Honda in Europe

Marketing for any product or service in different geographic and economic markets has to be approached with specificity to that market. Certain countries such as China, Japan, Italy, France, Spain, and Latin America are considered high-context markets and will require a much different marketing approach than other countries such as the United States and Germany, which are considered low-context markets. Understanding the differences in sales between different countries in the same region requires a deeper investigation into the social culture of each of the countries to determine which marketing strategies will work best in each country.

Adapting to Culture

In order for Honda to be successful in each of the European countries it sells in, Honda will have to adapt a promotion policy to suit each country’s cultural viewpoint. Currently sales in the United Kingdom and Germany are doing much better than in France and Italy. Looking at high vs. low-context marketing alone will not help us fully understand the drastic differences. The United Kingdom for example, has similar context as France and Italy, although due to a Honda plant located in the United Kingdom, promotion in the United Kingdom is more visible.

Strategic Marketing

It would be foolish for Honda to think it can run the same advertising campaign in every country. Language, norms, and culture are different from country to country. Advertising, in order to be most effective, should be customized to each cultural standard. Marketing Research Analysts should be contacted in each country to determine where Honda is falling short with the people. This will help Honda also determine what concepts are most popular and what the highest need for the population is so that Honda can tailor their advertising campaigns.

According to the text, France thinks of Honda as an inexpensive, second-vehicle or a car for women. Italy is not far behind France in their perception of Honda vehicles. In order to turn this...