Global work for the local people

Having overseen creative work on both global and Europe, Middle East and Africa accounts, across multiple cultural and language barriers, I feel I’ve learnt my lessons first hand. There is a delicate balance between local market compliance and global brand consistency.

While any cross-border direct marketing campaign throws up a number of logistical and cultural challenges (MW April 7), it’s important to realise that creative teams throughout the world thrive on the same motivation and suffer the same frustrations. Understanding this means that international teams can be motivated to produce their best work. Then the language and cultural barriers soon fall away.

International campaigns can be fraught with politics. But the key to success is to remain independent when judging and selling any work. The best work is done when you have the luxury of a local creative presence that will apply the core idea to their respective market. Do this and you will get more relevant, responsive work than if you attempt to transliterate it from a central hub.

To produce effective work that truly translates across legal and cultural borders you have to focus on strong simple ideas that each local market can adapt, thus allowing a central team to concentrate on quality control.

Piggy Lines

Creative director

MRM Partners

London SE1