'Brand building is about delivering on a promise'

Building a brand is not about spending on advertisement, but about delivering product promises to customers, says a branding council executive.

"Branding is about delivering experience to customers, services, ambiance, a quality product with good and attractive packaging. Brand building is about building experience," said Datuk Noharuddin Nordin, chairman of Malaysia's Most Valuable Brands (MMVB) board of governors.

Noharuddin, who is also Malaysia External Trade Development Corp (Matrade) chief executive officer, said Malaysia has several brands that are recognised globally, including Petronas, AirAsia, Malaysia Airlines, Proton and electrical product Khind.

However, most other local brands have yet to carve a name globally.

"The government and branding associations have programmes and grants to help out SMEs (small- and medium-sized entreprises) to understand and develop product branding. This is one of the ways that we hope to push for a global brand from Malaysia someday," he said in Kuala Lumpur.

Yesterday, MMVB, Matrade, the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia, research company Pulse Group plc, the Malaysian Advertisers Association, the Media Specialists Association and the Branding Association Malaysia held a media briefing to announce the industry's latest branding award called Putra Brand Awards.

The award stands out among other branding awards as the preferred brands are selected by consumers.

Companies selected also do not have to pay any participant fees unlike other branding awards where selected companies are required to pay fees.

The awards are measured based on consumer preferences from a consumer research polling system developed by Pulse Group. A total of 6,000 consumers are involved in the research process in the selection of the award winner.

"Matrade goes all the way to provide help for the local brands and SMEs and this brand award initiative will help to boost what we are doing," Noharuddin said.

The Putra Brand Awards aim to give recognition to local brands and shortlisted companies are from both among public listed companies and SMEs.

The award programme is an annual event and in the future will have a dedicated segment for SMEs. This year, the programme will be held on March 12.