Until a few years ago international campaigns were easily recognizable in the panorama of Italian communication. Today, commercials in Italy have become so similar we can no longer distinguish what is produced in Italy from what is imported. What has happened? Products have lost a lot of their national quality without shedding their references to nationality. The distribution of products has determined the decision to go global. In this respect, franchising has acted as a multiplier of a brand’s value, with all the effectiveness of a real mass medium in frequency and coverage. Globalized goods and distribution are now being joined by globalized consumers. What synthesis can be drawn from these notes? Does advertising no longer have a national identity? Is the quintessence of communication as defined by Bates – «think global & act local» – in crisis? Today there is just one imperative: think glocal. Thinking glocal means designing communication so that its principles are international but it clearly embodies national values.