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COLUMN

Rebranding Bangladesh

Driving the process of building brand for a country is a much bigger effort than any other commercial product. It requires a true common representation of the aspiration of the people of the country. People of the country must be able to believe in the image projected by the brand proposition.

MAMUN RASHID
My friend and teacher, Professor Ferhat Anwar, may be angry with me, for it is pre-mature to 're-brand' Bangladesh, when we are only at the primary stages of 'branding Bangladesh'. But my humble arguments for him would be-- take it or leave it.
Bangladesh has already been branded as a corrupt, natural calamity prone, weak-governance plagued poor country, therefore, we need to share the story of a new Bangladesh, a forwardlooking Bangladesh, identified and doing its home work specific for a middle income country, where its entrepreneurship will be highlighted, resilience talked about, success in poverty alleviation, religious and political harmony discussed and cultural homogeneity respected.
The international community is noticeably hesitant to acknowledge several of our achievements in the last few decades even though these achievements are considerably better than many other countries which the world views favorably. However, it would be self-defeating for us to act like a cry-baby and blame the international community for this unfair treatment. We have to admit that we have a problem in projecting the country and the true spirit of its people. This incapability of ours creates the necessity to focus on 're-
branding' Bangladesh.
In developing a brand identity for Bangladesh, we must understand what we really understand by the term 'branding'. Commercial brand management is basically a process of marketing management by the seller of a product to enhance the value of the product or to create differentiation with the competitors. Marketing guru Philip Kotler explained that a brand is basically a seller's promise to deliver a specific set of features, benefits, and services consistently to the buyers. It can convey up to six levels of meanings: attributes, benefits, values, culture, personality, and user. The branding challenge is to develop a deep set of positive associations for the brand. A marketer must decide at which level or levels of meaning to anchor the brand identity.
Nation branding is basically a derivative from the commercial brand management process, which aims to measure, build, and manage the reputation of countries. It applies some approaches from commercial brand management practice to countries, in an effort to build, change, or protect their international reputations or external perception at the minimum. It is based on the observation that the 'brand images' of countries are just as impor tant to their success in the
global market place as those of products and services. Simon Anholt is normally credited as a pioneer in this field. Nation branding appears to be practiced by many states, including US and UK (where it is officially referred to as Public Diplomacy) and most West European countries. There is increasing an interest in the concept from less developed countries to create more favorable conditions for foreign direct investment, tourism, trade, and even political relations with other countries.
We should focus on developing our own brand. What factors should drive the case of our branding? How should it be driven?
The key to attaining an effective brand identity is to activate adequate positive associations with all these experiences, good or bad. For an example, we are known all over the world for the sufferings and destruction we face due to natural calamities year after year. However the same incident could have been transformed into a major brand identity if we could have positively associated the courage, commitment, and resilience of our people who even after all these natural disasters have continued to develop the country with some remarkable achievements.
We have invented microcredit to fight our own poverty and are willing enough to share it with the rest of the world. We are competing with the giants of the world in the ready-made garments market and successfully growing each year. We have continuously faced obstacles, but we have not removed ourselves from the path to our destination. Thousand years of culture and civilisation has given our people the ability to dream with which we fight against all adversities.
Driving the process of building brand for a country is a much bigger effort than any other commercial product. It requires a true common representation of the aspiration of the people of the country. People of the country must be able to believe in the image projected by the brand proposition.
That is why re-branding Bangladesh will have to be driven from various forums --the government, political parties, civil society, media, professionals, private sector, workers and farmers, urban and rural people, etc. When all of us can share the common minimum identity, we shall be able to establish Bangladesh as rejuvenated brand equity. We need to send a message to the international community that we mean business, we encourage entrepreneurship and wealth creation, we are
committed to create enough economic activities to eradicate poverty, there is policy continuity despite change of the government and democracy means the same thing here as elsewhere.
I would conclude again with a quote from my teacher and 'Guru' of the marketing world Philip Kotler- "Bangladesh is at the stage where its business and government personnel need to develop a dynamic marketing mindset
regarding problems and opportunities that they face. Marketing is a mindset. Bangladesh must also move to this mindset whose mantra is Create Superior Value for Chosen Groups of Customers'. You need to turn your mind to think about consumer and business needs and find ways to offer more value than your competitors. I hope that you will succeed."
The writer is an economic analyst