Uniquely Singapore Branding

Case study

Different types of branding There are different types of

branding. There are product branding, organization branding,
and destination branding. The latter is sometimes called place
branding, and currently termed nation branding. Destination
branding, place branding, and nation branding relates to the
branding of destinations but with slight variation. Many scholars
use these three terms interchangeably to describe the branding
of a place. The difference between product branding and
corporation branding Branding a product is different from
branding a corporation (Hatch and Schultz, 2001). The
difference requires positioning the whole corporation rather
than on a 11 product. Knox (2004) agrees that marketing an
organization is at a broader level and the traditional four Ps
approach cannot be applicable to branding a corporation.
Balmer (2001a) presents the differences between corporate
branding to product branding in numerous characteristics (see
table 1). The first and most obvious is that brand focus is on the
company rather than the product. Second, the chief executive
officer (CEO) rather than middle manager manages the brand.
Third, the corporate brands relate the attraction and support to

all organization stakeholders (i.e. organization, community,

investors, partners, suppliers, and others). Fourth, the brand
efforts go to the entire company rather than the marketing
department. The communications mix is the fifth contrasts and
it involves the total corporate communication. The time horizon
is the sixth characteristics and the corporate brand is as long as
the life of company rather than the life of the product. The final
difference is the corporate brand takes on a strategic role while
the product brand takes on a functional role (Balmer, 2001a).
Hatch et al proposed a strong brand name first taps into
corporate decisions made by the different stakeholders such as
the top management, employees and business associates or
community. The success of a corporate brand comes from a
framework that links strategic vision, organization culture, and
corporate image to be the foundation of the corporate brand
(Hatch & Shultz, 2001). Brand is usually build around the
corporations reputation for its offerings, quality, including
service. The outcome of successful brands is several years of
investment and strategic planning. (Simones and Dibb, 2001).

Uniquely Singapore In the STBs Annual Report 03/04, A New

Brand for Destination Singapore, STB launched the latest
branding campaign, Uniquely Singapore to much fanfare. It is
an attempt to update and contemporizes the image of
Singapore. The new brand emphasis is on Singapores
distinctive blend of rich culture and the modern attributes that
could enrich the visitors by offering unique and diverse
experiences.
Capitalizing on Singapores credibility for efficiency and quality,
it hopes to capture the Singapore Unique Selling Prepositions
(USP) and reinforce the country sustainability. The new brand
was designed to be compelling, differentiating and bold to
differentiate itself from other destinations. It was meant to
utilize Singapores credibility to inspire not just STB, but also
the industry partners and Singaporeans alike to share a

common voice, reverberating the tourism industrys core

messages.
According to STB, the process of developing this brand required
a meticulous evaluation of the Tourism Board, and its existing
industry business strategies, product offerings, service delivery
and the Singaporeans perceptions. In other words, it targets
the tourists as well as the locals. The intended brand message
extends beyond promoting Singapore to the world. It is about
creating more awareness among the Singaporeans of the
simple things in their lives that could be distinctive, enriching,
and interesting for tourists. The whole idea is to encourage
Singaporeans to become the countrys tourism ambassadors.
According to an STB employee, Uniquely Singapore speaks of
a destination that offers a unique blend of the best of the
modern world and rich cultures to deliver enriching experience.
The brand position differentiates Singapore as a premier
destination, offering a unique array of enriching experiences
from traditional cultural experience to innovative modern arts
performances, all delivered with a high level of service quality,
reliability and efficiency. The employee also briefly mentioned
STB had done a perception survey in the past but was not able
to provide the results or the questions asked. STB has six
categories to the survey: (1) Awareness, (2) Correct
Associations, (3) Perception level of those who are aware and
those who are not aware of the slogan, (4) Resulting impact on
all other brand health measures, (5) Comparison of 45 slogan
scores against main competitors, (6) Evaluation of results
versus the specific measures of what Uniquely Singapore
represents.

