Brand Index:
SL ranked 13th in Asia Pacific
Rohantha ATHUKORALA
Rohantha
Athukorala
|
It was great to hear the news that Sri Lanka has made it to the
influential country brand index at number 67 globally and 13th in the
Asia Pacific in the eight year history of the company FutureBrand.
However, a point to note is that with the aversive media that Sri Lanka
got exposed to globally where top globally media aired the agitation by
the lawyers and in the weekend the shooting of the Journalist not to
mention the ‘Geneva’ debacle unfolding what impact it can have on Brand
Sri Lanka in the next edition of FutureBrand index.
SL is 67 in the FutureBrand index but it will be interesting to see
the rank next year
Dettol case in point
Brands and markets go through different stages in their life cycles
and advertising and media keeps pace and goes through transformation in
concept and execution elements with or without ones conscious mind of
what’s happening at the macro level. But, with the increasing product
parity and brand proliferation, advertising focuses on things other than
product performance as discriminators to stand out in a crowd. The best
example I can site is a brand I managed some years back- Dettol Liquid.
The brand is an antiseptic disinfectant that protects a family from
germs. However, the one thing that makes this brand one of the most
powerful brands in the consumers mind is the cutting edge ‘advertising’
namely the cloud burst captured by still camera. This frame is what
sticks in a consumer’s mind that indicates that Dettol attacks germs
what the naked eye cannot see.
Young Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Yala National Park, Sri
Lanka |
This goes on to leave an attitude on how the brand kills germs whilst
leaving a strong bonding on how the brand protects a family from illness
which is referred to more popularly as brand equity Brand Sri Lanka?
We now need to conceptualize what happens to brand Sri Lanka and what
is brand equity of Sri Lanka.
The fact of the matter is that just like the brand communication of
‘Dettol’ the attitude that we create for a brand happened to be what a
person gets exposed to from media. As at now, if we take the stories
that have the highest share of voice has been the tussle between the
judiciary and executive and the many demonstrations that was seen of the
legal fraternity.
Then the photos captured of the demonstrations staged recently be it
the University students, the halal issue, health workers and the media
highlights on the shooting of the journalist over the weekend. Not to
mention the up and coming Geneva debacle and CHOMG fiasco.
From a strictly marketing science perspective the attitude that we
project to the outside world will be that we as a nation are very
aggressive and vociferous whilst in fact Sri Lankan’s are known by a
tourist for the smiling faces and warm hospitality. The latter was an
insight from the latest exit survey results released by the tourism
authority. This highlights the gulf in-between the perceived brand image
and the actual brand image from a real marketing point of view of brand
equity. It’s an interesting situation given that research reveals that
this will have an impact to the investment and tourism sectors.
Kotlers and Porters view
To give structure to this discussion if I quote the works of Philip
Kotler(2009), Brand equity is added value endowed on products and
services.
It may reflect in the way consumers think, feel and act with respect
to the brand, as well as in the prices, market share and profitability
the brand commands for firm.
The brand that commands great brand equity, besides gaining,
retaining and growing market share will also have equally great brand
value.
Brand audit is the starting point of the brand equity building and
the purpose is to assess the financial health of the brand, discover its
sources of equity, and suggest the ways to improve and leverage that
equity which include brand vision, mission, promise, values, position,
personality and performance.
Porter (1985) asserts that a company’s strategy is robust when it has
strong points of differences from their competitors. Two important
components need to be addressed when searching for a sustainable
differentiation that is point-of-parity (POPs) association that are
attributes of the brand shared with other brands and point-of-difference
(PODs) that are attributes or benefits that consumers strongly
associated with a brand, positively evaluate, and believe that they
could not find them in other competitive brands. But differentiation
does not mean that we should do so for shake of differentiation, but it
must be done only if the target market desires so, lets it would be in
the predicament that coke experienced many years ago.
Brand Attitude
To capture the essence of this concept the brand line ‘Families that
use Dettol, fall ill less often’ gives an attitude to the brand that
drives differentiation. Hence, even though a brand constitute a bundle
features that constitute product features and consumer benefits, what
finally gives the brand that edge, is none of the above but some thing
that may be called attitude.
Regardless of the stage that advertising is in, what makes brands
stand out in a crowd what separates good advertising is the attitude it
imparts to the brand. Such brands become icons.
If I am to explain what this concept of ‘Attitude’let me take a brand
line Pepsi who once came out with a campaign called ‘Nothing official
about it’. Pepsi became a brand with an attitude. With the advantage of
being a challenger brand in many markets it took a shot at leader Coca
Cola and became the brand of preference among GEN X.
When Cloguard toothpaste launched the 1st herble toothpaste in Sri
Lanka, conventional wisdom drove the market towards ‘Herble- Natural
toothpastes’ which is what we can called attitude of a brand. When
Anchor full cream powder launched in Sri Lanka we saw the fire
unleashed. The mother in the advertising was smart enough to call a
spade a spade.
Her slightly know it all attitude made all housewives give attention
to her and more than willingly to stop and listen to her . This is the
making the brand to become an icon with attitude in today’s world of a
mum.
It is always easier to describe something by what it is not than what
it is. The same goes for attitude. It is perhaps evident from these
examples that brands with an attitude need not be from a particular
product category, such as lifestyle, or that it is not a recent
phenomenon.
When a campaign has the courage to buck the trend, may be, it is on
its way to acquiring an attitude. However, just being different is not
enough as in Ceylinco VIP ad where for the first time in an insuarance
ad, the dynamics of a working woman and a rough street lad was depicted.
The promise of Ceylinco coming to her rescue to help her carry on with
the busy scheadule drove home the attitude of the brand.
The use of a movie star or sports personalities is perhaps not enough
to give a brand an attitude. They certainly make for more interesting
and entertaining ads but you need far stronger characters and stronger
statements or far more iconoclasmic treatment to impart an attitude to
the brand.
Sri Lanka-Iconic?
As per the FutureBrand report it stares very clearly that Sri Lanka
is associated with attributes such as stable legal environment, history,
authenticity, natural beauty and arts and culture that resonate with
visitors just as much as ‘value for money’ or accommodation. This can
ideally be extrapolated to transcend to an attitude in a customer’s mind
that can be iconic in the word.
But for this to happen, we need to continuously demonstrate this
effect in the way we behave.
If not the world will perceive us to be very aggressive and
vociferous like what the global media potrays us to be which is sad.
A point to note is that Sri Lanka achieved the highest rankings in
natural beauty, art and culture and in the latter as well as attractions
and authenticity beating countries like Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia
and Bangladesh which is the power of this brand and the potential the
brand has to be iconic globally. The study also reveals that Sri Lanka
is way ahead of the countries mentioned before on the aspect of most
likable to live in and standard of living.
But in contrast when reports emerge of killings in Kelaniya and
Journalists getting killed, these media releases acts as a barrier to
the iconic status that we as a country can become.
Conclusion
When the FutureBrand report summarises stating that “Sri Lanka has
made it to to be a “respectable” 67th rank with great potential to move
up the ladder fast” is a fair statement given the features that it can
use to market the product and in the alternate how the message can be
said to give an attitude to the world. But the key issue is if there is
a will to do so.
The Author is the Head of National Portfolio Developmen, Sri Lanka
and Maldives of the United Nations (UNOPS). The thoughts are strictly
his personal views and not the organizations he serves in Sri Lanka or
Globally. |