A Cross-Cultural Study of Advertising Appeals in Domestic and Foreign Markets: A Content Analysis of YouTube

The increased speed of globalisation enabled firms to globally market their brands. However, even after three decades of globalisation, firms still suffer from discrepancies in the marketing environment between domestic and foreign markets. To overcome the challenges coming from the discrepancies, brands strategically use different advertising appeals to deliver desired messages in each market. Then, to what extent the use of advertising appeals differs between the two markets? To answer this research question, the paper attempts to examine Korean brands’ use of advertising appeals in Korea and Malaysia. Through conducting a content analysis on Korean brands’ YouTube videos, the study results reveal that distinct differences in the use of cultural advertising appeals exist between the two markets. The results of this paper give Korean marketing managers practical implications to consider when they are planning marketing communication strategy in Malaysian market.