Place Branding - Research Proposal Example

PLACE BRANDING: A CASE STUDY OF NIGERIA Contents PLACE BRANDING: A CASE STUDY OF NIGERIA 1 Contents 1 Introduction 1 Reasons 3 Research Methodology 8 Possible limitations 11 Structure of the Dissertation 12 Appendix 14 References 15 Introduction Branding is associated with products and services and applying it to something totally different such as countries and places is something unheard of until the recent times. Branding has for long been one of the most important tools for multinational corporations and marketing agencies, who use it to drive forward their strategies with an aim to create a distinguishing impact for their customers as well as themselves in the market. In a fierce competitive market environment driven by the power of the consumer, branding is an important asset for any business entity (Bill Baker, 2007). As a consumer, one gets to come across several brand names as part of our daily lives. Names such as Microsoft, Coca cola, Mercedes and Harvard have all become ingrained in our minds as popular entities in their respective domains. Much of the effort driven towards popularizing these brand names has been successful largely through strategically conceived efforts, which also symbolizes the leadership positions that these brand names occupy at a global level. In the modern day, governments across the world have begun to look at branding and its associated marketing techniques as a means to market and sell their geographical regions to the rest of the world whereby the emphasis is concentrated on enhancing the international profile with an intent to attract more investment from foreign players and make such regions popular as economic powerhouses for commerce, trade and tourism (Malcolm Allan, 2005). In a similar way, the government of the republic of Nigeria is in the process of initiating several campaigns that aim to popularize the country and its image to people and companies across the world. part of this effort has been due to the rising awareness amongst a few African nations such as South Africa and Uganda to market themselves across the world (Eugene Jaffe, 2006). In accordance with this policy, the Nigerian government, through its ministry of Information and National Orientation has launched programmes such as the ‘The Heart of Africa’ project, which is based on the concept of Place Branding. The proposed research study will attempt to study the various initiatives undertaken by the Nigerian government along the lines of ‘Place Branding’ and will work towards studying them in the form of a case study. Reasons The above discussion clearly divides branding into two classes namely product branding and place branding. In comparison to the former, the latter is still a burgeoning discipline and most of the literature that describes place branding is still in a loosely embedded format. As such, concepts under traditional management and management continue to exert influence on place branding. One of the reasons for the limitation in readily available information is due to the notion towards national branding as a novel concept. In fact, several researchers such as Olins have warned that a lackadaisical attitude on the part of governments towards nation branding must be overcome and that branding places and regions is slated to become common practice in the near future. Part of the reason is due to the lack of self belief, commitment and interest among countries, especially those that are developing and known for a high level of corruption (Ronald Brand, 2000). Some are ignorant and devoid of semantics and are thus skeptic of the success of such a national policy. However, it is important to realize that a brand denotes a symbol that has a tremendous potential, which can be expressed in several distinct ways. This is one of the major reasons which prompts to investigate the reasons that have encourages African nations such as Nigeria to initiate such innovative campaigns in favor of such new concepts. Brands are often associated with symbols and logos such as the star of Mercedes, the golden M shaped arch of McDonalds or the swoosh of Nike. Very often, a sight of these symbols is enough to bring the brand and its associated products to mind. Perhaps the best known national brand is the American flag with its stars and stripes, which everyone knows and identifies as belonging to the United States of America (James Hammond, 2008). As such, one of the most defining components of a brand is the brand symbol, whose significance becomes even more significant during competition with rival brands. Further, such distinguishable features can be either tangible or intangible. In the case of products, such a value can be easily perceived and identified by the customer by merely seeing, touching and examining the product prior to purchasing it (Percy Talbot, 1997). In the case of services, the experience of the customer and the information obtained from it are the sole criteria that help customers judge them. Companies utilize the media for enhancing the brand value of a product through sustained schemes aimed at improving the brand identity. As such, the decision making process towards choosing a product or service is influenced through a number of ways although the efficiency and effectiveness with which it is done help determine the level of success of the product. In the case of countries and places, the process of making a decision is more complex as the resources and costs that go into such creating brand awareness as well as the costs of incurring mistakes is simply different and much higher than in the case of products or services. While a consumer would be able to afford spending money on a product by understanding its potential consequences, finding companies to invest in places to popularize them as tourist destinations simply requires much more thought, assessment and decision making as the stakes involved are much higher and any result of dissatisfaction could have a more significant impact (NIM, 2006). Further, a lot of factors are taken into consideration as the investment required are huge and the potential consequences of poor decisions are rather high. While promoting a place, numerous economic, social and environmental factors in addition to the stability, security and the return on investment are all taken into account while taking a decision (Eugene Jaffe, 2006). All these mean that there must have been a significant effort on the part of the Nigerian government, wherein a lot of thought must have gone into determining the pros and cons of a place branding initiative. As such, it is necessary in the context of the topic of the proposed research to identify, analyze and highlight all such determining factors, which have played a crucial role in the shaping of the resulting policies (Daniel Tetteh, 2000). Further, a comparative analysis of the various options available to the Nigerian government will also be studied to help determine the reasons behind the various decisions taken. In the case of companies wanting to invest in places, the figures for investments are even higher, sometimes