Public Relations is a captivating field that is practiced worldwide, but PR doesn’t play by the same rules everywhere. In some regions, media success hinges on personal relationships, while in others, it’s all about crafting the perfect pitch. Social media trends may take one country by storm, while other trends barely register in another.
In this week’s episode, we delve into navigating PR across borders with Eduardo Avella, Director at GRUPO ALBIÓN COLOMBIA. As an expert in international public relations, Eduardo has guided brands through the complex web of global communication, helping them adapt their storytelling, understand cultural nuance, and sidestep costly mistakes. Tune in as we explore the fascinating world of PR through a global lens.
imPRessions S3 EP 9 Transcript
Kalli
Hey Jenn.
Jenn
Hey.
Kalli
Jenn, have you ever done PR where you had to connect with another culture?
Jenn
I have, yeah, I worked… I worked in the music industry, which I think I’ve talked about a few times now on the show and they, it was a Japanese company, so I had to, I had the pleasure of kind of working very closely with the Japanese marketing team, kind of. I left the US side. And it was really cool. I got to go to Japan. I got to help with product launches and sort of help like implement US facing marketing campaigns. It was, it was a lot of fun, how about you?
Kalli
So, I actually kind of doing the flip that I’m working with a client that they’re want to promote and spread awareness for their product. In the US, and they, you know, are coming from another country. So, it’s been really an interesting dynamic trying to explain like the nuances of the American audience to, you know, to another country. But I think that our guest today is actually able to share a ton of insight on, you know, what we can learn from other countries. He is an international PR expert. Eduardo Avella. He’s the director of Grupo Albion and he’s from Colombia. And he helps brands navigate those different little nuances and get that messaging right, you know, wherever they are.
Jenn
Yeah, that’s really important, especially in today’s market. You know, like you said, you, you’re working with companies that want to move into the US. That’s a lot of brands in the world that want to expand to a global market. So, I think it’s really important to really be aware of the cultural differences and learn from an expert on how to properly market your product or your company. So, I think Eduardo is going to have a lot of really great insight for us today.
Kalli
Great. Let’s get to it. PR looks different in every part of the world. In some countries, media connections are built on relationships, while in others it’s all about the pitch. Social media trends that dominate one region might barely exist in another, and when brands expand globally, the challenge isn’t just translating words; it’s making sure the message actually resonates. Joining us today is Eduardo Avella, Director of Grupo Albion Colombia. He’s an expert in international PR who has helped brands navigate cultural nuances, adapt storytelling strategies, and avoid common missteps in global communications. Today, we’re diving into how PR professionals can successfully cross cultural boundaries. The biggest global PR mistakes brands make, and the key strategies that drive success across different markets. Eduardo, welcome to the show.
Eduardo
Thank you very much for having me. I’m really happy to be here and actually, as you know, being in the LA office of The Pollack Group, it’s the right place to be to record this podcast. Thank you for having me.
Jenn
Of course. We’re really excited to have you on and personally very excited to talk about this particular topic. I think PR is very unique and marketing too. In terms that it is different across the world because it really does adhere to the cultural differences, pertaining, you know, wherever you are conducting PR. So,first question I want to ask you is can you tell us some of the big differences in how PR is conducted around the world in comparison to the US and what some of those challenges are when you’re working across different cultures?
Eduardo
Yes, I think it’s a very nice topic to have this conversation on. I think the basis of PR are the same, but practices specific practices around the world and around different regions and the feeling you have on what is going on and what should be your strategy and your expectations should not be the same everywhere. I think maybe a landscape or language or topic coverage is different everywhere and you can sense it not only in different continents, but even in a region like for example where we where we are working on in Latin America, it’s different in each country, which is it’s challenging, but it makes it much more interesting. I think the big challenge is to acknowledge that a Latin strategy works, but it needs to be a country-by-country strategy for example, and that means a lot that means more teams, more people working on it, maybe sometimes more investment, more time. But it’s necessary to get the right results, you just can’t go like, OK, let’s do Latam and that’s it. You need to understand what your goals are, what your expectations are, and where it’s going to be more successful and how to do it. Even maybe the right move sometimes is to focus in some key markets where you can do the difference rather than going all over a big region or a global strategy with no specifics. And I think it’s better to focus in the modern market and in the media landscape we’re living in and the PR and communications strategies focusing is much better many times.
Jenn
Yeah, I worked for a Japanese company for many years and I got to go to Japan. I got to help with marketing for new products and things like that, which was really fun. But there was a very vast difference between the marketing ideas they had versus the ones that the US team had, obviously. But the cool thing was that we were really able to like work off of each other so we knew what would resonate in the US and we knew what type of social media strategies and what type of verbiage was going to get people excited and consumers excited about our products. Whereas our you know counterparts in Japan knew their market, so it was really cool for us to kind of come together full circle and work together and also get an idea of like how a different country approached our day-to-day life. Like the things that we do day-to-day, they do so differently and it was just really, really fun to kind of have that experience.
