Brand Malta

Tourism in the Mediterranean is growing by a healthy five per cent per annum. Ours continues to falter. The targeted numbers, set by the Prime Minister himself, are far from being met. Forget about the desired leap in quality. We are being saved by schoolchildren stacked in hotel rooms. Malta cannot afford such a disaster in another key economic sector. The government feels naked; this time it has nowhere to hide. Globalisation and soaring oil prices are no excuse.

Feeling the pressure from the private sector, the government panics. There is talk of resignations and the need to find quick solutions. Perhaps we could be saved by low-cost airlines, or maybe just another war. In the meantime, the CEO of a re-restructured MTA bows out asserting that his mission has been accomplished. As a reward he will continue to get paid until his contract expires.

Finally someone discovers the ultimate solution: Brand Malta. Mount an internal public relations exercise so as to convince people the government is being proactive and that a solution is close by. Spice it up with a lottery (this should surely have been selected as a core value), and, hey presto, all is back on track.

How unfortunate. Our country generally still suffers from the lack of a marketing culture. The government's smoke screen exercise will only end up discrediting the need to build such a customer-focused culture. For years we have been waiting for the government to take the lead and start working on branding Malta. Now in the rush we get a distorted, amateurish campaign. Although I am no brand expert, I have worked close enough to a few global, as well as leading local brands, to permit myself to make such a statement. Branding Malta is a very serious matter and needs to be treated with the utmost care and professionalism. The competitiveness and continued well-being of our society in the foreseeable future depends on our ability to do it right. As we move away from competing on cost, branding becomes a way of defining our uniqueness, of creating and maintaining a competitive advantage. Unfortunately, too many of us still equate marketing and branding with just advertising.

Marketing starts with a "good" product, service, experience and promises consistency. Valid branding and image building should seek to amplify and co-ordinate what exists and should not be a fabrication.

And much of what exists needs to be put right. We cannot continue with the "uglification" and the rubbish, dust and noise pollution of our country and hope that a branding exercise will put things right. We need enforcement of existing laws. Otherwise, it will be a mere whitewash which will go away with the first rain. Failure to deliver on what we promise will alienate and scare away tourists.

A branding exercise does not stand alone. It needs to be embedded in a holistic, strategic plan. Market research is the point of departure. We have all been appointed brand managers but no one has bothered to tell us how are we are being perceived by those presently visiting our islands. Only then can we start talking about who we really are and how we wish our tourists to see us.

A branding exercise which stipulates as its objective the creation for Malta, over a three- to four-year period, of "a distinct image in people's minds the world over" is megalomaniac.

And unwarranted. It smells too much of CHOGM which less than a year ago was promising to be a big boost for our tourism. A proper strategic plan will help us target the "right" type of tourist; who appreciates what Malta can offer and is able, and willing, to pay the "right" price. This is technically known as "segmentation". Education. Culture. Sports. Entertainment. Maritime. Retirement. These are all potential categories and can themselves be further segmented.

This should then lead to a more focused, rifle rather than shotgun, strategy. Our small size, lack of critical mass and limited financial resources render mass marketing techniques beyond our reach. We need to outsmart rather than outspend our competitors. Inevitably, we are niche players.

Culture is of critical importance in communicating our country's spirit and essence. The challenge is to present past cultural achievements in ways that are fresh, relevant and appealing to the targeted client base. The Malta Brand personality as projected is quite acceptable. However, of the identified core values, only hospitality should have qualified as such. The sad thing is that in our "get-rich-quick" society much of our hospitality is vanishing. There are already quite a few of us who are living the vision; literally enriching our lives at the expense of tourists.

Heritage and diversity in themselves are not a value. It is how we go about caring and expressing these factors in our beliefs and behaviour that could render them into values. To state that, for example, diversity comes alive through "cleanliness standards", "an efficient transport system" and "convenient opening hours" is an insult and betrays the shabbiness in which the branding exercise has been shrouded.

The government itself needs to become a decent brand manager. Taking good care of our heritage and environment, respecting political diversity and expressing its hospitality by caring for those in our society who are most in need. Otherwise, Brand Malta will be a capricious one summer affair.

fms18@maltanet.net