On the global marketplace, Malta needs a national image that strikes a balance between how it wants to be seen and how it is actually perceived by others. Photo: viewingmalta.com

We have all come to realise the power of brands. Branding creates a personality for a product or service by breathing onto them intangible attributes with which consumers identify. Today, buying a car is not about mobility, but a statement as to who we are and the image we wish to project.

The need to brand Malta resurfaced following Alastair Campbell’s address at the recent EY conference. State branding remains a controversial issue as it tries to bring together a wide array of objectives including public diplomacy (influencing foreign publics) and the promotion of exports, tourism and foreign direct investment. Whereas branding a product (Big Mac) or a company (McDonald’s) is pretty straightforward, branding a country is a much more complex matter.

The basic assumption is that the name of a country is itself a brand which conveys images that impact upon the purchasing decisions made by customers, at home and overseas. There is no doubt that this is true. We tend to associate countries with the quality of particular exports: Swiss watches, Japanese electronics, German engineering and French perfumes. At times, a country’s national image may impact negatively on the exports of a local producer (Olivetti suffered a competitive disadvantage as customers found it hard to associate Italy with office equipment).

State branding as an academic discipline only emerged in the last two decades. Till then, countries relied on reputation gained through the positive experience of consumers rather than sophisticated marketing campaigns. Switzerland’s reputation for banking and pharmaceuticals is a case in point. Reputation remains at the very core of successful branding, just as word-of-mouth is still the best form of advertising. Actual customer experience drives and sustains the building of brands.

A strong country brand has to be rooted in reality; able to connect with locals as well as foreigners.

Strategic advisers like Campbell are increasingly convincing countries of the need to have a branding strategy to create a new image or change an existing one. Campbell is helping the Albanian government to transform the perception of foreigners of a country associated with communist dictatorship, corruption and organised crime. It is possible to change a country’s image but this tends to be a difficult and lengthy process.

South Africa, formerly associated with apartheid and poverty, has been successful in creating an image of a sports-loving society having an emerging economy. Its carefully planned strategy was built around an incredibly vibrant concept, ‘Alive with Possibility’. The coordination of the strategy was entrusted to The International Marketing Council, a public-private partnership.

At the Malta conference, Campbell argued that our country has a good, but not a powerful, image. Malta is still unduly associated with being a sun and sea destination. He added that Malta can tap more business opportunities if we develop a coherent brand strategy. I believe that this is becoming a must if our country is to make a qualitative leap forward. It was this belief in the power of State branding that, in 1997, underpinned the drafting of a national economic strategy by the Forum for a Better Economy (which I chaired).

Malta is ‘alive with possibility’

On the global marketplace, Malta needs a national image that strikes a balance between how it wants to be seen and how it is actually perceived by others. The idea is not to favour one sector over another but to craft an umbrella concept that brings together its multiple objectives. Having an umbrella concept, while leaving space for specific messages addressed to specific target markets, provides the framework within which these messages can be formulated.

As in the case of South Africa, the umbrella concept should not be grounded in specific economic sectors (some of which may come and go) but in the competencies that make us Maltese different, if not unique.

Culture occupies a central role in promoting and sustaining a State’s brand as it is a key differentiating factor.

Most of our major economic players rely on lower costs for their competitiveness. This is not sustainable if our standard of living continues to improve. We need to develop a marketing culture that raises productivity through differentiation which enables us to charge higher prices for our products and services. This is the essence of marketing: to create differentiation for which consumers are willing and able to pay more.

Having a State branding strategy can pave the way and support marketing efforts at the enterprise (and sector) level. It is imperative that this strategy is formulated as an outcome of a comprehensive strategic management exercise. A State brand only makes sense if Malta has a medium-to-long-term vision that clearly defines what we stand for and gives direction as to where we would like to go.

Over the ages, the Maltese have excelled at trading. This vocation arose from the geophysical location and size of our islands. We have created resources (such as jurisdiction) and exploited competencies (flexibility) which have escaped larger and more sophisticated societies. We are too small to be prime movers but we learn and adapt quickly. Innovation has a distinct ‘indigenous’ meaning which is not R&D-dependent.

Malta too is ‘alive with possibility’. This is why we need to combat bureaucracy and create a pro-business culture that respects our values and the environment we live in. Unfortunately, we have already decided to go for State branding once and failed. We need to thread with care as our society cannot afford another such failure.

fms18@onvol.net