An American organic potato-chip company has decided to consider global expansion. It has done its market research and found that there is a comparable market for its products. In addition, it has found the required distributors and a potential manufacturing location overseas. However, in the United States, its chips have regional themes, such as Saucy Southern Barbecue and Spicy Southwest Chili flavors, which will not easily translate into markets outside the United States. How could the company address this issue while maintaining the identifiable elements of the brand when expanding globally?

There are different strategies for addressing this issue, regardless in which one you finally adapt you must change any of the elements of the marketing mix, below you will find two possible strategies.

Adapting the product:

Changing the potato chips recepie with the most similar flavors in the new region where the potato is distributed.

It is a challenge to identify how the chip flavor will be replicated in the global market, so looking for identifiable flavors per region while maintining the colors, advertising, price and quality of the brand keep the identity of the brand untouchable, while the final product expands its lines.

Adapting the promotion:

If changing the recepies is overchallenging for the product team, then advertisings campaigns will generate a brand identity for different regions. For this the languages of the packaging might change, the ways its promoted in each region (tv, internet, influencers) might be consider to introduce the product in each region.

Or you might consider to keep the brand as original and have a strong pull marketing campaign that will positionate the product as an International product offering an standard product that is consumed globally. Like coca cola or pepsi, they define their identity as unique and just adapt the marketing to each culture to make it "the international or cool" option for beverage.