Local_vs._Foreign_Brands

ABSTRACT Branding has been one of the most important and popular factors in any organization these days. Through branding, a company can ensure a high survivability and generate brand loyalty among the consumer. In this study, two companies have been chosen to represent local and foreign company (Local vs. Foreign Brands), namely Sinar Indah and ChemDry Sabah. By having these two companies, it is easier to compare the importance of branding to the both of the companies. Method of collecting data will only be using a secondary data. 1.0 Introduction Before the emancipation of Malaysia during the Colonial period, the population at that time has already been exposed to many types of product and services offered by both local and foreign sources. But at that time, the consumers were not being exposed too much on brands and the product and services were not that particularly segmented. Most of the product and services back then somehow being provided to cater the most honest needs. The oldest brand known currently is Tate and Lyle Golden Syrup, which currently hold a record as the oldest brand in the world (brewed-since 1881). However, the market has evolved dramatically; the consumer has grown in terms of individuality. So, marketers designed their product and services based on these segmented niches. In order for them to cater these niches they take their brands to another level. The word ‘Brand’ is derived from an Old Norse word ‘Brandr’ which means ‘to burn’, referring to the act of marking their items with their mark. As cited by Davis (2005), history of branding started 4,000 years ago but used to mark fugitives, human slaves, galley slaves, gypsies and animals, but later being developed as mark for property and widely used in United States in the early 19th century. Brands in marketing can be define as, a set of characteristics that represent physical and social psychological attributes and belief, and it never is just a name given for a product or services. Base on this definition, we can understand that a brand is an element that sums up a distinct characteristic of a product and services offered. By having a distinct characteristics, consumer can easily relate to it based on their lifestyle needs and of course for ease of identification. In Malaysia, we have plenty of brands that compete directly with those foreign representative brands. Some of them are quite similar to each other in terms of product features but what makes them different is how they differentiate themselves through branding. Customers can identify these differences clearly based on the branding and most of them associate good or bad attributes to a certain brands, and when there is too much information or lack of information, consumer tend to make stereotyping judgement based on the country of origin (COO) of the product to make a quick decision or a classifying process. With that in mind, the author decided to address the topic of Local vs. Foreign Brands. 2.0 Background of Company For this article, two companies have been chosen as an example to represent the Local and Foreign brands. Both of this company are located in Kota Kinabalu and both are involved in the same business activity, which is carpet and upholstery cleaning industry. The local representative is Sinar Indah, situated in Likas Plaza, Kota Kinabalu. Basically they have been around for almost a year now and their wholly owned and managed by local. Their main service is carpet and upholstery cleaning. In terms of method, they are using the orthodox process of cleaning similar to most car wash method, which is using high-speed water spray and shampoo to remove dirt and stains and of course longer drying time. At the moment, they charge the consumer based on per square feet and the rate is a bit above the industry’s rate. Their main target is residential and commercial area. Meanwhile, the foreign representative is Chem-Dry Sabah, situated in Luyang Perdana, Kota Kinabalu. It is actually the leading carpet and upholstery care in the United States and as well as the world and have more than 5000 franchises in more than 50 countries. Their headquarters is in Utah and they have been improving their method for more than 25 years. Chem-Dry Sabah has been here in Kota Kinabalu since May 2011. It is managed by a local company called Fahmi Enterprise that acts as the franchisee. Even though they are locals, all of their equipment is from the US including the chemicals. In terms of technical training, all the staffs were trained by experienced staffs of ChemDry Malaysia. Their company main mottos is ChemDry: “Drier, Cleaner, Healthier” and “If a spot returns, so will we.” These mottos can be seen in their brochures under “Satisfaction Guaranteed” section. ChemDry’s method of carpet and upholstery cleaning are well known because it’s DRIER, due to the fact that they used less water compare to the conventional ways, thus, allowing fast drying time. They have numerous state of the art chemicals needed to give an outstanding cleaning job. Nowadays, ChemDry Sabah is beginning to venture on giving a house keeping services as well as providing daily cleaning maintenance for offices. 