NATION BRANDING OF BANGLADESH: Need a tremendous focus Mr.

Rafiuddin Ahmed, Assistant Professor, Department of Marketing Introduction At present branding is becoming a buzz word in each sector. Only marketing is dying. The threshold of branding is attaining its own position. No product, service, nation can get success without the positioning of brand in the mind of customers. For branding Bangladesh we have to show our present resources and future potentiality in front of the world. We have to create a positive appealing image in front of the people about our country, so that oversees tourists and visitors can feel interest for visiting our country. Nation branding is a field of theory and practice which aims to measure, build and manage the reputation of countries (closely related to place branding). Some approaches applied, such as an increasing importance on the symbolic value of products, have led countries to emphasize their distinctive characteristics. The branding and image of a nation-state "and the successful transference of this image to its exports - is just as important as what they actually produce and sell.(Wikipedia). Simon Anholt is credited as a pioneer in the field. Like other countries, Bangladesh has started to brand her and trying to figure out the resources, capabilities, acumen in the related field. We have lots of scopes/opportunities, resources say novel laureates, historical places, longest beach in the world, culture, manpower, cuisine etc. Lack of proper branding initiative and expertise, we are lagging behind form the race of branding the country. Simon Anholt identifies brand hexagon where he showed 6 criteria for branding a nation. They are tourism, exports, governance, investment & immigration, culture and heritage and people.

Figure: Developed by Simon Anholt

With the addition to Simon Anholt, I focus on brand octagon where sports and entertainments are added as we may feel proud about that.

For branding purpose, we have to systematically choose or divide our criteria for branding Bangladesh. If we can implement these criteria successfully, we can come up with our goal of branding Bangladesh. 1. Culture: We have a unique and rich culture. Our culture is shaped by our values and believes. Our cultural festivals are also appealing and amusing. We have Pohela Boishak, Pohela Falgun, and Mother Language day etc. We can also brand our traditional clothes like: Panjabi, Fotua, Shari, dhuti etc. We can brand our Folk songs- Jari, Shari, Vawali, Mymensging Gitika etc.

Our literature is also much enriched. We have poetry, novel, story books written by our poets and scholars. We can brand these enriched collection of Bengali literature. We can also brand the dance show of our tribal group. We a have a lot of tribal people who live in Bandorbon, Chittagong district. Besides that, we can brand our Bangladeshi Pitha. It is our traditional food. We have variety of Pitha which is different in taste and look. We can invite foreigners to taste the Pitha by branding this item. It will help us to create a tempting brand image for Bangladesh.

There are a lot of fishes in Bangladesh, which taste is unique and tempting. Hilsha fish is most remarkable among them. Since it is our national fish, if this fish can be properly branded then this fish may become symbol of our country. We have a much enriched collections of Bangladeshi fruits. These are jack fruits, mangoes, guava, litchi, etc. we can brand this seasonal fruits for branding Bangladesh. 2. Tourism Tourism sector also has a lot of potentiality for branding. It can be our major criteria for branding. We can create a positive brand image about Bangladesh by branding our beautiful tourist area. Because most of the people when think about any country, the first visual image come to mind that the tourism place of the country. We have many place in the country which is full of natural beauty, they need to be properly advertised and maintained. Coxs Bazar can be our major tourist spot. Because, it is the longest sea beach in the world. We have unique combination of sea and hills in the Coxs Bazar. Now we have

