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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
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Anholthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Anholthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Anholt


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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 andbelieves. 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.


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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


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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 famousin 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


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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:


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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

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