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An Analytical Study on the branding image of Bangladesh in the International Market

Introduction
Bangladesh is in South Asia sometimes converging with Southeast Asia, bordering the Bay of Bengal to the south, mostly surrounded by India and bordering Myanmar in the southeast. Bangladesh is a country bestowed with the gifts of nature. It has nurtured some of the most ancient civilizations of this continent. The young country came into existence after a blood-spattered liberation war in 1971. But the pace of growth and development has been impeded by many factors.

Bangladesh, as a Least Developing Country (LDC), faces a reputation challenge which is popularly known as its image problem. Bangladesh has gained the image of a country with too many people, too much poverty, too little resources, too frequent disasters and too little ability to change for better. Recently poor law and order, Rana Plaza Collapse, bad investment climate, political chaos and Islamic terrorism have killed its image more. To remove all the negative aspects and image surrounding Bangladesh and to make it as a beautiful and prospective country it is highly recommended to branding Bangladesh. But where do we stand?

What is Nation Branding?
Before digging deep into the issue, let’s look at what is nation branding. Nation branding aims to measure build and manage the reputation of countries (closely related to place branding). Some approaches applied, such as an increasing importance on the symbolic value of products, have led countries to emphasize their distinctive characteristics. According to Wikipedia “The branding and image of a nation-state "and the successful transference of this image to its exports - is just as important as what they actually produce and sell.”This is also referred to as country-of-origin effect.
Nation branding is still a developing field in which scholars continue their search for a unified theoretical framework. Many governments have resource dedicated to Nation Branding. Their aim is to improve their country's standing, as the image and reputation of a nation can dramatically influence its success in attracting tourism receipts and investment capital; in exports; in attracting a talented and creative workforce and in its cultural and political influence in the world.
There is a misconception among most of the people that it is required to develop tourism sector of any country in case of nation branding. But nation branding focuses on the nation as a whole – its people, culture and heritage, investment and immigration, governance, exports and tourism

Beautiful Bangladesh

In 2008, Chief Advisor Fakhruddin Ahmed launched the first country branding for Bangladesh. The logo of the branding includes a rising sun above waves of seawater with the slogan ‘Beautiful Bangladesh’ beneath. The image problem of Bangladesh made a low ranking by organizations as diverse as the World Economic Forum, UNDP, UNCTAD, Transparency International Bangladesh and Goldman & Sachs. The brand name of our country is Beautiful Bangladesh. It signifies its panoramic landscape and seascape. However, according to a business leader, Bangladesh should work on under the term country branding and emphasis on five specific areas: manpower, ready-made garments and textiles, jute and jute bags, micro-credit, and peace keeping missions.

Where Bangladesh Stands?
Bangladesh is yet to get a respectable position in global branding measurements. Our branding or image building has remained poor for many reasons. Though we have wonderful beaches in Cox's Bazar and Kuakata with bright sun, sand, sea, hilly terrain, and the Sundarbans with the Royal Bengal Tiger, for a foreign tourist, it may not be enjoyable due to absence of facilities for travelling to the places - especially, to Kuakata. In addition, Dhaka city's nightmarish gridlock, accompanied by terrible and insufficient public transport system and aggressive street beggars, make the situation worse. These are enough for shaping negative mindset that can destroy our country's image.

Again, 'Negative Country Branding' may come from both inside and outside. If we consider the case of Bangladesh, in many cases, negative branding comes from both the party in power and the opposition. Any utterance must be made carefully by them. Another case is the manpower sector. Some dishonest manpower agents have stained on our image badly by managing forged documents and sending aspirants abroad in other unlawful ways. Weaknesses at the government level are responsible for this. All wrongdoers must be punished in such cases. Crimes committed by Bangladeshi workers abroad also sully the image of the country. Probably, we lack proper process, training and counseling to prepare these people before they are sent abroad.

According to the Country Brand Index 2012, Bangladesh stood 110th position among the 118 countries that is diminution from 2011 (107th) and 2010 (102nd). Till now, Anholt’s Nation Brand Index (NBI) does not include Bangladesh. But Bangladesh can be analyzed based on the six criteria of Nation brand Index.
People: Bangladesh has demographic dividend for last few years. Population aged 60 years and above is likely to exceed the population aged below 15 years in 2046. Demographic dividend results in economic return like labor supply, savings and human capital. The urban growth rate is 3.5% per annum. This high rate of population movement and pace of urbanization can be regarded as a driving force of modernization and centre of economic growth and development.

Governance: In order to improve public financial management, the government of Bangladesh has taken a comprehensive Public Financial Management Action Plan. With a population of 140 million, it has only 1.4 million registered income tax payers and 300,000 businesses registered for value-added tax. The government approved a strategic development plan aimed at a tax administration modernization project, fostering tax-payer service and ensuring uniform and equal treatment of business. The government is also trying to build capacity of Board of Investment and Export Processing Zone Authority to reduce administrative barriers in attracting foreign investment. Moreover, for combating corruption and crimes DUDOK was established and with likely positive interest of the government corruption is somehow under control.

Exports: Bangladesh has become the ‘export power house’. ‘Made in Bangladesh’ labels are now common in American and European stores. McKinsey, the consulting giant, has called Bangladesh the ‘next china’ and predicted that Bangladeshi garment exports, now about $18 billion a year, could triple by 2020. It has already underscored the importance of exports for creating dynamism in the manufacturing sector and for the provision of high productivity and high-income jobs. Along with readymade garments, tea, jute, leather, handicraft, fish, dry food, etc. have earned good reputation from the world.

