The Portuguese abroad are not one market, and the half with the bank card is not the half your nostalgic campaign is addressing.
Who you are really talking to
Four distinct audiences, often merged into one.
People who left as adults, who buy specific products and know the brands.
Their children born elsewhere, who buy differently and for other reasons.
Mixed families, where the buying decision is taken by two people and not always in the same language.
And people who return regularly, whose buying behaviour resembles that of the home market more closely.
The first generation and the second are two markets
Five differences, all visible in purchase data.
The first looks for brands by name, the second looks for categories.
The first buys to recover a precise taste, the second to pass something on.
The first reads Portuguese effortlessly, the second reads faster in the language of the country where they live.
The first tolerates a long delivery time, the second compares it with local standards.
And the first knows the implicit codes, the second needs them explained without condescension.
What the second generation really buys
Four concrete buying motives.
What can be shared: products meant for a meal, a celebration, a visit.
What can be explained: a product you want to introduce to somebody without that frame of reference.
What is passed on to children, a very strong and rarely covered category.
And what replaces a local equivalent judged inferior, a purely rational motive.
What an audience spread across countries changes
| What you adapt | Why | How |
|---|---|---|
| The voice language | Two variants of Portuguese | Two takes, one shoot |
| The cultural references | They do not speak to the same public | Stay on the product |
| The legal notices | They vary by country of release | Add them in the overlay |
What is shot once and serves everywhere
The product, the gesture and the demonstration. What changes afterwards is the voice and the on-screen text, not the image.
What is never assumed
That an advertising rule valid in one country holds in the other. Disclosure duties and permitted claims are confirmed country by country with a lawyer.
What that changes in the brief
Seven decisions to write down in black and white.
The target audience, distinguishing the generations, because no video speaks to both.
The language of the video, with the variety and the register, and the possible use of both languages within the same family scene.
The creator: somebody from the same path, not somebody in the home country speaking from the home country.
The acceptable references, and above all those to avoid: regional clichés and misused national symbols are perceived as folklore for sale.
The compulsory practical information: shipping, deadlines, areas served, any charges.
The advertising disclosure, whose wording depends on the country of publication and is checked with a lawyer.
And the tone: sober, factual, with no heavy nostalgia, because the nostalgia belongs to the audience and not to the brand.
One last marker: these people do not need reminding where they come from, they know. They need to know whether the parcel arrives before Sunday, whether the product is the same as the one back there, and whether somebody will answer if there is a problem. A video answering those three questions beats every atmosphere campaign of the year.
