In the current context of globalization, firms have concentrated their efforts on the development of international brands. As a result, international brand portfolios have been restructured, and many successful local brands have been eliminated. This article's objective is to improve the understanding of local brand differences and competitive advantages relative to international brands. To achieve this, the authors reanalyzed the Young & Rubicam database Brand Asset Valuator and examined more than 744 brands across the four largest countries in Europe: the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Italy. The authors discuss the managerial implications of the findings for international marketers as they develop their ideal international brand portfolios.

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Giles Moss is Regional General Manager of SE Asia, Australia and New Zealand at UCB Pharma and has held varied sales and marketing positions at both an affiliate and global level in companies such as BMS, Sandoz and SmithKline Beecham. Giles is a pharmacist, holds an MBA from Henley and has an interest in brands.Abstract Pharmaceutical firms will not be able to rely exclusively on their three traditional success factors: strong R&D, aggressive defence of patents and use of a powerful salesforce to return to strong growth. New competitive advantages need to be identified to succeed in the industry and the authors propose that a brand logic should be leveraged. The paper defines what branding is, describes the advantages of developing brands in the pharmaceutical industry and highlights the key differences between brands in the FMCG and pharmaceutical industry. We recommend a three-step approach to develop successful brands and propose that companies focus more on corporate brands than on product brands.

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The trend towards increased globalisation had a major impact on the branding strategies of international companies. Next to important economies of scale that a global brand can bring to the company, the advantage of benefiting from a unique worldwide image across markets is considered by managers as an important advantage to manage brands on a global basis. Companies have traditionally followed two types of strategies to create their global brands. One strategy has consisted of expanding successful local brands on international markets. The second strategy has consisted of creating global brands from the start. These brands are launched on a worldwide basis quasi at the same time.

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