Running Head: GLOBAL COMPANIES & BRANDING

Global Companies & Branding

Advertising

MKT362

Brandon Lee Jia Wei

SEGi College
GLOBAL COMPANIES & BRANDING 2

Global Companies & Branding

Introduction

Brand communication is an important tool of brand management in which

companies use it to inform, persuade, enlighten, teach, remind, and enrich the knowledge

about the brand, its strengths, values, fundamentals, and its offerings of products and services

to their stakeholders. Brand communication influences the stakeholders of the company

which include employees, customers, investors, and sponsors. These stakeholders are

attached to the brand in the most integrated manner and it is the prime duty of the company’s

management to have communication constantly with them on regular basis about the

happenings and important matters of the brand. The long-term relationship with the

stakeholders will be strengthen as the communication works as the voice of the brand.

Brand communication is imperative to have a purposeful and healthy relationship

constantly with the stakeholders as it is one of the core activities of the brand management

and strategy and it is imperative to have a purposeful and healthy conversation with the

stakeholders. Brand communications is also one of the promotional tools and tactics used by

the brand to influence the customers about the brand, the company as a whole, and its

offerings of products and services. Brand communications is one of the significant strategies

of the business to build the unique and finest image of the brand in the targeted market and

the overall industry to attain the aims and objectives of the company (Bhasin, 2019).

Global Brands and Their Brand Strategies

Apple

Apple Inc. is a technology company which started in April 1976. It created and sold many

ground-breaking products such as their early computers like the Macintosh in the 1980s

(Rawlinson, 2017). In 2008, Apple launched their MacBook Air which was the world’s
GLOBAL COMPANIES & BRANDING 3

thinnest laptop at that time. This led to more industry breaking technologies that became

available in the market such as the introduction of tablets like the iPad which other

companies then followed suit to invent tablets of their own. The company also introduced

their own smartphones which were the iPhones in which they have a new model released

every year. All of their technology devices run on their own operating system which is the

OS X or also known as the iOS (Haslam, 2014).

Apple is known as a great marketer. They create an experience ecosystem. Every

customer touch points from their products, their website, advertisements, app store and retail

store yield a consistent Apple experience. Apple has beyond the core focused on innovation

by innovating product form factor and function from computing in either a user’s pocket or

on their wrist, to paying for all purchases, to opening a hotel room, to controlling all of one’s

home electronics, to reminding of a user’s calorie count or parking spot and many more. All

of these experiences are connected, integrated, and packaged in a singular accessible

ecosystem of complementary products. Apple’s innovation enable this ecosystem to be in a

secure and seamless fashion for example they market Apple Pay to have secure payments and

the recent introduction of biometric facial recognition on the iPhone X. Even in their Apple

stores, they create the ambience and the experience for its customers before selling their

products and it has further success by removing the word “store” from its retail branding

because it sees its store as much more than just a retail store (Moorman, 2018).

Apple released the revolutionary iPhone X in 2017. Their advertisement and

promotion of the new iPhone model in Singapore was top of the charts according to a market

research company, YouGov (YouGov, 2017).

GLOBAL COMPANIES & BRANDING 4

Figure 1: iPhone X advertisement (YouGov, 2017).

Over the course of September 2017 Apple iPhone’s Ad Awareness score rose by 20

points, at the beginning of the month it was at 41% and it further increased to 61% at the end

of the month. The steepest spikes in the increase of the advertisement awareness coincide

with the launch of the iPhone X on 12 September 2017 and the iPhone 8 on 22 September

2017.

However, the launch wasn’t all good news for Apple. One of the headlines that

dominated the launch was the iPhone X’s $1,500+ price tag. BrandIndex data shows Apple

iPhone’s Value score plummeted around the launch in which the score measures whether

consumers believe the brand offers good value for money. It fell from a score of 22 at the

start of the month to a score of 4 at the month end. Perceptions of the brand’s Quality also fell

by 10 points over the course of September.

Apple remains a key player in the smartphone market, with around one sixth of the

market share. Though the launch event didn’t appear to impress consumers, the brand’s

strong reputation and loyal customers meant that it will still remain as the main competitor in

the smartphone market. In Singapore, its recently opened Apple Store on Orchard Road

continues to attract consumers, with reports of huge queues outside the store for the new

iPhone 8 in 2017 (YouGov, 2017).

GLOBAL COMPANIES & BRANDING 5

As a brand, Apple is perceived to have a high brand position in the market. In the last

decade, Apple has been branding its phones at a high rate which its products are considered

to be of high end. For the 64GB, the retail price of the iPhone X is RM5,149 and the 256GB

costs RM5,899 at the time of launching in 2017 (Ram, 2017). Having an Apple product

shows that the person is of high class. With its exuberant pricing, Apple products are not

cheap. It holds a high brand position in the market. This is because the median monthly

household income in Malaysia is RM5,228 based on a research conducted by the Department

of Statistics of Malaysia (Azahar, 2017).

