RED UNIT's Thorranze Cheung looks at how companies like Glasgow Taxis and a bubble tea brand have used intercultural thinking to reinvent during covid
The speed in which the pandemic spread across the globe proved the world is more closely connected than perhaps we fully realised. In a post pandemic world, intercultural thinking can help brands and businesses reimagine, reinvent and recover. The pandemic has irreversibly reshaped the world and the market culture to be more human-centric, digital driven and flexible. By applying intercultural thinking, businesses and brands can reinvent themselves to adapt to the new lifestyle of the customer and their changed needs and desires post-pandemic. When businesses are planning their reinvention and recovery strategies for their domestic market, they may not appreciate that practices from different geographical heritages or backgrounds could bring a new perspective and energy to help reinvent themselves and push the business forward. For example, what solutions have Japan, Korea and China already developed that can inspire reinvention for brands in the UK?
On the other hand, new cultures and markets can be found right within a business’s own local geography, not just internationally. Intercultural thinking can help brands and businesses reinvent their products and positioning to expand to a younger or older age group, or a different gender domestically, reaching out to new opportunities to aid recovery. Intercultural thinking is a simple, yet innovative way of thinking to inspire reinvention. It requires businesses to be open and slightly humble to build a better future for them, for their customer and for society. But adopting intercultural thinking does not mean businesses should be less confident about their own roots and culture.
In fact, intercultural thinking reveals them, and evolves them, creating an even bolder and attractive identity and value for today’s customers.
Intercultural thinking will inspire businesses to see beyond their usual environment to generate reinvention. An intercultural mindset draws inspiration from different cultures to create new, meaningful brand identities, products and positionings to align with new cultures and new people. Developing an intercultural mindset isn’t always easy to achieve. Our background and what is familiar within our own culture can sometimes hinder us in thinking beyond what we know. At RED UNIT, my team and I help our clients look around the world for inspiration to reinvent their products and customer experiences. For example, if the business is in the hospitality sector, where could we look to for inspiration? Japan is the king of the ultimate hospitality culture, offering unparalleled guest experiences. Within Japanese culture, there are many elements, experiences and best-practice examples that can be wrapped in the paper of a business’s local culture and style. After all, customers won’t question the root of the service, all they want is good service.
Part of reinvention is developing agility and flexibility to ensure survival. By being able to adapt and change quickly, businesses can continue to thrive even during seismic events such as the pandemic. Flexibility means businesses can pivot, reinvent and target other markets when challenging events occur, whether that be a pandemic, a recession or another national disruption. Our work with Scotland is Now, an international branding initiative led by the Scottish government, continued within the Chinese market as it was open whilst the UK was closed in national lockdown. Throughout the pandemic, the Scotland is Now campaign was able to quickly react depending on each market’s current situation. Flexibility also means being able to easily reinvent a message, a product, service or marketing campaign to appeal to new customers looking for a particular solution during a challenging period. During the first national lockdown of 2020, our client Glasgow Taxis were facing a devastating situation when people stopped wanting to leave their homes. In response, we produced a campaign - ‘True Contactless’ - that highlighted Glasgow Taxis’s key selling point - a fully contactless service. Our campaign communicated all the ways in which customers could still use Glasgow Taxis whilst staying fully socially distanced and free from contact. The tone of the campaign connected people and included Glaswegian wit and positive and reassuring messages - important when a country is suffering and its people are anxious.
A critical area of brand reinvention is visual brand identity and design. Our client bubble t-break is a popular bubble tea café on the edge of Chinatown in Newcastle, who reinvented their brand identity after the first national lockdown last year. Bubble t-break is a true local community space, with a loyal and local customer base from a range of Eastern and Western cultures.
We used our cultural intelligence to harmonise these cultures within the reinvented visual design, giving a warming sense of inclusivity and community. bubble t-break has seen its sales double since its reinvention, an incredible achievement during such a tumultuous time.
Why is this? Because people of all cultures and backgrounds connect with it as a local community space beyond the product. In dark times, they feel something positive from it and want to support this vibrant local business. bubble t-break is an inclusive business that has helped its diverse community stick together during a difficult year, even while socially distanced.
The pandemic has changed cultures around the world, in many ways irreversibly. The event has caused changes in the values people hold towards the businesses they interact with. In the face of such difficult times, social, ethical and sustainable values have a greater importance. Businesses demonstrating these qualities in their reinvention, along with showing the humanity that lies behind their logos, will appeal to new generations of customers looking to support the businesses that align with their values. Many good examples of demonstrating humanity can be found by using intercultural thinking to look far and wide at examples from different countries and cultures. We’re excited to see businesses reinvent and become more flexible, more agile, more inspired and more intercultural, to enable them to speak to more customers than ever before.
