Leveraging 'Brand Caribbean' for London 2012

David Jessop, Contributor

The year 2012 will be an important one for the Caribbean. It is the year when both Jamaica and Trinidad celebrate 50 years of independence, and the one in which the Caribbean is expected to demonstrate at the London Olympics its spirit and success.

These events are important in themselves but offer, too, an opportunity to build a national brand in a manner that can create social and economic benefits.

Jamaica in particular has recognised this, is planning, and has already launched an extensive range of events around the United Kingdom.

It hopes, as its track stars shine, to have its name, image, and values resonate at home, around the world, and with its diaspora.

In March, it launched the first phase of 'Meet Jamaica 2012'. Sponsored by the Jamaica National Building Society, this involved participation in the International Food and Drink Expo, the UK's largest food and drink trade event; a UK investment forum hosted by the Jamaican Government's investment promotion arm, JAMPRO; and an official 'UK Meets Jamaica' launch in Birmingham, the city where its Olympic team will be in training.

Planned events

Other planned events include a Taste of Jamaica where Jamaican cuisine will be showcased, plus activities aimed at increasing greater global awareness of what Jamaica has to offer.

The objective is to create greater awareness of the Jamaican brand in a manner that involves the Jamaican public and private sector promoting goods, services, and investment.

Trinidad, too, is adopting a high- profile approach. It is setting up its national training camp in Cardiff, raising the nation's profile during Notting Hill Carnival, and establishing a 'village' in London to showcase the republic.

Other nations, from the British Virgin Islands to the Dominican Republic, have also begun to unveil their plans to make use of the global spotlight that the Olympics offer.

In this context, unusually, and it is fair to say, not to universal acclaim, Trinidad and Jamaica have additionally suggested that they will partner to promote the Caribbean region during the 2012 Olympics. The idea is that major groups and organisations from both countries will participate in a 'Caribbean Calling' campaign aimed at enhancing the region's international profile in tourism and business. The initiative is open for other Caribbean countries to join.

What all this suggests is that there is now greater Caribbean recognition that nations need to promote themselves as brands to enhance their competitiveness, and that through developing a positive and well-honed image that reflects all that is best, can influence, enforce, or change the way in which a country is perceived.

So important has this become globally that huge sums are now invested by nations from Singapore to Namibia in advertising national images on cable and other television networks, and through an ever- increasing array of social media.

To understand the value — real and perceptual — that branding brings, an interesting recent case study has been the rise of Grey Goose vodka, a product that sells at a considerable premium, comes from France - a nation with no tradition of producing vodka - and which, in the space of a few years, has risen to become a hugely valuable multinational brand.

Grey Goose is distilled in Cognac, from French wheat, and exported globally.

It began life in 1997 when a self-made billionaire, Sidney Frank, decided to enter the premium vodka market to challenge traditional producers.

He took the idea that a French origin suggested high quality, decided on a name, developed a marketing and branding strategy, and then set about finding a production facility. In doing so he created a product with unique brand characteristics, from its replaceable cork stopper to its frosted artwork bottle.

The product achieved brand differentiation, gave up-scale consumers something new, and in doing so created a 'super premium' category of vodka for which some consumers were willing to pay a premium price.

National image

A country, of course, is not a product. Its pre-existing good and bad features continue alongside each other. But the product, culture, and consequent image of a nation can, like a manufactured item, also be branded in a way that significantly enhances its economic opportunity.

What Jamaica, Trinidad, and others will be doing next year is leveraging up their national assets and attributes and showing them to the world. They will be doing so in a manner that will not just encourage awareness of their exports, cuisine, music, and other aspects of their culture, but in doing so, intentionally raising national consciousness and pride while enhancing tourism, investment, and economic growth.

Boosting success whether it relates to investment, tourism or trade negotiations depends to an extraordinary extent upon perception.

When nations and regions are competing, they are, to a significant extent, measured by the way they present themselves and the level of confidence they engender.

Creating country awareness means conveying positive messages about, for example, security, taxation, cultural achievement, education, the environment, political probity, and stability.

It requires government, the business community, those in the arts, education, and the media to all be confident and joint owners of a 'product' about which they care.

This is not to suggest that style should take precedence over substance. Rather, it is to note that an element of the region's future and competitiveness is likely to come from the way every country presents its uniqueness to the world.

All Caribbean governments, industry, and those who own intellectual property need to be much more aware of the value of national branding. They also need to jointly defend their intellectual property and the origin of the region's unique products if they and the Caribbean are ever to benefit from the enormously valuable and desirable assets that they possess.

A few years ago, the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association and Caribbean Tourism Organisation came up with a positive multicoloured logo using only the word 'Caribbean' to express the spirit of the region.

It was intended to be used promotionally on all Caribbean products and services, but for the most part, has been applied to tourism products.

At a time when regionalism is failing, yet the desire for Caribbean identity remains strong, one small but additional way to ensure that the region, too, is visible in 2012 would be to apply this logo to all that Caribbean nations will be doing in and around the Olympics.

David Jessop is director of the Caribbean Council. Email david.jessop@caribbean-council.org.

CAPTION: A view of the London 2012 Olympic stadium in London, Tuesday, March 29. The last piece of turf was laid Tuesday at the Olympic Stadium, symbolising the completion of building work on the 80,000-seat flagship venue for the 2012 London Games. Former Olympic sprinter Frank Fredericks used a shovel to lay down the symbolic last piece of grass on the infield, 16 months before next year's games. - AP