Author: Suresh Dinakaran

Do Nations Build Brands or Brands Build Nations?

What comes first? Is it a chicken and egg situation? I reckon the jury is still out on this and will continue to remain so for some time.
Siemens. Audi. BMW. Mercedes, Adidas. Staedtler. Porsche, Kohler: what do these brand names conjure up in your mind? The Made in Germany factor.

Nescafe, Lindt, UBS, Rolex, Omega. Victorinox, Longines: Small country: Switzerland but look at the big brands that orginate there.

Chanel,YSL, Airbus, Peugot, Dior, Louis Vitton, Lacoste; The French Connection here is strong and over riding.

Versace, Lambhorgini, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo: The Italian touch is omnipresent.

Now let’s look at another dimension and put the shoe on the other foot.

Finland: what’s the call here? The Nokia brand gave this country the attention of the world. Connects the world in a way to Finland (not much motivation otherwise).

Puerto Rico: The Bacardi brand gives this Latin nation a big high all over the world. Three cheers to that!

What does one summarise from this? Do nations build a brand or brands build a nation?

Today we are in a scenario where a brand that orginates from say Germany especially in the Engineering or Automobile space comes into the market with a huge advantage- the Made in Germany label. Likewise, when it comes to perfumes & fashion, France gets top billing. And for watches, chocolates and banks, we need not look beyond Switzerland. What does it take for a nation to entrench its authority on the world consumption stage? Global acceptance, aura, enigma, quality or a combination of all these traits?

Finland was a Scandinavian country mostly lost to the world save for some paper manufacturing mills that shipped out millions of newsprint to newspaper and magazine publishers all over the globe. But it never put the country on the global map. Over the last 15 years Nokia has changed all that. The world’s leading handset brand( though now fast losing ground) is now connecting the country to the rest of the world, literally and figuratively. A classic case of a brand building a nation.

I reckon there is a generous dose of overlap in this. But, what remains a huge motivation is the fact that little known, puny little countries have earned global respect and attention through the power of the brands they create in their home countries. The likes of a Samsung have fought deep rooted biases and prejudices and have shown to the world that a Korean brand can take on the very best(read Apple) head on and succeed significantly.

What’s BEST for brands?

 Brands are like people. Social. Emotional. Foolish. Smart. With a compelling need for appreciation, attention and what have you. Prone to tiredness, fatigue, despondency, disillusionment…aging, lethargy, lack of motivation, energy…the parallel to human traits is incredible. So can the treatment and the way we look after brands be any different? Can we give brand marketing a human touch?

IDEAS.STRATEGY.DESIGN Global (ISD Global) has created a methodology what they call is BEST for brands. The acronym BEST expands to Brand Energy Stimulation Treatment. Often times what we have noticed is that being in the rat race to be omnipresent, dominant and profitable, brands tend to ignore the finer nuances of continuing to evolve and stay up to speed of audience preferences. Look around and you will see a number of them having missed the wood for the trees. Sony, Microsoft, Nokia are some classic examples- though they do retain their iconic status to a reasonable level, they seem to have taken customers for granted not that the likes of Google, Samsung, LG etc are complaining. In an eco system where one needs to sprinting to be standing at the same place, looking back and masquerading in past glory was certainly not the route to take. But, alas, it was not to be!

So what is BEST actually? BEST is like a Spa treatment for brands. Its oxygenating brands, either in the form of a comprehensive cleanse up act or subtle tweaks to the brand personality to bring it back fresh and rejuvenated in front of customers. Make it feel wanted, more wanted, more desirable. Its sending out a signal both internally and externally that ‘ we care for our customers as much as we care for ourselves ‘. Its drawing upon universal scientifically proven energy stimulation methodologies and applying that to the brand domain. So a lot of what we speak about for BEST will also have to do with brand colours, identity shapes, position of signages, materials used for communication etc etc.

Why the need for BEST? We are in an environment that ironically straddles both deficit and surplus- deficit of trust, deficit of time, deficit of buying power and a surplus of products, surplus of expectations, a surplus of irrational exuberance, a surplus of disloyalty. Given such a scenario, brands need to remain on a state of high alert and give customers the love and respect it expects. Looking inward, introspecting is sine qua non for brands, a need of the times. In a soon to be 4G dominant, always on, always connected era, what is relevant in the morning seem to be obsolete by the same evening- the vagaries and the power of the social media system makes the transfer of power from the brands to the consumers, all pervasive, all encompassing, inescapable. Brands are watched, talked about, consumed, revered or trashed, every moment of the day and a live feed is available in real time all across for those who care. There are learnings and there are leanings, there are feelings and there are failings and the cloak of opaqueness has vanished into thin air.

So all those who come on board the isotonic brand wagon and stay energised, connected and wanted, we say Welcome Aboard. And to the rest, all the BEST.