Brand Ecology: The Ecosystem That Builds Global Brands

Schools, universities, colleges, workshops, etc., are the most influential of these ecosystems. For example, universities in the aforementioned countries are primarily aimed at helping manufacturers, entrepreneurs, services-oriented firms, and idea owners — and their secondary goal is to contribute to developing science for the sake of science.

The achievements of Harvard, London Business School, Wharton, Stanford, MIT, HEC, INSEAD, and other business schools — whether in terms of students they trained, intellectual support provided by their academics to the business sphere, or the scope of improvements that the business sector has undergone as a result of their contributions — cannot be denied or ignored.

In pioneer economies, each advertising or marketing communication agency is usually specialized and concentrated in a certain field of this industry and provides one or more specific services in a professional and creative manner, using their distinctive models and up-to-date technologies in their infrastructure, trying not to be a sole media seller, trying hard to be creative, and finally they are really emerged from the private sector and are not governed by state entities that usually manipulate and disrupt advertising pitches.

IP laws sponsor the intellectual property rights of advertising agencies, companies, researchers, university professors, entrepreneurs, and idea owners. The existence of these laws has resulted in elimination of copycatting and plagiarism, and promotion of originality in content, style, innovation, technology, and other domains.

They can safely invest in research, development, and manufacturing of innovative products, services, and processes and invest in development of cutting-edge technologies along with their trademarks. Furthermore, advertising firms need not be concerned about their creative work being copied or plagiarized by others.

If you have experience working with consulting firms or advertising agencies such as Deloitte, McKinsey, DDB, Ogilvy, and others, you have noticed their intelligence, agility, owned data, and insights. They may heavily rely on a variety of technologies, hardware and software (sometimes proprietary) developed for various business areas such as marketing and marketing communication. These technologies play a significant role in data collection, analysis, investigation, finding strengths and weaknesses of brands, exploring new market trends, producing creativity, and directing customers' mindsets.

Without a firm understanding of society, its culture, its dynamics, consumers' behavior, their decision-making mechanisms, collective behavior, and family — branding, marketing, and management science in general lack a solid foundation. Business sciences have perhaps derived much of their most important theories from the studies and companionship of psychologists and sociologists. The development and gravity of these sciences in the aforementioned countries has resulted in the extension of business knowledge, particularly in the realm of marketing and advertising.

Perhaps few have not heard of big names such as McKinsey, Booz Allen Hamilton, Deloitte, Accenture, Boston Consulting Group, PwC, and others. Adding new concepts into the business domain, developing new models in different business spheres, introducing new approaches, founding new methods of measuring effectiveness, introduction of various brand valuation methodologies — these are just part of the achievements and outcomes of these companies in the business realm.

It is hard to imagine that the branding and marketing industry of a country can forge ahead without having strict laws which protect consumers' rights. Consumers who have the authority to influence the direction and decisions of brands, can express their opinions openly, can voice their opinion to stop a campaign (if they are concerned and dissatisfied with its message), and can even eliminate products that do not meet expected qualities and price from competition, significantly affecting the expansion of the brand-centric market as well as healthy competition in it.

The possibility of registering a brand in a few weeks in Western countries, the possibility of agile foundation and rapid start-up of businesses, safe and quick execution of marketing campaigns and events without the need to obtain weird, multiple, and time-consuming legal permissions from state or local governments, protection of tangible and intangible assets of companies without involving state stakeholders — all enabling businesses to build brands faster, easier, and more securely, and manage them with their own hands.

Business environments that are more economically and legally stable and less prone to state authorities' corruptions provide a more secure and safer environment to build brands.

Every brand, whether directly or indirectly, has been in contact with its consumers and engaged in managing manpower that is either its own staff or the personnel of other partner or contractor companies.

The lack of institutions through which employees can demand their rights renders the labor market dissatisfied and less effective. As long as there are no levers in the form of institutions or NGOs in societies that employees can rely on to protect their rights, why should we expect the brands they work for to grow? Should we expect unprotected human resources to work passionately for brands? A one-way love? Should we expect store sellers — our brand ambassadors — to do their best to promote brand values and protect brands' reputation in the market? Should we expect them to be loyal to the brand they work for? I don't think so.

New brands formed in cyberspace are in continual need of having stable, fast, and secure internet access so that they can easily manage and navigate their business and their brands. It cannot be expected that frequent blackouts, low speed, and low network coverage can support brands of such businesses to create a good experience for their customers. Customers in many cases blame brands for bad experiences even when the problem lies elsewhere — in poor internet infrastructure.

The embassies of these countries, after their main mission of facilitating travel and residence of their citizens to host countries, devote all their efforts to establishing constructive communication in the field of business and finding solutions for economic cooperation with the government, private sector, and economic actors of the host country. This means active trade diplomacy.

The mentioned governments use their political power to facilitate the presence of their brands at the international level and by doing so increase the power of their brands significantly. In addition, they can protect the rights of these brands in those countries.

On the other hand, governments have been moving towards creating nation brands for many years, which is a very good support for their local and global corporate brands. Despite its weak presence in the list of the 100 Best Global Brands, Asia — due to its rich cultural heritage — has been able to have a better position in the list of the world's top national brands: 27 Asian countries are on the top 100 most valuable nation brands in 2021 published annually by Brand Finance.

This ability re-opens the way for their economic policies (maintaining trade and economic security) and facilitates the presence of their brands worldwide. Some countries, either by forming joint military alliances or alliances with first-class military powers, provide a way for their brands to penetrate other geographies and protect the economic interests of these brands outside their borders.

Criticism of any brand is not only a reality of its life, but also a valuable element in the effort of its owners to build a brand. With every criticism, there is a set of opportunities to improve the structure of a brand. Free and professional newspapers and journals in the field of marketing, brand and product management, which freely criticize strategies, campaigns, approaches, and models used by brands, have a very strong role in improving their path.

Journals such as Advertising Age, Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Marketing Week, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research, and over 200 other specialized journals have had a great impact on the way Western brands became global ones.

Inclusive political institutions can provide an economic environment in which brands can operate freely and compete, and ultimately this environment of non-rental competition raises the quality and quantity of brands. In exploitative political conditions, due to the patronage of some companies and their relationship with political superiors, competition is eliminated, and due to limited options and lack of space to criticize and protest against these brands, the brand will not be formed by its Western definition.

Culture is a concept that involves knowledge, belief, manners, behavior, and any other habits that individuals gain as members of society. Individual behavior is basically governed by the set of rules of a culture. The influence of culture on individual and corporate consumption habits is the most important outcome of culture.

Depending on the underlying cultural philosophy of a culture or community, consumers tend to follow certain consumption patterns. Individualist and collectivist cultures are two ends of a continuum. Individualist cultures support customers to make decisions on the individual level, based on their own choice. On the other hand, collectivist cultures support customers to make decisions about consumption at a group level (family, extended family, network of friends, etc.).

Consider this example of the impact of culture: India, one of Asia's booming economies, created tremendous opportunities for the emergence and growth of brands. An estimated 1.2 million well-off families grow by 20% per year, with over 110 million households with incomes ranging from $7,500 to $20,000, and over 70% of the population under 36. Yet despite economic growth and increased revenue, Indian consumers are highly cautious and calculating in their choices — hesitant to pay high prices for goods with a well-known brand. This has led to an increasing number of Indian brands offering top quality at affordable prices. Cultural characteristics are indeed a major factor influencing success or failure of the brand-centric concept in markets.