Focus on branding to make global impact

Petaling Jaya: Malaysian companies should continue to focus on their branding strategies if they want to make an impact globally. The newly elected president of Branding Association of Malaysia, Eric Chong, said that although many Malaysian homegrown brands today were highly successful internationally, they would not have been able to spread their wings and soar beyond the country without strong home-base support.

According to Chong, the founder of Erican Education Group, local consumers are still doubtful about the trustworthiness and quality of local brands. The association was founded in 2000 with the aim of educating and uniting entrepreneurs to pursue brand-building in order to increase their enterprisesssâ₠competitiveness. It currently has 200 members and its membership is growing steadily each year.

Chong cited Jimmy Choo, AirAsia, Limkokwing University, Lewre, Eu Yan Sang, Bonia, Secret Recipe and Marrybrown as examples of globally successful Malaysian brands.

"As the Branding Association is a learning platform, we offer various learning opportunities to our members as well as the general public," he said. "We often invite iconic brand builders to share their entrepreneurial and branding experiences. The key message is 'branding isn't necessarily a costly endeavour; all it takes is innovation and creativity.' We have also set up a branding portal. If members of the public want to learn more about branding they can always get free information at www.brandingmalaysia.com," he added.

Chong was unanimously elected president at the association's 12th AGM. He took over from Datuk Lewre Lew, founder of Lewre International, who has been president for the past six years. Chong credited Lew for his contributions and vowed to lead his new team towards even more successful ventures on behalf of the association.

Source: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/3/13/business/10904361&sec=business