Why global brands must become ‘internationally local’
Opinion
A culturally multipolar world means we need to understand not just how Western culture lands in other markets, but also how cultural influences might cross-pollinate our tastes, content preferences, and media behaviours, writes Phil Rowley.
Many years ago, if you wanted to watch a television programme from another country, you had to invest in a gigantic satellite dish for your back garden. At 16 feet wide, it tended to blot out the Sun even though it beamed overseas content into your living room. But if Venezuelan soap operas were your thing, it was worth it.
Before that, you could always watch a live multinational broadcast, like the Eurovision Song Contest. Established in 1956 and famed for bringing Luxembourgish pop into homes across the UK, the word Eurovision described the footprint of the transmitter that broadcast the competition. Literally Euro ‘Vision’.
Back then, the idea of a televised, real-time transnational event was mind-blowing. Today, however, it’s different. If we want to watch content from distant shores, we just pick up our phone. From Keighley to Kyrgyzstan, we can now see video content from every corner of the globe – livestreamed, pre-recorded or, yes, AI-generated.
The democratisation of technology means that not only can billions of citizens consume global content, but they can also create content for that global audience.
As a result, we are entering an era of a global multipolar culture, where all audiences are authors and all authors are audiences.
Marketers need to sit up and take notes. Because 20 years from now, everything will look very different.
Emerging nations. Emerging stories
Even before the first quill touched the first parchment, storytelling was a way not only to entertain an audience but also to articulate a culture’s norms. Aesop’s Fables told tales of the importance of moral acts. Greek epics like The Odyssey delivered societal lessons on fortitude, loyalty and hospitality.
In the 1950s, post-war Hollywood started pumping out tales of rugged individualism and the right to shape one’s destiny. By the 1980s, Japanese cultural exports like manga and anime warned us about unfettered technological advancement destroying society in works like Akira. In every case, a nation’s hopes and fears were embedded in its art.
Now, in 2026, as more nations and their citizens come online, we can expect a new outpouring of cultural expression. In fact, this change has already begun.
Look east
New engines of culture and entertainment are already revving in China and the Middle East, with both sovereign spend and private investment acting as the fuel in the tank.
Saudi Arabia, for instance, has invested $100m in domestic film production, and has started staging high-profile events like Formula One and WWE, as well as hosting international film and comedy festivals.
Gaming is also set to be a massive part of this new Eastern Entertainment wave, with KSA’s Savvy Games Group investing a $265m stake in both China’s leading e-sports tournament operator and Qiddiya City, the world’s first esports district.
That collaboration between KSA and China is no accident. China is also one of the lead architects reshaping the global entertainment landscape.
Whilst China has a box office second only to the United States, it is becoming more notable for its mobile-first content. Most notably, Chinese micro-dramas, or “mobile soap operas” (30 seconds to two minutes per episode). Like Dynasty, but for the TikTok generation.
Revenue from microdramas is predicted to exceed the Chinese box office. Even more significantly, many are created, edited and distributed using AI. Indeed, The Qinling Bronze Occult Chronicles has recently hit the international headlines for having no real human actors. This has not stopped it from becoming preposterously popular.
According to digital measurement company Sensor Tower, 370m downloads of micro-drama apps are driving $570m in revenue from outside China.
The twin effects of the international appeal of Chinese original content, plus the use of AI to create that content, could normalise the use of AI in culture. Naturally, this may enrage and enthral in equal measure. Nonetheless, it is happening.
Little voices become big voices
It’s not just geopolitical powerhouses like China and Saudi Arabia driving this global equalisation of cultural output. It’s also countries that might have been previously drowned out by bigger players that are now surfacing to amplify their message on the world stage.
Mongolia, for instance, is home to some jaw-droppingly good heavy metal. Bands like The Hu [not to be confused with The Who, obviously] have a YouTube page now clocking up half a billion views. Indonesia is becoming renowned for its prowess in horror films, winning a Guinness World Record for its efforts.
Nigeria and Cameroon do a great line in indigenous games, drawing on and promoting local folklore and myths.
In each case, we see the beginnings of Western partnership support: The Hu supplied the soundtrack to Star Wars game Fallen Order, while Cameroon’s Kiro’o Games launched Legacy of the Kori-Odan on Xbox.
When all cultures can be global cultures, the world wakes up.
How to be a truly global brand
As marketers, when we study our audiences – the channels they use, the formats they prefer, the content they consume – we must be conscious that we may be viewing them through a Western lens, built on Western assumptions.
Even when we are genuinely interested in cultures beyond our own experience, we can still end up looking in the wrong direction.
The shift towards a culturally multipolar world means we need to understand not just how Western culture lands in other markets, but also how cultural influences flow in the opposite direction, and how they might cross-pollinate our tastes, content preferences, and media behaviours.
We may baulk at AI-driven content, for instance, while our audiences are consuming Chinese AI-generated micro-dramas without batting an eyelid. And if audiences are already there, it won’t be long before Western studios follow.
Fox Studios, for example, is reportedly exploring micro-dramas as a potential content route.
As we head into this future, some actions for brands are becoming clearer. First, think of exchanges, not exports. Having offices around the world does not necessarily make you global in your outlook. We don’t need to be global, but internationally local.
Brands should actively look for ideas, behaviours, aesthetics, creators and formats that are travelling between markets. Not simply adapt a global idea for each one. Ask local teams which creators are becoming globally interesting, what is emerging locally, and how those ideas might travel elsewhere.
Second, think culturally, not geographically. The modern audience can be ‘into’ more than one thing, simultaneously consuming Korean drama, Nigerian music, Chinese short-form storytelling, American gaming and Japanese fashion.
Understanding an audience increasingly means understanding the cultural currents running through it, not simply the country it lives in.
Third, reverse the funnel. The traditional model of ‘global idea – local execution – local audience’ could increasingly become ‘local signal – regional adoption – global amplification’. That allows a global brand to be shaped by local culture while remaining iconic at its centre.
Still, none of this means globalisation itself is new. People have always sought out experiences beyond their immediate, everyday lives. What has changed is the direction and velocity of cultural influence.
Technology has made it possible for more cultures to create, distribute and amplify their own ideas, and for those ideas to travel back across continents.
The future of global marketing, then, may require brands to be less like broadcasters and more like cultural observatories: conceptually and ideologically located in low earth orbit, monitoring the vast currents flowing between continents.
That’s how brands can ride the wave.
Phil Rowley is head of futures at Omnicom Media Group UK and author of Hit the Switch: The Future of Sustainable Business. He writes for The Media Leader about the future of media.