I've been away for a bit, but today I felt the need to make a post. I felt the need because the Government has finally announced its re-branding campaign, but there are many reasons their effort is flawed before it even gets started.
1. The name - Beautiful Bangladesh - many countries will object to Bangladesh declaring that it is beautiful or more beautiful than other countries.
2. How can Bangladesh compare it's beauty to countries such as Italy, France, Spain, Thailand, England and the U.S. among many others?
3. What sort of marketing can be done with this brand?
Now, I am not saying that Bangladesh is not beautiful, indeed it is, but Bangladesh needs a brand that presents a more compelling image and can carry it into the future proudly. More than beauty, Bangladesh has its people and those people have heart, hospitality, and friendliness. Truly Bangladesh is the Heart of Asia, with a brand like this there would be so many more possibilities and moreover it carries a much more powerful, positive image. You can feel it.
There are many people out there with opinions about how Bangladesh should re-brand itself. Mostly they all agree on the reasons why this needs to happen, but the way to go about it varies. There is only one who has been helping his countrymen for over 20 years. Dr. Ehsan Imdad has worked to help many migrating Bangladeshis in the U.S. for over 20 years through the Bangladesh Association of NY (BANY) and Bangladesh Shangshod among many other affiliated organizations, and is also a Marketing Professional with over 20 years experience gained from his career in the U.S. with Corporate America's top financial and pharmaceutical companies. He has launched many brand products and knows first hand the way it works best. He is also the author of , "The Art of Marketing Communication and Corporate Culture published by UPL and was recently featured on Channel I's most popular talk show, Grameenphone's "Tritomatray Apni". During the program he, too suggested that Bangladesh be re-branded as "Bangladesh, the Heart of Asia". When you analyze it, this is the brand that truly fits Bangladesh.
Any country can be beautiful on the outside, but what will keep tourists coming back? It is not the exterior beauty of Bangladesh. It will be the warmth of the people who serve them, the hospitality in the hotels across the country, the smiles in the faces of the children. The Heart of Bangladesh.
Please read the document written by Dr. Ehsan Imdad on Branding Bangladesh. It is truly worth your time and full of many enlightening ideas.
Why, am I not surprised. When you rely on foreign resources for oil you pay the price. Many things impact that price. Market fluctuations, weather, and supply availability at any given time. Of course the concern in this article is the cost to developed countries. What comes around, goes around and eventually this will also impact Bangladesh and other developing nations.
When do we stop relying on the Gulf Countries for Oil? When do we work on developing our own resources?
This will reduce the cost over petrol at home and have further reaching benefits for us as well. Bio Fuel is being looked at across the globe as one alternative. It need not impact food security, if the correct choices are made.
So, again I ask what is causing the delay to take action?
World oil prices rebounded sharply from five-month lows in Asian trade Monday on worries that Hurricane Ike will threaten production facilities in the US Gulf Coast, analysts said.
New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October, was up 1.89 dollars to 108.12 dollars a barrel from its close in New York floor trading on Friday.
Brent North Sea crude for October surged 1.71 dollars to 105.80 dollars a barrel.
‘Oil prices are reacting to the threat of Hurricane Ike, which is heading toward the Gulf of Mexico,’ said Victor Shum, an analyst with energy consultancy Purvin and Gertz in Singapore.
‘In the short term, hurricanes will determine the price direction of crude oil. It’s likely that the market will test new lows this month if the hurricane season does not do any damage to oil production in the Gulf of Mexico.’The hurricane slammed into Cuba on Sunday, officials said. Ike, packing 195-kilometre per hour winds, earlier left dozens of people dead in a rampage across Haiti.
The hurricane is expected to eventually churn past Florida into the Gulf of Mexico and sweep toward Louisiana and the storm-battered city of New Orleans as early as Tuesday.
Last week, Hurricane Gustav forced the closure of US oil production in the Gulf, but analysts said the storm did little long-term damage to oil rigs and production platforms there.
Oil prices, which rose to record highs above 147 dollars in July, had tumbled to five-month lows close to 104 dollars last week as the cooling global economy stoked fears of waning energy demand. After hosting the 2008 Olympic Games last month, China had cut its imports of gasoline and diesel, Shum said, adding that slowing demand in the eurozone and the rest of Asia was likely to weigh on oil prices. Shum said the market was also closely watching the results of a policy meeting on Tuesday by oil ministers of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in Vienna.