running into millions of dollars, which eventually necessitates that the potential investor be assured of credible security for their investments as well as provide them a clear overview of a healthy return on investment (ROI). Further, convincing the customer with better prospects in response to other competing countries is a major challenge faced by any company including Nigeria. Investors are highly watchful of the social, economic and political stability of the region in which they look to invest in. the history of Nigeria plagued by corruption, red tapism, sectarian violence and militancy, presents a major challenge to the Nigerian government to try and convince potential investors and puts it at a certain disadvantage in comparison to its African competitors (Percy Talbot, 1997). All these aspects determine a clear understanding of the direction that Nigeria is heading towards in its quest to create a better place through place branding. As such, its efforts towards creating a positive image in the minds of people across the world are justified. If the brand defined the tangible and intangible attribute of the product or place, which comprises the brand name, color, logo, customer service, value for price and quality etc, it is an evolving strategic process that continues to create and manage every component of the associated brand values. As such, branding is a marketing process that needs to be managed effectively to give a product, service or an associated entity a unique identity, image and value and help it elevate to such a level such that it is easily identifiable and distinct from its competition (Malcolm Allan, 2005). All these aspects as applied to the case of place branding in Nigeria shall be studied appropriately. Place branding will also look to create a competitive and unique identity for a place and position it both internally as well as externally as a lucrative destination for trade and tourism. The strategic imperative that guides developing countries to adopt branding principles in their trade initiatives with the developed world is professed to be adopted towards a more branded and export driven approach that would help the emerging nation progress along the right direction. This argument clearly underlines the importance of place branding for developing nations such as Nigeria, which must derive its share of the benefit of the rising trend of globalization and take advantage of diluting international barriers which has increased competition amongst developed and developing countries in a common arena (Nigel Morgan, 2002). As such, the onus is on the country or place to project its most positive image to attract foreign investments and guarantee security, stability and a profitable return on investment. Nigeria is therefore competing with its neighbors and it requires a lot of effort on the part of countries such as Nigeria, which have a poor or rather unknown reputation. As such, Nigeria cannot hope for a hasty progress towards economic progress and must instead undertake a steady path marked by stability and caution (James Hammond, 2008). Preparing a requisite road map that would allow Nigeria to move through such an effort is also one of the important highlights of the proposed study. Place Branding has been recognized by countries as an important asset in their economic progress. In addition to developing economies such as Nigeria, the developed world comprising countries such as the UK have also understood the potential benefits of place branding and have launched efforts to rebrand themselves (Malcolm Allan, 2005). The main reason behind this is that such countries find themselves increasingly divided between a highly creative, diverse and competitive society and the legacy that has by time turned into heritage of their economic successes during the past. In order to succeed in today’s world, countries need to seek newer alternatives and better strategies. Place branding offers them just that. Research Methodology The methodological approach that is proposed to be taken up as part of the study is based on a number of considerations. It will be predominantly be divided according to two main criteria. In addition to facilitating the collection of data relevant and important to the research, the study will also look towards finding and determining various suitable methods that will assist in analyzing the collected information. As has been mentioned before, most of the information for place branding is available in traditional literature comprising books on branding, marketing and management. Further, a number of journals and magazines in associated subjects contain much information, which can be useful in answering all the requirements mentioned in the preceding section. further, the emphasis will also be on working towards determining the manner in which the data was pooled as it is important to specify the method beforehand to create the right impact on the results. In the case of place branding in Nigeria, most of the information related to the country is available in journals and several government agencies and ministries, both within Nigeria, Africa and others have requisite information in several of their reports and analysis. all such relevant information will be put to use in determining the appropriate results in view of the proposed topic. Additionally, adequate care will be taken to ensure the validity and reliability of the outcomes as this will help in drawing the right conclusions from them. Since the information connected to the topic is quite dispersed, much of the study will look to pointing out certain findings as encountered. In the case of comparative analysis, the prospects, performance and the future outlook for several of the Nigerian government’s programs will be analyzed and compared mathematically against other companies to provide a thorough feedback on the patterns and performances observed. This will help in ranking the steps taken by the government and project the seriousness of its policies and the effectiveness of the results that have been produced. It must also be understood that due to the lack of vast information within the specifics of place branding, it is widely believed that much of the information would come directly from the various stakeholders involved in the idea. For instance, the people from the governmental agencies associated with the campaigning, promotion and decision making for the place branding initiatives, the various investors who have shown interest and have put in their money into the country and other entities who have an opinion and thus a stake in the region and the ensuing competition are hold huge reserves of information, which can be harnessed through requisite surveys and interviews. This primary form of research will thus be conducted in addition to the secondary approach, where the effort will be largely concentrated towards obtaining information from available books and other material. It should also be noted that all the information collected is in accordance with accepted procedures of research. To ensure this, all information will be properly references