3.0 Problem Statement Despite the fact that both company involved in the same category of business activity, both of the companies go for a different approach in terms of marketing their brands. Obviously ChemDry Sabah focuses deep into their branding elements by focusing on their websites, mottos, brochures, satisfaction guaranteed efforts, and associating their brand with superiority of carpet care while their counterpart prefers to focus on their services and less on branding. The author believed that, in order to prosper in any types of business nowadays, branding is the key factor for success. With brand, one business can expand their horizon. One reason why Sinar Indah do not address this issue is probably because, they are trying not to compete head on with other companies such as ChemDry Sabah. Alas, by doing so, they have neglected the most crucial part in company early development. To support the author’s statement, an article by Allbusiness.com (2009) mentioned that; “For startups and small businesses, branding can often take a backseat to other considerations, such as funding and product development. This is a mistake, as a company's brand can be key to its success. Dollar for dollar, it is as important and vital as any other early steps.” To further illustrate the author’s statements and also the quote above, below are the list of problems that might occur if Sinar Indah continue to neglect their brand awareness efforts: * Failure of delivering the message across to the consumer * Failure of presenting a good credibility of services * Failed to connect emotionally to the target market or potential client * Failed to motivate the clients * Failure of creating brand loyalty among the consumers 4.0 Literature Review (Local vs. Foreign Brands) Branding is important as any other vital components of the business organization. Even though there are plenty of similar product and services in the market, it is still the main element that can differentiate one product and another. Having that differentiation can lead to awareness if the brand is being positioned wisely. This kind of awareness is being emphasized by ChemDry Sabah through their marketing programs effort. These efforts focus on the brand as the essential part of the whole services, sort of like a face or signature that control the consumer perception towards them. The main advantage of ChemDry Sabah’s services is that they used less water when washing carpet and upholstery due to the fact that their chemical have the unique ability to produce millions of miniscule bubbles to trap dirt and stains. Their chemical also can prevent future stains and it does not leave behind sticky, soapy residues, and less water means less risk of mold and mildew growth in the carpet or upholstery. Subsequently, they used a motto which is “Drier, Cleaner and Healthier” for the above advantages. This motto strikes the perceptions of the consumer, henceforth giving them a good first impression and trust. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, motto is “A short expression of a guiding principle.” Which means, not only it will affect the consumer perception but also as a driving motivation for the workers to perform well. Other than that the logo itself is interesting and well designed. They used mostly green colour because every chemicals that they have is green certified, and a bit of purple and dark blue. The colour of a logo is very important because each colour represents a census in consumer’s subconscious. According to Rahman (2010), cool colours such as green and blue denotes calm and recedes. In addition to motto and logo, ChemDry Sabah also engages with its customer and potential customer through their Facebook page. Every now and then they will post pictures of the entire successful job that they did for references of the consumers. To them, Facebook enables them to reach further with their marketing branding effort, due to the fact that more and more people are connected to Facebook. Aside from Facebook, they also have their own website which include a comprehensive history of their establishment and carpet cleaning informations. Furthermore, they also provide free demonstration to any of its commercial customer that is interested and in need of information on how they clean a carpet. This effort is another example of how dedicated they are towards making their brand more established. During that demonstration, they will tell them on how the process of cleaning used by them and what their brand can promise them. To make a comparison with the above matters, Sinar Indah is locally owned. Like ChemDry Sabah, it is also involved in the same business. The difference between these two is that, unlike ChemDry Sabah, Sinar Indah does not put much effort in making its brand more interesting. Besides that, their rate is also much higher compare to ChemDry Sabah, which is a bit peculiar because here you have a company with a stock supplies from the USA while the other managed to get their stock locally, and still the foreign company managed to give a much lower price. Apart from the above, the author did not managed to get any information whether they have a website or even a Facebook page. This indicates that, they are emphasizing more on the operations rather than the branding effort. This is not to say that they are doing it wrongly or more inferior compared to their foreign counterparts, but to give comparison in terms of their focus area of business. In terms of motto, the do provide a phrase, “Pencucian Dan Pembersihan Menggunakan Mesin & Bahan Pencuci.” This was taken from their brochure. The brochure looks very convenient, it has all the information any consumer might need and a logo to represent their business. Based on the above comparison, we can see the different between these two companies. According to an article by Karacostas (2012), there are 5 things that any entrepreneur must know about creating a powerful branding, and they are; 1. Right Impression An entrepreneur must have a well thought out plan on what to tell their audiences. Which means they have to present their company brand to the right niche, and everything they do must be aligned with the brand. 