Build strong local brands before going regional, warns Kotler<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Foreign bottled mineral water was served to panelists speaking at
\nan ASEAN marketing forum in Jakarta on Thursday.<\/p>\n
As participants at the forum were discussing how to make a
\nlocal brand recognizable regionally and internationally, the
\nbottles in front of them could have served as an example.<\/p>\n
The question would be why choose a foreign brand when host
\nIndonesia has many local mineral water brands attractive enough
\nto prompt giant multinational company Danone Group to acquire a
\nmajor stake in one.<\/p>\n
Lack of strong marketing strategy perhaps?<\/p>\n
American marketing professor Philip Kotler highlighted that
\ncompanies wanting to go regional should start by working to gain
\nfull attention from local consumers before expanding.<\/p>\n
\"Build strong brands in your country that deliver to the
\ntargeted market before coming in to another country,\" Kotler
\nsaid, adding that going global should be done gradually.<\/p>\n
Kotler co-founded the Philip Kotler center for ASEAN marketing
\nwith Indonesian marketing expert Hermawan Kartajaya. The center
\nwas officially opened at the same forum by ASEAN secretary-
\ngeneral Ong Keng Yong.<\/p>\n
It aims to provide support for the enhancement of ASEAN brands
\ntoward the integration of its 10 member countries into one single
\nEuropean-style economic community.<\/p>\n
The organization aims to see a single market of over 500
\nmillion people in goods, services and investments within the
\nregion by 2020.<\/p>\n
Currently, total trade from and in the region amounts to
\nUS$720 billion annually, with a combined gross domestic product
\nof $737 billion.<\/p>\n
In 2003, intra-ASEAN trade accounted for only 23 percent, or
\nabout US$84 billion, of the regional grouping's 2003 exports.
\nWhen the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) concept was first
\nintroduced in 1993, regional trade accounted for 18 percent of
\nexports.<\/p>\n
According to ASEAN Secretariat data, regional exports to the
\nrest of the world increased to US$363 billion in 2003 from $321
\nbillion in 2002, lower than the $387 billion reached in 2001.<\/p>\n
In comparison, regional trade within the European Union
\naccounted for 75 percent of total trade, while regional trade
\nreached 35 percent in Mercosur -- a South American economic group
\ncomprising Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile and
\nBolivia.<\/p>\n
Ong said that local and global marketing strategies were no
\nlonger valid for local players and multinationals, and thus a
\nregional marketing strategy had to be developed to enable
\nregional companies to compete better.<\/p>\n
\"The center is an important feature for the ASEAN marketing
\nindustry to help develop ASEAN as a brand,\" Ong said.<\/p>\n
Could it perhaps help create strategies so that a locally or
\nregionally produced mineral water is served at a global forum?<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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