Commonalities and Differences of the Large Emerging Markets

Abstract

While, from a cultural point of view, the BRICs show extreme differences, there are also many remarkable commonalities from a brand and marketing point of view. While the local cultures, ethnicities, languages and religions could hardly be more different, some similarities are striking. Those are very important to understand when navigating these new markets in a quest for successful market and brand development. Besides the vast geographic expansion and general complexity, there is a huge expanding middle class as well as rapid social mobility and status related consumption present across the BRICs. Intensive competition from global and local competitors, high media cost, a lower level of consumer knowledge as well as a high digital and mobile affinity are additional unifying factors across those large emerging markets. As a consequence, this creates a critical mass of common context and related strategies that are of relevance across these large emerging markets. These are discussed in general as well as from a country perspective.