Global brand building.

I read "Building Brands" (January/February 2007) with interest, but was troubled by the subhead--"How do you build a global image?"

On Champs-Elysees, Via Del Corso, Shibuya, or any other shopping street around the world, geographic reach is relevant in only a few

For example, the mint-flavored toothpaste P & G shipped to Britain after World War II gathered dust on store shelves. It seems British consumers at the time associated wintergreen with liniment to be rubbed on sore muscles, not brushed on their teeth. When P & G entered China in the 1980s, it sent researchers into people's homes to watch how they did laundry, changed the baby, and brushed their teeth. What resulted were products that conformed to the tastes and customs of customers. Jasmine-flavored toothpaste reflects the belief that jasmine tea is good for bad breath. Today, P & G leads in four of the seven market segments where it competes in China.

The appropriate question is, How do you build a "glocal brand," i.e., one that leverages global resources to meet local needs? Glocal brands have assimilated into the countries where they do business; they share their customers' cares and their dreams. They have a local face and have sunk deep roots.

Those lessons have direct application to another issue the article raises. The answer to anti-American sentiment begins with better listening and responsiveness to people's legitimate desires to share in their own version of the American Dream. Indeed, anti-Americanism may be rooted in a broad perception that we have forgotten what it means to be an American.

Dick Martin

Former EVP, Brand Management

AT & T

Summit, N.J.

Martin is the author of Rebuilding Brand America (AMACOM, 2007)