Wow! eBook
Brand Global, Adapt Local: How to Build Brand Value Across Cultures
Author(s): Katherine Melchior Ray (Author), Nataly Kelly (Author)
- Publisher: Kogan Page
- Publication Date: June 24, 2025
- Edition: 1st
- Language: English
- Print length: 296 pages
- ISBN-10: 1398619825
- ISBN-13: 9781398619821
Book Description
How can you scale a brand globally while staying true to its core?
Brand Global, Adapt Local is a practical guide for mid-career marketing professionals who want to develop strategies that deliver impact in diverse markets. Written by global brand experts Katherine Melchior Ray and Nataly Kelly, it shares proven frameworks, examples, and actionable tools from world-leading companies including Nike, LVMH, Nestlé, Shiseido, Natura, and Marriott.
By exploring how top brands balance consistency with cultural adaptation, this book equips you to implement strategies that build credibility, strengthen audience connection, and optimize performance across regions. You will learn how to:
– Develop a global mindset that fuels innovation and market growth
– Apply cultural insight to create locally relevant brand strategies
– Interpret and act on international market data with precision
– Localize campaigns without losing your core brand identity
With detailed chapters and real-world examples, Brand Global, Adapt Localhelps you apply strategic principles to achieve measurable results, elevate your professional profile and shape your career in international marketing.
Themes include: strategy, principles, cultural insight, brand localization, global marketing, career development
Editorial Reviews
Review
“The best brands don’t just adapt to culture-they help shape it.
Katherine and Nataly‘s insights into global branding show how to keep a brand’s soul intact while igniting passion across diverse markets. Brand Global, Adapt Local is a must-read for marketers and leaders who want to create brands that not only sell but inspire.” ― Greg Hoffman, former Chief Marketing Officer, Nike“
Brand Global, Adapt Local is an essential guide for leaders navigating the complexities of global business. Rich with real-world examples, this book invites us to see the world with fresh eyes and embrace the human dimension at the heart of every successful global brand.” ― Emmanuel Prat, former Chairman, LVMH Japan“In the age of AI, speed is easy-relevance is hard.
Brand Global, Adapt Local illuminates a critical truth: technological reach is meaningless without genuine human understanding. Katherine and Nataly offer a vital blueprint for navigating the complexities of global expansion to build digitally scalable, yet culturally nimble brands. A must-read for leaders wanting to thrive as technology rewrites the rules of engagement.” ― Miki Iwamura, VP of Marketing, APAC and Japan, Google“
Brand Global, Adapt Local is a refreshing take on the long-acknowledged tension between international economies of scale and demand for cultural authenticity. Katherine and Nataly address this classic debate between economics and anthropology with an immensely readable perspective that is part branding next practice and part personal travelogue. With intensifying anti-globalization debates, this book could arrive at no better time.” ― Rohit Deshpande, Baker Foundation Professor, Harvard Business School“Some books teach marketing. Some teach psychology. In
Brand Global, Adapt Local, Katherine and Nataly teach both-and more. By blending consumer insight, innovation and masterful storytelling, it reveals how cultural intelligence turns good brands into global powerhouses. Whether you’re launching a product, shaping a message, or leading a team, this book will change how you think about influence across borders.” ― Jonah Berger, Wharton Professor and bestselling author“Winning in global markets isn’t just about reach-it’s about relevance. In
Brand Global, Adapt Local, Katherine and Nataly showcase how brands can stay globally strong while locally agile, ensuring they connect with consumers in a meaningful way, no matter where they are.” ― Stephan Gans, SVP Chief Insights and Analytics Officer PepsiCo and co-author“In
Brand Global, Adapt Local we get wisdom from the trenches. Katherine Melchior Ray has earned her stripes in the most demanding industry in the world: fashion. Her insights on cultural differences alone are worth the price of admission. Eye-opening stuff.” ― Marty Neumeier, Author“Timely and thought-provoking,
Brand Global, Adapt Local offers sharp insights on business, branding, and culture-and what it takes to go glob al today. More than a book, it’s an inspiring journey that will leave both the marketer and the traveller in you wanting more.” ― Elisa Riboldi, Chief Marketing Officer, Nestlé IberiaAbout the Author
Katherine Melchior Ray lectures on international marketing and leadership at UC Berkeley, Haas School of Business. With twenty-five-years spent building the world’s best consumer branding across continents, she brings expertise from her time as a senior executive at Nike, Nordstrom, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Hyatt, Shiseido and Babbel. She has guest lectured at Stanford, Wharton, Brown and Portland State University.
She has been interviewed and featured on CBS 60 Minutes, CNN, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and numerous media internationally. She also has been profiled in The Wall Street Journal in an article entitled, “Hyatt Executive Has a Spare Evening Gown in Her Bag,” and was voted one of the “Most Compelling Women in the Travel Industry” by Premier Traveler magazine. She can be heard on various podcasts and blogs related to global marketing and leadership, culture and diversity, women’s empowerment, and the future of work.
Nataly Kelly is Chief Marketing Officer at Zappi, based in Boston, MA. Previously she served at HubSpot as Vice President of Marketing, Vice President of International Operations and Strategy, and Vice President of Localization. Kelly also served as Chief Growth Officer and Vice President of Marketing for two other software start-ups in the MarTech space, and previously held the role of Chief Research Officer for CSA Research, where she oversaw the company’s subscription-based market research practice.
She is a seasoned business leader, international business expert, and longtime Harvard Business Review contributor on topics of global business and international marketing. Her expertise has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, National Public Radio, and many other major media outlets.Kelly has served as an Adjunct Professor in the M.A. program in localization management at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California. She was named a Remote Work Influencer in January 2022 by Remote, a Top 25 Content Marketers in Enterprise Software and Women Worth Watching in 2015, and Marketing Executive of the Year by Best in Biz, a 40 under 40 by Direct Marketing News, and a Stevies Women in Business in 2014.
