Sunday Apr 28, 2024
Sunday Apr 28, 2024
Tuesday, 12 December 2023 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
While many can critique the President on the year gone by, let’s accept that he has brought stability to the country and put brand Sri Lanka on the world map that we are trying to recover from wrong policy decisions. He has also been able to engage the world and convince the donor community to believe in Sri Lanka resulting in the restructuring of the loan portfolio of the country. Let’s give credit where it’s due, he has taken unpopular decisions that has resulted in a 9% favourability rating at the last survey done. In my view his personality matches the current environment that Sri Lanka is up against. But a point he must understand is that the type of leadership required in a country affected by an economic crisis is to drive a ‘growth agenda’. This requires strong team working skill, a business mind-set and understanding contemporary practices. Sadly, Budget of 2024 does not augur this sentiment from exports, tourism, tea or rubber industry perspective.
Collateral damage
The collateral damage we see due to the economic crisis is colossal. Seven million plus people in poverty. Almost 73% of the population has cut down on their consumption at home. The latest reports reveal that 51% of the children are having some form of malnourishment across the country. In 2022 , Q4 saw the worst contraction in consumption in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods Category. A Kantar Research Study revealed that almost 26% volume decline has made people go back on the quality of life by almost ten years. The Budget proposal to increase VAT by 18% will surely take the shine of Sri Lanka, even if the second tranche IMF payment materialises in December, 2023. The writing is very clear on the wall that the ambitious 46% increase in revenue as per the Budget 2024 proposal will be off target by a minimum 20%. Past data reveal that the variance was negative by 15%.
Budget proposal: Nation branding
An interesting Budget proposal was announced in the ‘National Budget 2024’: if I may quote, ‘ Sri Lanka has many untapped potentials to emerge as a strong country. To capitalise on these potentials, it is essential to implement national branding efforts by re-engaging with government agencies, businesses, citizens, cultural institutions and international organisations to realign Sri Lanka's direction and reclaim the country's status as a top tourist destination and attractive investment hub. I allocate Rs. 100 million for this purpose.”
While I commend this proposal, given I have never seen this directional proposal in the last 20 years in Sri Lanka. But a point to note is that the proposal demonstrates the knowledge gap that exists in policy makers. Simon Anholt an expert in this area says, “Your reputation as a country is what you earn over time. You cannot just build it with advertising and promises that the country does not live up to.”
SL Brand value has crashed
Sri Lanka’s nation brand value which was $ 83 billion in 2017, was overtaken even at that time by countries like Algeria and Ukraine which shot pass Sri Lanka with an amazing 20% plus growth in just two years. The latest report on media states that brand value of Sri Lanka has crashed to $38 billion in 2023 as per brand Finance reports, which means the Budget proposal on Nation Branding makes sense.
A point that needs to be emphasised on nation brand value building is that: if a country doesn’t like its image – and most countries don’t – then the only way to change that image is through the things the country does, not by the things it says. On this front, Sri Lanka’s performance is at ground zero. The announcement by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka that the country is bankrupt sent a shock wave globally about brand Sri Lanka. Then the economic turmoil due to the shortage of dollars to purchase oil, gas and key food items made every news channel relay the ‘breaking news’ globally that destroyed brand Sri Lanka to my mind. Thereafter, the decision by ICC to ban Sri Lanka Cricket was the public spat that dragged the country brand further down. Then came the final decision where the IMF advocated a Governance Diagnostic Assessment that told the world that Sri Lanka must reduce corruption vulnerabilities if we are to grow out of the economic crisis. The recent unruly behaviour in Parliament had resulted in a wave of negative comments from the people of Sri Lanka and the strong diaspora around the world. Hence, Sri Lanka brand value declining to just $38 billion explains the problem at hand. Let’s not forget the words of Simon Anholt “Your reputation as a country is what you earn over time. You cannot just build it with advertising and promises that the country does not live up to.”