The Weakness of Uniquely Singapore In a marketing collateral

downloadable from the Asian Tourism website, STB brands
Singapore as a city like no other, because it is easy to
appreciate its people, its state-of-the-art infrastructure, and
always something new happening everyday. The opening of

the brochure markets its destination attributes as unique

because of its people, landscape, place in the world, and
passage through time. The brochure also promotes Singapore
as a destination for culture (Esplanade Theatre, festivals, and
local art scene), food (Hainanese Chicken Rice and Chilli Crab),
shopping (malls, shops and market), business center
(conventions - MICE) and water city (cruises). Mr. Lim Neo
Chian, the Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive of the
Singapore Tourism Board in the launch of Uniquely Singapore
campaign tried to explain why or what is unique about
Singapore. To STB, Singapore merges the best of the East and
the West, combines modernity with rich old traditions.
Singapore fuses Chinese, Indian, Malay, and other cultures with
its foods, and is an island inhabited by 4 million people who are
multi-racial, multi-religion, and multi-lingual harmoniously. (STB
Speech transcript by Mr. Lim N.C., 2004). If the brand identity of
the Uniquely Singapore campaign was meant to capture the
essence of unique, then it did not achieve it completely
because it did not capture the uniqueness of Singapore, the
message was generalized and did not create much
differentiation from its neighboring country. In terms of multiracial, multi religion, and multi-lingual, America could contend
it. In 46 terms of being modern, Hong Kong is conceivably more
modern than Singapore if not the same. Furthermore, Hong
Kong has also positioned itself as a shopping and business
center, and with an abundance of nightlife to boast (Calantone,
Benedetto, Hakam, Bojanic, 1989). So, what Singapore offers is
not unique to tourists. This creates a gap between perception
and reality (Anholt, 2008). In terms of food, Malaysia has similar
food like Singapore. According to Anholt (2008), national image
is not created through communications and cannot be altered
by slogan such as Malaysia - Truly Asia (Anholt, 2008, p212).
This is product-style marketing effort, and it does not help
Singapore as a nation project a consistent image. A bland
tagline is generic branding; it does not create a distinctive
proposition, and is basically ordinary. It is definitely not worth
the millions of dollars countries pay these days for branding a

country. A place or destination is different in branding from a

product especially not when it involves the reputation of a
country. The government should always observe their global
image in countries they aim to target. The stakeholder should
collaborate together and agree on a national stratagem. In
developing the strategy, it would involve many intricacies and
can be a long drawn out process. If the stakeholders could unite
as one, pin down the purpose and objectives, and fulfill the
process, it would reflect the will of one nation. Finally, the
hardest thing to do for the countrys reputation is perhaps to
continuously maintain the reputation in every sector (Tourism,
exports, culture, people, brands and policy).
Singapore has also position itself for urban tourism. Exactly
what attract tourists to cities? Places like Paris, New York, or
Singapore? Ruetsche (2006) explained tourists are attracted to
different elements within urban areas. People are attracted to
historic district with rich cultural background like landmark,
buildings, and the local character of a place. A waterfront
attracts tourists because of the visual appeal and the
something to do activity. Business travelers that visit
Singapore for MICE would also take the opportunity to take
some time off for leisure travel as well. Festivals and Events
such as the Film Festivals and Olympics attract tourists as well.
Shopping and F&B though is categorized as secondary element
of tourism, it still play a very important part to the tourism
industry because visitors still need to eat as part of their
vacation time, and shopping souvenirs for colleagues, friends
and family in very subtle ways tell their friends where they
recently spend time for their vacation. Conveniences and the
urban standard of living probably attracts tourists because it is
the comfort level that people can easily adjust and adapt to
when they are away from home. It is important to note that
through developing Singapore as a destination for urban
tourism, many of the redevelopment projects such as
Chinatown has lost its original character and authetic
elements (Yeoh et al, 2002).