Branding Sri Lanka for the global market

Keynote address delivered by Chairman/Managing Director, Rediffusion DYR Diwan Arun Nanda, at the inauguration of the Sri Lanka Economic Summit on June 6.

BRANDING: So why do we need a nation brand. After all we are in the era of globalisation. An era of standardisation. Of a flatter world. Where consumer expectations, manufacturing process and work philosophies are all becoming country agnostic.

Haven’t brands today diminished their story of origin and acquired strong values that transcend countries and cultures. So why bother about branding Sri Lanka. Why not instead focus our efforts on infrastructure, stability and setting an economic climate.

There’s a simple reason for this. Swiss precision still sells watches. Italian style still sells leather. Japanese reliability still sells cars. Nations may merge in terms of economic processes but cultures remain as strong as ever.

And a national identity is more strongly rooted in its culture than in anything else. A strong brand Sri Lanka will not just provide the obvious benefits of investment and tourism but will also act as powerful endorser for your exports.

It will positively affect the respect you command in international forums. It can even catalyse renewed positive patriotism in the people. The need for brand Sri Lanka is thus apparent. Let’s see what the components of a national brand are.

Simon Anholt conducts a quarterly survey to measure National Brand Index. His model has identified six key components of a national brand.

a) Exports - which products are actively sought and avoided from a country as well as perception of scientific advancement. Think Tequila and Mexico. Think silk and China.

b) Governance - how fairly the country is run and what role the Government plays towards international peace and environment. Think Singapore for an active government role.

c) Culture and Heritage - Both traditional as well as contemporary films, art, literature as well as sporting culture. Think USA and Hollywood. Think Russia and ballet.

d) People - in terms of openness, friendliness as well as employability. Think Caribbean for people. India for employability.

e) Tourism - natural beauty and heritage as well as overall experience. Think Egypt for heritage, Brazil for fun.

f) And finally immigration and Investment - the ability of a country to attract financial and human capital. Think China and India for investment. England for education.

So while the regular stuff like tourism and airline campaigns do play an important role in branding a country, a truly powerful nation brand would be a lot more holistic in nature. It would emanate from a cultural truth. And incidentally the cultural truth is not derived from the geography of the country.

We all know we have great beaches. But white sand is not exclusive to Sri Lanka. Cultural truth is found in the people of a country. Because the people of every nation have a nuance; a texture that is absolutely unique to them. So when a national brand is founded on a real insight into the zeitgeist of a country, it tends to be powerful, consistent and enduring.

Mercedes and BMW did not derive from and build the German engineering brand out of thin air. For centuries, Germans built a culture of skill and craftsmanship due to the dominance of craft guilds. Italian penchant for style and indulgence comes from a deeply rooted cultural celebration of “La Dolce Vita” - the good life.

Japanese reliability has been built on a culture of a frighteningly dedicated work ethic. So when we set out to build brand Sri Lanka, our core values need to be based on essential, immutable truths about our people and our culture. These core values can then be translated into the six components of the national brand. They would also help specific brands from Sri Lanka take world stage. After all, in a sense, when people buy Apple, they are buying into the core American values of freedom and innovation.

So what could the core values of Sri Lanka be? What defines the people of this country? For me, they are a unique combination of what I call beach culture and mountain culture. I define beach culture as easy talent. Blessed with nature’s gifts. Always cheerful and tremendously gifted and talented. With a simple, optimistic view of life.

While I define mountain culture as dour hard-work. Where purpose conquers nature, Where teamwork is essential to survival and success. Where painstaking effort is the table-stake. And the outlook on life is fundamentally pragmatic.

Sri Lanka, as defined by its people and culture could be a great combination of talents and gifts on one hand and hard-work and meticulousness on the other. Let’s call this “gifted commitment” for now.

I believe that this could be core of Sri Lanka. And the first thing that comes to mind is your cricket team, Which has always had the amazing talent of an Aravinda or Jayasuriya.

But has always played as a seamless, purposeful team. And has in some respect combined the easy talent of the Windies (a beach culture) with the teamwork and hard-work of South Africa ( a mountain culture).

I can then see “gifted commitment” being translated into all the aspects of the national brand. Tea is a key export of your country. Can it be positioned as a combination of natural subtlety as well as rigour in selection.

Can jewellery be about talented craftsmanship as well as meticulous precision. The same applies for the other aspects -governance, culture whatever. Your tourism could be based on exactly this core. The easy, languid, cheerful simple beauty of your beaches combined with a vibrant, efficient, value-based shopping experience.

And the same goes for the work-force- gifted yet committed. You may disagree with the core that I have defined. But the point I am trying to make is that it is necessary to agree on one core. Some core. Which is based on truths about your people and culture. And to be true to this core in all your expressions. Because that is how brands are built. Be they soft drinks or nations.

It is absolutely essential that the expectation we create out of brand Sri Lanka is met and exceeded by the experience of visiting Sri Lanka. (in fact that is the key reason, that it is imperative that your core is based on a cultural truth.) So all external facing initiatives must be matched by internal motivation. One of the ways of doing this is to create a national icon. That brands the country. And is true to the core.

What about the current negative perceptions of the country. However much, we talk about gifts and commitment and beaches and shopping, world media will still continue to highlight the safety issues. And that is not merely a perception issue. The scale of the concern might be a misperception but there is truth in the safety concerns. There are ways to overcome or work through negative perceptions (or negative realities).

One way is to restrict the market for brand Sri Lanka. Perhaps start with South Asia. Countries which have safety issues of their own and are thus more balanced in their perspective of violence. Who understand that violence can be localised. We could start the brand in these countries and then slowly spread out.

A second way is to counter-reference the issue. Ireland, for instance, was plagued by the negative perceptions created by the IRA. The reality however was that the bulk of the trouble was in and around Belfast. The Irish Government made a massive investment and created huge incentives thereby creating Silicon Valley in other parts of the country. In an attempt to counter-reference their negative brand image.

A third approach could be experiential. Host a major sports event that brings in a natural influx of tourists and journalists. Let their experience be your media. So that the international coverage and their word-of-mouth would help combat the negative brand values.

Any of these approaches could work. They could all be tried in parallel. The point I am trying to make is that the current negative perceptions cannot be wished away. They have to be tackled, negated, counter-pointed, counter-referenced or counter-weighed. Else they will become a mill-stone in our brand building efforts.

I am sure that most of the coaches, captain and players of the brand management team of Sri Lanka are sitting in this room. So I can only say one thing - you can’t build a brand till you start building a brand. So let’s start now.