When cross-cultural audits and semiotics can super-power cognitive marketing

Context

A world-renowned cognac brand was looking to redefine and fine tune the strategy of a key product.

While historically cognac appeals to a wide range of audiences, the brand was looking to better understand how their existing branding resonates with Chinese consumers as well as two of their major target segments within the USA: Hispanic and African American communities.

Challenge

Looking deeper into cultural perceptions within the Chinese market and those of different cultures existing within the USA, the brand wanted to ensure that all new visual codes, queues and messaging would appeal to all demographics of their consumer base.

With two very distinct regions at hand, our teams would support the brand and Impact Mémoire, their cognitive marketing agency to identify where there are common grounds to ensure the newly developed packaging (bottle, label and pack) would appeal to the various target audiences locally.

Solution

Creative Culture worked hand in hand with Impact Mémoire to provide granular cultural insights that would complement their cognitive analysis. We intervened in two key areas by providing cross-cultural audits and a semiotic analysis of the brand’s packaging and design alongside those of some key competitors.

In order to do so, we worked with a dedicated team of cultural consultants and semioticians from each of the target segments. With experience in the spirits and cognac industry, their analysis covered elements such as bottle shape, colours, copy, labels and other supporting materials. Once the feedback from both expert profiles was received, they were collated, cross-checked and finalised to deliver a simple yet clear guidance to the client in terms of the opportunities and challenges presented in the new design.

Results

Evolving from cross-cultural audits into semiotics, as well as delving deeper into the existing cultures within a market region, our relationship with Impact Mémoire has been longstanding and growing ever since. The launch of the product and visual identity were well informed for a maximal local impact. Hear what the client thought.

By combining the relevant expertise from cognitive sciences, culture and semiotics, brands arm themselves with the right ammunition to target multiple markets.