Grab

Grab started in 2012 as MyTeksi and it started to solve a modern day problem of

finding a safe and easier way to live life to travel around and hail a ride and was started in a

tiny storage space in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Years later, Grab has turned into Southeast

Asia’s largest mobile technology company that connects customers to millions of drives,

merchants and businesses. Grab not only offer its ride-hailing service, but they also offer food

delivery services (GrabFood), an e-wallet (GrabPay), delivery services (GrabExpress),

shopping services (GrabMart) and many more services available in other countries. As of

2020, Grab is available in 8 countries across Southeast Asia which includes Singapore,

Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Myanmar and Cambodia (Grab, n.d.).

Grab has expanded to have provide many services. One of the newer services that was

introduced by Grab is GrabPay which is an e-wallet and virtual payment system which allows

users to make payments. GrabPay can be used to make payments through a variety of

methods such as in-store payments, purchasing mobile credit top-ups via the Grab App,

making purchases on GrabFood and GrabCar and many more (Grab, n.d.).
GLOBAL COMPANIES & BRANDING 6

Figure 2: GrabPay advertisement (Grab, n.d.).

GrabPay is beneficial to the users in many ways. On their website, Grab gave reasons

why their product should be used. The first reason is that users are able to earn GrabRewards

points which enable users to claim the points using GrabPay and redeem cool rewards like

Grab ride coupons, food vouchers, airport passes, shopping vouchers and many more. The

second reason is users are able to shop using GrabPay with their points. Users are able to

convert their GrabRewards points for GrabPay credits and make purchases using their points

and pay up to 100% off their payments. The third reason is that GrabPay supports and power

all of the other services offered by Grab namely GrabCar (ride hailing), GrabFood (food

delivery), GrabExpress (delivery service) and many more. The fourth reason is that all

personal information and payment transactions are protected and encrypted with a 24/7 fraud

detection engine. Grab partners with payment technology companies like Stripe and Adyen to

ensure the high level of security of GrabPay. The fifth reason is that every transaction can be

tracked and users are able to view detailed transactions and get instant notifications of

payments (Grab, n.d.).

According to Adyen, as of 2019, there are more than 600,000 merchants across

ASEAN that are GrabPay merchants and is consistently growing every year. GrabPay is what

powers all cashless payments for Grab services both in and out of Malaysia. Transcending
GLOBAL COMPANIES & BRANDING 7

borders and bridging online-to-offline channels through digital wallets, providing customers

with access to everyday services through seamless transactions (Wang, 2019).

Figure 3: Grabpay in action (Wong, 2018)

During the National Budget 2020 presentation in 2019, the Minister of Finance, Lim

Guan Eng has allocated RM450 million to start the e-Tunai Rakyat programme. The aim of

the programme is to promote a cashless society in Malaysia. He also said that the e-Tunai

Rakyat programme was in line with the government’s Shared Prosperity agenda aimed at

lowering barriers to access digital technology and to make the digitalisation process inclusive

for all. Malaysians 18 years of age and above and earning less than RM100,000 annually

were eligible to receive RM30 each that could be spent on goods and services available

through the participating e-wallet service providers of their choice which was selected by

Khazanah Nasional (Abas, 2019).

The programme was rolled out on 15th January 2020 with Grab being one of the

appointed e-wallet to distribute the allocation. In a statement by Grab, the company aims to

spur Malaysia’s digital economy in 2020 by further driving the cashless adoption in
GLOBAL COMPANIES & BRANDING 8

Malaysia, which is in support of the Malaysian government’s e-Tunai Rakyat 2020 initiative.

This comes as the company rewards Malaysians with additional savings of up to RM3,000

with its campaign, “Siapa Cepat, Banyak Dapat” as shown in Figure 4.

According to the Finance Ministry, 3.5 million have received their RM30 handout as

of 22nd January 2020 with more than RM105 million that has been distributed out of the

RM450 million which was set aside for the programme. In an earlier report, Finance Minister

Lim Guan Eng was quoted as saying the response to the initiative has been encouraging since

the programme was launched on 15th January 2020.

The government has allocated RM450mil in total, and users can claim the allocation

through one of three e-wallet providers, namely Touch ‘n Go, Boost or GrabPay. All three e-

wallet providers recorded a spike in new users as many signed up to claim their handout, as

well other bonuses in conjunction with the initiative. GrabPay managing director Ooi Huey

Tyng said its e-wallet saw a six fold increase in users, claiming some who used cash

previously had switched to e-wallet (Tariq, 2020).