at appropriate places, especially when the data has been used from an external resource. The referencing will further follow the guidelines of an accepted referencing style such as the MLA or Harvard varieties. All charts, tables and graphs used in the study will also be adequately referenced. The methods outlines so far in response to the case study form of the research are appropriate to the objectives that have been specified in the previous sections and the validity of this aspect will be justified in the analysis part of the study. Epistemological Considerations The findings in the study are based on sources related to branding and marketing. However, many of the findings may not be related directly to place branding or with specific reference to Nigeria or Africa. As such, the nature of discovery will comprise an evolving approach that will use as many sources as necessary until it is deemed sufficient for the inferences arrived at. Further, the observations will try to compare and evaluate the basic hypothesis that the Nigerian government is in the fledgling stages on adopting a policy based on place branding. The learning through interviews and surveys will help provide the necessary interpretations and will not rely on any kind of positivism as that would delude the research from understanding the emotions, perceptions and thoughts within the various stakeholders that have gone into the place branding effort in Nigeria. However, it should also be noted that some of the physical and psychological accompaniments can certainly be measured by estimating parameters such as the amount of revenue generated, current, new and proposed ventures as well as their stage of development, the benefit to the local populace as a result of these branding initiatives as well as the amount of foreign direct investment, which has gone into Nigeria as a result of these efforts. Possible limitations One of the main concerns of the study is the possibility of collecting so much information that a large part of it is irrelevant to the purpose of the study. This will not only hamper the pace of study, but will also hinder the pace of pooling requisite information and perform a requisite analysis. to overcome this, every collected source of information will be properly catalogued and the appropriate area deemed necessary for the analysis will be marked in a separate sheet. Upon collecting all the data, the sheet will be used as a pivot for referring to the right areas within the sources for information, thus reducing the clutter. Further, it is also believed that there will be no place for an unnecessary explanation of every detail. Care will be taken to keep the dissertation concise and detailed only to an extent that is deemed appropriate to the context of the study. As such, the study will not serve as a guide for the government or any other agency and will merely serve as a tool aimed at evaluating a certain initiative by the Nigerian government and proposing methods to improve its prospects. In explaining some of the concepts of branding, marketing and management, it will be assumed that the reader has a fair understanding of some of the concepts and keywords used to explain the theories and findings and as such, additional explanation will be skipped wherever applicable. In addition, every care will be taken to ensure that the required information is collected and there are enough mechanisms in place to prevent problems that can arise during this process. one of the ways of achieving this is by ensuring access to a number of libraries and online resources that can be used extensively for the research. Any significant problem that was encountered will not be hidden and will be reported immediately with a proper justification behind certain decision taken in view thereof. Finally, the research will always intend to take a realistic view to using the chosen methods for the study. Ethical Considerations Prior to involving an individual as a subject into the research, it will be made sure to notiy them of the topic being studied, the aims and methods used for research as well as the anticipated benefits and potential pitfalls in it. The participant shall have every right to abstain from taking part in the research either in the surveys or interviews. Further, the responses and information obtained from the participants shall be kept confidential at all times and car will be taken to protect information from being exposed to other participants to prevent any influence on their responses. Structure of the Dissertation Introduction: The introduction to the research problem will aim to explain the idea of place branding from the Nigerian perspective and outline the primary objectives of the study. Literature Review: as mentioned previously, a review of all previous works undertaken in relation to the research problem will be provided, which will help define, explain and justify all the related attributes of the research questions from the perspective of these previous findings. The outcomes from some of these sources will be employed in performing the subsequent analysis. Method: The research method section will highlight the techniques and procedures used in achieving the results and explain the processes employed for collecting information, generating data, performing analysis and arriving at methodological inferences to the research problem. Results: the discussion of the results will help present the interpretation of the analysis and explain the effects of the methods that have been used to analyze the data. Conclusion: the conclusion will enable to conclude if the research problem had been fully analyzed and all its questions answered satisfactorily. The conclusion will explain the points learnt from performing the study and also highlight the high and low points encountered during the study. Appendix 1. Mind Map References 1. Eugene Jaffe (2006), National image & competitive advantage: the theory and practice of place branding. University of California. 2. Ronald Brand (2000), Fundamentals of international business transaction. Boston: Kluwer Law International. 3. Percy Talbot (1997), Life in southern Nigeria: the magic, beliefs, and customs of the Ibibio tribe. London: Routledge. 4. NIM (2006), Management in Nigeria. Lagos: Nigerian Institute of Management. 5. Daniel Tetteh (2000), Compatible cultural democracy: the key to development in Africa. University of Toronto. 6. Bill Baker (2007), Destination Branding for Small Cities: The Essentials for Successful Place Branding. New York: Destination Branding. 7. Simon Anholt (2007), Competitive Identity: The New Brand Management for Nations, Cities and Regions. New York: Palgrave MacMillan. 8. Malcolm Allan (2005), Place branding: how to apply marketing & brand strategies to countries, regions and cities. London: Kogan Page. 9. Nigel Morgan (2002), Destination branding: creating the unique destination proposition. London: Butterworth Heinemann. 10. James Hammond (2008), Branding Your Business: Promoting Your Business, Attracting Customers and Standing Out in the Market Place. New York: Branding Your Business. Read More