The Wrong Stuff

Why is market research important to companies that want to sell their products internationally ?

If a business wants to sell its products internationally , it had better do some market research first . This is a lesson that many companies – including some large American corporations – have learned the hard way .

Sometimes the problem is in the name . When General Motors introduced its Chevy Nova into Latin America , it overlooked the fact that No va in Spanish means ” It doesn’t go .” Sure enough , the Chevy Nova never went anywhere in Latin America .

Sometimes it’s the slogan that doesn’t work . No company knows this better than Pepsi-Cola , with its ” Come alive with Pepsi ! ” campaign . The campaign was highly successful in the United States , and Pepsi translated its slogan literally for its international campaign . As it turned out , Pepsi was pleading with Germans to ” Come out of the grave ” and telling Chinese that ” Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave”.

Other times , the problem involves pictures and packaging . A smiling , round-cheeked baby has helped sell countless jars of Gerber baby food . So when Gerber marked its products in Africa , it kept the picture of the baby on the jar . When Gerber didn’t realize that in many African countries , the picture on the jars show what the jar has in it .

Even cultural and religious factors – and pure coincidence – can also be involved . Thom McAn shoes have a Thom McAn ” signature ” inside . To people in Bangladesh , this signature looked like Arabic script for the word Allah . In Bangladesh , feet are considered unclean and Muslims felt the company was insulting God’s name by having people walk on it .