Scaling from a Single Market to a Global Brand | LocReset #3

In episode 3 of LocReset, Matt Grotenstein sits down with three practitioners who have built, scaled, and protected global brands from the inside: Carrie Fischer, Manager of Globalization at Subway Kate Edwards, CEO and Principal Consultant at GeogrifyGaetano Romeo, Head of Global Digital Marketing at EasyVista and OTRS GroupThis episode covers why most companies fail when scaling beyond their first market, how product, messaging, and brand break across cultures, and what it takes to build the infrastructure for real global growth.[0:00] Intro[4:09] The first question every global expansion should answer[6:15] How Subway scales to 10,000 restaurants[9:00] Building a US footprint from scratch: the EasyVista reality[12:23] Why don't American CTAs work in Europe?[14:21] AI everything vs.Human-in-the-loop[17:00] The geopolitical mistake that almost shut down Microsoft in South Korea[26:28] 22% more AI citations: GEO vs SEO and the AirOps strategy[34:48] Subway's MT journey: Why being a careful technology follower paid off?[38:09] AI scales well. AI does not understand nuance.[45:11] When AI hallucinated a book Gaetano never wrote[47:45] Tracking marketing success across global markets[51:45] What localization vendors almost always get wrong?[52:33] Start culturalization early — or you'll be redoing the mocap[56:22] How Subway culturalizes menus around the world?[59:23] Geographic proximity does not mean cultural similarity[1:04:31] When does localization become a strategic capability?[1:05:50] Cultural due diligence comes before the business deal[1:07:26] The EU AI Act has made transparency the new localization[1:10:51] Closing takeaways