Our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is aggrieved. She is doing very good work, but a section of people are not recognising it. Our civil society, a portion of the print media, and the opposition on the streets, not in the parliament, have been put on the dock for this. My friends are quite aggrieved as well -- our beloved country has made so many achievements, but the Western media and heads of states are not recognising any of them, and the recent killings of two foreigners has made things much harder.
The image of our country is the lowest it’s been -- the Australian cricket team has postponed their Dhaka tour, a German research team is suddenly showing reluctance in visiting Rajshahi, many Western nations have issued travel alerts for their citizens in visiting Bangladesh, and most pressingly, buyers from Italy and Japan in particular, and many in the West, have stopped visiting Bangladeshi supplying plants, putting pipeline orders in jeopardy. Is it only due to the killing of two foreigners? Possibly not. Bangladesh is yet to become attractive to G-7 investors.
Bangladesh’s potential as a liberal Muslim country is not discussed at the right tables in the Middle East. Investors are going to Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Nigeria but not Bangladesh. Bangladesh’s image problem is not over yet, not by a long shot. Not much of a surprise, since we have yet to take “nation branding” with a modicum of importance.
Nation branding is substantially different from product branding, and can be explained in many different ways. Nowadays, we see catchy taglines being used by several nations for promoting tourism in their countries, for example: “Malaysia, truly Asia,” “Incredible India,” and “Amazing Thailand.” However, the function of nation branding is not just limited to tourism. According to Simon Anholt, widely considered the “Father of Nation Branding,” the concept of nation branding refers to developing an identity for a nation that encompasses several components of national accounts, including foreign direct investments, exports, culture, sports, migrants, international relations, and many others.
Although the underlying principles are the same, there exist differences between branding a product and branding a nation. Traditional promotional tools such as advertising and public relation activities do not apply in the same manner when it comes to nation branding. Nations do not put up ads in newspapers or distribute promotional leaflets.
Instead, nation branding involves a holistic and well-concerted effort to highlight the key competitive advantages offered by the nation. The government has a huge role to play in this regard. It is the duty of our leaders to showcase our achievements to the world. However, this responsibility does not lie on the shoulders of the government alone. It is a responsibility shared by each and every one of us, being citizens of a nation. Each and every member of civil society, professionals, and business community is therefore the nation’s brand ambassador.
Moreover, the exact scope of branding and the impact of the same are significantly vast and far-reaching for nation branding compared to product branding. Whereas product branding affects a particular company, the impact of nation branding affects an entire economy, and hence the standard of living of its citizens. However, there also exists an integral connection between the two concepts. In other words, one can be used for the benefit of the other. Sometimes, we get to know a nation through the great companies which originated in that country and the product brands they offer.
Some of those national brands also build enough equity to graduate to the status of global brands, such as Nokia from Finland, Coca-Cola or McDonald’s from the US, and Toyota from Japan. So much so, that we begin to associate these countries with their national brands. Today, India is famous for its well-known brands, like Tata or Reliance.
Andreas Markessinis highlighted in his article “Nation brands and national brands: Making the most of them,” that one of the basic principles of nation branding was that there is often an internal relationship between a nation brand and national brands, and both can be worked on for mutual benefits. For example, South Korea does not have a great image as a country due to its political turmoil, but the brand equity of South Korean companies like Samsung, Hyundai, and LG is much higher than that of the nation brand itself, and that has greatly helped to improve the perceived brand image of the country.
As a nation, we have to realise that the very concept of nation branding is not only for foreigners, rather we, the people of the country, are the biggest stake-holders of this concept -- without our support, and the embodiment of the brand identity, all nation branding efforts will be futile. We have to remember that nation branding needs effort, time, dedication, and persistence. In most cases, it takes years for results to come into fruition.
Now, the question for a third-world country like Bangladesh would be: What kind of products should we invest in? We are already known to the world for “micro-finance.” Today, countries all over the world are reshaping their identities to gain a competitive edge over their neighbours. If we listen to marketing guru Philip Kotler, and want to brand Bangladesh as an RMG exporting country, we must question ourselves as to what extent that would be sustainable in the long run. We must ensure adequate capacity-building, improvement in productivity, healthy industrial relations, professional management, and new export destinations to remain competitive -- we all know that uncertainty is more dangerous than instability.
So far, our RMG industry has shown remarkable resilience in terms of weathering turbulence, as made evident during the 2006-07 and the 2012-13 periods, when the country was faced with some of our worst political turmoil and man-made disasters. Moreover, the sector also seems to have survived the global financial meltdown relatively unscathed.
However, uncertainty still shrouds the future of our RMG industry. There is also cloud concentration with regard to the future of the micro-finance industry, vulnerable in slipping on the proverbial banana peel.
In the age of fierce competition, nation branding has become more of a necessity than a luxury. Long has our country suffered due to a negative brand image, both at home and abroad. The time has come to re-brand our country -- to highlight the amazing accomplishments of our people despite the hardships. That is what makes our nation truly remarkable and unique.
