Gies professors guide businesses on the importance of marketing to cultures even within the same country

For years, American companies have broadened their reach by branching to other countries. Doing so successfully meant learning how to market to different cultures around the world. However, given the many subcultures within the United States, companies need to be more strategic about reaching them as well. A pair of multicultural marketing experts at Gies College of Business are literally writing the book on how to do just that.

Their textbook, “Globally Minded Marketing: A Cultural Approach to Building Iconic Brands,” lays out a roadmap on how 21st century businesses can successfully market to subcultures within the United States, as well as to consumers in foreign markets. The authors, Carlos Torelli and Maria Rodas, are taking much of what they experienced as leaders in industry to academia.

Torelli is one of the world’s foremost experts in cross-cultural consumer behavior. As Marketing Vice President for Citibank in his home country of Venezuela, he helped expand the financial giant from just a corporate lender to consumer operator as well at a time when regulations were being loosened there. He did the same in Turkey before leaving the bank to pursue a PhD in business administration at Gies College of Business. Today his research focuses on global branding, consumer behavior, and persuasion. One of his articles in the Journal of Psychology was among the top 20 cited over the last five years and his research has been featured in national outlets like NPR and Yahoo Finance. Recently, Torelli has been chosen as the editor for the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research special issue on cultural influences on decision making and marketing.

Rodas has forged a similar path as a multicultural brand manager for Yoplait, Old El Paso, Wrigley’s Extra Gum, and Palmolive. After earning an MBA from Columbia University and a PhD from the University of Minnesota, she spent two years as an assistant professor at USC’s Marshall School of Business before joining the Gies faculty in 2021. Since then, she and Torelli have worked together on several research endeavors, culminating with this textbook. Rodas earned the Dean’s Impact Award from Gies Business in 2023 and the Marketing Science Institute’s Young Scholar Award in 2024.

Textbook provides "unique perspective"

“Most textbooks in this area are focused on global brands crossing geographic boundaries,” Rodas said. “However, even if you are a local brand, there is still a lot of value in studying culture because when you look at the U.S., it is a mix of different cultures. That is the unique perspective we take with this textbook.”

“International marketing is something that has been out there for a long time,” Torelli said. “What’s different now is not only are American or British companies going abroad, companies from other countries, like the Netherlands, China, India, Brazil and Venezuela are also going abroad. The world is becoming multicultural because of travel, the Internet, and social media.”

Even for those companies that operate in foreign lands, times are changing. Torelli notes that during his days at Citibank, its spokesperson, Elton John, was a global phenomenon. That kind of celebrity that resonates across cultures is now hard to come by. Even today’s biggest stars, Taylor Swift, for instance, don’t carry the same impact globally as Elton John once did. That makes it even more important for organizations to produce targeted messaging for each culture.

“I would say that understanding the local culture is more important than ever because being a foreigner is no longer as appreciated,” Torelli noted.  “It was good 30 or 40 years ago when everyone aspired to get the American brands and those were the rulers of the world. Now you have brands from even less exotic or fancy places that are also major players. Therefore, understanding the culture of the market and tailoring products that speak culturally to them is necessary to give you an edge.”

The authors have strategically differentiated their textbook from others in its size and delivery. While most textbooks have hardback covers, can be 400 pages, and often cost $300, they have condensed their book, printing it with a soft cover and offering it digitally through university libraries, which makes it more reasonably priced. It goes for $59.99 on Amazon.

Torelli and Rodas used the textbook as part of both their in-person and online classes, structuring its 14 chapters to align with a typical semester, while also appealing to industry professionals. It provides an academically grounded research-based theoretical framework to grasp culture and embed it in business models. Many of their classes include people who already have real work experience. Rodas notes the average student in her iMBA classes is somewhere in their 40s.

“We touch on the core drivers of cultures, and our experience brings a unique perspective that makes this textbook a little different than others,” Rodas said. “We have also heard from people in industry that are just reading the book to enhance their toolbox when it comes to how to compete in this globalized world.” 

For instance, the book touches on the need to belong, which is on the spectrum of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

“Many multicultural consumers are immigrants or descendants of immigrants,” Rodas (left) said. “Because they bring their culture with them, they might have a heightened need to belong. When I was growing up in Guatemala, I wasn’t fond of Guatemalan food. I liked pizza and American food. But when I moved to the U.S., I would often choose a Guatemalan snack over an American snack because that is one way in which I can fulfill this need of identifying with my culture.”

In demonstrating the importance of reaching multicultural domestic consumers, Torelli notes that the Hispanic market in the United States is larger than some emerging markets in countries like Russia. 

“This idea of multiculturalism – how offers are built with the world in mind – is something that nobody was really talking about,” Torelli said. “Courses on international global marketing were courses that were mainly intended for these few companies that were selling abroad.”

An outcome of globalization is that consumers don’t need to travel outside of the country to be influenced by and curious about different cultures. Think about the K-Pop craze, for example.

“Global companies used to need to set up shop in other countries to reach those consumers, but because an increasing amount of business is done online, they can sell to the world without setting up shop anywhere,” Torelli added.

“There is this proliferation of global brands that connect with culture and get their cues from other places,” Rodas said. “In this textbook, we illustrate how companies can take advantage of opportunities and also address the challenges of seeing how your brand resonates.”

The drivers for Asian American consumers to a brand might be completely different than what resonates for African Americans or Hispanic Americans, for instance. Torelli and Rodas note that “closing the share gap” to these specific groups might represent as much as $500 million for major companies like Procter & Gamble. Therefore, the textbook further covers broader theoretical foundations and addresses the cultural drivers behind cultural behavior.

According to the book, companies need to go beyond a singular approach to reach multicultural audiences, where the message might be diluted, but have separate campaigns to attract individual cultures.

“If you try to be everything for everyone, you end up being nothing for no one,” Rodas said. “The very successful brands realize that they need dedicated strategies towards each segment.” 

“Global marketing is for a few, but globally minded marketing is for everybody,” Torelli said. “You need to know it because if you don’t, you are missing a large segment of your market.”