies are often globalised, as they see the whole world as one market. Bermel means that what those companies should internationalise their marketing mix to adapt themselves more for the local markets.

There are smaller companies around the world that grow fast because of their great adaptation to local markets according to John Harris. An example of this that Harris brings up is smaller beer craft brands. The smaller craft brands are growing as the demand for the large global brands is decreasing. Harris states that “The smaller craft brands are much more creative, and they tell a story to the customer”. There are similarities between these smaller craft brands in the beer industry and independent marketing agencies. The independent marketing agencies are now getting international clients, who used to go to holding companies. These larger brands are too focused on maximizing revenue, that they have minimized the creativity. Large structured companies are often slow and not integrated to local markets according to Harris. Many of traditional large companies in the marketing industry are often public companies that have one goal, to have the highest possible revenue. Harris states that “Independent agencies are creative, they are much more flexible, perhaps they don’t need to maximize their revenue in order to do something different and be able to grow in time instead”.

4.2.4. Integrated marketing communication

How the network plans their international marketing communication.

Mikael Rubinsson explain how Worldwide Partners work with international clients in two different ways depending on the demand of the client. The first one is a centralized model (see Figure 4) which is used when the client has great trust in the lead agency. This lead agency will

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then be responsible for all of the communication with the local agencies. This is a total solution for the client that does not need to be involved in the local markets.

Figure 4. Centralized model

(Source: https://www.worldwidepartners.com/)

Mikael Rubinsson explain the second model they use, which is the decentralized model (see Figure 5). In this model the client has a trust in their own organization to be involved locally.

The lead agency in this model will not be responsible for all of the communication with the local agencies, as the client will do this on their own. This model is common for larger companies that have offices in many different countries which can facilitate the communication with the local marketing agencies.

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Figure 5. Decentralized model

(Source: https://www.worldwidepartners.com/)

In most of the cases a domestic agency signs an international client and will be responsible to make a plan for all communication according to John Keane and Dominik Bermel. This agency will then reach out to the network to receive support from other members for specific markets, which is the centralized model (see Figure 4).

John Keane brings up an example of work they have done with another agency in the network with the centralized model (see Figure 4). The other agency in this case was R&R Partners, a large agency in Las Vegas, US. R&R were commissioned by the governor of Nevada and Blockchains LLC to do an international campaign to attract developers. Blockchains LLC are building a city in the Nevada desert in the same area as Tesla currently have their main factory.

R&R was awarded the business but needed support in how they could attract developers from specific markets, such as the UK, Czech Republic, France, Germany and 12 other territories.

R&R reached out to the network and John Keane and asked if his agency, Ardmore, could

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support them with this client. Ardmore found important congregation points around Europe such as a large conference in Prague. Two employees of Ardmore flew to Prague and

“wallpapered” the city with ads in many different channels such as radio and posters, for the two weeks this conference would take place. This large campaign around the city cost 325 000 euro, while a sponsorship at the conference would cost 700 000 euro. In total the work between R&R and Ardmore, deployed around 3 million euro in marketing across Europe. John Keane states that this is a great example of how an agency receive a client that need international support which the members in an international network can provide. Keane mentions that the agency that is awarded the business then reach out to other agencies in the network, with a theme and a plan over the communication. The other agencies then give feedback to this plan, with local understanding in how to better adapt to local markets. In this case if R&R did not use the network, they would probably deploy this campaign in the sponsorship and TV advertising, which would not be as efficient as it was with the local intel according to Keane.

4.3. Collaboration & learning

4.3.1. Collaboration

How marketing agencies work together in a network.

The collaboration between members is the foundation of Worldwide Partners according to Mikael Rubinsson. He continues to argue that the collaboration could be one of the biggest strengths of the network because of the large focus on building good relationships between members. The collaboration is what allows the members to “scale” their capabilities according to Mikael Rubinsson. His agency, Blomquist Communication, is placed in Stockholm, Sweden.

Their customers are mostly local, and a large part of their customers are public companies. This makes Blomquist Communication excellent when it comes to marketing of public companies but not as good at buying media for private companies. By being a member of Worldwide Partners, they have access to partners that will support them with information and knowledge in what would be the best way for a private company to buy media. On the other side, if another agency is great at buying media for private companies, now sign a public company and lack experience in the field, they can contact Blomquist Communication and access their knowledge

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and experience. Since most agencies are great at a specific area, this is a solution to access knowledge in fields they might lack in.

John Harris continues on the same field as Mikael Rubinsson and talk about the change of attitude towards collaboration. Ten years ago, if a client asked an agency “Can you do this?”

and you answered “No, but I can find a partner that can”, the clients saw this as a sign of weakness. But now clients have become much more open to the partnering model. John Harris believe this has to do with the fact that companies are trying to simplify their agency relationships. It is difficult to have ten different agencies that you work with. Specially if you are a small or medium sized enterprise, you want to be able to work with just one agency if it is possible. So now if an agency comes to them and says “Listen, I’m not just outsourcing this.

I’m going to use the best sourcing model and I’m going to find you the right partners through my network, that I will manage and that will treat your business the same way I would treat your business”. Many clients today are satisfied with that answer, as they are much more open to it and no longer view it as a sign of weakness.

By working together in a network, the independent agencies broaden their capabilities. Mikael Rubinsson continues and talk about the opportunity this creates for the agencies. Local clients that would have been lost because of lack of expertise are now an opportunity for the agencies.

There is also a larger opportunity with being a member of an international network, that now you have the opportunity to manage international clients (see 4.4.4. for more of international clients).

John Harris presents that the role of the network is to create as little “friction” as possible between the agencies. This friction is reduced by a set of tools that simplify the connection between agencies. A large part of these tools are the direct employees of Worldwide Partners.

Their job is to facilitate the collaborations between agencies and if any member of the network has a problem, they can always contact these employees that will find the right partner or solution to the problem. An example of this could be a member contacting the employees in the network and say that they are looking for an agency with business-to-business experience within technology in the US, the network will then find the right agency for them and they can contact each other directly. The direct contact between agencies is something that is important in the reduction of “friction” between agencies, which is why the network try to formulate an

Global marketing through collaboration of local marketing agencies