Page 75 - The New Gold Standard

Be Relevant
Cindy uses this example: If you have a feature like Pizza
Hut’s stuffed crust, “the concept is that you put something—a
treat—in the crust edge. But it’s different from place to place. In
the United States, the crust edge is stuffed with cheese. In Asia,
they put meat in the crust. In Mexico, they stuff it with cream
cheese and jalapeño peppers.” In all cases, the quality must be
consistent while innovations and customization must be atten-
tive to the unique aspects of the market. Additionally, products
need to be presented and marketed in a culturally sensitive way.
Cindy continues: “Find out what’s culturally acceptable
from a marketing perspective, what’s motivating to the cus-
tomer.” Ricco de Blank, general manager of The Ritz-Carlton,
Tokyo, shares how cultural factors affected the design and posi-
tioning of his hotel in Japan. “It was not an easy task for us to
open our hotel in Tokyo, but we benefited from wonderful
brand recognition in Japan. Because of the unique needs of our
marketplace, we decided to position our property as a leisure ho-
tel and therefore focus on the high-end Japanese leisure market.
Many Tokyo residents want to get out of their small homes and
spend the night at our hotel, use the spa, or have dinner. Also
many Japanese have a lifetime of savings at their disposal and
now want to enjoy it. Essentially, we took the solid business
foundation of Ritz-Carlton and adjusted it to the market needs
of Tokyo and communicated a message about pampering one-
self that has garnered us huge success with the Japanese cus-
tomer.”
Changing the product or service to meet the wants, needs,
and desires of the regional customer is only half of the battle;
your message about your product must also reflect those local
nuances.

C Varied Relevance D

Refining your business to be relevant to your target audience
takes many forms. At Ritz-Carlton, this relevance includes

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