GLOBAL COMPANIES & BRANDING 9

Figure 4: Grab E-tunai Rakyat Poster (Grab, 2020)

Grab definitely is a brand that has a low to medium brand position. Its aim is to be a

superapp in Southeast Asia that enables its customer to live their daily lives on a single app to

get all their needs sorted. From food delivery to e-hailing and to cashless payments, Grab is

an app that drives the economy of ASEAN forward and is an app targeted to everyone above

the age of 18. With the support of the federal government, Grab is one of the brands that will

soon be a daily superapp that users will on a daily basis.

GLOBAL COMPANIES & BRANDING 10

AirAsia

AirAsia is Malaysia’s world’s best low-cost airline. Famously owned by Tan Sri Tony

Fernandes and Datuk Kamarudin Meranun. It was founded 2001 when Tan Sri Tony ad

Datuk Kamarudin purchased Tune Air Sdn Bhd where at that time it was a financial-troubled

airline from its previous owner (Rahim, 2019).

In 2018, AirAsia launched a new service to promote artificial intelligence and the

advancement of technology by launching F.A.C.E.S. which stands for Fast Airport Clearance

Experience System which is a facial recognition boarding system which is owned and

operated by AirAsia (AirAsia, n.d.). A pilot test was conducted at Senai International Airport

in February 2018 and AirAsia officially rolled out the service to selected airports across the

country. Group CEO of AirAsia and Co-Group CEO of AirAsia X Tan Sri Tony Fernandes

said, “Airports are typically the worst part of flying. FACES marks our latest effort to make

the on-ground experience more seamless and less stressful by using cutting edge biometric

technology to authenticate guests” when he was speaking about this system when the pilot

test was first launched in 2018 (Thiagarajan, 2019).

GLOBAL COMPANIES & BRANDING 11

Figure 5: Process of using F.A.C.E.S. (Thiagarajan, 2019).

A number of airports across the country are implementing the new F.A.C.E.S. system

and slowly being rolled out to the rest of the country. Senai International Airport was the first

airport to implement this system as a test airport to experiment the new system. Throughout

2019, the system is rolled to other airports like Kuching International Airport.

AirAsia is an award winning airline. Over the years of its existence it has bagged a

number of awards. It has won Skytrax’s World Best Low-Cost airline for 11 years in a row

since 2009 (Skytrax, n.d.). In 2019, AirAsia is the 20th best airline in the world rankings
GLOBAL COMPANIES & BRANDING 12

among all the airlines across the globe. This was an increase in the ranks from 2018 where

AirAsia was in 28th place (Skytrax, n.d.). The awards were conducted by Skytrax and its

awards is decided by millions of passengers that took a flight with these airlines. According

to the award’s website, the winners in 2019 were decided by 21.65 million eligible survey

entries from more than 100 countries which covered over 200 airlines in the survey (Skytrax,

n.d.). AirAsia and its subsidiary AirAsiaX are at the top of the airline game these past few

years bagging many awards.

According to another survey by Influential Brands, AirAsia is the most preferred

budget airline of the so-called Gen Y in Asia. In the “2016 Malaysia’s Gen Y’s Top Brands”

survey by Influential Brands, AirAsia came out on top as the preferred choice both locally as

well as in the other four countries that was surveyed which included Singapore, Indonesia,

Thailand and China.

“While AirAsia has built a strong reputation in Malaysia, it is particularly noteworthy

that AirAsia is the common choice amongst all surveyed, emerging within top five brands of

mention in Asia’s Gen Y’s choice of airline,” according to a press statement by Influential

Brands’ with Gen Y referring to those aged between 21 to 31. In compiling the top brands in

Asia, the responses from 6,000 Gen Y consumers were analysed across all five countries,

narrowing down choices to the top five for each category (Malay Mail, 2016).

From a personal point of view, AirAsia always puts its customers first, from always

offering low fares for its flights and to ensure the welfare of passengers. As an example,

during flight delays AirAsia ensure there is food and drinks provided to passengers who are

affected by the delay as required by the Malaysia Aviation Commission (insert MAVCOM

citation). AirAsia takes precautionary steps to give their passengers the full flight experience,

ensuring customer happiness.

GLOBAL COMPANIES & BRANDING 13

Like Grab, AirAsia’s brand position is between the medium and high brand position.

Not only does AirAsia focus on its airline but its mother company, Tune Group itself has

branched out to other businesses and industries namely Tune Talk (mobile carrier), Tune

Hotels (hotel chains), Tune Protect (insurance) and many more. Even AirAsia on its own

which started in Malaysia has expanded to other countries especially in the ASEAN region

like Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam and other countries like China, Australia and

India. With the introduction of AirAsia X, the company is able to have low-cost long haul

flights with the ability to travel to Honolulu and Australia at such a low rate. Indeed that in

the years to come, AirAsia will continue to expand and grow to be one of the world’s leading

airlines.