Some analysts are expecting the ministers to agree to trim output to help keep crude above 100 dollars a barrel. ‘I think in the end, OPEC’s actions — whether it will be at tomorrow’s meeting or in the next month or two — will be the key to determine prices for the rest of the year,’ Shum said.
Britain and Bangladesh will jointly hold a high-level conference on climate change on Wednesday in London to launch a possible Bangladesh-specific climate change action plan and trust fund in line with the Bali Declaration.
Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam and Environment Special Assistant Raja Devasish Roy will present a strategy and action plan, including plans to start a billion dollar multi-donor trust fund, to combat climate change.
"At the conference we hope to present a strategy and an action plan which is in the final stage at this moment," said Devasish in a statement, adding that the strategy outlines how climate change issues will be mainstreamed towards development over 10 years. British International Development Minister Douglas Alexander and World Bank Managing Director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala will attend the conference along with 200 other participants including speakers from vulnerable countries, donors, private sector, academia and NGOs. The joint effort by the two countries will try to link mitigating and adapting to climate changes with meeting the Millennium Development Goals and overall development.
The government consulted selected members of the civil society, private sector and donors to draw up the strategy to identify potential physical impacts of climate change.
“The main concern raised is that the pace of climate change could overwhelm development efforts and reverse the gains of recent decades," said a government statement. The strategy calls on donors to support Bangladesh in developing climate change resilient capability.
The conference will focus on highlighting Bangladesh as one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change effects and how Bangladeshis are already struggling to adapt to the effects.
Looking ahead to the new international climate change agreement expected to be signed in Copenhagen in 2009, the British and Bangladesh governments will highlight the need for global participation in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and support climate change adaptation.
"The aim is to increase international focus on how Bangladesh is adapting to climate change and how much more needs to be done, both domestically and globally to stop it from worsening," said DFID Bangladesh chief Chris Austin.
He added that Britain would announce a significant package of support to address climate change in Bangladesh. According to government projections, the country is likely to suffer from more intense and frequent floods, droughts, cyclones and storm surges, with adverse impact on agriculture, water security and health.
By 2050, rising sea levels could permanently flood 8 percent of the country with production of rice declining by 8 percent. Around 70 million people could be annually affected by floods with up to 12 million people being affected by drought in the dry season.
Dialogue blasts developed countries over climate change
Bangladesh should not ask for charity or aid from industrially developed countries to combat climate change, but demand compensation from them, speakers at a dialogue in the city said yesterday. The reason for this, they said, is that the industrially developed countries are themselves causing the change in climate. The comments came at a dialogue arranged by BBC Bangla Sanglap (Dialogue) at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre on “Bangladesh Sanglap on Climate Change” yesterday.
Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, convener of Equity-BD and a panel member at the dialogue, said, "We should not be seeking help from developed countries. It is a question of justice and reparation.” “The developed countries have caused loss to Global Public Goods and they must compensate," he said. The effects of climate change are causing a huge loss to the government economically, speakers pointed out, citing the example of Sidr. Bangladesh received US$ 600 million in foreign aid though the loss caused by Sidr is estimated at US$ 3 billion. Bangladesh has an existing bank loan of Tk 17,000 crore while natural disasters like cyclone, flood and other climate change effects add to the deficit every year.
Dr Atiq Rahman, chairman of South Asia Climate Action Network, Prof Shahnaz Haque Hossain, dean of environment sciences faculty of Dhaka University, Prof Mominul Haque Sarker and CEGIS Head Morphologist Mominul Haque Sarker were the other panel members of the dialogue, while BBC's Masud Hasan Khan moderated the event. Dr Atiq Rahman pointed out that "the sea level will rise by at least one metre by 2050 -- with possibilities of rising upto 1.5 metres,” causing unthinkable damage to the world.
“A one metre rise will affect 13% of the agriculture land and 17% of the remaining land of the country as Bangladesh will be among the first countries to be affected by this change," he said. In that case, Dr Atiq pointed out, the sea will come within 60 to 100 km of the capital city and most of the southern areas of the country will go under water. Other countries like the Maldives would go totally underwater. Dr Atiq also said that the loss from climate change would be higher than that estimated by the International Panel for Climate Change (IPCC).
