International Marketing

   International marketing for ESPN actually began accidentally, according to a novel called International Marketing by Michael R. Czinkota, Ilkka A. Ronkainen. A sports broadcaster purchased satellite time and a building in order to broadcast Connecticut area sports.  Later, the broadcaster came to find out that the satellite coverage was national and his idea to broadcast to New England began to grow.

   Eventually, ESPN sports was born.  Today, ESPN covers sports in countries all over the world, and broadcasts to them as well.  However, global/international marketing isn't as easy as accidentally  purchasing a global coverage satellite.  Although ESPN wants to reach as many global households as possible, there are two huge obstacles that are stopping them.  First, competition.  ESPN is still currently the biggest international sports broadcaster.  However, other broadcasters are beginning to tap into the market as well, which gives consumers more options and may cause ESPN to be in less households than it previously could have been based on what sports they are covering, and consumer's personal preference.  The second big obstacle is creating a market for the broadcasting service in less developed parts of the world.  For example, India has a very large middle-class population, but India's middle-class population makes significantly less than the American middle-class.  Many other under-developed countries also have multiple languages within the country.  This type of issue is tough to overcome, ESPN would need to own many channels and broadcast the same thing, in all sorts of different languages.  Even though they would like to reach every household, it will not be financially realistic to broadcast in too many languages.

 

 

    McDonald's Restaurant markets it's products in countries all over the world as well.  The video to the right talks about the Price, Product, Place, and Promotion of McDonald's Restaurants in 7 different countries.  Why do you think that McDonald's has been so successful in it's International Marketing?  How do they adapt to the cultural differences in all the different countries?