enough international quality Hotel and Motel in Coxs Bazar. These places just need to be properly branded. We can also brand our coral island. Saint Martin is the only coral island in Bangladesh border which is a beautiful place to enjoy the beautiful Sea. Visitors can also enjoy scuba diving there. Kuakata in Barishal is also a very beautiful place for watching sun set. We can brand this place featuring its sea beach and sun set scene. We can also brand our hilly districts for branding Bangladesh. We have Rangamai, Teknaf, Bandorbon, Sylhet. These places can be branded as a thrilling place for hill tracking and enjoying the beautiful green hills. We have the largest mangrove forest in the world. This is The Sundarbans. It can be the main attraction for the visitors who love forests. The beauty and natural resource of the Sundarbans can symbolizes the natural beauty of Bangladesh. We can also brand Nizhum Dip which is situated in southern part of Noakhali. There are a lot of deer. That may be a famous tourist spot for observing Deer. Our tea garden can also be branded as a tourist place. Our most of the tea garden is situated in Sylhet district. It can symbolize the beautiful image of Bangladesh. 3. Export sector We can brand our export sector of the country. We can position our self as an export oriented country in front of the world. Export sector helps to create a positive brand image about Bangladesh. We have to brand our RMG sector in front of the world. Now we are the 2nd biggest exporter in knitwear sector. We can also brand our shrimps and crabs industry. There are a lot of demands of Bangladeshi shrimps and crabs in foreign country. We can invite tourists to taste shrimps and crabs. We can also brand our handicrafts industry. Especially our Nakshi Katha is already famous in all over the world. We can make a creative identity by branding Nakshi Katha in front of the world. Every year we produce plenty of different types of vegetables. We also export remarkable amount of vegetables. We can brand this sector. Bangladeshi dry fish is famous in all over the world. But at present we export very little amount of dry fish. If we are able

to increase the amount of export in this sector and brand this sector properly, we can create a good identity for our country. Now Cement industry is a remarkable business in Bangladesh. We have many international standard cement factories in Bangladesh. Many of these factory exports cement. Our pharmaceutical industry now contributes much to the national revenue by exporting medicine in overseas. Now we have almost 250 pharmaceutical companies in Bangladesh. We can brand this sector also. We have two sea ports. These are Chittagong and Mongla port. We can also brand these ports by featuring its usefulness for our country. Our pottery industry can also be a subject of branding. Our pottery items are very charming and beautiful. We can create an attractive image for the pottery industry of Bangladesh. 4. People We can also brand our people. Since Bangladeshi people have a reputation of hospitality around the world, we can use this characteristic of people to brand our country. We can also brand our present and past national hero. We can brand our sports person, poetics, singer, legendary political leader and other successful person who are famous for their creative and magnificent work for the country or for the people say Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus for his microcredit loan. We can also brand our language. Because, We are the only nation of the world who fight for their mother language. So we have the right for branding our beloved language. Bangla is the worlds 9th most spoken language. We have to reposition Bangladesh airlines for successfully branding Bangladesh. Because a countrys brand image significantly depend on its national airlines. As an example we can utter the name of Singapore airlines and Qatar airlines. These countries position their countrys image with their airlines image. So we have to reposition our Bangladesh airlines with modern jets and facilities. 5. Investment:

We can focus on ship making, dockyard, and call center business. Our country is a lucrative market for FDI. We have 5th largest bridge in South Asia. This is Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge. There will be another bridge in our country, that will be 6.15 km long and 25 m wide, named Padma bridge. It will be one of the largest Bridge in the world. We can brand this Padma Bridge for branding Bangladesh. 6. Entertainment: We may brand our pop, local/folk and band songs which are unique to listen. Our telefilms and dramas have a good number of customers in the Middle East. Bangladesh is having big event management firms who are arranging different celebrity shows i.e. Shahrukhs night, BATEXPO exhibition etc. Our ramp models are doing better in home and abroad. 7. Governance: Our country lacks good governance in public sector. But in private sector most of the companies are practicing good corporate social responsibility and they are becoming good corporate citizen. Dutch Bangla bank, Standard Charteder bank, Unilever, The Daily Prothom alo, The Daily Star are a good example of that. DBBLs scholarship, SCBs beautification of Dhaka city are a citable example. 8. Sports: Bangladesh is the co organizer of ICC 2011 worldcup cricket. Now it is time for us to excel our performance as our recent cricket performance is becoming extraordinary. We may focus more on our shooting, swimming, tennis, golf, hadudu, kabadi, football. chess etc. So lets create an exotic and beautiful Bangladesh

Branding Tagline of Bangladesh can be-Exotic Bangladesh