I caught up with Mike Brown last week (Managing Partner & Creative Director at Sentius Creative) over a coffee. We ended up disappearing down one of those rabbit holes that curious minds seem to enjoy… talking about global brands, masterbrand strategy, localisation, relevance, culture – and why some brands feel like they belong wherever they go, while others feel like tourists.
// At one point Mike asked me a simple question.
“If a global masterbrand strategy already exists… what actually changes?”
It’s a bloody good question. Because on paper, you’d think the answer would be… “Nothing.”
After all, isn’t the whole point of a masterbrand strategy consistency?
// The answer surprised him.
The thing that changes isn’t the brand. It’s the culture.
That’s the distinction most organisations miss.
I’ve spent a good part of my career sitting between global teams and local markets. Working on brands like L’Oréal, Kleenex, Milwaukee Tool and others where the masterbrand strategy already existed. The strategy wasn’t broken. The positioning wasn’t broken. The purpose wasn’t broken. None of those things needed rewriting.
The challenge wasn’t to reinvent the brand. It was to make sure the brand belonged.
That’s a completely different job. People often think localisation means changing words e.g. Changing imagery. Changing colours. Tweaking copy.
// That’s translation…. Translation changes language. Interpretation changes meaning.
They’re not the same thing.
Take Milwaukee Tool as an example.
The tools don’t change because they cross a border. The product doesn’t suddenly become different because it’s being sold in Australia instead of America.
But tradie culture?
That’s a different story. The language is different. The humour is different. The relationships are different. The way respect is earned is different. The cultural references are different.
The insight remains… The expression evolves.
The exact same thing happened working on Kleenex.
A campaign that feels perfectly normal in the US doesn’t automatically resonate in Australia. Not because Australians are fundamentally different people.
Because culture shapes context. Humour. Tone. Family dynamics. Language. Social norms. Even the way emotion is expressed.
They’re all filters.
// And those filters determine whether a brand feels authentic… or imported.
That’s why I’ve never liked the phrase “rolling out a campaign.”
It implies that people are the same everywhere. They’re fucking not.
The strongest global brands understand something incredibly simple. People don’t buy global brands because they’re global. They buy them because they feel like they belong.
Which means the job of strategy isn’t to protect every execution. It’s to protect the essence.
// Who the brand is. What it believes.
// The role it wants to play in people’s lives.
These are the things you never fuck with… Everything else deserves to be questioned. Because consistency doesn’t mean sameness. Consistency means making people feel the same thing… …even if you have to say it differently.
Things I’ve learnt translating global brands into local markets…
// Masterbrand strategy provides direction. Local strategy creates relevance.
// Translation changes words. Interpretation changes meaning.
// Culture shapes expression. It shouldn’t redefine identity.
// A campaign shouldn’t feel imported.
// The strongest global brands don’t ask, “How do we stay consistent?” They ask, “How do we stay true?”
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// Brands don’t fail locally because the strategy was wrong…
They fail because they forgot culture was part of the strategy all along.
NB: It’s always refreshing meeting people who enjoy disappearing down strategic rabbit holes as much as I do. Hit me up, if you’d like to explore one together.
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PS: Clarity is easy to talk about and surprisingly difficult to create. If your team is currently navigating complexity, competing priorities or strategic drift, I’d be happy to have a chat.
💀🖤
Cheers,
DANIEL JACOBS
http://bjornfox.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/denialjacobs/
Melbourne, Australia
THE CREATIVE STRATEGIST 