Section 2: Vocabulary (9 marks)

Task 1: Complete the passage with the best word from the choices below:

The dictionary defines advertise as ´to make (something for sale, services offered, etc) known to
the public´. Advertising can therefore be considered a form of …communication…(1), the
ultimate aim of which is to ………………..(2) consumers to choose a specific product or service.
Every company tries to …………….(3) its products from those of the competition and a key
element here is the strategy of branding.
A ……………..(4) can be defined as ´the name attached to a product or service, how that name
is visually expressed through a ………………..(5) and how that name and logo are developed
through a company´s communications´.
However, a brand is much more than just a name. It also represents some intangible aspects of
a product since it is how the product or often even the whole ……………(6) is perceived by its
………………..(7). It is a nexus of ideas, feelings, and perceptions about lifestyle and status,
…………(8) and quality. Creating a powerful brand identity is essential if you want to …………..
(9) a strong competitive …………….(10). A successful brand will make customers think of your
company first when they think of the particular product category to which the brand is attached.

1) a) distribution b) retail c) communication d) wholesale.

2) a) recommend b) persuade c) suggest d) decide

3) a) recognise b) distinguish c) harmonise d) differentiate

4) a) brand b) label c) cachet d) slogan

5) a) visual b) logo c) commercial d) spot

6) a) association b) headquarters c) company d) subsidiary

7) a) patrons b) customers c) regulars d) visitors

8) a) picture b) illustration c) photo d) image

9) a) gain b) succeed c) award d) realize

10) a) surplus b) profit c) advantage d) bonus

Read the following article and answer the questions:

Goodbye to the Golden Age of Global Brands

In the Harvard Business to local tastes and cultural poor countries do become
School professor Theodore preferences than those being rich. But what do we see
Levitt`s seminal paper The foisted onto consumers by the happening in the rich
Globalisation of Markets, global corporations. The global countries? Ever-
written in 1983, he argued that, brand owners were left proliferating brand choices.
as new media and technology spreading their advertising and There are more soft drink
shrank the world, people`s other fixed costs over tiny brands than there have
tastes would converge, market shares and often faced been for years, more fast
creating a single global market extra costs, such as tariffs. food chains, more
that would be dominated by In many of these countries packaged goods, more
the world`s most successful today, global brand owners cars. Supermarkets are
brands. So, when the Berlin command the super-premium competing with brand
Wall fell and the barriers to end of the market in any given owners by selling own-label
world trade came down, it product category, while local products that are as good
seemed Prof. Levitt would be brands command the rest. The as the branded version but
proved right. Global brand global brand owners could try to costs 20-30 per cent less.
owners poured into the newly move into the mass market by Global brands, of course
opened markets and, facing creating low-price products are not about to disappear.
little competition in countries designed to suit local tastes, But it must now be clear
unaccustomed to consumer but that would throw them into that Prof Levitt was
culture, they thought they head-on competition with local mistaken in believing the
would clean up. Then, some companies possessing better world`s tastes would
awkward commercial realities Distribution channels and a far converge on standardized
started to close in. deeper understanding of the products. Everything we
Once local consumers had market. Increasingly therefore have learned about
tried these new products, they they have resorted to buying consumerism over the
found them far too expensive local brands and the companies decades shows that, as
to buy on a regular basis, even that own them. And here, of people become better off,
if they liked them. And soon, course, lies the paradox. they want more choices,
local producers sprang up Whatever is the point of owning not fewer. Global brands
offering much better value for a global brand if it does not may be here to stay, but
money with products of only work in the global markets? there golden age is over
slightly inferior Let us be optimistic and
quality at a vastly lower price. suppose the
Usually, too these From the Financial Times
products were better
suited
Task 1: True or False? Are the following statements true or false? If they are false
correct the mistakes.

a) When the Berlin Wall fell and the barriers to world trade came down, Professor
Levitt was proved right.
b) Shortly after that time, local producers in countries with newly opened markets
began supplying similar products to global brands at a much more attractive price.
c) Currently global brand products sell best as luxury products in many of these
countries.
d) In rich countries there are fewer brand choices in supermarkets.
e) The more money consumers have, the more choices they want.

Task 2: Why has life been so difficult for global brand owners in these new
markets? Circle the 5 letters of the statements that are mentioned in the article.

a) These products did not reflect the local tastes and cultural preferences
b) Many local consumers may have liked the new products, but they were too
expensive for them to buy often.
c) The global brand owners had to pay a lot for local distribution and warehousing
facilities.
d) After a while, the global brands were competing with local producers who were
supplying similar products far more cheaply.
e) Although the global brand owners still have to pay fixed costs such as
advertising, they do not really have enough market share to make this worth it.
f) It is not easy for global brand owners to set up offices locally and employ local
sales forces.
g) Global brands also have a disadvantage compared with local products because
they have to pay tariffs for importing their goods into these countries.