Discussing marketing in the Caribbean
Here are some of the comments that BFP’s readers and yours truly left them:
Bye the way Karel…
Google has discovered you in a big way. I received notice of your article through a Google alert “barbados celebrity”.
Robert
May 12th, 2007 at 10:55 am
The entire (American!) concept of “celebrity” is BS.It was devised to replace a Royalty setup, to look up to. That’s why we devise ourselves a “God” and “Royalty”. Someone for ordinary humans to look up to, to emulate.
Amerikinz,now, divorced themselves of Royalty, crossed the Atlantic, and then had…. no-one to look up to, other than Prezidents. - oooh..Big deal.Then they started manufacturing their own home-grown quasi-Royalty outa Football stars? movie actors and actresses, etc. Eeeuuwww!How pathetic!
May 12th, 2007 at 5:42 pm
Truth is probably that the Caribbean is too small to warrant the effort, and the individual countries even less likely to be worth the effort. Local subsidiaries or companies licensed to produce US products do differentiate and use local celebs (see B-mobile, Banks/Coca Cola, for instance). But even that creates another problem: some of the celebs chosen have some dicey images (eg the “gangstas”), but may sell well.
May 12th, 2007 at 7:11 pm
it always amuses me how sports ‘heroes’ get to be celebrities - why? are we(society) looking for something? making something outa nothing?for commercial purposes? is this a form of prostitution? nawwww.
J. Payne May 13th, 2007 at 8:02 am
You cannot get American companies to recognize any Caribbean culture because they do not believe their is a “Caribbean” culture. They believe it is a part of Latin American culture and that’s why Caribbean countries get overlooked for Latin America. Europe breaks the Caribbean(or their former colonies) outside of “Latin America” so more European companies then American ones recognize Caribbean culture.
May 13th, 2007 at 8:02 am
You cannot get American companies to recognize any Caribbean culture because they do not believe there is a separate “Caribbean” culture. They believe it is a part of Latin American culture and that’s why Caribbean countries get overlooked for Latin America. Europe breaks the Caribbean(or their former colonies) outside of “Latin America” so more European companies then American ones recognize Caribbean culture.
Deb Thomas May 15th, 2007 at 8:39 pm
Karel looks too young (and attractive) to have been exposed to Caribbean marketing for many seasons I suspect.
May 15th, 2007 at 8:48 pm
as an example of how poorly Americans know and understand the Caribbean region (geographically,too) I know a Trini woman who, back in the late 1960s, was trying to get herself back to Trinidad, but the travel agent or airline could only get her as far as Jamaica,assuring her that once she got to Jamaica it should be no problem getting the train from Jamaica, home to Trinidad.- tek dat!
Robert… thanks for the Google tipoff.
Traintalk… that was funny, and sad if you wanted to get all philosophical about it.
New reader… It’s true some of the “celebrities” chosen as endorsers are questionable. I am also not a fan of celebrity.
Anonymous… well you know humans constantly seek some form of entertainment, and this celebrity thing helps to ride that wave.
J Payne… Why don’t they think there’s a Caribbean culture? Could be that they think it’s too much trouble to learn about our culture, or simply that we’ve been very ineffective of displaying our true culture, if we have any idea of what Caribbean culture is, especially since some of us have become so Americanised or that we sometimes cower at the feet of the more developed nations.
Deb… I hear you loud and clear. In no way was I suggesting that separate ads be filmed for individual islands. Obviously, that is not a very cost effective or efficient approach. I was simply stating some of the complexities to be considered when attempting to connect with Caribbean people. I love the fact that Adidas is slowly but surely turning its attention to us.
Surely, some companies get it right when marketing to us. Similarly, some get it wrong. What I have also found is that sometimes, ad agencies can take a client for a ride and not produce ads that attract measurable attention and affect behaviour change. I’m saying this based on my observations and conversations with some people in Trinidad.
The thing is that products that have a “cool” factor don’t have to go through much trouble to get someone to buy them. Case in point, Adidas has some great designs that young people love, e.g. the rasta coloured ‘Adis’. Many people who buy athletic shoes, but them for style and for the “cool” factor. The truth is that a company like Adidas can use ads created for the global market, which will work. Why? The world is flat. We’re tuned into the latest fashions, movies, music etc. When Spiderman 3 opens in the US, it opens in Trinidad the same time. You can even walk down the road, lime with you regular pirate DVD seller and watch the film or buy a pirate copy for a measly TT$10.
Since we’re plugged in, we know who these celebrities and various spokespersons are, and depending on our personal situations we relate to them. Or we simply relate to tasteful fashion, which is what connects with the majority of people.
On a much more philosophical note, Caribbean people should start flexing their buying power muscles. Otherwise, people will continue to fling all sorts of marketing or advertising collateral our way. Moreover, people will continue to misunderstand us or think that we’re not worth the effort of understanding.
P.S: Has Clive paid you to call me attractive? Lol. Thanks for the compliment, but I like to separate my looks and my age from my ability.
Sphere: Related Content
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment