The Grand Finale

Cultural Competence is Key

So the central theme throughout this whole trip both inside and outside of the classroom was similarities and differences. Similarities and differences in music, style, work ethic, advertising, language, food, traditions, weather and transportation – or simply put, the similarities and differences of culture. From day one, before lectures even commenced, all we could discuss were these slight similarities and differences which brought the FIU students closer together or helped us bond to the IMK students. It seemed all we spoke about day in and day out was culture. Ofcourse, outside the classroom we wouldn't label our topics of conversation as subjects relating to culture, but that was what it was. We found similarities in music taste while discovering differences in how we labeled certain genres of music (such as “black” music.) Some of us discovered our affinity towards döners or our loyalty to “picadillo.” Some may have noticed the great similarities between “Schnitzel” and “Bistec Empanizado.” Some of the girls may have noticed a high use of tights in Germany because of the cold weather, but also started using them because it was cold.


As discussed numerous times in class, culture is something we have to understand in order to be successful communicators in such a interconnected global community. Cultural competence is key. However, reading important facts about Germany on Wikipedia is not enough to achieve cultural insight – it took this experience to scratch the surface of German culture and the German market. This topic then relates to all the aforementioned blog discussions – from language barriers, to stereotypes, to minorities in advertising, nudity in advertising etc. If one can assimilate into a different culture and soak up as much as possible then one may have a better chance at approaching a campaign for a particular target market.

Yet, only in a dream world could an agency dispatch culturally competent individuals to evaluate a culture and report back like soldiers. It just doesn't work that way. Alternatives include, but are not limited to, using focus groups or temporarily employing someone who is from that target market for cultural insight to avoid colossal campaign catastrophes.

To add to the whole idea of cultural competence, being physically present in a foreign geographical area does not solely constitute an attempt of attaining cultural insight. I could have easily gone to Berlin and eaten at Starbucks, McDonalds or T.G.I Friday's the whole time. I could have nagged about the lack of air-conditioning or an employee not speaking clear English. I could have refused to resort to public transportation or refused to learn basic words in German. I could have never had bratwurst, currywurst, or German bier. Point is, being in a designated location doesn't necessarily mean cultural competence. It means to partake in the local culture and tolerating or dealing with those aspects of that culture that may irritate you. It means walking on the designated foot path even though you may want to just walk next to your friend on the bike path. It means trying to say “halo”, “danke” and “tschuss” and not expect someone to understand “hey”, “thanks” or “bye” even though the probably would.

This and more I learned on my trip in Berlin and weekend trips around continental Europe. The classroom idea of cultural competence, (or summarized as simple courtesy) was something I believe most of us put into practice while in Berlin. The idea of first being culturally competent to be able to gather as much about another culture as you can is not a far-fetched archaic idea. In fact, it's something we as communicators should adopt more than ever.

Real World: IMK

In one word – interesting. I honestly didn't think that working with foreign students in a foreign country would be a challenge. After all, I had studied abroad before and I grew close to many of the people that I met abroad. I didn't think that actually working with them in a professional context would be so different from hanging out with them and having a drink at a bar. Man, was it different and unexpected. I truly expected them to be much more uptight with their school work than I was, but it was quite the contrary. With the exception of one or two students, I found myself being the nagging, “hard-working” one. That was quite the slap-in-the-face. In fact, I encountered students who shamelessly dodged work or were not willing to attempt to write a sentence in English! Thankfully, some of their work ethic didn't reflect on their overall personality. Many of them were giving and self-less outside the classroom. Over all though, one can't judge an entire country based on one or two students (who may or may not have been German anyway.) Additionally, it was wrong for me to expect an entire country to share one work ethic – as if they were all programmed. I wouldn't work in a group in the United States with that same expectation. I wouldn't be surprised if one of my group members stuck me with all the work. I would be angered, but not insulted. It was somewhat stereotypical of me to expect every student at the IMK to share the same professional approach that I had envisioned in my mind. Again, I wouldn't expect the same back home.

Thankfully, the German stereotype that each student did uphold in my mind was their punctuality(except for a handful of students at our lecture). I was surprised that so many people could be on-time to virtually everything – from presentations to weekend outings. Again, there was a slip-up here and there but for the most part, I concluded that being on-time for a German is arriving to the destination five minutes before, not parking in the parking lot five minutes after the time (as I do.) Working with the Germans also gave me perspective on how UN-punctual I can be. I considered myself pretty good in that department, but when my group members were somewhere before I was, my heart would sink.

What I did like was not worrying about the power-point. I didn't mind writing or proof reading most of the handouts simply because I actually enjoy writing so I believe it was a win-win situation for both parties. However, as previously mentioned, I didn't appreciate feeling like me or my group member were the only ones in the team. Writing the handout didn't automatically mean I would only include my ideas. Thankfully, I never had a nightmare group as others seemed to have had. I could always manage – even with the lack of wireless internet in the hostel.

As far as my global skills are concerned, I think this experience with the IMK students did me well. It definitely improved the patience needed to communicate ideas with foreign individuals. Usually when I'm brainstorming, I'm used to blurting out ideas as they come with my group members. At IMK, I actually did some brainstorming of my own before we met so I could jot down some ideas we could discuss and stem from. This way we wouldn't literally get “lost in translation.”

All in all, it was really nice to integrate into the professional life of Germany. In addition to student-life we also made site visits which also added another dimension to my overall impression of professional life in Germany. Again, here too the idea of punctuality was reinforced.

Despite the shortcomings that I may have experienced working with the IMK students it was an experience I really value because they are new challenges I had never been faced with before. We just jumped into it.

Swedish Models in Africa or Turkish models in Berlin?

Minorities in advertising was a hot-topic for debate during our lectures at the IMK. Some said there wasn't enough representation of minorities in advertising in Berlin, others said it depended, and others said there was enough representation considering that advertisements were translated to their language. Regardless of the “correct” answer, it's apparent that in an increasingly connected global society and cultures, advertising has found it's hardships in trying to communicate and identify with them.


From what I gathered in Berlin, there was minimal representation of minorities in advertising. I found one ad where the model seemed to me a minority based on the skin-color, but I could be wrong. Besides, you can't even see her face. I also found another ad for Base that had a minority. Otherwise, I really can't recall seeing minorities in advertising. In fact, most of the full-scaled print ads around the city didn't even have models. They were just words and the product such as the beer ads, the VW ad, the one ad with the rubber ducky and even the Ipad ad that had people wasn't even obvious.


During the lectures, there was a pair of students who did the H&M campaign. According to them, H&M only use Swedish models in the advertising. I must admit, I hadn't seen an H&M ad (not in N.Y, the UK or Germany) that proved otherwise. Despite their monochromatic advertising, H&M sales still sore. A theory supporting their success would be the masses want to identify with this stereotype of beauty – as in blonde hair, blue eyes, thin and fair skin. Customers are supposed to flock to H&M and purchase their products in an attempt to be more mainstream or identifiable with the Swedish models. Of course, there is the counterargument which holds that H&M will be hurt by such advertising if they are trying to sell the same products in Africa, for example. Therefore, there should be a model or models who are representative of the local target audience. This obviously overlaps with the theory of localizing advertising as opposed to standardizing. Apparently, this strategy works for H&M. Perhaps the company is not interested in appealing to the general public. Perhaps their clothes are fitted to flatter blonde, light eyed women around the world. Is then their advertising misread as being offensive to minorities? Should they be concerned that the lack of minorities in their advertising will eventually hurt their image as opposed to helping it? Will including minorities in their advertising hurt H&M's image in the eyes of existing customers? Regardless of the sentiment; money talks. H&M is clearly a success in Europe and America. Again, I haven't done extensive research on the subject or their campaign so I'm not 100 percent sure that H&M hasn't once advertised to minorities.

Aside from the H&M campaign, it's safe to say that many successful global campaigns include minorities such as Coca-cola, McDonalds and Levi. Even Apple launched a commercial once which included silhouettes of minorities. I believe the text-book politically correct answer would be to feature minorities present in the local target market you wish to launch your campaign in. The thought behind this is to make your brand identifiable with them; to make the advertisement more personal and direct to them. Essentially, when using mediums such as broadcast television which reaches thousands, you want to personalize the message as much as you can. Clearly there are set-backs.

However, this text-book correct answer doesn't necessarily mean that those who do otherwise will ultimately fail. In fact, many times when ads try to include a certain “quota” of minorities in their ads they risk the chance of stereotyping that group of people instead of communicating with them. But then, how do you communicate with them if you don't generalize the likes and dislikes of the people you are communicating to? Personally, when I see commercials targeted to the Hispanic population with the loud Spanish music, and bright yellows, pinks and purples or with balloons and confetti and that thick Taco-Bell-like font used to spell out stereotypical words such as “fiesta” or “hola”– it makes me want to gag. There was an IMK student who brought to class an ad directed to Spaniards which illustrated the typical “Spanish” hair bun, and the huge red rose behind the ear with words such as “Lolita.” I'm pretty sure the ad agency responsible for such an ad didn't think about offending anyone during brainstorming. Nor is the ad necessarily offending EVERY Spaniard that sees the ad – but it did make me laugh a bit (but then again I don't consider myself part of their target market.)

In essence, as communicators we need to tread carefully when including minorities or not include them in campaigns.

The Sounds and Sights of the City

Ads are not the only forms of artwork draped across train station walls and billboards. Graffiti is an unmistakably large aspect of the art and culture scene in Berlin – it's ubiquitous. Even the Bundestag showcased graffiti in the form of primitive Soviet writing on stone walls (as seen below.) If I were to associate a kind of art to the city of Berlin – I would quickly answer graffiti (although there seems to be a Dali exposition which seems to be quite the eye-catcher.) Unlike graffiti that I have seen in Miami, graffiti in Berlin is extremely large, visible and artistic. It's not just letters and symbols. There are actual drawings of people, cartoons, monsters etc. There's no way around graffiti, unless you close your eyes while you're on the train. Additionally this kind of modern street art is showcased using the remnants of the Berlin wall as a canvas. To me, street art is the voice of the people, of the masses. Of course, one will encounter senseless graffiti such as the word “penis” across walls which I personally don't consider artistic or reflections on that society.



During the bike tour I also encountered some interesting forms of art. I remember this random huge, colored ball-statue near Check Point Charlie. Apparently, this statue represents a sack of goods immigrants brought. I believe it was a statue commemorating immigrants that have left or arrived to the city. I honestly don't remember.



In all, art as well as advertising, has a cutting edge and spunk that other cities don't have. Even when we visited WallAG, their showcase room was avant-garde. The way the information was presented was totally in depth – literally. The WallAG “wall” moved back revealing more information and artwork of the agency. It was refreshing to see artwork presented in such a fashion.

Music is another part of life in Berlin. Street musicians are spread out across the city (with a concentration in the tourist centres.) In the U and S-bahn's, musicians walk across the train serenading passengers (but most of the time also pestering them for money.) I recall the first day we were in Berlin, when we did a short walking tour of the Brandenburg Tor area. It was there where I first encountered a Berlin musician. It was a German man playing a keyboard, but he didn't catch our attention until a group of Turkish young men crowded around him and took over the keyboard. The Turkish seemed to have been playing traditional Turkish music. While one of them enthusiastically played, the rest made a circle (which we later joined) and started to show off the Turkish dance moves. It was pretty nice to see how other cultures express themselves in music and dance. I must admit it was completely foreign to me, but entertaining to listen to and watch. Overall, it was nice to see street musicians from different cultures interacting and expressing themselves.

From my experience, however, although there are musicians in Berlin, they don't seem to saturate the city as other European capitals including Paris, London and Prague. In those cities, it seems everywhere you turn there's a musician, especially in the underground train stations. In fact, there are so many musicians in London for example, that the city has actually designated areas for them in the underground stations to play their music. Maybe I was at the wrong place at the wrong time, but I really didn't get the impression that street music was native to the city. I also got the impression that Western music, especially from the US, had really made it's mark in the city considering the music that was played in the clubs. I remember in London there was more Middle Eastern music because of all the Arabs living in the city. Despite the abundance of Turkish immigrants in Berlin, I didn't see “their” style of music or songs played in any location in Berlin (except perhaps local restaurants and pubs in Wedding, for example.)

