Museums Going Global? Lights and Shadows of Leveraging a Museum Brand Internationally

However, museums cannot simply borrow the principles of management and 
marketing, but have to adapt them, considering their specific peculiarities.  
This theoretical background is followed by an empirical analysis, including four 
different stages, that progressively investigates the extent to which museums 
can go global and explores the importance of the brand within this process. An 
introductive website analysis has been carried out to investigate the various 
opportunity a museum has to internationalize itself. The websites of the fifteen 
most visited museum in the world were carefully examined: several available 
opportunities to go global emerged from this study and the role played by the 
museums’ brand within these initiatives turned out to be pivotal.  
The Guggenheim museum emerged as the most globalized entity among the 
analyzed museums, due also to its international networks of branches. Hence, 
the second stage of the research examines its case as a prototypical example of 
a global museum: the Guggenheim case has been analyzed throughout a 
triangulation on secondary materials, kindly provided by the institution itself. The 
Louvre case was studied as well, being it the only European museum to have 
planned the establishment of new branches around the world. This choice was 
made also to show how the well-known differences between North American and 
European museums affect the decision of going global. The brand emerged in 
both cases as being not only an enabler of the internationalization’s process, but 
also a starting point or even a conditio sine qua non.   
Being an international museum might mean something different than being an 
international company. Therefore, the opinion of the experts in this case is quite 
relevant. The third stage of the research is constituted by in-depth interviews with 
museum professionals (managers and artistic/scientific directors). Their points of 
view and ideas were explored to provide the reader with a deeper understanding 
of the phenomenon.  
A museum’s case was finally analyzed to investigate its possibilities of 
internationalization. The Vatican Museums were studied: they are among the 
most visited museums in the world and they rely on a strong brand, the 
“required” feature to go global. The case was studied through interviews with 
museum professionals. Visitors also were interviewed, in view of the fact that 
they are the ultimate addressees of a museum’s internationalization process. 
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Their feedbacks were considered precious and valuable contributes, although 
the decisions of going and branding globally are often strategic. 
The last section reviews, interprets and discusses the findings of the empirical 
analysis.  
The study of the internationalization process for museums brings up numerous 
issues, due to the intrinsic nature of museums and to their peculiar features.  
Museums are suggested to carefully consider the advantages, disadvantages, 
the facilitators and inhibitors of the internationalization process and to adequately 
manage and leverage their brand, before implementing any of the discussed 
initiatives.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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1. GLOBAL BRANDING 
 
 “Pepsi’s ongoing threat to project its logo 
onto the moon’s surface hasn’t yet materialized…” 
Naomi Klein 
 
“Big Mac’s a Big Mac.  
But they call it “le Big Mac!” 
Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino 
 
Usually, the establishment of a global brand is a source of competitive advantage for 
those firms which are facing a market that is crossing the national borders and a 
difficult competitive arena. However, by using global brands, firms are forced to cope 
with a number of difficulties of balancing requests, which sometimes contradict each 
other: the research of cost advantages through economies of scale, on one side, and 
on the other, the necessity of satisfying local needs; the consideration of the different 
values of the consumer and their rapidly changing preferences and lives (to favour 
trends or fashions that can be extended in different countries); the investment of 
enormous capitals required to implement global strategies and/or the adoption of a 
local strategy, addressed to a specific target of clients. In addition to the 
aforementioned tradeoffs, in the long run, many changes can occur in different areas 
(social, cultural, political, demographical, economical level), which can greatly effect 
whether or not a global brand is successful in becoming a landmark, a constant in the 
life of the consumers, or just an afterthought, in this continuously evolving world, 
(Conley, 2008).   
Global brands manage to overcome generations and borders better than the local 
ones, especially in the era of global communication. The global target tends to 
broaden and emerge in a growing number of categories and products; hence, a 
global brand can count on a rising number of consumers, who are proud to be 
associated with it (Delano, 1999; see also De Chernatony, 2006). 
Broadly speaking, one can agree on the assumption that markets are tending 
towards global integration; therefore, it is logical that firms desiring to establish a 
global brand should consider the different worldly markets as if they were a unique 
huge arena. 
 
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1.1 WHY GOING GLOBAL? 
BNET (“The Business Dictionary on the Net”) provides the following definition of a 
global brand: “the brand name of a product that has a worldwide recognition. A global 
brand has the advantage of economies of scale in terms of production, recognition 
and packaging. While the product or brand itself remains the same, the marketing 
must take into account the local market conditions and the resulting marketing 
campaign must be tailored accordingly”. 
The definition of Interbrand, the world’s largest brand consulting company, again 
focuses on the uniqueness of the concept of a brand going global, stating that “a 
global brand is one that is available in many nations and, though it may differ from 
country to country, the local versions have common values and a similar identity” 
(2008). 
For years, companies such as Coca-Cola, Marlboro, Mc Donald’s and IBM have 
derived much of their profits from nondomestic markets due to global branding of 
their products. This factor and a number of other elements, such as an increasing 
competition in domestic markets, the desire and the conviction of getting increasing 
growth and profit opportunities, the need to diversify risk, the recognition of the global 
mobility of customers, have all contributed to a rising interest in global branding 
strategies (Keller, 2003). 
Management thinkers, such as Theodore Levitt (1983), have noted that tastes and 
styles are becoming homogeneous throughout the world: as a consequence, a 
product and appeal that are effective in one area are likely to be effective in another.  
Besides these beliefs, there are a number of potential advantages (economical 
benefits and positive effects on the image) that can be achieved with a global 
marketing strategy. 
Global branding can be associated with a number of economic benefits, as well as 
various positive effects on product and firm image. These advantages are discussed 
below. 
 