The speakers at the dialogue also criticised the paper that is to be presented in the upcoming bilateral talks on climate change in UK, saying the paper was “limited towards effects on infrastructure” and was ' research-centred' and not based on any field level work or information. The talks are scheduled for September 10. They stressed the need for the developed and developing countries' making a commitment to address the issue of climate change. Experts at the dialogue called on the government to formulate a coordinated policy to address the issue. They praised the government for allocation in this year's budget in this regard but pointed out that Bangladesh is not responsible for climate change, and countries causing the problem must take responsibility for their actions. Funds for adaptation and research to combat the situation should come from the countries causing the damage, they said. The speakers also urged the industrially developed countries to introduce special quota for Bangladesh to help people migrate from the affected areas in accordance with existing international laws. Shahnaz Haque said that we must overcome the fear of damage caused by climatic change and take effective steps to combat it. "Our real concern is whether human activities is harming the natural system," she said. It was revealed at the dialogue that fifty percent of Kutubdia Island has already gone under water. At the present rate of land erosion, both Kutubdia and Bhola will go completely underwater in another 40 and 70 years. Mominul Haque said, "What really matters is how much the sea level will rise and for how long?”
Global Warming is a threat looming over Bangladesh. I have talked about this issue a few times and that Bangladesh as a nation needs to take steps to avert the impending threat as it has been revealed by Al Gore and his team of environmental experts. Recently I was browsing a few blog sites and came across this one Adhunika Blog where in the July 30th post they make a lot of valid points. What are we leaving for our children? What world? Even if Bangladesh survives the Global Warming threat, its own inhabitants are polluting the environment everyday.
From dumping trash into the waterways, factories billowing smoke into the air, the blaring horns from the cars as the drive through the city and villages. We face pollution every single day. I see the women and children suffering from skin disease begging on the street. Nobody wants to go near them. Literally, I get chills just looking at them.
There are solutions to the issue of garbage and the Dhaka city is making some efforts to centralize incinerators for garbage. Unfortunately, so far their efforts are focus in the old part of the city.
Bangladesh should be looking for Green solutions to many of its problems, beginning with pollution. Recently, I heard of a project in China where they are burning trash to generate electricity. The electricity generated is not from fossil fuel or carbon based so it is considered Green the same way using biofuel for cars is Green.
Bangladesh is a country on the brink of being under water due to Global Warming, shouldn't it be looking to reduce the carbons in the air at home?
This appeared in all the dailies today and it's a good thing. If the government collects taxes from all it will go far to help build the country. So, pay your taxes everyone. Sorry for the short post, its been a busy day.
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Govt observes National Income Tax Day on Sept 15
Dhaka, September 1 (bdnews24.com) — The government has decided to observe Sept 15 as the National Income Tax Day countrywide to encourage and motivate people to pay tax. The government will reward the highest regular taxpayers at the district as well as the national level on the occasion. An interim cabinet meeting presided over by chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed on Sunday made the decision, said a statement of the Press Information Department, the government's press wing. The move aims to bridge the gap between the taxpayers and the tax officials. The National Board of Revenue will try to make people aware of their rights and tax payment procedures, and create taxpayer-friendly environments in the IT departmental offices, the statement said. The highest taxpayers as well as the most regular ones at both district and national levels will be rewarded on the national day every year.
It is time to move into action to prevent the worst from happening, not just sit around wringing our hands as we realize what the effects of global warming might be in Bangladesh and Southeast Asia. Perhaps sitting with International Experts and heeding their suggestions might help us.
The struggle the government has after any conference like this, is that it all makes sense, but as NGOs and other organizations line up with their varied project-style solutions the government sits and analyzes, reviews each one, sets up unending TORs, sends them around from one ministry to another for more review and approvals and by the time they finally come to a conclusion Bangladesh is in an even more dire situation at which point none of the projects will be effective enough to overcome the threat facing Bangladesh.
Isn't that what happened with the electricity problem we are currently facing and suffering from? So take the proposals and take action. As Julius Caesar said, "Seize the Day!"
