Idol Goes Global The names Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul, along with singers Car

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Idol Goes Global

The names Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul, along with singers Carrie Underwood, Clay Aiken, Kelly Clarkson, and Jennifer Hudson, are well known in America. Even the name Sanjaya Malakar is known. These are all individuals connected with the American TV program American Idol. But what about Prashant Tamang, Jessica Mauboy, or Žanamari Lalic´? These are also well-known names, but to TV viewers, internet surfers, and text messaging devotees in India, Australia, and Croatia, respectively. All these individuals are winners of local versions of the American Idol franchise in countries outside the United States or, as it is known in Germany, Deutschland sucht den Superstar. American Idol is broadcast in over 100 countries, often 48 hours after the original show has been aired in the United States. The success of American Idol spawned 39 national versions in countries like Ethiopia, the Philippines, Russia, and even Kazakhstan.

Georgians can follow the rise (or fall) of that season’s music contestants by searching the YouTube key word: Geostari. Although the Georgian alphabet is distinctive, the blue logo with its curvy neon letters that greets each viewer on the homepage brands the Web page as connected with American Idol. Ethiopians living anywhere in the world can stay current by either logging onto Jump TV to see rebroadcasts of Ethiopian Idol or becoming an Ethiopian Idol fan on Facebook. Ethiopian Idol also has Feleke Hailu, a straightforward, sometimes rude, judge in the mold of Simon Cowell. Feleke alternates between his catch phrase “alta fakedem,” or “you didn’t make it” in Amharic, and blunt judgments like “You sing like a donkey.”

SMS is very popular in India where Indian viewers not only vote for singers (30 million SMS messages were sent in the run-up to a final
show) but can also apply to be a contestant on Indian Idol through SMS by typing the keyword IDOL into their handset when they call Sony Entertainment TV Asia, the cable system that carries Indian Idol. Avid Idol fans in India also have energetic debates on the all-India entertainment portal (india-forums.com), where contestants
from season six are thoroughly critiqued. Tensions can run high in the Middle East, where the Arabiclanguage version is called Arab Idol. As a semifinal show drew near, for example, an ice cream shop in Amman, Jordan, offered free ice cream to anyone who voted for the Jordanian contestant, Diana Karzon. In Syria, a mobile phone company hung posters in the streets urging people to vote for the Syrian singer Rowaida Attiyeh as a way of tangibly showing country pride. When a popular Lebanese singer was eliminated in the semifinals, Lebanese audience members threw chairs and anything else they could find. In that mayhem, the two remaining singers fainted. In the end, free ice cream might have made the difference: Diana Karzon won.

From Israel to Indonesia (indonesianidol. com) and from Vietnam (vietnamidol.vtv.vn) to Nigeria (nigerianidol.com), the American Idol franchise is big business. In 2010, over 5 billion
votes had been cast for Idol contestants worldwide (Lisanti, 2010). It is estimated that Freemantle Media, the company that markets American Idol abroad, generates over $1 billion a year from advertising, license fees, merchandising, co-branding, and recording in 110 different countries where some version of Idol is broadcast. The convergence of TV, internet, mobile phones, and short message services, when added to the unpredictability of what will happen on each show, keeps global and national audiences tuning in each week. As one cynic said, probably the only place in the world that Idol does not have a franchise is Antarctica—at least not yet.

Discussion Questions : American Idol Story. Do you think that this brand needs to be consistent worldwide to maintain a desired brand image? Explain.

Explanation / Answer

I don’t think the brand needs to consistent in terms of methodologies, tools, and strategies if they want to maintain the desired brand image. On the contrary, it will be difficult to do so

Consumers are different; consumer behaviors are different. The way a consumer gets access to marketing information from a brand varies across cultures, countries, socio-economic scales, etc. Especially with reference to use of technology, this variation is quite pronounced

There are differences in marketing strategy suited to the local needs, desires, and capabilities (glocalization- global outlook modified to local needs). Mobile marketing campaigns are more common and successful in African countries than in any other part of the world. What works in one market may not work in another market. Countries vary in terms of internet penetration level, tools used to access the internet (PC, laptop, mobile etc). Different countries have different economic developments which mean the population base has access to different tools for accessing the internet.

Market convergence – markets that were once different becoming increasing similar over time. So marketers who move to a foreign country can take advantage of this when moving to a country with similarities e.g. moving from the US to Canada.

Market differences- marketers who move from one country to another will have to face new sets of challenges and opportunities when moving to a country that is widely different from home country e.g. moving America to Kenya. A marketer has to look at infrastructure, usage patterns, technology access, consumer tastes, consumer demographics etc. E.g. in many emerging economies mobile phones are the most preferred tool for accessing the internet. So, marketing communication like graphic content should be highly customized for mobile.

Internet speed is very poor in many of these emerging economies. So posting an American idol content on television may be a better option than on internet in some of these countries. Also the content has to be varied according to the countries. Social media usage varies across countries. Chinese have their own version of social media and in their own language.

So even though a brand like American idols wants the brand image to be same , it has to follow different strategies in different countries

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