We live in a schizophrenic world. On one hand we talk about how globalization has made our planet a small village—making us all more alike than different. On the other hand, the news is full of examples, many violent and sad, of just how different we really are and how important understanding those differences can be.

Ergo: All Relationships Are Local.

Advertising smoothes the rough edges of global positioning and execution: look and feel, graphics, tone and manner. You know the words. Ok, there is an occasional gaff—a product name that doesn’t translate without a rude context; colors that have deeper cultural and often counter to concept meanings; headlines and tag lines that are meaningless. Yet on the whole, it works.

But, by definition, relationships are social in nature (Stewart Pearson and Mark Taylor are the evangelists for this). And by definition that makes them super local, as local as you and I speaking or having a meal together – face to face.

To me, this principle, All Relationships Are Local, is the mantra of the new age of marketing. Globalization gives us audiences for products but relationships are what sell. And…All Relationships are Local!

It’s not one or the other – globalization is a factor and an important one. It’s the realization that the tension between globalization and localization is complex, yes, but it’s also addressable.

As the following says:

It’s a small world, but I wouldn’t want to paint it.
- Steven Wright

And there you have it! Put away your paintbrushes…

Your thoughts?

p.s. – Newsweek carried a piece by Daniel Gross that was really focused on US business audiences but does carry the kill the big paint bucket message and in that sense is universal. The Article was called “Mickey’s Management Mojo” (http://www.newsweek.com/id/69532) and here is an excerpt:

“Finally, every CEO should take at least three or four rides on It’s a Small World and then spent the rest of the day in Epcot. For years, the United States has been shrinking as a global economic force, a trend that is accelerating with the continuing boom in Asia and the domestic slowdown. For more and more companies, future growth and prosperity will depend on penetrating foreign markets. But Americans aren’t so much innocents abroad as ignoramuses abroad. A day at Disney can remedy all that. It’s a Small World is like an animated version of Thomas Friedman’s “The World Is Flat.” Epcot allows visitors to immerse themselves in the cultures and cuisines of 11 countries, from Mexico to Norway, in 40 compact acres.

Of course, it should be noted that despite the great efforts made to create authenticity—the Japanese hibachi joint was staffed entirely by Japanese—Epcot doesn’t provide a uniformly realistic experience. In Epcot’s European countries, the dollar still retains some value.”

So while this does skew towards our US colleagues – there are lessons for all…

It could be argued that perception, i.e., advertising, can be global. You can get off a plane, just about anywhere in the world, and airports, everywhere ,display a good percentage of the same images—from the same companies, sending the same messages.

It could be argued that some products and services do the same around the core experience. Starbucks is Starbucks in Seattle, Paris, Madrid or Hong Kong. While each region sells a slightly different mix of food products, the core offering; style; coffee and overall feeling remains the same. And they are doing it successfully, so it seems.

We have always argued (rightly I think) while image, product and service can be homogenized to degrees, the motivation for selling, connecting, creating relationships must be localized and the more localized, the better it is. “All Relationships Are Local” is the way we, at Wunderman, describe it.

Mark Penn, the Chairman of Burson-Marsteller, who is famous for a similar philosophy, has just written a new, highly praised, book:

Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow’s Big Changes (http://www.amazon.com/Microtrends-Forces-Behind-Tomorrows-Changes/dp/0446580961/ref=sr_1_1/104-1319020-7247945?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190557950&sr=1-1)

The book makes a strong case for our way of thinking and executing.

That said, I was struck by the death of one of my favorite performers this weekend—Marcel Marceau—a man who, without words, broke down the barriers of human communication and created a global language of empathy that people, of all kinds, and everywhere understood and cherished.

That led me to wondering – do we, unlike Marcel Marceau who broke down communication to the very basics, overcomplicate our message. And when we do, do we lose sight of the basic idea and its implications.

While thinking of Marceau and his contributions I came upon the following quote which, in its absurdity, is quite provoking:

“If you shoot at mimes, should you use a silencer?”
~Steven Wright

There you have it…and if you shoot at Ad people…? God forbid…

By the way Marcel Marceau spoke once in a movie: name the movie and what he said, and the first 5 people get a copy of Mark Penn’s book…

In fact, we have global clients who like the sound of that song—despite their market-by-market colleagues who, at worst, would like to sing in a different key, or better use another orchestration or in some cases even write a different song.

So how do we balance the two? How do we leverage a marketable differentiator and drive both local and global success for our clients in ways that increase their stakeholder value while doing the same for us?

It seems to me the “ARAL” notion does just that. It’s not some are local. Its all are local. Even the global client—wherever they may be (and we need more global business to originate from more countries on every continent, and it’s out there)—are serviced by a “local” team. All of our clients have local needs, local objectives; local goals and are rewarded for making them happen and for fulfilling their KPI’s or commitments. And yes, sometimes they are in conflict……

So what’s a Wunderperson to do?

The strength of our network must be its ability to create living/breathing platforms of thinking, philosophy, best practice, technology and people. A piece of the platform is a constant. It’s the Wunderman foundation: training; use of systems; hiring practices; the way we treat our own people and our clients; our approach to thinking and problem solving; technology and tools. Another platform constant is the clients’ global brand, objectives and sales goals.

The piece of the platform we balance by definition changes and morphs and evolves based on the client and the locale…the need; time of day; weather…whatever.

Our use of the platform, our application of what we have available also is dependent on the challenges we have before us. Every market, every locality, every client engagement will look different and be local. It makes no difference if you are in a Global HQ, a regional hub or in a single market.

In fact when you think about it, our biggest challenge to global business may well be the issue we often face in market of the so called local agencies!!!!! What are we if not local……see my point? All relationships are local……

It seems as though this debate is not new. It’s just expanded and has become more complex as the world has become smaller on one hand and ever more different on another.

I quote one of my favorites:

We have really everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language.
- Oscar Wilde

All relationships are local. We have everything in common with each other nowadays except, of course language.

Keep the language pure. Celebrate its power but also celebrate all that we have in common. Do that and we can play Out of Sight of the Box because we will have the confidence in each other to cut the tethers, while our competitors are still tied by artificial safety lines to an old and dusty box……