Importance of country branding

By Rohantha N.A. Athukorala

Now that CHOGM fever is over, the question asked by many is what was the ROI that Sri Lanka made from the event? The Commonwealth Business Forum Secretariat only works as a platform for businessmen in the world to meet and does not monitor the deals made and its impact on a country.

The information released on hotel occupancy was not that encouraging. It stated that pre CHOGM occupancy was at 40% and during CHOGM it was at a high point of 55% which was different to what was targeted. A new campaign was launched by Brand Japan after the devastating earthquake.

In this backdrop, it is important to understand that events such as CHOGM are not just about business deals but how it helps a country in its journey of making a statement to the world and this in turn helps a country add value to the brand. In this perspective it will be interesting to understand how the brand value of Sri Lanka which was around the mid thirties pan out to be in the 2014.

A strong country has become a defining feature of success in today's economic climate.

Worldwide hyper competition for business, combined with an increasingly cluttered media environment, means that a clear country brand tends to have competitive advantage to attract business, tourism and drive exports to global markets.

In today's intensely competitive world, where access to capital, talent, ideas and consumers gets ever easier, the ability of countries to compete against each other for a share of mind, income, talent and voice, is largely determined by the power of their brand image.

This is the reality that Sri Lanka needs to keep in mind when staging global events.

Unless a country 'stands for' something special and different, there is little chance that a country will compete successfully for any of the precious attention.

According to a specialist, who advises governments on building strong country brands, like any brand, nations have individual identities which are unique and no two nations are alike, which is why Sri Lanka needs to agree to clear positioning and then drive a global campaign like what Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia do, so that we communicate a unique identity and then very importantly live it when people touch and feel the brand when they come to our beautiful Island.

Brand Japan - $ 2619 b

With the economic marvel that unfolded just after World War II, Japan captured the world's imagination with cutting edge innovation amidst its challenging economic conditions and developed brands that now dominate the world from the Sony Walkman to automotive brands such as Toyota, Mitsubishi, Honda, Ninetendo, Cannot and Nissan not forgetting the b2b brand like NTT that cut across the world of telecommunication.

At one time the number three economy in the world had ten brands in the top fifteen most powerful brands in the world. In 2011 the brand Japan was estimated to be worth a staggering 2,619 billion dollars.

Disaster strikes

However, Japan's reputation as a safe and efficiently-governed country that powers innovative consumer durables was struck by disaster when multiple natural disasters hit the country with the March 2011 earthquake and the subsequent tsunami that killed 15,000 people, exposing the country's weak leadership and inability to respond to growing challenges.

The tsunami and accompanying nuclear disaster caused all ports in the country to be closed, disrupting economic supply chains.

Natural disasters were a massive hit on the country's infrastructure.

The Fukushima nuclear disaster caused them to re-consider its dependence on nuclear power. All of Japan's 54 nuclear reactors were shut down for tests, causing a massive power shortage across the country.

The brand lost $679 billion in value as a national brand and ended with a low 1,940 billion dollar value that demonstrates the fragility of this indicator but can have severe ramifications when it comes to loosing the confidence of the world. (Source: Brand Finance)

However, after the loss in brand value of almost three thousand billion dollars, industry experts revealed that the brand value of Japan was hit way before the natural calamity. It further revealed that many of Japan's image problems have been the result of conscious actions within the country.

Even though Japan had built a reputation of being a country where law and order was high, its efficiency was strong with zero defects, and its high quality standards were taking a hit with the much publicised Toyota auto recall, and the public consciousness over Japan's whale hunts.

For instance, environmentally concerned citizens around the world saw Youtube images of the supposedly polite, efficient Japanese piloting a whaling vessel that cut the whale protecting speedboat into pieces.

Much to the dismay of foreign tourists, Japanese restaurants display whale meat for sale, and in complete contradiction of their 'research' claim on whale hunts.

With the release of the movie 'The Cove', rather than showcasing automotive or high-speed train technology, they featured slaughtering dolphins until the waters turned red.

These developments going unnoticed over time by policy making officials was catapulted with the twin natural disasters that resulted in brand Japan loosing a staggering 679 billion dollars off its value.

Given the directional change that was needed, Brand Japan then developed a strong campaign with clear policy decisions that the country can deliver on the ground and live up to the expectations of the people with the campaign 'Cool-Japan'.

Given that brand Japan was associated with innovation, zero defects and high productivity the weakness of brand Japan was that the emotional side of brand building was not manoeuvered. This was addressed with the Cool Japan nation-branding campaign.

The logo used is the 'Japan Next' tagline. The overall campaign featured Japanese art, literature, food, drink and history that underlined the Cool Japan concept on the human dimension side with the unique Japanese lifestyle, culture, music, arts that differentiated the brand from the Korean and Taiwan competitors who were fighting with power brands like Samsung and Kia.

Strategy

Given the new push to leverage the soft power potential of food and drink and culture to re-build the brand globally, some suggestions by experts were to move away from Japanese restaurants globally serving raw fish at excessively high prices and drive a strategy of izakaya diplomacy which encourages Japanese restaurant entrepreneurs to set up izakayas in key global markets so that a simpler and energetic dining experience touching the unique culture of the Japanese people.

The overall thinking was to create awareness of the 'authentic' side of brand Japan which was 'pure' and Cool-Japan strategy umbrella. It was a sharp strategy given that roughly 9,000 restaurants are available in the US alone and with this touch changing the image of Japan will be more impactful.

Pick up for Sri Lanka

Given the experience of Brand Japan, the cue for Sri Lanka is, do we need to change the direction that Sri Lanka is positioned in the world especially the unfolding of events with the British Prime Minister's statement at CHOGM.

This was drummed up with the absence of the Indian Premier and the walk out of the Mauritius Head of State from hosting the next Commonwealth Conference.

Some might recommend time but given the power of the diaspora which is revving up the agenda for the March conference in 2014. I guess Sri Lanka will have to change the overall strategy and develop a new image for brand Sri Lanka.

The author acknowledges the research done by the MBA graduates of the University of Colombo. The thoughts shared has no links to the organisations the author serves in Sri Lanka or globally. Writing is only a hobby he pursues.