If one does a global view of Sri Lanka, what we hear are the war with LTTE, the devastating Tsunami in 2004, The Easter Sunday attack that killed 269 people in 2019 and now a country that is bankrupt and chased their President away from the country. In the recent past we see brand Sri Lanka associated with corruption and serious governance issues. Hence this Budget proposal is valid.
Best practice – Estonia
A point to note is, there are many countries that have had problems on the credibility of their nation brand and correction has been done. The best case in point is Estonia, but they first understand how they engage the world and how they are relevant to the global consumer. The policy makers of Estonia understood that unless one walks the talk from top down, credibility cannot be earned. Also that it takes to earn this respect as it must be consistent.
If one does a quick background of Estonia – it’s a democratic parliamentary republic divided into 15 counties, has over 1,500 islands. The Estonian capital and largest city is Tallinn with a population of 1.29 million. Geographically, Estonia is on the north-eastern edge of the European Union, bordering Russia and Latvia.
Why did Estonia do the global push?
Post war, Estonia knew that unless it latched on to the success of Europe it would once again go back to conflict. The senior advisors to the country hierarchy advocated a global push. There are many lessons to learn by Sri Lanka before spending Rs. 100 million on this concept. Let me share the underlying reasons why Estonia used this concept ‘ Nation Brand Building”
1) Differentiating and promoting one nation against other nations globally is the basic idea of earning a strong nation brand but it must be seen in action and not just a communication campaign.
2) A strong nation brand can create a synergy of the national assets and bolster a country’s global impact, helping to promote trade, investment and tourism.
Estonia – ‘Positively Transforming’
In the period 2001-2008 once the hierarchy understood the change required the leaders first implemented a reform process starting from the Presidential Secretariat to the parliament and then to each line ministry on how the people of the country can be served better and how to engage the world. The acid test was that if Estonia is deleted from the world will the world miss it. That was the starting point. It was a behavioural change internally that was implemented.
Thereafter a campaign was launched by Estonia called ‘Positively Transforming’ to tell the world that Estonia as a country was undergoing transition in all spheres of its life and thus entering the world and European community, from which it had been isolated for years. This is exactly what Sri Lanka must do.
The key objectives of this campaign were to increase the number of quality tourists they attract and foreign investments and create a favourable acceptance for the Estonian export products in the world.
The first step was to gather opinions and ideas through interviews with residents and foreigners on what Estonia’s greatest strengths and best qualities were. From this information, they decided what perspective of themselves they would try to communicate to the rest of the world. The core qualities it came up with were Estonia’s rapid change and growth, rich history, vast, pristine natural landscape and the hopeful, positive attitude of its residents.
In order to manage the branding Estonia project in a more holistic and strategic manner, Estonian authorities created a new organisation called Enterprise Estonia. The creation of Enterprise Estonia helped to coordinate and oversee all nation branding-related activities by a single point. Estonia utilised art and aesthetics in the crafting of the visual symbol of its new brand.
‘Welcome to Estonia’ was the phrase chosen for Estonia’s campaign logo. With a strategic design and typeface, this logo has become widespread throughout the country, accepted by Estonia’s national airline, businesses, tourism industry, and shipping docks. The branding imagery and narratives were transmitted through an array of media; photographic style, colour palette and graphics and promoted through various communication channels, including short video documentaries, outdoor display campaigns and press events.
But a key point to remember was that all behaviour communicated to the world via political activities was on the theme ‘Positively Transforming’. A point emphasised by nation brand building experts like Simon Anholt who commented recently that if a country doesn’t like its image – and most countries don’t – then the only way to change that image is through the things the country does, not by the things it says. Estonia lived the promise. It was a top down approach from the head of state and the parliament that had to be lived. The people of the country must talk about it.
