CM07 – Global 1

September 8, 2006

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One of the things that I want to do for Global Campaign is have definite targets that we can all buy in on. So the obvious one is media strategy – are you going to target a lot of activity around specific destinations? You know, there's 230 countries come in the book so we can actually give you a...shot for every single country. And we can then target that down. The UK for example, are going to try to do a balance in terms of very much – say, talk about European countries because then that goes to that strategy of trying to be seen – well, being seen as a you know, we very much cover Europe. That also is going to balance with any far flung destinations as well. So they're going to cover some of the most out of the way places without being trapped. How about you guys?

> I think that I would go with a larger approach – I mean, a page a day on a country, to be able to present the world to people around the world, you know, with images and the kind of text that we provide.

> It will be amazing to – say – actually, at the end of this say, three-month campaign around the world with this global book.

> Right.

> So let's just say we did a viral e-mail campaign because somebody in, you know, New York could open up this e-mail with this image on – it's the same image that they see in a bookshop campaign? Or if they get on a plane and fly to London, they see the same image, or if they open the newspaper and open up – you know, maybe they go to Bangkok, post on-line, they see the same image. So I want a consistency in our branding through that image.

> How we talk about it here might be a little different than how you talk about it in Australia or how they talk about it in the UK, but I think…

> You can actually get caught up in a lot of naval-gazing in what does global really mean? And we know – I know cause I've done that for the best part of two years trying to figure out what's the best way for global marketing, global styles, global product to really work when actually "global" doesn't really exist in a lot of senses? When you talk about global marketing – marketing is all about talking with that customer and that customer isn't thinking global, they're thinking about their immediate environment, immediate context. So for example, we're launching our Chinese book, our third edition of Australia in Chinese, in the China market. How we'll communicate in that market might be very different to how we do it in say, the London office and talking to Londoners – going over to, say, Paris for a quick weekend break. And so, the really – the answer we came up to in terms of what is global is – there's a certain level, there’s a layer of global-ness that we will achieve and very much so in all of our product. We're talking to an audience which shares many things. They've got a passion for travel, they very much think about travel a lot of the time, it's important to them – they feel that travel can change and does change the world, which has a certain – kind of like, appeal to all markets. But we've then worked that into the local market so that the message actually is still relevant to each – each individual. Does that make sense?

> I heard someone use the phrase, "glob-ular blanding" once. What's your take on that?

> I think "blanding" versus "branding" is one of those things you can get into your – you can kind of huddle up into allegory and agonize over it for hours in terms of…if the brand is…tried to work in all kinds of markets and tried to dumb down to the lowest common denominator so there's no agreement in any one market apart from this one element, then let's put our brand around this. So, for example, the one thing that we all agree on is that travel is important. So all our markets, regardless of where you're from, we all think that travel is important. Now if we just did a message on that, "Travel is important," that isn't going to make us very different to say, National Geographic or Fodor's or Discovery or a whole wealth of different people who are in the travel industry. So that to me is "blanding." That's the lowest common denominator. You have to get brave in ...saying something different to – to the world now because people are too savvy about marketing. They've heard it before. They will spot a mile off if an advert has been dubbed over with a local language or the advert has just – you know, the ad that you see in the paper has got a – you know, some sort of generic image, which just like – your eyes just wash over.

Look at this – there is one shot that I think that we should be using in our markets. It's quite challenging. It's quite controversial.

> That image, when I presented it to the staff, was probably the most disliked image and so it was like – here's this person who appears that they would just rather have you go away –

> Not every shot needs to be or can be a happy, amazing – the world is not all happy and we want this – this book is capturing the entire world. And for me, although she's – you know, she's not smiling, she’s not – it's not like – kind of like, relaxed – it does confront a little bit, it does push you out of your comfort zone and make you look at that. So although you're saying that the staff here in the U.S. felt it didn't work because of that reason –

> Right.

> That's precisely why I feel we should be using it in a global campaign.

> I was part of that campaign so it’s like a lead image or something.

> So, this is where we have to – at some point, we're going to have to – well, if we agree to disagree, I think we're going to start by losing the campaign. So I think we put a challenge here in terms of, is this an image where we just get it so risky to use it's going to offside the campaign in this market? Or do we think we can actually push the bow out and do something which we wouldn't normally do? And try something new. You have to be brave and put your stake in the sand and go, "This is thecompanythat we represent. If you don't want to listen to me when I'm talking about this, that's fine. Do your own thing. We’re done with you as a customer.” So you have to be very clear and brave globally in terms of we're okay – it's okay to not talk about customer. In fact, we don't mind if that customer hates us. But we do know that this customer loves us and that's who we're going to talk to. And branding is all about having that distinction and that, in a very loud voice – that resonates with your target market regardless of where they're from.

> What do you like most about working for a global company?

> I used to work in the UK office and then came over to the Australia office and one of the things I enjoy in my role in global promotions, global sales is who you are – you're facing different challenges everyday. Different markets have got different deadlines, they’ve got different needs. I'd recommend anyone to give it a go to work in international marketing at some point. Because it's a whole new learning curve that you're on. Everything that you thought you knew about the market that you worked in, the domestic market, all the assumptions that you had – "I know this promotion will work well in x" – it makes you rethink that. And it questions all your skills in terms of business, management, leadership, marketing, knowing your customer, all that stuff and that your competition that has a superior probability that superior growth, all of that is questioned on an international context. And you have to get brave – and that's what I love most about the job. At some point you have to call the shot and go, "All right, guys, we kind of agree here, we disagree there, we're going to have to make a decision and move on. Let's do it."

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