SL corporates focused on targets thro’ advertising rather than building brands
In today’s context advertising costs have soared on promotions by any organisation through various means such as newspapers, television, radio, posters and banners, etc. However the purpose and meaning of advertising is not deeply thought of by many local corporates who are focused mainly on achieving targets within a year and using advertising to reach those goals while the ‘what next’ is not considered. Branding comes into the scene when one speaks of a long term prospective business model. While millions of rupees is spent on advertising there is focus on the branding of one’s product and services offered within an organisation.
Recently the Business Times interviewed two directors of Brand Centrical (Pvt) Ltd, Diluni Jayasekara and Wimukthi Galahitiyawa on how branding plays a role in local businesses. Brand Centrical (Pvt) Ltd is a local company that supports and gives strategies to corporates to build branding their products and services. They said that companies should focus more on branding their products and services as opposed to advertising. Most companies today have great advertisements (ads) prepared by ad agencies but these are for a short term which is time bound. It’s applicable for a certain period and with time value diminishes. This is what most companies in Sri Lanka are blindly focused on.
One of the directors said that there are many international businesses around the world whose names are known for their brand itself worth millions of rupees. Branding is not just an easy task, a lot of research and study has to be carried out before branding a product or service like considering the strengths of the company and what are the unique features. Setting up a strategy, find gaps within the organisation to overcome them, conduct surveys and focus group discussions on brand opinion, evaluate how a brand could be taken forward in the long run. Essentially thinking beyond advertising. Ms. Jayasekara pointed out that few organisations speak about branding; everyone is focused only on advertising. Mr. Galahitiyawa said Sri Lanka has established only a very few brands worldwide.
“It’s all because we have not created a brand value. When proper branding is done to all our local products and services, a lot of world renowned brands would have evolved by now,” he added. He noted that selling a product is one thing while getting people to believe in the product is another aspect. Once a brand is successfully built amongst the consumers, it will retain interest and continue to attract people. Ms. Jayasekara added that in Sri Lanka it’s very difficult to change the corporate mindset with so much restrictions, focus on numbers and reluctant to see change. “What companies fail to understand is that if you do your branding right you don’t have to spend millions on advertising. Advertising is just a supporting tool to push your brand. Your numbers will grow eventually if you do your branding the right way,” she noted.