Kenn Dein Limit

Social marketing campaigns are also making their marks in Berlin. There are reoccurring ads about alcohol tolerance at the train stations. Before I had the opportunity to translate the ad word for word, I assumed the layout of the ad and the body language of the subjects seem to illustrate a scenario where each person has a different reaction to alcohol and hence a different alcohol tolerance. They each know when to stop. I originally thought it was somewhat funny, because it seems that they each have their own “personality” that comes out when they are a tipsy or intoxicated, such as a girl who is extremely smiley. What the campaign says to me is to know your limit and to know when to stop. It's a great approach to a social marketing campaign. The ad layout is quite creative and trendy and it is something that our age group could relate to. Each person has their own personality when they've had a couple of drinks. Some may get giggly, others belligerent, some talkative others quiet and sleepy. I thought it was a great approach to find something in common with your target audience and communicate with them in a way they would understand. I don't speak German, but I believed I got the gist of the campaign.

I actually translated the ad and the aim of the ad is to communicate that “Alcohol destroys more than you think.” I visited the http://www.kenn-dein-limit.info Web site and there was a commercial for the print ad I had seen in Berlin. The ad actually doesn't have a funny tone at all, it's actually rather serious. The commercial takes place in a party and the follow a couple of young adults saying what their going to end up at the end of the night. One is a guy that just party's until he ends up in intensive care. Another one was a girl that ends up drunk on pictures. The whole campaign isn't just about the “personality” that comes out when they drink, but how drinking in excess can mess up more in your life than you think such as your reputation. This is a new approach to explaining the dangers of alcohol. It's not just about the physical damage you can experience but other social and psychological effects. The Web site also has nice widgets that a young audience can enjoy.

I can't think of a campaign off the top of my head that would compare to a social campaign in the U.S. but I'm sure there are many with a similar approach. I don't consider this approach something totally innovative. For example, the Truth campaigns have a trendy fun approach to them. Although they discuss a serious topic their approach to informing the public is somewhat fun, provocative and shocking. Also the target audience of this campaign calls for a trendy approach for communicating such a topic.

This social campaign is sponsored by two non-profit organizations. They also use social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, StudiVZ, Myspace, Digg like many social campaigns in the U.S. On the Web site the also include an “Alkohol-Bodymap” where you can estimate how much alcohol your body can tolerate.

I believe the campaign is great overall except for one point. The print Ad I saw in Berlin was targeted to young adults in Germany. The models used in the print ad, Web site and commercial are all “typical” Germans. No minorities, such as Turks were included in the ad. The print ad in Berlin should have at least included a Turk, being that the Turkish population is so large in Berlin. It had also been pointed out that Berlin has one of the largest populations of young adults since there are so many Universities and schools in the city. One can assume that a large percentage of that student population is Turkish but the ad does not seem to communicate to them. The campaign would be more successful in Berlin if they tweaked it a bit.

Out-of-the-Box German Advertising

In Europe, it seems the bathroom is an ideal location for advertising. I was drying my hands with paper towels at a local restaurant in Prague, and I got hit with an ad. I paused drying my hands, and took out another sheet of paper to see what it had said before I had used the previous sheet of paper towel. It seemed to have been ads for upcoming events in Prague for the weekend. I thought it was a Czech thing, when I saw the same non-traditional advertising strategy in a bathroom at a public viewing site in Berlin near the Haupbahnhauf. Despite the ingenuity yet simplicity of the medium, I felt it was a great way to draw awareness, but not to get the message across. It seems the only color they can print on paper towels is blue which hadn't really drawn my attention. Additionally, it's not like I saw people analyzing the paper towels before they trashed it. Regardless of the effectiveness of this strategy, I'm assuming it is a cost-effective way of getting a companies name seen.

Because Berlin is such a bike friendly city, there are also ads on the bikes. I believe the bikes that carry ads are those available for renting. During the IMK German Friday presentation that we listened to, there was a company trying to do just that – bicycle advertising. It's a great way of literally mobilizing your campaign. It moves slower so people have more time to analyze it.

Bikes and paper towels weren't all, stairs are also a canvas for ads. As mentioned in my previous blog, I had seen an Oakly campaign on one of the staircases exiting Alexnder Platz. Recently, I saw a similar ad in the Friedrich Strasse station. Quite frankly, I can't really remember the company (although I passed by it various times.) All I remember is a kind of super hero character in a blue suite with a red cape I believe. Regardless, the medium was definitely eye catching.

At the Tegel airport I also so TV positioned around the terminal with ads. Usually, TV screens in the airports air around-the-clock news with the occasional ad. These smaller TV screens were ONLY repeating ads. Other than the above mentioned mediums, everything else seems pretty much standard.