Tourism: Bangladesh is a combination of forests, river line countryside, long stretches of sun-bathed beaches, fearsome wilds, venerable shrines, etc. The world’s longest unbroken beach of Cox’s Bazar (120 km) is situated on a clean stretch consisting of miles of sands. Sundarbans, world’s single largest mangrove forest, is special to catch a rare glimpse of the Royal Bengal Tiger in its natural habitat. Bangladesh is also crisscrossed by a network of rivers and creeks. It has rich archeological sites like Paharpur, Mahasthangarh and Mainamati. UNESCO has declared Paharpur as a World Heritage Site. In the capital of Bangladesh, it has also some outstanding monuments like Lalbagh Fort, Sonargaon, Ahsan Manjil, Husseni Dalan, Dhakeshwari Temple, etc.

Culture and Heritage: Ekushey February has got worldwide recognition as the ‘International Mother Language Day’. Pohela Baishakh displays our rich and vibrant culture and heritage. Our food culture can be focused as cuisine can be a powerful agent for shaping public perception. Bangladesh has also a diverse culture of tribal people that can be promoted as well for nation branding.

Investment and Immigration: In order to provide infrastructure facilities, government has established Industrial Park, High Tech Parks and EPZ. Economic zone can be set up by local or foreign entrepreneurs or organizations. To reduce power shortage, the government invites the private sector power generation companies. Special incentives have been announced for using Biomass, Solar and Windmill based power. The government has also introduced tax holidays for developed and underdeveloped areas. FDI has increased significantly over the years. Flow of remittances in Bangladesh is around six times higher than it was a decade ago. In 2011-12, it was $ 12.17 billion that made possible to earn positive balance of payments.

What should be done?

To address issues like poverty, underdeveloped economy, excessive population etc. and their subsequent impact on tourism growth in Bangladesh, the following approaches are suggested that could aid in improvement of the condition.

Develop cooperative tourism in Bangladesh: Geographically isolating and developing closed-off resorts with all tourism facilities and services required by tourists. Enclave tourism proved successful for Maldives, who share similar economic, social and environmental crisis like Bangladesh. Bangladesh could initiate developing all-inclusive resort in Coz’s Bazar coastal area and near Sunderban, the mangrove forest, for selective, high spending up-market tourists. Flights to such resorts should remain with Bangladesh Biman only, the national airline, partly to protect the national carrier and also to control mass tourism through charter flights. This approach was also successful with tourism in Mauritius. Mauritius benefited from enclave tourism and carefully developed their country image as an up-market sun, sea and sand tourism product along with a firm control on the high standard of their product and services.

Promote coastal, cultural tourism and wild life safari: Hilly and coastal areas of Coz’s Bazar could be undertaken for development of hill-walking, hiking, mountain biking, water based sport like para riding etc. Local rural festivals and other cultural activities can charm tourists interested in unique Bangladeshi culture along with visiting tea gardens, temples, tribal community of Bangladeshi coastal area. A limited wildlife safari to outside the Royal Bengal tiger protection reservoir zone could be initiated to attract tourists interested in wild animals in their natural habitats. Alam et al. (2009) considers Bangladesh with numerous potential spots ideal for eco-tourism. Eco-tourism; which in itself believes in maximising benefit for the local communities, balances economic growth, protects environment and social justice; need to be initiated in Bangladesh.

New brand identity and positioning strategy: The information recorded from the open-ended questions suggests issues, which require addressing in subsequent destination marketing plans, like reconstruction of positioning strategy to create a clear, positive and realistic image. On the basis of the research, it appeared that Bangladesh is just another ‘sun and sea’ product with negative imagery associated with it. The study implies need to shift focus from ‘sun and sea’ brand identity to ‘wildlife and cultural’ brand identity or some other unique features. Wild life and culture is unique attributes to Bangladesh; and hence could bring better success then the current product. Many respondents thought that Bangladesh offers similar product benefit like India, due to its geographical nearness to India, which in reality is different and much more underdeveloped than Indian tourism product. A clear brand identity needs to be projected to retain tourists’ confidence in future. The scale items provided more general information on the attributes-based components of destination image. The issues identified by the attribute-based items imply need for further product development.

Conclusion
There are around 195 nations in the world who are aggressively competing for the attention of investors, tourists and citizens. So it is time to plan a nation branding strategy that must consider two objectives. First making the citizens attached to the brand. Also it is necessary to improve people’s standard of living so that a citizen really feel proud of his / her country. Second the brand strategists should concentrate on branding the country beyond the border. Its success depends on how far they can reduce the gap between a native’s perception and a foreigner’s perception about the country. Country brand strength is a nation’s ultimate intangible asset that helps to stand out regionally and globally and to realise future ambitions beyond its geographic size, financial performance or levels of awareness. When a product or service is identified with a strong nation brand, it has a better chance of premium pricing, longevity and preference in emerging markets. On the other hand, a poor nation brand leads to poor differentiation, ambiguous meaning and low recall in the minds of people who travel, consume and do business beyond the border. Nation branding provides the glue among political, social and economic pillars. It defines how a country’s own citizens and the world perceive it. It balances substance and form perception and reality. It enhances a nation’s ability to achieve its objectives across foreign policy, FDI, trade, tourism,etc. It delivers a unifying platform that builds synergy, allowing for cross-promotion and alignment across the public and private sectors.