M'm M'm Good

I've been using P&G as the easy-to-understand example of how important it is to "localize" global brands. (Some Crest toothpaste in China has a jasmine tea flavor to capitalize on the local belief that tea is good for bad breath).  Now courtesy of the Wall Street Journal, I have another good example.

Campbell's failed to sell much condensed soup in China and Russia in the 1990s because consumers there refused to spend hard cash on something they could easily make themselves. Besides, the Chinese and the Russians take justifiable pride in the quality of their homemade soups. 

Rather than throw out the kettle with the soup stock, as it were, Campbell's sent cultural anthropologists into the kitchens of typical Chinese and Russian consumers. They watched how they made their soup and discovered that increasingly busy Russian and Chinese cooks would be interested in flavorful "starter stocks" they could use as the base for soups and other dishes.  You can read the whole story here (subscription required).