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Geopolitical changes – brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, looming recessions and increasing political, social and economic polarization – are forcing global companies to drastically rethink their digital marketing strategies, according to Forrester Research in a recently published report.

In fact, eight of the ten business risks cited by CEOs were related to the broader geopolitical context, including over-regulation, political uncertainty, trade disputes, cyberthreats, political unrest, protectionism, populism and exchange rate fluctuations. This led Thomas Husson, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester, to conclude that global companies are being challenged to understand deeply the needs and values ​​of local consumers.

Marketing managers should expect consumers to seek brands that reflect their local values, but becoming that type of company is not an easy task. The values ​​differ from country to country as they rely heavily on local beliefs about social issues, politics and causes.

As an example, Husson notes that French and Italian consumers see climate change as a top corporate social responsibility, while in the US this is only the seventh most important, far behind issues of diversity and inclusion such as gender and racial equality.

For marketers, the challenge of creating globally consistent brand messages that meet local consumer expectations is nothing new. But it is now becoming more important to create a global mindset while localizing your businesses.

Husson said that in order to localize their global businesses, marketing leaders should create ways to make global connections. One way to do this is to create local centers of excellence in different countries to embed a sense of global thinking into the corporate culture, he notes.

Husson goes on to claim that the next decade will be owned by midsize companies that expand globally by prioritizing regional disparities and local activities. This phenomenon is likely to occur in four phases, he says.

In the first phase, which will dominate in 2021, companies will work with local institutions to resolve the COVID-19 crisis. “The decline in trust in traditional institutions and the inability of countries and local governments to solve complex global problems such as climate change will increasingly enable global brands to choose and express political and societal values,” says Husson in the report. “Consumers will expect social brands to work more closely with trusted local institutions to join the pandemic fight, prioritize health and safety, and deliver on their multi-stakeholder pledge.”

In the second phase, which will extend to 2023, digital platforms will continue to wield enormous economic, political and social power. “Their ability to access citizens ‘private data, control the way citizens access and share information, build infrastructures and even create new currencies will violate countries’ sovereignty,” predicts Husson.

Between 2023 and 2025, governments and consumers will begin to fight back against the tech titans, he adds, noting that governments are taking steps to regulate the global digital platforms that threaten their political foundations that are already in place in some parts of the world have started, such as The United States, Europe and China will intensify. “Discussions between states and intensive lobbying work will prevent the full implementation of new laws that limit the power of global digital platforms at the country level before 2023 or 2024,” said Husson.

Then, between 2025 and 2030, leading companies will “finally transform themselves into truly multinational companies. These companies will be able to maintain the benefits of central technology management while pursuing hyper-local business models.

“Marketing leaders need to anticipate the impact this new global order will have on their brands and rethink their marketing in the face of increasingly discerning and polarized consumers,” says Husson.

In that case, the technology will amplify the hyperlocal operations, he adds, but notes that technology is not the key to success here. Instead, empowering local teams and building local trust is key to becoming a truly multinational company, he concludes.