Global Branding

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interest essentially consists of empirical research into differences among the COO appeals in order to more accurately establish the countries of origin that provides the most value in the category of natural skincare, considering the growing size of the given market in Asian countries, and hence, the increasing global connectedness of the younger generations and the rising purchasing power of Asian consumers as particular motives to enter these markets. In the Danish market context, the interest would particularly be the comparison between other product categories of both Finnish and Danish origin to establish the width of the domestic preference among Danish consumer across various product categories.

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may be used to create a higher-end positioning in the Korean market. Furthermore, it may be that in Korea, there is less competition in the natural skin category, and there is an advantage to position a brand slightly towards premium for differentiation. In Denmark, the natural category and the Finnish COO both were not perceived as justifications for premium pricing. This indicates the need for other value-adding elements in the brand appeal.

Furthermore, it may be proposed that when positioning a brand to the Danish market, the placement is one way to position a brand with added value. This relates especially to the sensitivity of consumer perceptions to comparisons between not only brands in the same subcategory, but also with other subcategories.

Therefore, the retail outlets may be chosen to be department and cosmetics stores, and pharmacies, instead of supermarkets and low-cost outlets. For the Korean consumers, the distribution channels may be similar, as also related to creating a premium inference for the brand.

Secondly, the study is conceiving with propositions of Yoon et. al (1996) and Ger and Belk (1996), among other scholars, in that global marketing strategies should be situated within the consumer-product relations and take category-specific variances into close considerations. Thus, the differences in the contexts and category-specific cultural heritage must be recognized in the brand strategy. Namely, in Denmark, the mature market context and strong favoritism for domestic products. In Korea, this implies to the customized skincare practices and long tradition of using herbal and natural products for curing and preserving effects. Hence, also the use of COO appeal is perceived differently.

Whilst the products, price and placement of the product may be used as relatively standardized in both Korea and Denmark, the current paper proposes that for promotional communications, a localized strategy is supported to establish a brand presence, especially in context-relevant information sources. Hence, this study may be used to propose communications as the most culturally sensitive elements in the marketing mix: This complies with Alden et al. (1999) in the sense of positioning the brand to the local cultural meanings, cultural norms, and identities. While the Korean consumers are more acceptable and to a degree place value to Western brands and marketing appeals in the English language written in Korean alphabet in cosmetics (Nelson & Paek, 2007; Steenkamp & de Jong, 2010), the consumer needs for product and ingredient information indicates localized labeling to be beneficial. Hence, the cultural heritage may be taken into consideration by emphasizing the product capabilities to preserve and secure the skin from external factors, and hence, the holisticism of the product concept as relevant selling points. As for the Danish consumers, English is not preferred. As a result, the product labeling would ultimately be localized in the Danish market,

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hence product effectiveness may be emphasized to appeal to their needs for instant gratifications and easiness of the user experience.

In the category of natural skincare, this study implies that use of COO appeal does not constitute an element for brand standardization. As was discussed in the previous section, the Finnish COO may provide more benefits to brand equity in the Korean market, as compared to Danish. Hence, it may be used in communications to also to invoke trust and create a point of difference in the market. In Danish market, more central in the appeal would be other product benefits, leaving the Finnish COO to the level of labeling.

The Case of Supermood

Particularly in the Korean market, the digital platforms such as ingredient review applications, beauty Youtubers, and TV beauty talk-shows could be considered as pull-channels, and hence, as collaborative partners when launching the products to the Korean market. Provision of ingredient information in a customized-form for the digital ingredient platforms is thus to create consumer confidence for the product attributes and to promote transparency of the brand origins. This has a value to alleviate Koreans’ uncertain attitudes towards the category and the Finnish COO. The communications approach should consider the product effectiveness and benefits as more persuasive elements. Product lines may be presented as all-inclusive for the consumer to use as customized combinations. Thus, the Finish COO could be used as a legitimacy-enhancing element, and hence, introduced in as to evoke amicable attitudes among Korean consumers. In this, the use of Finnish celebrities who have built friendly images in Korean media can be used.

Furthermore, sponsorships for product reviews and blind-tests in popular beauty talk-shows could be one strategy to introduce the product to the market. However, these are to be well-thought to ensure that the genuity remains intact due to the consumer mistrust toward PPL, meaning product placement, which has become also a popular way of indirectly advertising in Korea.

Upon introducing the brand to the Danish market context, Supermood may similarly seek a presence in relevant editorials, product comparisons, beauty blogs, and vlogs. The difference to Korean strategy is hence that the brand should be visible in relevant contexts to ensure exposure, and that the brand information is available during the phases of the individual decision-making process of the consumer. This could refer to concentrating on the attractiveness and information provided at the point of purchase in stores, and as content marketing through influencers on social media, such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube.

While these channels are harder to control the company, they are cost-effective and tap to the individualistic, convenience-driven, yet knowledgeable Danish consumer. Further, the product lines are best to be promoted

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as three separate bundles to appeal to the Danish consumer with her specific needs. Additionally, Supermood might benefit from entering the Danish market also through beauty studios using all- natural and -organic products, where the products lines could be easily made available to consumers, and hence, provided by the professionals as an affordable alternative to typical premium products sold in such studios. In this regard, market penetration through such horizontal partners would benefit Supermood to gain relevance among the high-involvement, innovator consumers who opt new solutions based on professional suggestions. This hence translates well to the logic of word-of-mouth as an influential source of brand information in the Danish market.

By considering the Supermood marketing mix as suggested for the two markets, we may argue that entering both countries pertain incentive and relative attractiveness for the company. Overall, this study provided the insight that for consumer goods, and particularly in the category of natural skincare, the traditional internationalization models such as Uppsala model does not hold particular relevance. From the consumer research point of view, Supermood´s brand essence, including slightly toward higher-end positioning products and their design and the use of the Finnish COO, may even appear to bring higher value in the Korean market context. Hence, the Danish market pertains relatively more easiness to coordinate operations due to low geographical distance, such as time zones. Both markets, however, are appealing to entry with the proposition of holistic beauty.

Based on the current study, one may conclude that as contrary to many studies on traditionally internationalizing consumer goods companies, entry to both closer and the distant market is ultimately dependent on the opportunity and product-market fit. The case of Supermood may hereby be used as an example in the area of born-globals and global branding in that while it is possible the conduct business globally from inception, and consumer segments do transcend borders of national cultures, the particularities of market context moderates the pace at which a company can truly exercise standardized strategies similarly across its global markets. From this, born-globals may derive that brand strategy must be carefully reconciled and aligned with the new market context, and the company resources available at the given point of time.