1.1.2 Economical benefits 
A potential key benefit of global branding is the possibility of reaching economies of 
scale in production and distribution, that result from the world wide volume of 
production (Aaker, 1991). In addition, a global brand implies the opportunity to lower 
marketing costs, also laying the groundwork for future extensions worldwide, and 
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simultaneously to apply a premium price as global brand awareness creates a 
greater perceived value due to the assumption that the brand is attractive to a 
broader audience than a single country.  
The establishment global brand might also pre-empt international competitors from 
entering domestic markets. 
A standardized global branding program may obviously simplify and uniform 
marketing practices and provide companies with the ability of leveraging and 
adopting good ideas in a quicker and more proficient way, as it allows a rapider 
identification and integration of innovations (discovered worldwide). 
Another efficiency issue involves situations where media coverage overlaps countries 
(so called spill-over effects). In that case, a global brand can exploit this overlapping, 
buying exposure more efficiently. In addition to lowering costs, mass medias may 
also expand brand awareness and become enablers of a global brand, given the 
broad reach of international media, particularly the internet. All media attention or 
advertising helps a brand in becoming well known on a global level. Increases in 
international business and tourism are enablers as well. 
 
1.2.2 Positive effects on the product and company’s image 
Notwithstanding the enormous far-reaching benefits of global branding’s, a company 
may derive even superior benefits from the positive effect a global brand has on the 
image of a product and the image of the firm. Apart from stronger brand recognition 
and easier maintenance of a consistent brand image, a global brand may 
communicate greater credibility to customers, as consumers may believe that selling 
in several international markets is synonymous with expertise and success. It also 
strengthens consumer’s view of corporate stability, as global brands create a “feel” of 
longevity and also tie back into the trust issue. Additionally, consumers who know 
that a product is sold worldwide might expect that brand to be more durable and 
trustworthy. Not to mention that often, global brands are linked to larger companies 
or corporations: thus, they might be associated with greater financial stability, 
potentially superior product quality and probably to a broader range of products. 
A global brand may also provide the consumer with the chance to be part of a “virtual 
community” of people of similar breed (e.g. Harley Davidson). This gives consumers 
a sense of self-gratification, prestige, and also, in a way, self-expression. As such, it 
is logical for companies with a well-managed global brand to exploit all the 
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advantages associated with the creation of such a community (i.e. the feeling of 
belonging and connection to others): in this case, it will leverage the sense of 
crossing borders, cultures, distances and languages, factors that render global 
brands attractive and fascinating for the more and more sophisticated consumer and 
for the youth also. 
A good product image attracts more customers, being it the fundamental 
differentiation’s factor for the consumer. Similarly, a firm with a good image attracts 
the best suppliers and clients. In addition, by establishing a common marketing 
platform globally, the consistency of brand and company image is maintained, which 
is beneficial because often products and services need to convey a uniform image 
despite the consumer movements. A global brand can achieve substantial 
advantages, by gaining brand awareness when consumers travel abroad. Besides, 
for world wide travellers, it might create a sense of normalcy and comfort. Finally, a 
global brand may provide another useful association: the one with its home country, 
which is part of its essence.  
Finally, all of the above mentioned advantages, considered together, reduce, for the 
clients, the risks associated to either doing business (contracting, partnering, etc.) 
with a certain company or, as far as consumers are concerned, the ones associated 
to the purchase and consumption, since being perceived as a global company/brand 
involves feelings of stability, longevity and quality. 
In most instances, global brands are corporate brands, rather than single 
product/service brands. This strategy is coherent with the aim of getting a unique and 
worldwide renown image that may be then applied to single products or services of 
the company. In its annual list of the most valuable brands, Interbrand show brands 
that in the most part of cases are at the corporate level. The dichotomy global/local is 
one of the core decisions that managers should take for their corporate brand (Aaker, 
2004).  
 
1.2 WHY NOT GOING GLOBAL?  
“Global branding is tempting and offers numerous rewards, but the risk exists in 
equal number” (Swystun, 2005, pg. 6). 
There are a number of potential disadvantages of global marketing programs. Keller 
(2003) summarizes them as follows: 
• differences in consumer needs and wants; 
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