THE MARQUE RACE

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TO EACH HIS OWN: THE CHAMPIONS OF THE BRANDING GAME
The UK has relished another surge in nation brand value, which has risen by 20% to $2.8 trillion, as its economic growth overtakes most of the other European states and as the Great Britain nation brand campaign continues to pay dividends. The biggest contributing factor, however, has been the beneficial outcome of the Scottish independence referendum. Over the last few years up until the referendum, investors had been put off by the uncertainty around the result and analysts attached a greater risk premium to the country’s growth. Had Scotland voted yes, the centuries of brand equity built up around the UK Nation Brand would have deteriorated as Scotland has developed a robust nation brand even within the greater UK.
Proceeding the UK, Germany remains Europe’s powerhouse with an almost unrivaled reputation for quality manufacturing and efficiency. The country is the strongest nation brand, with a score of 75.84 out of 100, according to Brand Finance. Unemployment is falling and the country’s World Cup win in 2014 has, to a limited extent at least, generated a positive effect. In terms of overall nation brand value, Germany sits in third with a brand value of $4.4 trillion.

China’s growth on the brand metric has been rapid. The value of its brand grew 44% in a year, to $10.2 trillion, compared to just 2% for the U.S. brand. The growth of Chinese brands extends beyond the technology sector as the country continues to narrow the value gap with the United States at a spectacular rate. Since 2008, China’s share of global brand value has increased from 3% to 15%, growing 888% to $911.5 billion in 2018. It comes as no surprise that State Grid, a state-owned utility company from China, is the largest new entrant to the Brand Finance Global 500 this year, claiming 19th place with a brand value of $40.9 billion. In addition, the fastest-growing brand of 2018 also comes from China.

Sitting at the top position in the world’s most valuable nation brand list is the United States of America, with a whopping $19.3 trillion brand value, continuing its domination of the Brand Finance Nation Brands report. Several clever marketing strategies are the underlying reason the US managed to stay on top. Consumer understanding through marketing research is an area worth exploring. A brand that can anticipate consumer needs and appeal to consumers emotionally, experientially, self-expressively and regarding the alignment of core values will do better than brands that have not uncovered and exploited these consumer insights. Generally, US brands do a good job of influencing these types of consumer insights, which gives them an advantage. A smaller brand that spends 5% of its revenues on its brand building will have a very difficult time of gaining mindshare over a larger brand that spends 10% of its revenues on brand building, proving that it is an investment that requires significant funding.

The prolonged history of advertising in the nation plays a vital role in its success in branding. While brands and marketing have been around since the beginning of recorded history, it wasn’t until the industrial revolution, which evolved in the US, that modern-day mass advertising came into existence. For example, many American brands (such as Coca-Cola) developed the 30-second television commercial decades ago. The media and television have exposed American brands internationally, marketing the American Dream and its attendant values and lifestyle, hooking people at an emotional level like never before and made everything from smoking, hamburgers, blue jeans, skyscrapers, and big cars popular. It was Hollywood that sold American products to the world long before the phrase, “Product Placement ” was coined. Decades as the preeminent force in finance, entertainment, democracy, and technology means the US should continue to top the ranking for years to come.

THE KEYWORD: SUCCESS
What if Bangladesh could learn from the current leading American brand, Google? Google is now the world’s most valuable brand, seizing the number one spot from Apple which had been reigning since 2011. The annual ranking from Brand Finance says Google’s monetary value increased to $109.5 billion last year, representing a 24% increase overall. As for Google, the company “remains largely unchallenged in its core search business, which is the mainstay of its according to advertising income,” Brand Finance included in the report. Though Google has largely benefited from increased revenues, its brand strength score (i.e. the efficacy of a brand’s performance on intangible measures, relative to its competitors) is also an element of its success. According to the study, Google’s brand strength score was up by two points, indicating “underlying brand equity.” In other words, the better the brand equity is for a tech business, the more likely it is to retain customers.

The art of branding, marketing and sharing the vision through the introduction of the brand, or product portfolio, is important for sale. It builds a brand’s equity and as a result the brand strength. Storytelling and branding around emotions deliver faster return on investment than a cheaper product can. The most obvious example of this is pinning Coca-Cola against a generic soda. Because Coca-Cola has built a powerful brand equity, it can charge more for its product- and customers will pay that higher price.

The USA has utilized storytelling and pioneering a message behind their brands to attract consumers, especially patriots, by selling American values such as “Freedom” and “Innovation” globally, paving the road for its gigantic export worth of $1.454 trillion in 2016. Germany exported goods and services worth 1,300 trillion euros in 2016 predominantly on the core value of “Technique and Quality,” embodied by innovations by BMW, Mercedes, and other national flagship automobile products. When France is pictured, innovation in wine, food, and fashion are the most likely visions. “Best global lifestyle products to indulge in” as its core value has earned France an export of 500 billion euros, and the essence of France—wine, food, fragrance, and fashion—alone delivered 30 billion euros to the overall export and keeps branding its agriculture and luxury industry.