Himalayan council proposed to address Asian climate issues
The visiting Iceland president Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson proposed formation of a Himalayan council with nations across the Himalayan region to address the regional concerns over climate changes. ‘It could initially serve as a forum for promotion of the necessary researches and play a role in developing a constructive dialogue on how to address the challenges,’ Grímsson said as he addressed the concluding ceremony of a week-long international symposium on climate change and food security in South Asia at the Sonargaon Hotel on Saturday. His proposal came in replication to the Arctic Council formed after the end of the cold war era in early 1990s by eight countries, including the United States and Russia, to address climate issues. The economic and food security of more than a billion people around the Himalayas will be affected with the melting of the Himalayan glaciers, he pointed out, urging politicians, scientists, businessmen and civic organisations to face the future challenges together. Grímsson, who visited Bangladesh for the first time, was re-elected president of Iceland for the fourth time in 2008. Bangladesh is bound to be affected by the melting of the ice in the Himalayas, often called the water tower of Asia, through its effects on the major rivers that run through the Ganges delta, he said. An academic-turned-politician who studied economics and political science, Grímsson advocated a unified global strategy to prevent the impending disaster from climate change and global warming. Food and energy production for about 800 million people in South Asia depends on the Himalayan water resources which could beget conflicts across the already sensitive borders, said Grímsson. The chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, who addressed the programme as chief guest, stressed the need for working jointly by South Asian nations to face the challenge and properly address the issue in international negotiations. The chief adviser listed the Bangladesh government’s measures to address climate change issues. After discussions on a number of aspects of climate by scientists, academics, officials and civil society actors from home and abroad, the organisers came up with six broader suggestions that included formation of a regional network for climate change and food security, and multi-disciplinary researches on the matter. Fakhruddin said Bangladesh had just completed the preparation for a national climate change management strategy and action plan taking into consideration all the sectors. He informed the audience of the formation of a $45m climate change endowment fund and the setting up of five working groups on adaptation, mitigation, technology transfer, financial flows and creating awareness. Fakhruddin observed the world was now united to face the threats of the climate change. ‘We must take integrated steps to combat adverse effects of global warming on food security,’ Fakhruddin said, hoping for a global response from greenhouse gas emitters to address the concerns. He put out a call, saying, ‘This is time for action without delay.’ Presided over by the Dhaka University vice-chancellor, SMA Faiz, the concluding session was addressed, among others, by the education and commerce adviser, Hossain Zillur Rahman, the chief adviser’s special assistant in charge of environment and forest, Devashish Roy, the director of the Carbon Management and Sequestration Centre at Ohio University, Rattan Lal, FAO regional representative for Asia and the Pacific Changchui He and World Meteorological Organisation representative MVK Sivakumar. The University of Dhaka, Ohio State University, World Meteorological Organisation, and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific organised the symposium, inaugurated by the president, Iajuddin Ahmed, on August 25 in Dhaka.
Dhaka Declaration of Symposium S Asian climate change network a must to combat challenges
The International Symposium on Climate Change and Food Security in South Asia in its Dhaka Declaration has recommended creating South Asian Network on Climate Change and Food Security and establishing South Asia Climate Outlook Forum to combat challenges of climatic changes in the region collectively.
The five-day symposium that concluded at Hotel Sonargaon in the capital yesterday also emphasised the need for stimulating multi-disciplinary research on the burning issue and identifying effective mitigation and adaptation options, including carbon sequestration in different ecosystems.
The programme was jointly sponsored by Ohio State University, World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), Food and Agriculture Organisation, UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, Dhaka University and the Bangladesh government. Around 250 participants from 17 countries attended the event.
Prof Rattan Lal, director of Carbon Management and Sequestration Centre of Ohio State University, presented the Dhaka Declaration.
Experts at the programme observed that climate change will increase temperature, decrease availability of fresh water, contribute to the rise in sea level, glacial melting in the Himalayas, increased frequency and intensity of extreme events, and shifting of cropping zones in South Asia affecting agriculture and food sector, economy, societies and environment.
Prof Lal said, "The serious problems of soil degradation and desertification are likely to be exacerbated by climate change through accelerated erosion, fertility depletion, salinisation and acidification and that subsistence agriculture, characterised by low productivity and extractive farming, is extremely vulnerable to such climatic change."
In the wake of such threats, the symposium urged the development partners and the private sector to fund implementation of programmes that reflect the recommendations.
The other recommendations include initiating and strengthening cooperation among academic and research institutions, international organisations, and NGOs to provide opportunities for strengthening institutions, human resource development and capacity building.
