International Marketing in Germany – From a cultural perspective

6.3
 
Promotion 
Concerning the analysis regarding the gathered information about the promotion mix, it seems 
to be hard standardizing the overall promotion mix. Shown in table 6.3 is the comparison of 
the interviewed companies’ promotion activities. All the companies have adapted their target 
group, personal selling and public relations. Moreover, it seems that apart from Filippa K all 
the companies have adapted their advertising to Germany and German culture. 
Table 6.3 A Comparison between Standardized vs. Adapted Promotion Mix 
 
Food Companies 
 
Beverage 
Company 
Garment Companies 
 
Industrial 
Company 
PROMOTION 
MIX 
Wasa 
Bröd AB 
Göteborgs Kex 
AB 
The 
Absolut 
Company AB 
Nudie 
Jeans 
Marketing AB 
Filippa 
K 
AB 
Precimeter 
Group 
Advertising 
Message 
Adapted 
Adapted 
Adapted 
N/A 
Standardized Adapted 
Communicator 
N/A 
N/A 
N/A 
N/A 
Standardized N/A 
Target Group 
Adapted 
Adapted 
Adapted 
N/A 
Adapted 
Adapted 
Media 
Adapted 
Adapted 
Adapted 
N/A 
Standardized Adapted 

Personal 
Selling 
Adapted 
Adapted 
Adapted 
Adapted 
Adapted 
Adapted 
Sales 
Promotion 
Adapted 
Adapted 
Adapted 
Standardized 
Standardized N/A 
Public 
Relations 
Adapted 
Adapted 
Adapted 
Adapted 
Adapted 
Adapted 
Direct 
Marketing 
N/A 
Adapted 
Adapted 
Standardized 
Standardized Adapted 
N/A = Not Available 
The companies within the food and beverage industries as well as Precimeter Group mainly 
adapt their advertising regarding message, communicator, target group and media. The 
message is adapted directly due to differences in preferences within the target groups in 
Germany. Different cultural groups are attracted to different types of advertisement. Germans 
are labeled low context, which means they are direct in their communication, without any 
hidden meaning in their message.
The adaptations of the target group are all towards a smaller group, a reason for this is 
probably that there are so many people in Germany making it possible to have a smaller target 
group, but still targeting many people, in absolute figures. It also reflects the higher degree of 
competition and the relatively weaker market position compared to the domestic market. 
Concentrating on the most profitable segment seems to be the most success rewarding 
strategy to penetrate a big foreign market in an early stage.

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Concerning business to business, and Precimeter Group’s choice of media, it is important to 
target the right receiver holding the right position. The hierarchy within the targeted 
companies is of high importance, forcing Precimeter Group to have a high knowledge of 
available journals targeting the right person. However, this doesn’t seem to be as important in 
all the other interviewed companies, which is probably due to the fact they are business to 
consumer companies. The other companies adapt their choice of media trying to find the best 
suitable media for their target group.
Concerning the message, Wasa Bröd makes use of its Swedish origin and like IKEA it works 
to be associated with Swedish features like healthiness and pureness. Germany is much denser 
than Sweden, having a larger population in a smaller area. This means that Germans often 
associate Sweden with keywords like healthiness, pureness and many forests. Sweden is also 
a country highly liked by the Germans, which Wasa Bröd and Filippa K make use of. The 
Absolut Company also signals its origin through its bottle with a clear marking: “Made in 
Sweden”. However, The Absolut Company has adapted its message by using German 
preferences in Germany with the example of Porsche as a Taxi car. 
Filippa K standardizes its communicator, using the founder Filippa Knutsson all over the 
world. To use the founder as spokesperson for the brand is appropriate when the brand carries 
the name of the founder as in Filippa K & Filippa Knutsson, but not to be recommended 
otherwise. This does not seem to be due to culture, but due to if the company places the focus 
on the founder or not or if the companies opt for a univocal brand. Filippa K standardizes the 
entire advertising except for the target group since it wishes to give a univocal image of its 
brand and concept. 
All interviewed companies adapt their personal selling, by using German agents, a German 
sales force or a German subsidiary. One of the reasons to use native Germans within sales is 
that Germans are very fond of and proud of their language and prefer to speak it when they 
are in Germany. Native Germans also know how to use Du/Sie in different situations and to 
different persons. By not knowing the language, how to properly address the potential buyers 
and how to present the product the sellers of a new and foreign product gets a disadvantage. 
Regarding sales promotion the food companies adapt it, using different types between the 
countries. This is probably due to the more price pressed market in Germany to which all 
three companies has adapted their prices. In Germany their advertisement consists of 
information concerning their products, and the companies work to increase the amount of first 
trial customers whereas in Sweden they try to increase the consumption. The adaptations 
don’t seem to be a consequence of a difference in culture, rather due to the fact that the 
products from Wasa Bröd and Göteborgs Kex are in an initial stage. 
The garment companies both standardize the sales promotion having a standardized 
catalogues printed or emails sent with information about their collections. 
All companies adapt their use of public relations, both companies within the food industry 
work for getting Germans to connect them with Sweden and Swedish healthiness and 
freshness participating in for example Swedish weeks at the Swedish Trade Council. The 

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Absolut Company makes use of Porsche in its public relations and Nudie works with press 
releases translated into German. Precimeter Group also adapts its use of public relations 
working with more informative information in German for German journals. Finally, Filippa 
K adapts its public relations telling a more basic story in Germany than in Sweden in different 
events. 
Regarding direct marketing the companies within food and beverage industries as well as 
Precimeter Group adapt this. The reason for this choice can be the difference and difficulties 
within the German language but also the differences within the stage of the product. In 
Sweden both the products of Wasa Bröd and Göteborgs Kex are seen as mature whereas in 
Germany in a new growth stage. As written above they use different advertisements 
depending on the stage of the product. 
The garment companies both standardize the direct marketing, which in this case is easier due 
to their standardization within assortment. They work with one brand and one collection and 
their direct marketing can be collected and sent through one database. This doesn’t seem to be 
affected by culture but by convenience and efficiency as well as a wish for a consistent brand.