Consequently, the added value of production in Bangladesh does not command a higher price point since no extra emotional benefits are associated with products made in Bangladesh. Most products fail to capture the customers’ interests as they cannot effectively deliver a purpose for the brand. A campaign solely for branding, with new positive core values, can aid GDP growth, take value creation in production in Bangladesh to the next level, and thereby attract investment and help the economy grow more rapidly. Furthermore, this will indeed upgrade living conditions, help build relationships and ultimately create growth for an entrepreneurial business that will take Bangladesh to the next growth curve.

MAKING YOUR COUNTRY THE MASCOT
The practice of nation branding aims to measure, build and manage the reputation of countries. Nation branding means the creation of the applications of corporate marketing concepts and techniques in the interest of enhancing the countries’ reputation on the global stage, and thereby raising the awareness of the country amongst potential future business partners globally. A nation branding campaign aimed at western brands and consumers, rooted in the positive values Bangladesh would be known for globally, will deliver the promise for decades to come.
Maintaining a reputable business is one of the largest concerns for brands, especially rising brands. With review and feedback sites on the web holding the power to spread the news about brands faster than ever before, reputation must be valued. A dismal review could make the brand value decrease while a good review enables the brand to charge a premium price.

CHOOSE YOUR PLATFORM WISELY
Social media can, in fact, be used to generate brand awareness. In this day and age, social media is one of the largest tools for advertising, and it can’t be ignored. It is a perfect platform for building a brand. While potential customers might not be visiting the website every day, they may be logging into Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Snapchat regularly. With the modernization of Bangladesh, many smaller brands are emerging through social media- such as the clothing brand Blu&Maron that is generating a lot of buzz among the youths. Millennials/generation Y have become the largest consumer segment & spenders in the market who are constantly looking up to the global culture & brands as well. The emergence of 3G networking, smartphones, Facebook & other social media platforms have changed consumers lives to extents that were unimaginable ten years ago. Local brands are challenging global brands like Symphony, Apex and providentially some Bangladeshi brands are going global, for instance, Pran.

The advertisement is not only limited to social media; television and radios are still performing well in spreading awareness. In the early stage of advertisement in Bangladesh, TVCs such as “Kapor kachar sera saban Wheel Wheel” had existed, and are still remembered by the population because it had made a large impact on the consumers’ lives. With the emergence of television, particularly BTV, as the sole TV channel with the reach of majority people of Bangladesh, Businesses in Bangladesh had started getting the leverage of brands in the early 90’s. Branding at that time was mostly to make the product salient to the consumers across the country, however, that on its own could not drive the growth of brands without the constant evolution of becoming more unique.The next stage, termed as ‘Development Stage’ of brand marketing in Bangladesh, realized the need for strong messages; and hence was the growth of brands such as Grameenphone with its ‘omnipresence, strong networking and emotional connection with the distant ones’, Lux with ‘beauty’, Horlicks is a great cure for mothers constantly tensed about her children’s physical and mental health, and Fair & Lovely which empowered women. A strong purpose of the brand and functional and emotional differentiation kept on playing a pivotal role.

In this hubbub of the urban media and communication channels, there is still room for improvement for brand marketers to be able to constantly reinvent the brand and to draw in new and loyal consumers. The consequences of not following these marketing strategies are evident in the once highly celebrated brands such as RC Cola and Shinepukur Holdings that are hardly making a presence in our minds these days.

Brands in Bangladesh are in fact at the stage of achieving unprecedented growth and scale up to global stature. The three traits that shape the success of a brand is its meaning, salience, and how it differentiates from others. To drive volume, the brand needs to be meaningful, more than it is salient or different. On the other hand, to command a premium price from consumers, brands need to be more different than they are salient. The nation must expand its boundaries and begin aiming for international consumers along with the locals, by challenging global brands. In order to create valuable assets that brand Bangladesh with pride and support the 2021 vision for the country, and to grow to become a middle-income nation, the country must improve on how it aims to be viewed by other nations. Bangladesh requires a story of its own to sell- like the patriotism of the USA, the Technologies of Germany or even the pop culture phenomenon of South Korea. This will require a smart, comprehensive branding policy involving the positive aspects of our nation, but is an opportunity for Bangladesh to communicate positive branding values in a global competition against other countries and global corporations, and hopefully, one day enter the Brand Finance list on the top national brands.

Source: Brand Finance, Howmuch.net & Statista 

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