The symposium also suggested developing innovative financial mechanisms to scale up technical and financial support for the adaptation efforts of the South Asian countries and strengthening regional institutional and policy mechanisms to promote and facilitate implementation of location-specific adaptation and mitigation practices.
The Declaration says, "Climate Change and Food Security in South Asia Network and South Asia Climate Outlook Forum both to be maintained by the WMO will share information on management of climate change and related science, data, tools and methodologies in South Asia."
They will also generate data on solar heating as it relates to the effects of soot, aerosols and particulate material emissions on radiation balance, rainfall patterns and regional climate change.
The proposed network and the forum will develop seasonal climate predictions to assist farmers to optimally adjust their planting dates, crop varieties and management practices to reduce agricultural vulnerability to hydro-meteorological hazards, it notes.
These will promote adoption of proven sustainable technologies related to better soil, crop, livestock and fishery and water management in order to increase food productivity by enhancing efficiency of inputs such as fertiliser, water, energy and labour, it adds.
They will create mechanisms to pay farmers for ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration in soils and reductions of gaseous emissions related to deforestation, degradation of agricultural soils, grasslands and water quality improvement, and reduced emissions of methane and nitrous oxide from agricultural and forestry land uses.
The experts at the symposium said these two bodies would also establish regional early warning system of climatic risks and improve collection and dissemination of weather-related information by improving weather station networks to strengthen monitoring of extreme events and their impacts on food production and availability.
What is Nation Branding and what are the benefits?
The concept of nation branding was elaborated by Simon Anholt in 1998 through his article “Nation Brands of the 21st Century” in the Journal of Brand Management where he pointed out that “brands create a value that is invisible”. Anholt, a market researcher from the corporate sector, reckons that brand is a “multiplier of value and as such represents a substantial advantage for its owner; it is as good as money in the bank.”
Recently I have come across many articles, blog posts and other documentation that suggest that Branding or Re-Branding Bangladesh would have a positive economic effect in Bangladesh. I have asked the public for the opinion and it's astounding to me that no one commented or gave an opinion.
The article (yet another) below elaborates a bit on Nation Branding and appeared in the Daily Star Newspaper in Bangladesh in July:
Rebranding Bangladesh
Mamun Rashid
My friend and teacher, Professor Ferhat Anwar, may be angry with me, for it is premature 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 forward-looking 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 important 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 micro-credit 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.”
Again, I refer to the article written by Ifty Islam that lays out the numerous reasons why this is so important. His article also appeared the Daily Star this August
The importance of defining Brand Bangladesh
Ifty Islam
The Incredible India campaign has been a huge success. Bangladesh is still searching to determine its brand, a good tool in raising positive awareness about the country.
In 2007 Vietnam attracted Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows of $ 20bn and if Bangladesh is to benefit from the surge in global investor interest in Asia, we need to address the key questions of “Why Bangladesh? Why Now?”. A new and effective strategy for developing Brand Bangladesh will be a critical part in credibly answering these questions. One report from leading brand consultants Interbrand, defined Nation Branding as “the ability to act and speak in a coordinated and repetitive way about the themes that are the most motivating and differentiating a country can make.” There is actually a ranking, the Anholt Nation Brand Index, which has the UK, Germany and France leading a list of 38 countries. The 2007 Report noted “Globalisation means that countries compete with each other for the attention, respect and trust of potential customers, investors, tourists…a strong and positive nation brand provides a crucial competitive image.” I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by a number of final year IBA students who were completing a thesis on national branding. I suggested that we start by playing a word association game to decide what “Brand Bangladesh” is, which is clearly a necessary pre-requisite to deciding what we want it to become. We collectively tried to summarize what the rest of the world thinks when they hear the word “Bangladesh”. The five leading candidates were 1) Natural Disasters; 2)Poverty ; 3)Political Instability ; 4)Corruption; and 5) Grameen/Professor Yunus. Clearly 4 negative connotations offset by an example of Bangladesh's considerable contribution to the world. The next question I had for the students was what words would we like the rest of the world to think when they heard “Brand Bangladesh”. We concluded