Meaningful obstacles remain to standardization of international services advertising

Purpose – This study aims to explore advertising strategies by US corporations selling consumer services overseas. Attention is extended to determining the type of standardized advertising (pattern vs prototype) that US headquarters tend to use in international campaigns, identifying major obstacles that impede advertising standardization and examining linkages between the use of creative approaches (standardized vs localized) and firms ' length of business and sales volume. Design/methodology/approach – Using a descriptive approach and rigorous sample, the authors surveyed international advertising managers of US firms selling consumer services. A 57 per cent response rate provided the basis for testing two research questions and two hypotheses. Findings – US firm headquarters tend to lean more toward the use of prototype standardization than pattern standardization. The major impediments of standardized campaigns are perceived to be cultural differences, alternatives in consumer lifestyles, language diversity, variations in worldwide market infrastructure and government regulations. Research limitations/implications – While demonstrating correlations in some areas, the authors offer some suggestions for future investigation of this important topic. By focusing on services marketing, the study does contribute to the extant discussion concerning advertising standardization/localization from the context of US-based services businesses marketing internationally. Practical implications – The outcomes indicate that established business firms and firms with large sales volumes, compared to younger business firms and firms with small sales volumes, are more likely to use the standardized advertising approach than the localized approach. Originality/value – The paper offers new insights into the standardized/localized debate where advertising researchers have tended to overlook the significance of service businesses in the international context.