As international advertising increases, the demand for more factual information on cultural and other differences in advertising and the appeals and strategies used has increased significantly. Up to now, the majority of published research in this area has focused on comparing the US to another market, often in the Far East. This study focuses exclusively on a northern European environment, an environment that is particularly attractive not only to foreign (from outside the UK, Germany or the Netherlands) investors and advertisers, but is also characterised by its consolidation in business from within. The three countries, the Netherlands, the UK and Germany, are among the most affluent markets in the European Union, offer a variety of advertising possibilities and enjoy high advertising expenditure per capita. Equally, all three countries score relatively closely on four out of five of Hofstede's culture dimensions, and can hence be seen as being culturally close.

The study will be both descriptive as well as predictive, and may offer the potential advertiser an extensive guide on both advertising strategies used as well as potential advertising strategies. It will focus not exclusively on the differences, but also extend to explain and examine the similarities that can be observed, in order to give a complete picture of the interaction between culture, advertising, products and the consumer.

Equally, the results of the study may well be expandable to cover a wider range of cultures. By relating the similarities and differences to cultural factors, the study may point the way to further research and theorisation on a more global scale, and a more predictive and descriptive model for advertising in different cultures than the vague descriptions available today.