When high-profile global brands enter a region such as the Middle East they tend to go local; McDonalds outfitted its menu with Halal options, Google released a localised version of Google Maps earlier this year, and Audi chose a Dubai-based artist as the face of the brand in the region. That, the CEO of Coruna Branding Kim Serge explains, is one of the first rules of injecting your brand into a new region.
A brand consulting, strategy, and design agency, Coruna Branding has worked with global brands such as P&G, Gillette, Oral-B, Tide, and many more household names such as these to customise their presence to suit the Russian market – Coruna Branding’s home base. As the agency enters Dubai, and in turn the Middle East’s market, Serge outlines a few trends that will dominate the region in the lead up to the Expo 2020, and how brands can navigate the growing slew of competitors.
What should a brand’s strategy be when entering a new region; how should it go about accessing its target audience?
Too often, operating globally is seen as an excuse to avoid spending time understanding local cultures, customer needs, and behaviours. Gone are the days when global campaigns and strategies were applied in a blanket fashion across all international territories – it simply doesn’t work. Research the market you are looking to venture into – its like, dislikes, and success stories.
Penetrating markets via huge advertising budgets is another archaic practice that does not work, not to mention it’s hardly the most cost effective way of achieving results. Today, brand building is not about making brute-force impressions through large advertising campaigns. It’s about customising your brand identity to local markets through ideology that helps consumers identify with the brands, assessing your brand’s health periodically via metrics that link back to business performance, and creating a scalable strategy that boosts the brand’s strength.
In the lead up to large-scale, mass participation events such as the Expo 2020 which will be held in Dubai, what sort of branding trends take centre stage?
Generally, in the lead up to a big events that are set to draw in a huge influx of tourists – as per the government, Dubai will draw over 25 million visitors during the Expo 2020’s six-month run – brands tend to advertise at public sites such as airports, tourist hotspots, and heavily travelled roads. So these spots will definitely see multiple brands vying for space and attention, along with an increase in the price of advertising at these sites due to an increase in demand. There will also be an increase in discounts, competitions, and giveaways across the board.
So how does a brand stand out in this sort of a heavily competitive environment?
These days, it’s not enough to have a great product or service; you have to be compelling and memorable. In an overcrowded marketplace, placing an emphasis on quality and a superior customer experience generates more business over time. Showing personality, treating customers like family, and emphasising human values will help your company stand out from the crowd as well. The concept may seem pretty simple on the surface, but it’s crucial in a crowded marketplace. As a businessperson, it’s easy to get into ‘business mode’, but it’s imperative to project your brand in a manner people can connect with it.
Additionally, in an overcrowded marketplace you have to be crystal clear about what you are offering and how that’s different, but you need to do this without being complicated. I’ve seen many brands lose the plot and lose potential customers alongside.
What helps any branding agency serve as a good springboard for brands in a new region?
While it’s obviously important to offer a quality product or service, effective branding is often at the heart of the companies that thrive. The best brands have a thorough understanding of the demographics of their target market, what their interests are, and how they communicate. Any branding agency worth its salt will help its clients build closer relationships with their audiences. At Coruna Branding we have developed a process known as ‘brand reactor’, a technique spanning market research, data analysis, development of brand strategy, and creation of brand identity and guidelines. We pay great attention to each of these processes, which helps our clients build connected brands. The ultimate aim is to turn the brand into an asset, allow businesses to capitalise on it, and attain profitable effective results.
Why did you pick Dubai for your base in the Middle East?
The strategic importance of Dubai lies in that it is a hub to accessing the wider Middle East’s thriving market, which comprises more than 2.5 billion consumers. Most businesses with operations in the region, therefore, prefer to use Dubai as their base. Alongside experiencing the market first-hand, we also want to be close to the brands we’ll be eventually be working with, which is why we decided to open an office in the city.