Lonely Planet provides resource guidebooks covering 230 countries, as well as an online forum where travelers can post their traveling experiences. People with a passion for travel are the target market for the guidebooks. Lonely Planet's goal is to produce books that show readers the "whole picture," including that the world is multidimensional and not all happy.
Because Lonely Planet has offices in many different countries, it has to develop an Internet marketing strategy that is customized for each country. Lonely Planet manager Howard Riley says that branding, or having a distinction that resonates with the target market, is extremely important and is a way for the company to talk to the customer.
For example, the book on China is available in Chinese as well as English. Riley maintains that the best way to handle global marketing is to allow travelers to see the same image of Lonely Planet no matter where they are in the world. Though he says that the term global no longer exists, he argues that there is a layer of "globalness" with an audience that shares a passion for travel.
Hence, the objective of the marketing campaign is to "present the world" to readers around the world through the guidebooks. Riley observes that working for a global company makes you reassess all the assumptions about management you have formed in your home country. He says that managers have to be brave and take risks with marketing and that firms have to have a clear global message
Questions
1. How does Lonely Planet differentiate its brand from its competitors in global markets?
2. How can Lonely Planet use technology to advance its brand image around the world?
3. Why is branding critical for a firm like Lonely Planet?
4. What kinds of management challenges does Howard Riley face as a global manager?
5. How does being the manager of a global business differ from being a manager of a domestic business in terms of establishing a brand image?