The following extract is taken from an article in yesterday’s Straits Times. Apparently, Singapore has a schizophrenic image.

UNIQUELY Singapore. City in the Garden. Global City, World of Opportunities. These branding campaigns have been used at some point or other by various government agencies to promote Singapore, often with sterling results.

But there is just one problem: Having each agency brand Singapore based on its own goals results in a fragmented image of the country.

So Singapore is now embarking on a search for a single, solid brand that will present the country to the world.

A tender bid is being put up by the Government for a consultant for this umbrella brand positioning, which will guide all government agencies in their marketing campaigns.

…

Selection for the consultant will be at the end of the month. The cost for the exercise is capped at $3 million.

Straits Times Sep 2, 2006
Wanted: A single brand for S’pore
Government wants agencies to present a consistent marketing image

Whoa… whoa… whoa. Three million SGD? Will this turn out like the Marina Bay branding exercise? Will they conclude that Uniquely Singapore is truly our unique branding? I know it’s STB’s take but it happens to be the most visible branding to visitors. Surely this branding isn’t for locals. Unless it is something like: Singapore, we welcome talent.

(Please don’t tell me that I have to criticise constructively and provide an alternative. Hmmm… actually, I do have an alternative. Read on.)

We have four million smiles. We surely have four million takes on this. Each person, one suggestion for a branding. Or more than one, if you wish. This brand has to reflect Singapore and its people. Who better to come up with this?

So, fellow Singaporeans, what’s your branding for Singapore? Write in your blogs and tag it onebrandsingapore. If you don’t have a blog, comment here.

Personally, I don’t think we need a Unified Brand or a Unique Value Proposition. We’re not a product or service for consumption. Then again, we have been referred to as a company.

Perhaps that’s our branding right there: Singapore, Inc. Nothing new but neither is Marina Bay.

UPDATE Sudirwan of Coffee Banana writes about the branding of the lion (via tomorrow.sg) asking two fundamental questions: “whose voices and ideas should be consulted”, and “what is this new national brand going to change?”

Mohamad Rosle Ahmad, who remembers branding gaffes prior to Marina Bay, writes to the Straits Times Forum:

I REFER to the report, ‘Wanted: A single brand for S’pore’ (ST, Sept 2), about a $3 million exercise to search for and develop ‘a single, solid brand’ that will sell Singapore to the world.

Some time back, the Urban Redevelopment Authority spent $400,000 on a branding exercise for Marina Bay. The result? Retain the Marina Bay name because it has ‘a strong positioning (which) can lead to a powerful and distinctive competitive advantage for Singapore’.

A few years ago, the Singapore Zoo nearly underwent a similar rebranding phase which would have been as costly, had it not been for the public uproar at the sheer needlessness of it all.

There was also DBS Bank’s attempt to eradicate the POSB identity which was aborted after public protest.

One can only hope that this latest multi-million-dollar project will produce something equivalent to, if not better than, the legendary Ian Batey’s timeless ‘Singapore Girl, You’re A Great Way To Fly’ brand image for Singapore Airlines.

One aspect which I hope will be showcased prominently in the campaign is Singapore’s melting-pot character.

This facet was conspicuously absent in the television advertisements aired in Hong Kong, prior to the colony’s return to China in 1997, to woo the locals to migrate to Singapore.

Personally, I like the phrase ‘World of Opportunities’ which, according to the report, has been used before, ‘often with sterling results’.

Any brand guru worth his salt will tell you that if it works, keep it.

What I will add, though, is this: Whirl of Fun. Thus, Singapore – World of Opportunities, Whirl of Fun.

Singapore’s melting-pot character. This, on the day ST’s front page splashes “Singapore culture unlikely to emerge: MM”. The topic of another post, perhaps.

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