Thursday May 09, 2024
Thursday May 09, 2024
Thursday, 21 December 2023 00:16 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Brand Finance Lanka Chairman Ruchi Gunewardene
Global headwinds
The latest statistics on Sri Lanka’s exports for this year is a matter of concern, with the data up to October indicating an overall decline of 10.4% of exports over the previous year. This reflects the difficult global challenges and business conditions. Post-COVID, consumer sentiment has changed, disposable income of consumers are reducing, interest rate increases across the world is putting pressure on costs and companies are under financial pressure to perform, worldwide.
As challenges rapidly mount, Sri Lankan exporters are compelled to look for new business models by setting up manufacture in new regions, expanding into hitherto new countries, developing new product lines, cutting costs, among many initiatives.
In this tumultuous environment, EDB’s launch of an overarching export brand is timely. This was first unveiled at the Presidential Export Awards in late November. While much work still needs to be done in setting up the website and other social media marketing channels, it nevertheless provides exporters with an additional quiver in their armoury with marketing to tackle the global headwinds.
As a member of the team that conceptualised this brand, it would be timely to set out its meaning and relevance, so it could be activated by the private sector.
The brand was developed after customer research (using historical information and insights), a competitive scan to be able to differentiate our offering relative to others and through the collective experiences of many Sri Lankan exporters across key sectors who worked on this along with an international brand consulting team.
Role of a country export brand
At the outset, we need to temper our expectations for such an initiative and take a realistic view – which is, this brand can only help us get a foot in the door, and not necessarily make a sale! It’s role is to specifically provide exporters with a basis for reassuring a potential customer that Sri Lanka should be considered as a strong contender as a sourcing destination. In essence, the brand needs to set out “Why Sri Lanka” succinctly and impactfully in 4 or 5 PowerPoint slides of a presentation, before the exporter goes on to give further details of his/her product.
This is because Sri Lanka is primarily known as a tourist destination and is largely unknown (with the exception of Ceylon tea) to global trade. Hence, the purpose of the brand is to bring potential customers up to speed by “preselling” the country’s trade, thereby establishing the basis for individual companies or sectors to leverage, ensuring receptivity to the detailed sales pitch which must follow.
Sri Lanka’s offer
Stepping back to view Sri Lanka’s trade in a global context and identifying its strengths and weaknesses is mandatory. The core strength is, being a relatively small country with a variety of specialised products (and services) serving niche markets. Sri Lanka is not a provider of cheap mass market products as the country does not have scalability, instead we are good at providing some form of specialisation at a premium price – usually (but not always) justified by superior quality, reliability and ethical practices. This sets the context for our brand – specialised, niche and an integral partner to global customers, which we believe is a credible and authentic offering. We find that most successful Sri Lankan exporters have developed these core strengths.
The brand needed to condense this into a tight story, relevant for business to business marketing. This is to be done by convincing a hard-nosed customer, who will not tolerate puffery, but seek a functional and tangible offer. Hence, a catchy or sexy brand was discounted and a more functional one considered at the outset.
Our research further showed that the association to being a holiday destination could also be an advantage to be incorporated as Sri Lanka is truly a “nice” place to do business in.
Articulating the brand
This gave rise to using the “Island” connotation (positive link to tropical, pleasant place to do business) which while being receptive, is an element to differentiate Sri Lanka from other similar country offers.
We then focused on the central idea, which was our end goal, to become an integral partner to our customers to achieve mutual success. Provided the product specifications and pricing are correct, we understood through our research that building partnerships is an intangible benefit that could tip the preference to us.
Bringing these all together, we articulated the brand with a personal touch: “Sri Lanka – Your Vital Island”.
The fundamental idea here is that Sri Lanka’s more specialist approach to manufacture (as opposed to mass production) cements this close relationship to buyers and can thereby become an integral partner in the supply chain. The word “vital” was thought to convey this in a succinct yet powerful manner.
Context for the proposed brand
A brand cannot operate in a vacuum and needs to be underpinned by specific beliefs to enable all those who embrace the brand make it credible when customers begin to engage. Hence, the main pillars on which the brand stands are:
Understanding the customer. Being mindful of cultural differences. Communication is everything. Ensuring everyone within the business is aligned. Being honest
Investing in understanding the end customer’s needs. Understanding competitor products/offerings. Continuous monitoring and performance improvement
Benchmarking against global best in class. Identify gaps and opportunities. Investing in product development and training
Setting out a code of conduct for corporate governance based on: Accountability. Fairness. Transparency. Responsibility. Diligent anti-corruption practice
Incorporating sustainability into everyday operations. Track, measure and report impacts the business has on energy, waste and community
These are fundamental commitments that individual sectors and businesses are required to adopt in embracing Sri Lanka’s export brand.
The next phase
While much needs to be done by EDB to establish the brand, this should not deter individual sectors using this to engage with their set of customers. The branding system provides flexibility as unique designs were developed for individual sectors to market their own capabilities, within the single country brand “Your Vital Island”.
The brand can now be taken forward in each industry, with more relevance to the nuances of customers in that sector. This creates a synergistic effect as each sector uses a common platform for their individualised marketing.
Marketing will play a key role to regaining growth in exports, with the ball squarely in the hands of the private sector. This will require investments to drive each sector and for all Sri Lanka’s exports getting back to a position of growth.