Estonia – ‘Positively Surprising’
In 2008 Enterprise Estonia redeveloped its Estonian marketing campaign by breathing new life into the seven-year-old ‘Positively Transforming’ concept. The main objective of the new marketing concept, ‘Positively Surprising,’ was to position Estonia as an excellent place for visiting (tourism), excellent place for business (investments, export) and an excellent place for studying/working/living. The primary target audience of the campaign consisted of four main categories:
Living environment – This consists of people who may come to Estonia for an extended period of time. They are also like tourists, but stay longer, learn and partake in life, culture and environment of the country more than tourists. These people are the best source of promoters and opinion leaders to promote Estonia when they return home.
Tourism – People who come to Estonia to experience something new, and if positively surprised or delighted, will spread that to many others.
Business – These are the people, mainly mediators, entrepreneurs, investors or importers who directly and indirectly help create jobs, increasing the country’s wealth.
Internal citizens – They are part of the heritage, history, culture, progress and achievement of the country; the best people to communicate about the values, heritage and history of the country to other nations in the world. To reach the above four categories, The Brand Estonia campaign used two main approaches – external communication and internal communication. The External Communication Strategy – Brand Mark: ‘Welcome to Estonia’.
The external communication strategy was divided into three sub-strategies based on the main interest for coming to Estonia:
Business: ‘It is easy to do complex business transactions.’
Tourism: ‘An old country in a Shiny Package,’ under this Estonia promotes four types of holiday packages such as city holiday/cultural holiday/wellness holiday/nature holiday.
Living Environment: ‘An Exciting Outlook on Ordinary Life’; under that the different options available are for Living, Learning and Working.
Internal Communication Strategy: ‘I Love Estonia’ is the other side of the ‘Welcome to Estonia’ medal. While ‘Welcome to Estonia’ is an invitation directed to foreign countries, ‘I Love Estonia’ encourages its own citizens in creating this new brand. The rationale behind the campaign is to reinforce the Estonians’ pride in their country, foster domestic tourism and overall to strengthen the link among the people, as well as between the people and the country.
Manifestations/demonstrations of Estonia’s nation branding are very diverse and numerous. They include dozens of brochures, presentations and videos, several websites with immense amounts of information and more. But most importantly, it’s not what people say but what was felt by the people of the country and how they spoke and demonstrated the change was focussed on.
The results
With strong communication and people living up to the new behaviour, Brand Estonia increased in value by 24.6% in the ‘Brand Finance – Nation Brands 100 Report’. Estonia outperformed every other nation brand in the European Union. Estonia was the third fastest growing nation brand of the 100 surveyed which is what Sri Lanka needs to do. Just spending Rs. 100 million without a behaviour change from “225” will not take us anywhere.
Next steps for Sri Lanka
1) The President if serious about Nation Brand building must clearly chalk-out what we want the world to perceive us to be.
2) Identify the key target markets globally and internally just like what Estonia did.
3) Let’s find out what the world currently thinks of Sri Lanka as a brand. Estonia did wide stakeholder consultations before launching the campaign.
4) Based on the desired image we want Sri Lanka to be, a clear policy statement must be developed with all missions overseas understanding the logic. Policy reforms are a must in this strategy.
5) All stakeholders to this policy – general public, Government and Opposition must love this promise. I guess addressing the 16 point IMF Diagnostic Assessment Study is central to this strategy. Sadly Sri Lanka has not even developed an action plan for implementation.
6) We need to walk the talk in making the desired image come to life. Especially in a political economy this requires rigour. The task is easier given that we have to start from scratch to rebuild the economy. We will not get this chance again to do this.
7) Monitor the global perceptions scientifically and not by just statements of the diaspora that can be coloured sometimes.
8) Track the global media, especially viral and below-the-line media.
Conclusion
A point to note is that at the end of the day, the brand custodians when it comes to a nation brand are the people. It is only the people of the country who can take it forward and for this we must be transparent and honest in decision making when it comes to social issues. As of now, to be honest, it is sad how we keep hurting the brand Sri Lanka when there is so much good going for the country.
The writer is a marketing professional who has served British multinationals and the United Nations (UNOPS). He is an alumni of Harvard University. The thoughts are strictly his personal views and not the views of the organisations he serves
