US marketing in the UK: not as simple as it seems
By Danny Sullivan
During the five-year period in my life when I made my home on the Western side of the Atlantic, I was always interested to note the subtle differences in the way that the general population responded to marketing when compared to my native Britain.
The UK is a generally more sceptical country and, in my experience, its inhabitants tend to expect a bit more effort from the companies that are trying to sell to them.
One memory leaps to the fore: Coca Cola’s miserable attempt to sell its Dasani water product in the UK. After quickly becoming the second-biggest selling bottled water product in the US, Dasani hit the shelves in the UK in 2004, only to be pilloried for being nothing more than purified tap water. It lasted only months before being pulled from the shelves, along with planned launches in France and Germany.
A study by GfK NOP released today puts me in mind of those days. Apparently the i-Phone isn’t doing as well in the UK as Apple might have hoped. Only 2% of those surveyed were thinking of putting the uber-gadget on their Christmas list this year. While the main reason for this is almost certainly the hefty price tag, I can’t help but feel that there are other factors at play too.
Richard Jameson of GfK NOP sums it up nicely:
“This is a highly competitive market and the mobile phone manufacturers have very strong brand loyalty. Apple needs more than cutting–edge design to penetrate this market and will have to work much harder in the UK than it did in the US to make iPhone a mass-market proposition.”
I wholeheartedly agree with Jameson’s perspective and would recommend his words be considered by any North American company that intends to target the UK market. Common language aside, the similarities end there.