Kalli
That’s definitely true. And you know, I know in some countries, even the way that you approach, you know, it might be a similar message, but even the way you approach spreading it can be so different. You know, obviously in, you know, in some countries the media connections are all about relationships where in others it is, you know, more transactional. You know Eduardo, how should PR pros navigate that when they’re, you know, when they are working on a global scale?
Eduardo
I think this connects very well with what you just said before about Japan, where you mixed your ideas, your US ideas with the Japan ideas and that made a better strategy. I think it’s the same thing in these relationships versus transactional. I think modern PR is hybrid and the biggest asset both in relationships and transactional is creativity. Then it is difficult to be creative with a media outlet or an influencer you don’t know. And it’s so much more easy to be creative with a journalist. Or a commercial team in , in any media or with an influencer if you know their work, and even if you have worked with them in the past, that’s the right place to get the creativity. You can’t bet only on the right combination of good relations. You know, we’re willing to do some investments and with the right people and the right creativity, you can not only make better things happen, but you can take the best out of the opportunity. When something really nice is created, the media or the influencer involved is also willing to give more. If there is no relation and it focuses just on transactional you, you just get what you paid for with the generic fee, which is always less and expensive. And if you do it mixing creativity, mixing relationships and mixing an investment then everyone is willing to build on that idea and to give more for that idea.
Jenn
Yeah, I think that’s a great point and we know we kind of touched on it before, but it’s kind of all-encompassing between PR and marketing and marketing has a very big umbrella. You know there’s a lot of different components to it. And so, what I want to ask you about particularly is social media, because social media is a part of marketing it is, it kind of complements PR and a lot of PR professionals are very equipped and understanding the social media landscape. So how do you think that social media is different across various cultures and countries and are there any trends that are, may be more prevalent or popular in some areas? Curious what your thoughts are there.
Eduardo
Yeah, I think that’s a great point. And social media is everywhere and I think the logic behind how social media and each social media is almost the same everywhere. I mean, X is being X in every place and TikTok is being TikTok everywhere and maybe with a little bit of delay on how it is used, especially in this type of campaigns but it’s a brief delay. Not years delay. It’s not months delay, maybe weeks delay where some strategy gets copied and then we start to work on them. But I also believe it depends on the specialty of your firm, of your PR firm. But because, for example, we are both in Madrid, which is our headquarters and in Bogota we are very corporate oriented and even financial communications oriented. So, then you have to go to other kind of social media. And then you get to LinkedIn and then you get to YouTube and even you get 2 channels that are not as used in some countries and some regions like WhatsApp where for example in Latin America, WhatsApp is everywhere and it is where business happens. It’s like everyone is having groups there and chatting through WhatsApp and sharing information through WhatsApp. So, maybe you start to think I need to be there and also happens for example on LinkedIn with all these AI looming, there’s a lot of more content built for LinkedIn and let’s say with more capacity and more information, useful information that it’s even going backwards and or against LinkedIn because it’s been growing such the amount of information that you need to be careful, but then it’s a very right place for corporations or for financial institutions to do their educational processes that we use it a lot and the same with YouTube. This old video opportunities where you have to communicate your processes and getting the companies and the brands to communicate from those channels is a process. We live a lot in our countries, in Latin America for example. And I know in Spain is also growing that way. So, it’s not only the consumer part with TikTok or the discussion part with X. It’s also all those corporate channels that you can and need to build in order to tell your story and to use them the right way and to promote them and make them viral even through WhatsApp, which is something that happens a lot in Latin America.
Kalli
It definitely is challenging on social media because there are so many channels and you know, figuring out what hits and what’s hot in certain areas and how people are using it. But you know, but I’m wondering what’s the secret to getting the brand messaging right across cultures. You know, in addition to getting it, you know right across the different channels. Have you seen any brands completely nail this or maybe one that just totally missed the mark and got it wrong?
Eduardo
Yeah. I think brands are getting better every time with this, as you said at the beginning in the introduction, I think mistakes and just translating are mostly over because we definitely give brands a big challenge and a very bad time. For example, in Latin America, because the right word in Spanish to Colombia could be completely different and many times problematic things in Chile or Peru or Mexico. So, you need to be very careful and you need to be very specific. So, brands I think are getting the right sense of adaptation so that they know and get to understand that they need to go into the specifics to each market to adapt their message. They are willing to do the labor. And I think they’re even getting advantages of it, highlighting their capacity to adapt and showing that they have the same campaign looking different for each market and that is appealing and that that sends the message right on this diversity and inclusion that they are they are being conscious and connecting with their communities and their markets so they are getting advantage of it. It’s a challenge, but they are getting advantage. But at the same time you need to be consistent with the message and because we are all expecting not a personalized message, but you are willing, the brand and the global message to get to us in our language and in our way. So, you need to be consistent, but you need to be very agile in the way you adapt and the way you create for each market.
