Doing Business in Brazil Tip: Unintended Consequences

Your product and service is killing it in your home country. You've taken it to some foreign markets and it was well received. Now, you're thinking about bringing it to Brazil, so like any good organization or entrepreneur you decide you are going to test the market before spending millions.

Many things can happen at this stage and beyond, and there is one thing that I wanted to touch on. When I first moved to Brazil, I remembered noticing a lot of familiar products and brand names. Despite the cultural shock, American and Brazilian cultures were close enough that I didn't make too much of a fool of myself. 

Then, someone offered me a Halls cough drop. Or at least that's what I thought it was.

The person took the cough drop and tossed it in their mouth. I couldn't remember them coughing a few minutes ago. That's when I learned similar products don't mean similar uses.

In Brazil, Halls cough drops are actually used as breath fresheners with black Halls being the most popular given their strength. In fact, Halls are so popular as breath fresheners that they can be found in supermarkets, gas stations, bakeries and are even sold by street vendors.

The example above proves that when testing marketing your product or service be open to discover new and different uses of your product or service. Not only will it allow you to avoid massive amounts of advertising in educational campaigns, but it could help bring in revenue streams from unexpected sources.