with five new themes: 1) Adjacency to India and China; 2) A young, dynamic and entrepreneurial population of 150mn people; 3) A land of innovation in micro finance with the Grameen revolution and Professor Yunus; 4) Untapped opportunities for global investors looking for a new economic platform in the heart of Asia; 5) Substantial and largely untapped intellectual/commercial capital from Non-Resident Bangladeshi (NRB) platform. At least these offer some food for thought as to what Bangladesh should be and I'm sure a number of you have more suggestions. We can agree “Brand Bangladesh” is important and we have begun to think about what we do and don't want it to be. But how do we go about marketing? There is a lot more resources available than is commonly assumed. Yes the Board of Investment and Parjatan and other Government agencies are stretched. But we have in reality hundreds of thousands and perhaps millions of “Brand Ambassadors” at our disposal - the large NRB community. We just need to find an effective strategy to leverage it. This might involve creating an NRB database and greater support and encouragement for events like the Asia Society seminar held in New York last month that was, in fact, co-organized by NYBAP, an NRB professional's organisation. Government, possibly, with some support from multilateral agencies, should fund a professional marketing campaign. It will be money well spent. So what should our slogan be in the light of “Malaysia, Truly Asia” and “Incredible India”? While I am as much a fan of alliteration as the next man, I came up with the following three possibilities: 1) “Bangladesh, the Next Asian Tiger” 2) “Bangladesh, the Emerging Asian Tiger” 3) “Bangladesh, at the Heart of Asia” I have a slight preference for the first I must confess combining the themes of Bengal Tiger, Asia (very popular with investors) and a sense of forward thinking. In the interests of democracy and for a little fun, might I suggest we vote on it. Please send your preferences among the three alternatives above, and indeed any other catchphrases you think are better, to info@at-capital.com and I will reveal the results in my next column in two weeks time. If Bangladesh is to emulate the fastest growing neighbours in the rest of Asia, we need to take the challenge of defining and marketing “Brand Bangladesh” seriously. There are likely to be differences between the brand strategy for attracting investment versus tourism but we need as a country to agree what the broad themes. I look forward to hearing and sharing the responses from my fellow “Brand Ambassadors”.
Ifty Islam is the Managing partner of Asian tiger capital partners and formerly Managing Director and head of global macro strategy at citigroup, London.
Many people may wonder what the big deal is and why I (and countless others) are stressing about this topic. Branding can build a nation, the right branding that is. Right now Bangladesh is stagnating under a bad label (brand).
What do people envision when they hear the mere word "Bangladesh"?
Third World Country, Poor people, devastation by floods, and maybe they remember Dr. Yunus is from Bangladesh and won the Nobel Prize for microcredit (giving loans to poor villagers struggling to run businesses).
I suggest reading the following article written by Ehsan Imdad, Ph.D. who was a presenter at last year's NRB conference and the Author of "The Art of Marketing Communication and Corporate Culture".
Let's build a better Bangladesh together, a good brand is the first step towards a brighter tomorrow. Please leave a comment, suggestion or anything you'd like to say.
So, my question is for how long will we allow Bangladesh to be known by Micro Credit, Flood, Famine and Professor Yunus? If you love Bangladesh, as I do then you know it has many great things going for it, but it could be so much more.
Is this really what we want for Bangladesh, to create a Poverty Museum that will continue to instill in the minds of the world our depressing history of taking money (micro credit):
A bare utterance is being transformed into a reality. The famous saying of Dr. Muhammad Yunus (Nobel Prize-winning founder of Bangladesh’s Grameen Bank) that “We will create a poverty museum by 2030…We will start with Bangladesh” finally goes global with his pioneering micro-credit scheme to poor people with no bank account or credit history. A bank from a “third world country” is making inroads into the world’s richest country: the United States. Grameen America which launched in January 2008, has already lent a modest $145,000 to immigrant women in New York City.
Since at least 2005 the blogging world has been writing and suggesting a new brand for Bangladesh an example is 3rd World View's 2005 Blogspot Post. Also, if you Google search Branding Bangladesh in any search engine, you will find a lot of great information.
So, how long to we want to be the orphan child with the depressing outlook. Don't we want to be like India, Thailand, Malaysia and the many others who have changed their destiny and economic outlook simply by re-branding themselves?
The importance of defining Brand Bangladesh - This article really hits the reasons that Bangladesh needs to act now to change its Brand. Important, economic reasons that the Government should take very seriously.
Here is another opinion in his write up called simply Branding Bangladesh, though I think he has over simplified the way and the reasons.