Jenn
Yeah, not to name names, but we’ve definitely seen companies think that they’re making a joke, maybe something, in their culture is, you know, and it doesn’t translate properly and they kind of find themselves in a little bit of hot water and maybe it wasn’t intentional, but you still have to think about other people and other places and how others might take in what you think is just an innocent, you know, comment or joke from a, even in a professional manner. So, I definitely agree with that and I do think that the messaging really does need to be buttoned up and tight and it needs to reach any audience, right, no matter what company you are, even if you’re only a US company, you know you still want to be able to communicate as it, you know, communicate in a good manner with whomever is looking at your product or looking at your website or interacting with you in any certain way. One of the other components I know we were talking about social media and to kind of go back to that a little bit is influencer work. In the US influencer relations is huge, whether it’s celebrities or, you know, just people who have gone viral that have a specific nature and even journalists today are somewhat of influencers, right? If they go on Good Morning America, they’re, you know, a lifestyle expert and they want to showcase some new products for Mother’s Day or, you know, back to school or something like that. That’s influential. So, what are your thoughts on influencer marketing in different parts of the world? Is it used in the same way that it’s used here in the US? Is it as successful?
Eduardo
I think it works and as I said there, there’s a kind of a delay that they are definitely everywhere and they’re working, but certainly also evolving in, in my perception, influencers specifically consumer centered influencers have their time where just using or wearing or talking about a brand was the work, and that was it. And I think the market is already demanding more knowledge and more connection and loyalty with the brands they work for. So, it’s not that easy anymore. And since organic influencers are every time less, paid influencers need to work on it, need to be consistent and need to be professional. So, it’s different right now to it’s different from what happened. You know, four or five years ago. I think in that way and in our experience in Colombia and even in the around Latin American different projects, maybe micro influencers are ruling more because they sometimes even work organic or on basic very basic fees. But they’re connected with what you are talking about that what the brand wants to work with. And they are willing to keep building their community on something they are really connected and that they are really specialists. So many times that’s a better move than a big influencer with poor connections with the brand, and that is like all over the place. You keep seeing big personalities and doing some work for brands. But I love when I see brands, big brands connecting with niche influencers and those that are really in love with their brand and that can give them more connection with their, with their community. So, I think there’s a place and I love that you mentioned the journalists thing because it’s also happening around the world, I think and for example, in Colombia, as I said, we are very corporate and very financial and there has been a lot of very good journalists that have left media and that now are working as their own channel and they have their YouTube channel, they have their LinkedIn profile and brands are looking for them because the brands know people is looking for information in those places.
Kalli
It’s been so interesting to see, you know, the different ways that storytelling has changed and has adapted, you know, from the traditional PR to social media, you know, and now to influencers. Is there a storytelling technique that you find that you know works across the board, or is a really great PR story dependent upon the country and the culture?
Eduardo
I love this question about storytelling because in our agency there has always been like, we don’t want only to tell the story. We wanted to have some power behind it. But we’ve been understanding and I think the market has been understanding that a good good story rocks everywhere. I think, also the US companies, both consumer companies and corporate brands are very strong on that. That feeling is getting more rule in our markets. So a lot of the work we are doing right now is helping the brands to build their story, their corporate story and from their big and telling their sustainable stories and their success stories. But having like this umbrella of a big story for their brand so, I think certainly is key and we’re working a lot on that and we are evolving as communicators in our regions on this asset of the story. But then you asked me about the techniques and I think the also as I said about the social media, the bases are there, I mean. Inspiration and emotion is always there, for example. You always need to go there. But maybe in some countries it is more that inspiration and that emotion. It is more about facing and enduring through adversities and barriers, and in others is more taking the right decisions or squeezing some opportunities. It’s like the difference is the starting point. You know, it’s like from where do you call, do you tell that story that makes it more empathetic between your brand and the market you are approaching. So the story needs to be very strong, but needs to translate and or transmit that empathy with your knowledge of the market, and that’s where the difference grows, not in the technique, but in the knowledge of the market and how you make that story not only very attractive, but with a lot of empathy and local knowledge, there are many, many, many examples in Colombia, even only in Colombia, of brands that appear on that emotion, but not an inspirational emotion, but as something that really connects with the real problems we have and that makes them very successful.
