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He said the brand has been around since 1999 and has established its presence in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Oceania, and has created more visibility in North America now.
"Since its inception, we have seen more than a trebling in annual tourism arrivals to Malaysia, from 7 million visitors in 1999 to more than 22 million last year.
"Our tourism earnings have also more than quadrupled to almost RM50 billion last year," he said in his keynote address at the Reader's Digest 2009 Trusted Brand Award here today.
Mukhriz said the brand has won over 25 international creative and marketing effectiveness awards, including the Gold as 'Asia's Best Long-Term Marketing and Branding Campaign' in Media Magazine's Asian Marketing Effectiveness Awards held in Macau last year.
Even branding gurus like Al Ries, Jack Trout and Paul Temporal had mentioned the brand in their case studies, he said.
"But one of the best barometers of how strong the 'Malaysia: Truly Asia' is is when I travel anywhere around the world and I tell people where I'm from, they sing back to me that jingle," he said.
However, he said, a lot more work needed to be done to deliver what 'Malaysia: Truly Asia' promises as well as to enable Malaysian brands to excel domestically and compete internationally.
"Sometimes all we need to do is follow the KISS principle: Keep It Simple, Sweetheart," he said.
Mukhriz said Malaysia must focus on branding itself as a country which was efficient and business-friendly as well as a great place to live in, adding the government appreciated the role of branding and its importance.
According to Mukhriz, the Third Industrial Master Plan incorporated strategies for branding Malaysia's products and services.
"The strategic plan includes support programmes to facilitate branding at the firm level," he said.
He said among the support programmes were brand promotion grant managed by Malaysia External Trade Development Corp (Matrade) to enable Malaysian brand owners develope and promote their brands.
"Others are soft loan scheme managed by Malaysian Industrial Development Finance for Matrade to help small and medium enterprises in undertaking branding, establishing distribution networks overseas, acquiring brands, as well as undertaking advertising and promotion overseas," he said.
Mukhriz said Malaysian brands must consistently deliver on their promises.
"Consistency is key in ensuring high quality of goods and services and giving value to the customer. It is a great way to grow and even attract and retain good customers, employees and potential business partners.
"If you do all these in the bad times, you will reap the rewards in the good times. I believe many Malaysian brands are thriving today but only a handful are consistent enough to compete on the world stage," he said.
On the award, made-in-Malaysia brands are a top choice of local consumers, with home grown labels named winners in the 20 trusted brand categories by Readers Digest.
In the financial services sector, Malayan Banking Bhd and Public Bank Bhd won top honours in the bank category.
Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd and Public Mutual are the most trusted investment fund companies.
Maxis Communication Bhd took the top honour in the phone service category while Streamyx was named the premier Internet service provider.
Malaysia Airlines was voted sole airline winner, while Genting Highlands and Langkawi were named the top family tourist attractions, the first time this category has been measured in the survey.
Other first-time service industry winners include KFC, McDonald's and Pizza Hut as trusted family restaurants, and Employees Provident Fund as the leading government agency.
Consumers named Universiti Malaya, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Mara as the country's top universities.
Hospital Kuala Lumpur was named top hospital.
DHL, Fedex and Poslaju earned the most votes among airfreight/courier service companies.
Source: Bernama
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