• by Masha Geller , October 18, 2001

The marketing world is seeing the evolution of two critical concepts, according to a white paper released today by Euro RSCG Worldwide. Compiled using both original analysis and secondary data, "The Empowered Consumer in the Age of Globalization" argues that understanding and catering to today's prosumers and integrating glocal strategies into brand development have become vital to the success of any advertising and marketing effort.

No, those are not typos, they're words you should probably add to you dictionary.

"The term prosumer refers to a proactive, empowered consumer and expresses the idea that the balance of power has shifted from manufacturers, retailers, and marketers toward the end user," said Ira Matathia, Euro RSCG Worldwide's Global Director of Business Development and one of the architects of the study. Here are some characteristics of the Prosumer:
- Gets a rush from discovering new things
- Is a transporter of trends
- Pursues "timeless" value
- Seeks out new challenges and new experiences
- Recognizes his or her value as a consumer-and expects brand partners to do likewise
- Is marketing savvy and plugged in to multiple media sources
- Demands top-notch customer service and unlimited access to information

"While 'think global, act local' has long been a popular political adage," explained Marian Salzman, Euro RSCG Worldwide's Global Director of Strategic Planning, "companies face a glocal challenge of retaining global consistency with regard to brand essence while preserving local appeal."

Among the masters of glocalization cited in the study is Coca-Cola, which permits its local operations to opt into or out of global marketing campaigns (though all of its operations still adhere to a single global brand strategy), and Yahoo!, which balances the global and local by maintaining consistency in its topline categories of information across all its international sites, but localizes subcategories.

"Although marketers often speak of 'global brands,' in reality such a thing does not exist," Salzman said. "A brand may be globally recognized. A brand may even be globally distributed. But no matter how tightly interwoven our world becomes, there must continue to be local and regional differences in how brands are produced, marketed, and sold."