By Jeremy Cohen, Managing Editor, Sales & Marketing Management
Even as the world continues to get smaller and become more of a melting pot, those charged with spearheading international marketing campaigns would do well to heed this advice: When targeting countries where English is widely spoken, make sure you think long and hard about what language your ads appear in.
In a September 14th New York Times column titled “For Every Sales Pitch, The Right Words,” writer Alex Mindlin spotlights a new study published in the Journal of Consumer Research. The researchers in question had surveyed 122 college students in New Delhi, asking them to rate detergent or chocolate advertisements on a seven-point scale. The students had been told the ads were placed by multinational companies; some were written in English, others in Hindi and some featured a mix of the two languages.
The result? Turns out the students preferred chocolate ads written in English (or a primarily English hybrid), but were more partial to detergent ads written in Hindi (or a Hindi-leaning mix). Mindlin quotes one of the study authors, Aradhna Krishna, who speculates the students were associating the languages with different aspects of their lives. “English is the language which is global and cosmopolitan and upper class,” she explains. “You associate your first language with family, with warmth, with belongingness.”
Here’s the twist, though: According to other research described in the JCR study, multinational companies have generally had less success with ads written entirely in Hindi, as opposed to those featuring a Hindi/English hybrid.
Looking to hedge your bets? Simple enough: Keep the emphasis on English when you’re selling luxury goods; for everything else, a hybrid favoring the host language is your best bet.
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