The key to localised marketing lies in understanding the social forces driving the rise of local culture and consumers’ demand to enjoy experiences, identify with culture and participate in its creation. Brands need to embrace authentic and vibrant cultural hotspots, integrate into consumers’ everyday lives and create close links with local industries, cultures and communities in order to achieve more impactful localised marketing.
Anita Li, Senior Research Analyst – Consumer Trends and Lifestyle, China
Market Definitions
Typically, localised marketing has two definitions:
- Narrow localisation: refers to a brand gaining in-depth understanding of local consumers’ living habits, emotional preferences and cultural characteristics in a specific city or region and formulating targeted marketing strategies. The goal is to take root in the local market and win recognition and brand awareness among local users.
- Broad localisation: goes beyond serving consumers in a particular region and refers to utilising local culture, distinctive creative works or geographical symbols to inject freshness and cultural texture into a brand, allowing users in more regions to feel the brand’s individuality and character.
This Report discusses broad localisation and also includes related analysis of narrow localisation.
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Executive summary
- Key issues covered in this Report
- Definitions
- What you need to know
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The big picture
- The shifting dynamics of globalisation: slowing down, reshaping and prioritising the local
- Cooling globalisation: local identity is strengthening
- Graph 1: key factors driving consumer behaviour around identity – my heritage (eg culture, history) is an important part of my identity, 2024
- A new chapter in culture: from revival to re-creation, Chinese culture finds new expression
- Community connections: strengthen local community ties to enhance local trust
- Graph 2: key factors driving consumer behaviour around identity – it is important for me to the have the support of a community (eg my social or family circle), 2024
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Consumer insights
- Engagement with local culture: from experience to identification, then on to belonging and co-creation
- Engagement with local culture is primarily at the level of experience and enjoyment, but affinity is strengthening
- Graph 3: drivers of engagement with localised marketing – very important, 2024
- Lower tier markets are rewriting cultural rules as consumers seek out more vibrant experiences
- Small towns go viral, pointing the way for mass travel
- Small-town cuisines emerge as foodservice trends
- A deeper motivation for affinity and resonance: palpable everyday local culture becomes a ‘safe haven’ for the soul
- A deeper motivation for belonging and co-creation: local culture is the social adhesive for development
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Marketing approaches
- From cultural engagement to marketing practices: how can brands leverage localisation opportunities?
- Overview of localised marketing approaches
- Approach one: the more local, the fresher
- Unique and sensory local elements are preferred
- Graph 4: preferred local elements – top three (net), 2024
- Popular local elements must balance uniqueness and ease of appreciation
- Younger people are more drawn to down-to-earth everyday local elements
- Graph 5: preferred local elements – top three (net), by generation, 2024
- Use small-town vibes to draw out the warmth and intimacy of local content
- Post-1980s demand local experiences not for novelty, but to take a breath
- Graph 6: select drivers of engagement with localised marketing – very important, by generation, 2024
- Post-1980s prefer to seek authentic cultural memories amid changing times
- Graph 7: select preferred local elements – top three (net), by generation, 2024
- Present local elements in a non-intrusive and subtle way to satisfy consumers’ desire for an authentic cultural experience
- First-hand experiences, revitalisation and broadened perspectives are central to the local cultural experiences preferred by consumers
- Graph 8: localised marketing campaign preferences – top three (net), 2024
- One boat, one feast: McDonald’s makes the Liede Dragon Boat Festival culture tangible, fun and participatory
- Approach two: be ‘everyday’ to feel real
- Consumers prefer local innovations that have both cultural meaning and can be folded into their lives
- Graph 9: localised product preferences – top three (net), 2024
- High-income groups have the strongest interest in local culture and pay more attention to the texture and depth of culture
- Graph 10: select drivers of engagement with localised marketing – very important, by monthly personal income, 2024
- High-income individuals appreciate cultural value and taste, while low-income individuals focus more on affordability and practicality
- Graph 11: localised product preferences – top three (net), by monthly personal income, 2024
- LOEWE’s Qixi magic touch: culture should understand me, products should match me
- Younger people present a more fully-realised and multi-faceted self through local culture
- Graph 12: drivers of engagement with localised marketing – very important, by generation, 2024
- Hope Water x Yue opera: a cross-genre collaboration to revitalise younger people’s expression of local opera culture
- McDonald’s dialect challenge: giving younger consumers a space to express themselves
- Shanghai focuses on fashion, Beijing loves local character, Lingnan is enthusiastic about traditional festival customs
- Graph 13: preferred local elements – top three (net), by city, 2024
- Integrate into the local fabric of city life, giving marketing the authenticity of the everyday
- Approach three: integrate into local cultural ecosystems
- From leveraging culture to symbiosis, let the brand take root in local culture
- Chengdu CyPARK: a business ecosystem driven by the cycling community
- Xiaohongshu’s Xiaomeishuo public benefit programme: community co-creation drives community renewal
- JDB × Village Olympics: boosting local cultural brands to make an impact, creating both commercial and cultural value
- Nippon Ale regional speciality gummy sweets: a subtle way to tell the story of Japan’s local culture
- Starbucks co-develops with Yunnan: supporting local industry and jointly building sustainable brand value
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What we think
- Demand
- Segments
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Appendix – methodology and abbreviations
- The most impressive examples of localisation for consumers
- Methodology
- Abbreviations
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