And finally, I would like to share the following report with you:
_______________________________________________________________________________________________ In Search of Another “Brand” for Bangladesh Debapriya Bhattacharya Executive Director Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Addressing Perceptions and Realities
Novelist Arnold Bennett (1861-1931) once made the point that “it is difficult to make a reputation, but it is even more difficult to mar a reputation once properly made - so faithful is the public.” Bangladesh, regrettably, faces a reputation challenge which is popularly known as its “image problem”. Thus we observe that the country is being regularly ranked at the low end by organisations as diverse as the World Economic Forum, UNDP, UNCTAD, Transparency International, Freedom House, and Goldman & Sachs. These rankings are usually based on a mix of objective measures and stakeholder perceptions.
The fundamental prerequisite for changing perceptions about Bangladesh would be to change the unfavorable realities prevailing in the country. However, improvement of the reality needs to be supplemented by an effective communication strategy which will adequately transmit the primary strength of the country to the world at large. Indeed, the concept of “branding” may be effectively utilised to address both the reality and perception challenges which Bangladesh is currently confronting.
The Concept of Nation Branding
The concept of nation branding was elaborated by Simon Anholt in 1998 through his article “Nation Brands of the 21st Century” in the Journal of Brand Management where he pointed out that “brands create a value that is invisible”. Anholt, a market researcher from the corporate sector, reckons that brand is a “multiplier of value and as such represents a substantial advantage for its owner; it is as good as money in the bank.”
It is said that a country cannot be sold like a toothpaste. Thus, nation branding is not about pretending that everything is fine in a country, nor is it about discouraging investors and tourists from coming into the country. It is about letting others know about the talents and the opportunities that a country is endowed with. Accordingly, nation branding requires a broader definition of the term “branding” that includes a plan for earning reputation. Indeed, one needs to inspire and induce majority of the citizens to act in a way that helps the country to earn a reputation and make sure that the world knows about it and believes in it.
Anholt introduced in 2005 the Anholt-GMI Nation Brand Index along with GMI, an e-business solution provider. Based on responses from about 25,900 consumers drawn from 35 countries, the index provided a score addressing six core areas of a country depicted through a hexagon:
Tourism, Culture, Governance, Exports, People and Investment. The top 10 countries (in descending order) were: UK, Switzerland, Canada, Italy, Sweden, Germany, Japan, France, Australia and USA.
Branding Bangladesh
Nation branding is not yet given much attention in the middle and low income countries. But if a country opts not to have a branding strategy, it does not mean that others will leave it alone. Rather, disadvantaged countries like Bangladesh will be left to the discretion of others and get “branded” based on limited and partial or biased information. Remaining cognisant of this, emerging economies are increasingly addressing the issue of nation branding in a pro-active manner. For instance, in the region, India is recreating its image as the hub of IT based industries and services as well as a major source of skilled manpower. Even small countries, like Bhutan,may use their image of being small, unique, unspoiled and fragile that is envied by the developed world.
Till date, Anholt Index does not include Bangladesh. But as Bangladesh progresses, it will definitely generate enhanced interest in the global community and the sponsors of the index will be inclined to include the country in its exercise. In this connection, a limited survey carried out by CPD among a set of young professionals ranked the six core areas of brand reputation in the following descending order of strength: People, Exports, Culture, Tourism, Investment and Governance. Incidentally, the numerical distance of the weakest area (governance) was substantial from the rest. One wonders whether the expatriate consumers will agree with this ordering.
Bangladesh will be well advised to develop a branding strategy which would expose convincingly and continuously, its natural and acquired strengths, without underplaying the need to effectively deal with the structural and policy weaknesses. A government-corporate partnership, underpinned by active involvement of the civil society, may be forged to articulate an operational plan in this regard.
So, now how do we Brand Bangladesh? Is she "Bangladesh - the heart of Asia" or "Bangladesh - Undiscovered Gem of Asia"? What's your choice, your favorite?
Or do you think Bangladesh should continue to be the poster child for poverty, micro credit, floods (even though Bangladesh is not the country with the highest amount of flooding annually), and Professor Yunus ( no offense, he is a great person)? What's your opinion?
Leave me a comment with what you think to see it posted here. Let the people speak out loud!
A citizen of the world living in Bangladesh after many years living abroad. I am hopeful that my suggestions and observations posted here may help to influence those who can bring about great change in Bangladesh.
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“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
