Awareness of marketers.

"This hat is 20 euros, but if you are not interested in buying..." was the the not-so-encouraging answer I got from an old lady in Tallinn to my price inquiry. The lady's response took me by surprise, she seemed annoyed and defensive, as if my question had poked her. I just thanked her politely and left, but I did not forget the incident as soon.
I was received coldly, or downright ignored in a few more souvenir shops, so I pondered on the reasons. Was this the proud attitude of smart people forced by a bad economy to sell trinkets to foreigners because it pays better? Or are these the remnants of Soviet-era habits where customer focus was smashed down as "burgois"? I decided on the latter, since Estonia's economy is doing well.
And I wondered about marketing to a society where consumer behavior and expectations could vary a lot between generations, and about the challenges of communicating effectively to "transition" generations raised under socialistic rule, but "coming of age" as consumers under a capitalistic system. It would seem an easy transition where people move from "less" to "more", except for the instilled skpeticism towards ads, promotions, polite customer reps, electronic commerce, etc. that can skew marketing results.
Social and historical awareness becomes even more paramount to marketers' ability to read customers well in such settings.

Brands to the rescue.

As I stand  before the vending machine at Aalto University Executive Education in Helsinki, Finland, I find I can't fathom what most of the products are about. Apart from "moi", for "hello", I don't understand any Finnish, so I am continously resorting to people's abundant helpfulness and widespread knowledge of English to be able to figure out what my options are.

But then I see them. And I don a smug smile when I realize that I won't need any help to know that, from this machine, I will like numbers 21, 24 and 25, because even though the packages are all covered in Finnish, they also read Snickers, Milky Way and Dove.

Granted: their flavors may deviate slightly from what I am used to in the United States, but I expect the difference to be perfectly ok, interesting even, as I have learned from previous stints abroad.

So bring on the Finnish and the host of other languages I can't read. Just show me brands that I know and I'll show you a purchase.