Newport Board Group partner Oscar Rospigliosi recently took part in a session of the WorldCity’s CEO Club in Miami about how to sell premium U.S. brands in Latin America.
World City is an organization dedicated to connecting Greater Miami’s multinational business community.
Marketing of U.S. Brands in Latin America: Key Takeaways
In the course of a wide-ranging discussion, participants explored the challenges for U.S. companies to go local while also staying true to a brand’s global identity. Among key takeaways from the session were:
- Making inroads for consumer products means adapting them to local markets, which can mean taking a prominent role in local celebrations and events.
- Making a profit on exports also requires overcoming the challenges of transporting heavy and bulky containers across long distances and paying tariffs (for example, up to $10 per case of beer).
- For consumer packaged goods, store execution is critical. A brand must be not only visible but there must be excitement to spur consumers to try the item.
- The brand landscape gets complicated when competitors that go head to head in some countries link arms in other countries via licensing deals.
- In some Latin American nations, up-and-coming young professionals aren’t much concerned with supporting local brands but are intrigued by premium imported brews.
Newport’s Oscar Rospigliosi made the point that variety underscores why international products can’t stray too far from their global identity, even as they localize, saying that “If you want to encourage sales, I think the right way to do it is to keep your global image.”
The CEO Club is one of five event series organized by media company WorldCity to bring together executives in greater Miami area on international business topics. The CEO series is sponsored by the University of Miami School of Business Administration and by real estate company CBRE. Oscar is a frequent participant in these and other events that involve the international business community in South Florida.
For my information about WorldCity and this event, click here.
About the Author
Oscar has a distinguished background as a senior-level executive. For the last nine years he has been CEO/General Manager of Bolton Medical, Inc., a company that designs, develops, manufactures and distributes endovascular stent graft devices. In this role, Oscar grew the company from its start-up phase to a position of international brand recognition. Prior to that, Oscar was General Manager of a medical device distributor that is a leader in the field of in-vitro diagnostics (IVD) and biotechnology products. His experience with biotech adds to Newport’s capabilities in this key industry. Contact or learn more about Oscar here.
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