Leo Burnett Company LTD

Leo Burnett is an advertising agency that was founded in 1935 in Chicago. One of their clients is Ontann Beauty Care (OBC), which is a leading global manufacturer of health and beauty care products. OBC has been awarding Leo Burnett’s (LB) its business for many years. OBC has been a client of LB’s Toronto and London offices since 1958 and mid-1970, respectively. OBC has centralized its global marketing campaign for a given brand and creates the communication materials as templates for local offices to follow. Local offices are then responsible for adapting these raw global materials and developing local “below the line” materials. LB also centralized its decision making to better service it original client.
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The ads being run in Taiwan were adapted to include a popular Asian actress, and this also allowed the product to show how effective it was on Asian skin. Taiwan is a successful example of incorporating local and global thinking. In Canada, ads featured a blond Caucasian actress as the lead in television and print ads. The Toronto team was not able to adapt the ads as they best see fit. The Canadian culture may not accept the ad because it was filmed under London assumptions and values. It did not take into consideration Canadian values. Specifically, Canadian consumers perceived the ads as violent. The case does not specify why it was considered violent, but if LB London allowed local thinking that situation might have been avoid. Another factor that contributed greatly to the events that occurred is culturally mediated cognitions in communication. Communication was very difficult in many cases for both LB Toronto and London. Teams relied increasingly on e-mails and phone calls. Although emailing is quick and easy to create, this does not help develop relationships, which does not build trust between parties involved. Also, Meta communication is not involved, which can be important in different cultures. For example, in an email you are not able to hear the tone of a voice or the facial expression of the person sending the email. Speaking on the phone has similar weaknesses, which include not being able to visually see the person reactions. Lastly,