News Stop: 2nd May 2006

Singaporeans have the least loyalty to home-grown brands, according to a seven-nation survey by Nielsen Media Research.

Time to strenghten brand marketing by Cheow Xin Yi dated 2nd May 2006 (Today Online).

Quoting important bits and pieces from the article,

“Lack of branding by SMEs, Singapore’s cosmopolitan character behind our low preference for local products.

SINGAPOREANS have the least loyalty to home-grown brands, according to a seven-nation survey by Nielsen Media Research.
The aim of the recently renamed Trusted Brands 2006 survey was to find out consumers’ brand preferences in 42 categories of products, ranging from their most trusted airline to cooking oil.

In a cross-country comparison of the popularity of home-grown brands as “trusted brands”, Singapore’s market share of 18 per cent is the lowest, compared to India’s — which is highest at 63 per cent……

Experts attribute Singaporeans low loyalty to local brands to the country’s cosmopolitan character. People here, they say, are exposed to international products and, therefore, prefer international brands…..

“They will, at most, invest in money for promotions, or disconnected advertising campaigns that have no basis to strong branding strategies,” he said.

He added that it boils down to mindsets which need to change and the misconception that branding needs a lot of money.
“All it needs is a re-direction of existing marketing communication expenses for optimal use,” he said.

However, Mr Kenneth Sua from BrandStory, a branding company, said the survey results may not reflect a reality of the SME market, as they included survey categories in which SMEs do not occupy a market share, such as office equipment and cars. But he agreed that local companies needed to strengthen their brand marketing activities to set themselves apart from their competitors.

“When it comes to markets where there is competition from international brands, Singapore companies could do with more effective marketing strategies to differentiate their brand and image from international competitors,” said Mr Sua, BrandStory’s assistant director of brand services.

Also, Singapore’s small market size and open economy are two reasons for the lack of local brand loyalty here, said Mr Lawrence Leow, president of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises.

“Countries where consumers buy their own local products are very big countries, we are small compared to all the rest,” said
Mr Leow.

“Also, in some of the other countries their products are very much protected by their government polices.”

But he concedes that SMEs must do more for their brands. They have to put in effort to ensure consistent quality in terms of services and products and to improve on packaging. “These areas do not require a lot of financial resources but rather effort and supervision, such as ensuring that your processes are always consistent and right,” said Mr Leow.