Jenn
Yeah, empathy is something that even right now, our country needs to exhibit a little bit more of in marketing and otherwise because it is something that resonates with people and without it you definitely run the risk of ostracizing yourself from the target audience. You know if somebody is struggling financially and there’s a marketing campaign about how this Rolex is not that expensive compared to others. Obviously it’s not very empathetic when people are struggling to pay for their groceries. So, I understand that. And speaking, yeah, you know and I think you raised a really good point in empathy, no matter what country you’re in or what culture you’re from, really should be the forefront to connect with your consumers and to connect with people. I’m trying to think of how to word this because we kind of touched on it. We, and without naming names, obviously, we could, between the three of us, probably name 5 to 10 companies right off the top of our head that have done something from a PR perspective, you know, they misread a cultural moment or, you know, kind of along the lines of what we’ve just been talking about, they really missed the mark and they got a lot of backlash. You don’t have to name any names, but can you give us like a couple of examples that you have seen that maybe as a cautionary tale for our listeners and people who are working for companies and doing their marketing to kind of keep in mind when they’re coming up with the next campaign?
Eduardo
I think you are right in that it is difficult like giving specific examples on someone that did wrong. I always say that this wrong was approved by lot of people that are very intelligent people. But I think there are more mistakes not on what it is done, but on what it is not done, you know, it’s, I still think there are some brands that can create, right, the culture moments and give them the right dimensions regarding different communications opportunities that brings different cultural activities. But if you do certain good things, you can definitely take advantage of some opportunities. There’s one coming, which is the World Cup on in the US and Mexico and Canada next year. I think people in some brands, obviously the brands that are connected with the World Cup understand it, but some brands that are not necessarily connected are losing opportunities there. I am here in Los Angeles and I’m talking with some partners and I’m trying to explain them how important these kind of events are for our countries and for our markets. It is 2 1/2 for two or three weeks where we actually have like two or three Super Bowls. Everything is stopped and everyone talks about their national team and what is happening in the World Cup and everyone is betting is like a March Madness, but multiplied by the whole country, only talking about this. It’s really crazy. And then there are a lot of local brands and global brands that I think that are getting things not correctly read. So, they are missing some opportunities there. And in the other side, I think we sometimes and on the world sometimes even the US sometimes, get to ignore the importance of the political contexts in many countries abroad, I think not to getting politics, but I think you are starting to get that sense of how the political context can bring stability and can create uncertainty to certain process, marketing processes and communication processes. Where someone that is something that was correct to say yesterday is not correct to say today anymore because of the political context and that’s where what many countries around the world has been living for all their lives or many years. And that is very important because you need to be checking on real time if you are maybe going to make a mistake and to run into a backlash as you said, you need to be aware and you need to be checking that and without that check you can’t go out because you might be in trouble.
Kalli
That’s really great insights and definitely something that we should be thinking about, and wondering , what should PR pros, specifically in the US, what can we learn from PR pros in other countries? You know, are there different strategies from other parts of the world that that we should be aware of, that we should be using more, anything that we can learn to make sure that we’re, also, you know, using the correct tones, the correct approach and really being sensitive and thoughtful about our PR initiatives when working in other countries?
Eduardo
Yeah, that’s a very good point. And I believe there are two or three things that I would say are key for PR professionals in the US. I think there is a lot of educational efforts that are taken for granted from the from the US when you go abroad, maybe you assume everyone has the same kind of experience and opportunities and knowledge of a market or of a brand everywhere and it is not like that. You need to introduce and to get to know and to bring those tools of education to the market. So, there’s a lot of communication to do there, both media and influencers, but all even owned channels. You can start talking with people that know the same and be and the market is in same page that where you usually work here in the US. So, there’s that part. I think that’s important. I think so that you will like level the field and you’re talking the same things, adapting them, but also being sure that people you are targeting know the same about your brand and your market and your product or your service. I think this understanding of how specialized our contries are, you know, each in each country happens what happens in the US. It’s different to do PR in California than to do PR in New York. So, there’s 2 levels of specialization. It’s not only the country, but the regions and markets inside the country. So, you need to double check that and understand that this combination between relationships and the investment and creativity that makes it all happen. If you go only with one of those, you have a very creative campaign. It might work if you have very good relationships and but you are not investing anything it might work, but if you combine everything, I think it works. It works like that everywhere, but especially countries in Latin America. But I’m sure in other parts of the world where you don’t have much opportunities or the media landscape or like the communications landscape is not as big as it can be here in the US. So, you need to adapt your strategies and be sure that you connect all these assets or tools and give the right shot for the strategy you are going to give because there’s not like the opportunity for many strategies, you have one strategy and there’s one shot to be right and you need to connect everything.
Kalli
That’s really great insight and great advice and just, Eduardo, thank you so much for sharing all your thoughts with us, all your learnings and your thoughts on PR around the world and how brands can navigate cultural differences to make a real impact.
Eduardo
Thank you.
Kalli
It’s really, it’s been a fascinating conversation. And to our listeners, thank you for joining us as well. If you have questions, guest suggestions, or want to share your stories, we’d love to hear from you. Drop us a line at impressions@pollackgroup.com. Until next time.
