Each country has its strengths and weaknesses. For the emerging
country brand-building is a challenge. How can an emerging
economy use its strengths to build a brand?
Brands are considered to be
among the greatest strengths or
assets of a company or a country
today. A brand stands for a certain
personality; it evokes certain feelings,
builds goodwill and carries emotional
attachments. In most ways, a brand
supplies guarantee of reliability, quality
and/or service. Thus, a strong
brand can be a key source of competitive
edge.
Every Country has its
National Symbols: Icons,
Identities and Inspirations
When one speaks of the Statue of Liberty,
images of America are conjured.
New York, until September 11, 2001,
had its very unique twin tower, the
World Trade Center. Indeed, the Taj
Mahal conjures the images of things
Indian and the Indian Moghuls’ great
architecture! Paris is famous for its
Eiffel Tower, and pictures of the Eiffel
Tower on French products remind
buyers of France.
On the contrary, it appears that
developing countries do not have the
luxury of established icons or symbols
such as those known or frequently
seen in the goods produced
by developed countries. There are
many Kazakhstani icons which include
falcons, the Golden Eagle of
the Altai Mountains and the
dombra, a Kazakh musical instrument.
These icons and symbols
have yet to be capitalised by businesses
or the national government.
Almaty’s New Square also proudly
displays the “Zolotoy Chelovek” or
the Golden Man and Astana’s Central
Museum has the original piece.
However, we have yet to see those
“Zolotoy Chelovek” drawings in
goods produced by Kazakhstan.
And even if that is said to have been
done, certainly we marketers would
like to see more such markings on
Kazakhstani products.
An icon allows a person to identify
and connect with the country
and its population or the company
and its products. It also inspires
trust.
Singapore Airlines (SA) inspires
the trust of service quality. Even before
its independence in 1965,
Singapore has been known as a Lion
City. With that in mind, Singapore
came up with a stylised lion-head
logo as the trademark on its products
a few years ago. Banners for international
events also carry that
logo, and it has since been identified
with the Lion City. |
