A comparative content analysis of cross-border strategic brand alliance advertisements in Taiwan and the United States

This study sought to enrich the research in cross-border strategic brand alliance (SBA), an international business practice highly utilized today. In order to spread out the risk of competing in international markets, firms formed alliances with overseas counterparts. However, confusing positioning and inaccuracies in communication in cross-cultural settings reduced the success rate of these partnerships. The content analysis examined cross-border SBA advertisements to shed light on their communicational strategies. Taiwan and the US, representative of inherent cultural values in Eastern and Western countries, served as great research subjects for this comparative study. The findings suggested that cross-border SBA advertisements do not have significantly distinctive communication strategies except for the inherent difference in multi-national characteristics. However, cross-border SBA advertisements in both countries differ from generic advertisements documented in previous studies in terms of information cues, advertising appeals, and general communication strategies. The comparison between cross-border SBA advertisements was reflective of the cultural differences in these cultural contexts. In sum, cross-border SBA advertisements were embedded with stronger cultural distinctiveness and in need of special execution to integrate proper messages.