2. Be Specific In order to create a powerful brand, the entrepreneur must know what he or she really wants so that they can prevent costly cost of hiring a designer to design the brand. 3. Let the customer know what the company do Basically, the brand must represent something that the organization is doing. It is better if the brand name says it all in one shot. 4. Select the right font The fonts of the brand design must be based on the organization business. If it’s a toy company, it is suggested to used something that is colourful and children can relate to it. 5. Evoke an emotive response Colour generates an instant response. So a brand must pick their colour wisely. Sometimes the colour might not that interesting for the business owners, but it is interesting for the consumer. 5.0 Analysis and Recommendation Both of the company represent a different approach, but in order to have a better sustainability in the industry, branding effort must be implemented accordingly. Branding is not only based on the nice logo or name, but also can be represents by how the organization works on a task or performing a job. Even the way of answering the phone is also can be considered as branding effort, and even down to the clothes (uniform). Considering the facts above, the local company must join the race in producing good brand so that they can compete with the foreign company. Besides that, by having that they can ensure the company’s growth and sustainability. We have to acknowledged that, most foreign companies have this advantage, so it is about time the local companies to take a lesson from that. To address the above, Sinar Indah must create a better logo for their company. This logo must also be accompanied by a simple motto that can give a strong image for them. Besides that, they must also reach the consumer through the internet. They have to start by having a Facebook page so that they can update their current job or anything for people to see. Besides that, they should also advertise their services in the local newspaper so that the population will be familiar with them. In addition to that, it is recommended that they give some sort of BRAND PROMISE to their customer. Without some sort of promise, the brand will not be able to represents anything. ChemDry Sabah for example, promised, if the stain on a carpet is still there, they will come back the next day and clean it again. 6.0 Reference Davis, M. (2005).More Than a Name: An Introduction to Branding, Switzerland : AVAPublishing SA. Lim, J. M., Arokiasamy, L., Moorthy, M. K. (2010).Global Brands Conceptualization: A Perspective from the Malaysian Consumers (page 38) Rahman, S. N. A (2010) Malaysian Coffee Culture: A research of Social Aspect, Branding and Design. Lake, L. What is Branding and How Important it is to your Marketing Strategy - about.com guide The Importance of Branding your Business (2009) by Allbusiness.com - http://www.nytimes.com/allbusiness/AB4019474_primary.html (Accessed on 13/10/2012, 1:30pm) The Merriam-Webster Dictionary cited by Sujata, S. Why are mottos Important- http://www.ehow.com/facts_5622195_mottos-important_.html (Accessed on 14/10/2012, 9:00pm) Karacostas, S. (2012). 5 Things That Every Entrepreneur Should Know about Branding - http://www.startupnation.com/business-articles/9623/1/branding-5-things-to-know-entrepreneur.htm (Accessed on 14/10/2012, 4:30pm) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_syrup (Accessed on 15/10/2012, 9:30pm) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brand (Accessed on 15/10/2012, 10:40pm) http://chemdry.com.my/history.htm (Accessed on 15/10/2012, 11:00pm) -------------------------------------------- [ 1 ]. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_syrup [ 2 ]. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brand [ 3 ]. Davis, M. (2005).More Than a Name: An Introduction to Branding, Switzerland : AVAPublishing SA. [ 4 ]. Lim, J. M., Arokiasamy, L., Moorthy, M. K. (2010).Global Brands Conceptualization: A Perspective from the Malaysian Consumers (page 38) [ 5 ]. Lim, J. M., Arokiasamy, L., Moorthy, M. K. (2010).Global Brands Conceptualization: A Perspective from the Malaysian Consumers (page 38) [ 6 ]. http://chemdry.com.my/history.htm [ 7 ]. The Importance of Branding your Business (2009) by Allbusiness.com http://www.nytimes.com/allbusiness/AB4019474_primary.html [ 8 ]. Lake, L. What is Branding and How Important it is to your Marketing Strategy - about.com guide [ 9 ]. Based on the definition from The Merriam-Webster Dictionary cited by Sujata, S. Why are mottos Important- http://www.ehow.com/facts_5622195_mottos-important_.html [ 10 ]. Rahman, S. N. A (2010) Malaysian Coffee Culture: A research of Social Aspect, Branding and Design. [ 11 ]. Karacostas, S. (2012). 5 Things That Every Entrepreneur Should Know about Branding - http://www.startupnation.com/business-articles/9623/1/branding-5-things-to-know-entrepreneur.htm