Branding Sri Lanka

By Cassandra Mascarenhas

Being a developing country with a small domestic market of 20 million people, it is imperative for Sri Lanka to look towards exports to achieve high economic growth rates.

The restriction of the size of the domestic market imposed through low income levels and small market size does not facilitate domestic producers to invest in mass scale generic production units.

Thus, producing niche products targeted at high-end export markets is the more feasible option to enhance our exports. Branding has become increasingly important in the export of niche market products.

The fourth and final plenary session of day two of the summit session highlighted the importance of branding and strategies for branding Sri Lanka and featured Brand Finance CEO/Founder David Haigh as keynote speaker.

He stated that a very high proportion of global trade remains with North America and the EU and he pointed out that if Sri Lanka does not work there, the country is depriving itself of some very large markets which are influential in other markets as well.

“Nations too have caught the bug of branding. National stereotypes do matter in the way that people make decisions. People don’t refer to this country as Sri Lanka; they refer to it as Ceylon. It is a name that, for over a 100 years, has built up very strong quality associations and people don’t want to throw that away so they keep using it and not only in terms of tea but also sapphires, cinnamon and other goods that the country that is known for,” he said.

Haigh noted that Sri Lanka is faced with brand clutter that has not been eradicated. From a branding point of view, this causes some confusion. People know that Ceylon stands for high quality products. “It is a well-established brand and will not go away, but I don’t think anyone has registered the name in order to protect it.”

“At a corporate level, you have a slightly bigger challenge flowing from your problems over the last 30 years. In London, for instance, there is a rather negative image of Sri Lanka and you need to do something about it. I think it is clear that you can’t have a process of disengagement because there are too many people out there saying negative things and you can’t hide your head in the sand,” he added.

He encouraged the cultivation of all the different stakeholder groups while warning that the tools for doing that are completely different. Haigh then criticised the fact that the country’s exports include products like garments, most of which are unbranded, resulting in no premiums. However, Sri Lanka’s imports tend to be of a higher value and are branded.

“You are not maximising value but you are buying expensive things. There is a lot of State investment in this area globally – countries are investing significant sums at both a national and industrial level to help their companies develop. South Africa had a very successful campaign and so has Turkey,” Haigh said.

The Turkish Government gives unlimited funds to certain companies who they think can create strongly branded businesses outside Turkey to help them develop and the reason they did that was because they were previously an agricultural and commodity based country and they decided that the way to build up their economy was to build up brands at that level. Their economy is now doing extremely well.

Sri Lanka, he stated, has all the natural advantages to make tourism a major branded area. “Singapore was a basket case but they have built a whole policy around education and building up their country which is why they are where they are.”

“Your growth rate is pretty high and unemployment is lower than many countries in this region but obviously there is a lot more that can be done. You need a corporate marketing policy – look at macro issues and engage with stakeholders. Research the nation as though you are reviewing a company, review things like legal rights when it comes to names like Ceylon, research and look at the nation carefully, analyse trends to see what will produce the highest returns. Engage all the players like the generic tea manufacturers and the branded tea manufacturers like Dilmah,” he advised.

“Look at the scenarios, choose one and go for it but it is a five, 10, 15 year cycle. Singapore thinks in the short term but they also think very long term which is interesting. It is not something that only a consultant should do or only the government but it should be a consensual thing that many people should do together in a structural way.”

Panel discussion

Along with the keynote speaker, the panel discussion included MJF Group Founder Merrill Fernando, Postgraduate Institute of Management Director Prof. Uditha Liyanage, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority Chairman Dr. Nalaka Godahewa and Odel PLC CEO Otara Gunawardena and was moderated by Brand Finance Lanka Managing Director Ruchi Gunawardena.

Q: What are the lessons that Sri Lanka can glean from the thoughts expressed here?

Liyanage: It is important that we have absolute clarity with what branding Sri Lanka is. The first approach is nation branding which looks at the holistic national identity – the country as a brand. The second take is that you can brand a sector which is sector branding, tea for example, or tourism. The third possible approach is to have a corporate umbrella brand approach where you lump all the exporters together and have a unified tea export. The first if difficult, sector branding is more specific and easier to manage but is there the potential for this corporate umbrella brand? It requires an underlying theme that appeals to all exporters.

So we need to figure out which one we want to do – there needs to be a clear way forward in defining brand Sri Lanka and what they want to focus on.

Q: What challenges have you seen in building your brand from scratch?

Gunawardena: I think from the beginning my vision and what I really wanted to do was to create a brand and shopping experience, a Sri Lankan shopping experience with an international appeal. As much as I love Harrods and Selfridges, I don’t think people who come to Sri Lanka come in search of that. They look for something Sri Lankan, something that appeals to them. Finding product ranges that suit the economy, projecting the image of the brand to people, having one look, one vision and one method of communication throughout has been the real challenge.

Fernando: Ceylon Tea, spices and gems are products which are completely Sri Lankan. We are trying to create a name for Sri Lanka and the fame and acceptance of products like tea, spices and gems is universal. Therefore when we promote Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka must ride on the back of these products.

Q: How do you think people perceive us and can you share your own strategies?

Godahewa: The subject of Sri Lanka versus Ceylon is repeatedly discussed. I think it is important for us to be practical and I do not see from a practical sense that we will focus on Ceylon as a national branding tactic. When it comes to product branding, it can be used but when it comes to the country, it’s a very complex story.

We need to understand that nation branding is very different to branding a product, service or even a destination. To me, it appears that the performance indicators we use in business are eventually measures of success but the strategy cannot be built on that, it is built on what the product, service or company wants to achieve.

Nation branding needs to be based on where we want to go from here. The national brand will naturally emerge then. I think it’s something that has to evolve with what we do and companies, products and services will fall in line.

Haigh:  if you look at any major corporation, they have hundreds of people working on branding marketing and communication on different levels. I think like it or not, the world has reached a point where countries are doing something very similar to corporations. Countries are clearly thinking and organising what they stand for and are putting money on it. It has to be a managed process with the Government in charge. The Government here is very decisive and I personally think that they should spend a little more effort on this front.