Going abroad

Internationalization of companies

Angry Bird by Rovio

Last time we were discussing the ways companies can go abroad. The born globals and how they differ from companies that take their time broadening their market to abroad. Good examples of companies born global are the game companies like the Finnish Rovio with their Angry Birds taking over the world in a heart beat. They as a company didn't settle for the best game in Finland, they wanted to have the best game in the world. This has been their mentality from the start and with the 52nd game they created, they hit the jack pot. From then on they have been growing with different versions of the game and with merchandise to mach. They asked to launch the space edition of Angry Birds in space with NASA and they agreed, making it one of the best launches of products in my opinion. It got a great press coverage and was very successful. It is stated at Rovios home page that they had "263 million monthly active users in December". I think it is a great success to this many monthly active users after the initial game was lunched in 2009.

Different products in different cultures

We had a task to sum up our knowledge and ideas of how marketing is affected by culture in the case of flowers, soap, tee and liquorice in teams. Then we shared our ideas and info to others.  Our group focused on the flowers and what their meaning is in Afghanistan, China and Finland according to our own knowledge. It was very interesting to hear the differences flowers had in these countries. As a Finn I can say that flowers and plants are part of everyday in Finland. You can always give flowers when you're visiting someone or on special occasions. We have our special flowers for Christmas, Easter and so on, and knowing these is crucial for a company to know when coming to Finland. Marketing the right flower like hellebore, hyacinth and poinsettia in Christmas boosts up your sales immensely more than marketing primrose(which is a spring flower in Finland).

Afghanistan wedding car decorations

 I was surprised to learn that in Afghanistan you wouldn't give flowers to your girlfriend or when visiting someone. They mostly use flowers for  special occasions like weddings or birthdays. In Afghanistan they decorate the car beautifully for weddings and the market in that area is huge. When there are differences like these in the consumption of a product it has huge impacts on marketing. The market there is totally different from Finland and when marketing there you would have to know these things to succeed. In China flowers are used more like in Finland, but the one thing I remember being exceptionally nice was that they buy plants for their elders to look after during the day when they are at work or at school. I think this is a great idea and something that could be a new way to market flowers in Finland too. In China if you would like to start dating a girl, one would go and buy 99 red roses, because with the number it means a promise of love forever.  We agreed that flowers have different meanings in different cultures, but in these countries the red rose was considered to represent love. I remember from my exchange in Canada, that poppies are used on remembrance day to honor the fallen soldiers. In Canada this is is a great seasonal market for poppies, but in Finland you wouldn't even think about poppies on remembrance day.

I did a bit of research about the meaning of flowers and found that the language of flowers was started in the Victorian-era in Europe. Although today it is mostly forgotten, we still consider red roses as passion and love, and pink roses represent a lesser feeling of love. In Hamlet Shakespeare has wrote in act 4, scene 5 " OPHELIA: There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember. And there is pansies, that’s for thoughts." This scene is of Ophelia going crazy, but she is still stating the correct emotions associated with these flowers.
If I was starting a flower shop in Finland I would try to market the flowers with these meanings founded in the Victorian-era, because I think it would be something interesting for the Finnish markets. I think using these creates a great potential to grow the markets.