Strategies For Success In Latin America

Common themes and patterns tie Latin America together, but global managers who view the region as a single unit will stumble. Trade rules, customs and geography vary across the region, and languages spoken include everything from French, English and Dutch in the Caribbean to dozens of tribal languages in Central and South America. What works in one Latin American country does not always work in another. The author recently spoke with managers at a major U.S. advertising firm who learned this lesson the hard way. They produced a sensuous television commercial that sizzled in Brazil but flopped in Chile, where consumers tend to be more conservative.