Conclusion
It is without a fact that these global companies are making an impact in the world’s

economy today. These brands particularly are well-known due to the branding strategies.

Whether the company is based in Malaysia or outside of Malaysia, their branding strategies

and how they adapt their branding to the different countries make an impact in the success of

the company today.

GLOBAL COMPANIES & BRANDING 14

References

Abas, A. (2019, December 19). E-Tunai Rakyat all set to go in January, says finance
minister. Retrieved from New Straits Times:
https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2019/12/549256/e-tunai-rakyat-all-set-go-
january-says-finance-minister

AirAsia. (n.d.). F.A.C.E.S. Retrieved from AirAsia:

https://www.airasia.com/my/en/faces.page

Azahar, W. (2017, October 10). Median monthly household income for Malaysians has
increased to RM5,228. Retrieved from Humanresourcesonline.com:
https://www.humanresourcesonline.net/median-monthly-household-income-for-
malaysians-has-increased-to-rm5228/

Bhasin, H. (2019, December 17). What is Brand Communication? Retrieved from

Marketing91.com: https://www.marketing91.com/brand-communication/

Grab. (2020, January 15). GrabPay, The Rakyat’s e-Wallet Accelerating Malaysia’s Digital
Economy. Retrieved from Grab: https://www.grab.com/my/press/business/grabpay-
the-rakyats-e-wallet/

Grab. (n.d.). Brand Story. Retrieved from Grab: https://www.grab.com/my/brand-story/

Grab. (n.d.). Grab Pay. Retrieved from Grab: https://www.grab.com/ph/pay/

Haslam, K. (2014, January 24). How the Mac changed, and continues to change, the world.
Retrieved from Macworld: https://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/mac/how-mac-
changed-continues-change-world-3498814/

Malay Mail. (2016, June 15). AirAsia top budget carrier for region’s Gen Y-ers, survey
shows. Retrieved from Malay Mail:
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2016/06/15/airasia-top-budget-carrier-
for-regions-millennials-survey-shows/1141625

Moorman, C. (2018, January 12). Why Apple Is Still A Great Marketer And What You Can
Learn. Retrieved from Forbes:
GLOBAL COMPANIES & BRANDING 15

https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinemoorman/2018/01/12/why-apple-is-still-a-
great-marketer-and-what-you-can-learn/#20ac724915bd

Rahim, A. A. (2019, February 1). AirAsia: Their 6 Marketing Secrets Revealed. Retrieved
from Marketing In Asia: https://marketinginasia.com/2019/02/01/airasia-their-6-
marketing-secrets-revealed%EF%BB%BF/

Ram, S. (2017, October 14). Apple's Official Price For iPhone X In Malaysia Starts From
RM5,149. Retrieved from Says: https://says.com/my/tech/apple-malaysia-iphone-x-
prices

Rawlinson, N. (2017, April 25). History of Apple: The story of Steve Jobs and the company
he founded. Retrieved from Macworld:
https://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/apple/history-of-apple-steve-jobs-mac-3606104/

Skytrax. (n.d.). 2019 Survey and Awards Methodology. Retrieved from World Airline
Awards: https://www.worldairlineawards.com/awards-methodology/

Skytrax. (n.d.). World’s Best Low-Cost Airlines 2019. Retrieved from World Airline Awards:
https://www.worldairlineawards.com/worlds-best-low-cost-airlines-2019/

Skytrax. (n.d.). World's Top 100 Airlines 2019. Retrieved from World Airline Awards:
https://www.worldairlineawards.com/worlds-top-100-airlines-2019/

Tariq, Q. (2020, January 22). e-Tunai Rakyat: RM105mil claimed so far. Retrieved from The
Star: https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2020/01/22/e-tunai-rakyat-
rm105mil-claimed-so-far#cxrecs_s

Thiagarajan, T. (2019, March 1). AirAsia’s Face Recognition System for Flight Boarding Will
Be Rolled Out This 2019! Retrieved from World Of Buzz:
https://www.worldofbuzz.com/airasia-face-recognition-system-for-flight-boarding-
will-be-rolled-out-this-2019/

Wang, A. (2019, September 18). GrabPay: Enabling smoother, safer payments in Southeast
Asia. Retrieved from Adyen: https://www.adyen.com/blog/grabpay-enabling-
smoother-safer-payments-in-southeast-asia

Wong, D. J. (2018, June 8). [Updated] GrabPay Is Now Live In M’sia—Here’s All You Need
To Know To Get Started. Retrieved from Vulcan Post:
GLOBAL COMPANIES & BRANDING 16

https://vulcanpost.com/641225/grabpay-malaysia-features-registration/

YouGov. (2017, October 11). September’s most successful ad – Apple iPhone. Retrieved
from YouGov: https://sg.yougov.com/ms-sg/news/2017/10/11/septembers-most-
successful-ad-apple-iphone/