The Worldly Marketer newsletter -  August 2016 issue

From the Blog:

4 More
Expert Takeaways
for Worldly Marketers

Last month, I shared four great takeaways from episodes 1-4 of  The Worldly Marketer Podcast. They addressed questions around which foreign markets to target, how much localization you'll need to do, why you should take an interest in local pop culture, and how Google Trends can reveal new international opportunities.  In this post, I've selected four more takeaways, this time from episodes 5-8 of the podcast. They relate to Chinese and Latin American markets in particular, and to foreign audiences in general. These crucial insights will benefit global-minded business owners and marketers alike.

International & Global Marketing News

Here's a selection of noteworthy articles from the past month.


Internet World Stats has just updated its  statistics on global Internet usage. As of June 2016, North America accounts for 8.9% of all  Internet users worldwide. Meanwhile, Africa's share has risen to 9.4%, Latin America has 10.7%, and Europe has 17%. Asia continues to lead by a huge margin, with 49.6%. And there's lots of room to grow: the average Internet penetration rate for Asia is only 44.2%, still below the global average of 49.2%. Compare that to North America's penetration rate of 89%. When it comes to total number of Internet users per country, China completely dominates the the top 20 ranking, with 721.4 million users. India comes in at #2 with 462.1 million users, and the U.S. ranks third with 286.9 million users. View the top 20 countries here, including their Internet penetration rates and numbers of Facebook users.

GlobalWebIndex  reports that an average of 64% of online adults around the world say they game on their smartphones. The Asia-Pacific region has the highest percentage (70%), while Europe has the lowest (50%). North America comes in at 52%, and Latin America is tied with the Middle East/Africa, coming in at 68% each. See the chart here.

Euromonitor International: With the 2016 Olympics almost underway,  consumer trends consultant Daphne Kasriel-Alexander has written an article on how brands can connect with audiences around the world during this most famous of international sports events. Read her article here.

Boston Consulting Group:  Contrary to what some experts have opined,  globalization is far from dead. It is, however, entering a completely new phase as the result of digitalization and decentralization. As a result, companies will need a country-by-country approach to strategies, business models, risk management, and metrics. Read more in What You Need to Know About Globalization's Radical New Phase.

Forbes recently published an interesting article by AppInChina founder  Shlomo Freund, who was featured on  episode #005 of The Worldly Marketer Podcast. In his article, he explains What 'Pokémon GO' Can Teach Us About China's Mobile Market.  Read Shlomo's article here.

EContent Magazine:  Bruno Herrmann argues that  enhanced productivity should be seen as a localization performance indicator. Bruno was featured on  episode #010 of The Worldly Marketer Podcast. In his latest article,  Globalizing and Localizing Content to Increase Productivity, he  provides four examples of how timely globalized and seriously localized content pays off when it comes to productivity in multiple markets. Read Bruno's article here.


This is just a small sample of the many current articles  on international business and global marketing topics that you'll find in  Verbaccino's Flipboard magazine . New articles are added throughout the week.

#Holiday HeadsUp
for August 2016




This month's  special holidays and observances include:

  • August 1: National Holiday in Switzerland
  • August 1: Civic Holiday in Canada
  • August 3: Aadiperukku (Hinduism)
  • August 3: Independence Day in Niger
  • August 5: International Beer Day
  • August 6: Independence Day in Bolivia
  • August 12: International Youth Day
  • August 14: Tisha B'Av (Judaism)
  • August 14: Independence Day in Pakistan
  • August 15: Obon Festival in Japan
  • August 15: National Liberation Day in North & South Korea
  • August 15: Independence Day in India
  • August 15: Assumption Day holiday in many countries
  • August 17: Independence Day in Indonesia 
  • August 18: Raksha Bandhan (Hinduism)
  • August 20: Day of Restoration of Independence in Estonia
  • August 24: Independence Day in Ukraine
  • August 25: Krishna Janmashtami (Hinduism)
  • August 25: Independence Day in Uruguay
  • August 28: Feast of the Dormition (Orthodox Christianity)
  • August 31: Independence Day in Malaysia
These are just some of the entries in this month's calendar.

Note: You can  download this calendar as a PDF document by clicking on the link, above,  and selecting "Save Page As".  Get more details about any holiday or observance on the calendar  by clicking on the specific entry.

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