CJ: Ok, the first question I’d like to ask you, could you please detail to me what the term ‘country branding’ means to you?
AR: Well, what it’s not is company branding. A lot of people think that if you can brand a company or a product then you can brand a country, but actually it’s a very different ball game. The reason why it’s different is because it’s a nation, and a nation is made up of people, and people tend to gravitate towards interest groups. And you get different interest groups, and all these interest groups need to be heard, in order to really ascertain what the essence of the nation is all about. So it’s a much more complex process than branding a company or branding a product. If you want to tweak a company’s product or change it or take it off the shelves, it’s quite an easy process –you can’t do the same for a country. In essence country branding really expresses the DNA, the soul, the spirit of a country, and then it’s expressed through visual collateral and identity.
CJ: Ok, and why do you think it’s important for countries to create a national brand?
AR: Well I don’t think every country can create a country brand, I think countries reach a cycle in their development process, in their growth where, if you like, the planting of the flag in the sand as an expression of identity is an important part and aspect of their development. I think it helps on various levels: I think internally it helps with motivation, pride and recognition. I think if a nation is in touch with its identity, its history, its heritage, its roots, with what makes it tick - the national pulse, then they can come together, they can align themselves towards a vision or a future direction.
So I think internally it has the capacity to galvanize and bring together people from disparate religions, different genders, different thought processes and belief systems, and unite them under one flag. Externally, it allows a country to, depending on their philosophy and rationale, seek investment, in terms of foreign direct investment; it allows the country to add a premium price to their exports, it allows the country to increase their inbound tourism.
So it has a lot of knock-on effects in terms of trade and commerce, as well as diplomacy, because other countries can recognise your country as having this or that viewpoint, and propagating a set of values, so that’s why I believe that it is important. And more countries are using the platform of country branding to communicate with different countries, with different interest groups, on various levels where countries interact with each other.
CJ: And what do you see as the major strengths or selling points of Qatar?
AR: Well, it depends who you’re talking to. Look at Qatar objectively. Qatar has made enormous quantum strides in the last 10 years. It has invested in its infrastructure, it has invested in its natural resources of oil and gas, it has developed a financial system to pay off debt and reinvest proceeds internally to build up the country. I think Qatar has realised that they have this amazing resource which is the Qatari people - a very young population which need to be educated and brought into the workforce.
One of the strengths of the leadership is that they have identified education as being one of the key areas to invest a lot of money. The other tenets, or 'pillars' include the healthcare system - ensuring there’s a world class medical system to cater and cope with the growing population which will explode exponentially as the youth reach marriageable age and then have children of their own. Then the economy, investing in paying off debt and investing in infrastructure, oil and gas, and investing in reinforcing diplomatic relations with neighbours and internationally.
CJ: Right, it seems through branding that countries are attempting to promote an immediately recognisable image of themselves in terms of maybe the culture, history and values for example. What would you describe as the immediately recognisable image of Qatar?
AR: Well I think it's forming, it’s in process. What you’ve got in Qatar is definitive interest groups: you’ve got the airline and tourism, flying the flag of Qatar, using the symbol of the Oryx, an endangered species which has been nurtured and allowed to prosper here in Qatar. You’ve got the economy looking for inward investment, building bilateral relationships with Asia, Europe and of course the United States. I think recently Qatar has recognised that its future lies more with Asia, in terms of being a bridge to Asia for the West, taking advantage of its geographical location, and it’s building relationships at that end. Historically Qatar was much more associated and aligned with Europe and America, but as the power shifts towards the global titans of India and China and the Tiger economies, Qatar is moving much more towards Asia. I think Qatari’s are very enterprising, I think many have been educated in the West and have realised that it’s “game on” time as it were. Qatar is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, so I think they would like to be seen as forward thinking, I think they’d like to be seen as progressive, I think they’d like to be seen as moderate, I think they’d like to be seen as retaining their culture and heritage and yet looking forward to the 22nd century with a clear vision and determination.
CJ: Now I read your article ‘To B or not to be’, in which you said that Qatar had no single consistent message, rather that there are sub-brands that are gaining international currency but they do not form a cohesive whole, could you perhaps elaborate on that statement?
AR: That was actually a quote, as part of my research into the Qatari brand. I couldn’t rely solely on my own perception and analysis, so I went and challenged prominent marketers working in leading international and Qatari organisations to provide their viewpoint - this was a direct quote from an experienced marketing executive in a Qatari organisation.
My understanding of what he said was that you have the financial community propagating one message and agenda, the economy and commerce propagating another message, education propagating another message, tourism propagating yet another message, so you’re getting different messages, not necessarily aligned in their thinking, because interest groups have their own agenda and I think the take on that was; what is needed is a national agenda, a national consensus of opinion and direction.
If you take it to the extreme, let’s say you’re incredibly successful bringing in huge numbers of tourists, and then you’ve got people walking around the city in their shorts and t-shirts - that will upset a lot of traditional people, so there has to be a balance somewhere. It’s the same with industrial development,
Qatar is very keen on developing manufacturing facilities in Qatar, but you have to take into account the environmental impacts because it’s a small peninsula and they have to examine the environmental and social impacts of having XYZ factory, be it aluminium smelters or similar. What effect will that have long term on the population and the eco systems?
So every action has an equal and opposite reaction, but what needs to happen is a dialogue with key stakeholders, obviously the population at large, represented by the Municipal Committees and appointed individuals, to the Chamber of Commerce, tourism, and then of course the Government. There has to be a dialogue to establish, and this is why country branding is so good as a catalyst, who is it that we are? Who is it that we want to be? And what is it that we stand for in terms of our value system? At present you’d be looking at the path where we came from and also the future direction, and then you could develop a road map to achieve a natural balance between inward investment, manufacturing and tourism to benefit the economy and commerce and it’s all working together with a bias towards sustainable and environmentally responsible development. Obviously you can’t build a perfect world so you’re going to have people upset in one direction or another, but at least the ship’s going in one direction which has been established according to the vision of the leadership and the input of key stakeholders.
CJ: OK, and moving away from Qatar for just one minute, in your opinion, why has the branding of Dubai has been such a success?
AR: Dubai was very clear in what they wanted to do, and they initiated their development programme by developing tourism as a springboard to promote Dubai across the world and it worked very well. There you have the different elements, you have obviously the diplomatic agenda working together with the airlines; they opened up tourist offices around the world which Qatar hasn’t really done yet. And then they developed, only recently, a very strong broadcast network Dubai One, which has got a very strong following. They have a different rationale, a different agenda. Qatar doesn’t really have to go that far that fast, they can learn from the mistakes that Dubai made. I presume that one of the key reasons that Dubai can go down that road is because they realised that their oil was going to run out very soon, they needed to develop other revenue streams. By opening up tourism, that had a knock-on effect, like throwing a stone in a pond and seeing the ripple effect - it then opened up Dubai as a tourist destination, which then opened up the whole infrastructure of hotels and service industry, which opened up the whole construction industry, which therefore opened up the whole real estate industry, so it is having a very strong knock-on effect.
CJ: Ok, and do you think that Qatar is basing its branding strategy on that adopted by Dubai?
AR: Oh not at all, I think it’s like water and chocolate. Qatar has a very enlightened leadership, I’m not saying Dubai doesn’t, but in Qatar they have the blessing of many hundred years of gas revenue, they have a much smaller population. Yes they’re moving fast, but they’re moving in a very orderly fashion, and they’re looking at Dubai and saying; this element of Dubai we don’t want to be and that element of Dubai we don’t want to be, and they’re very much proceeding in a fashion which reflects who they are as a people, so the national identity is evolving, it is coming out in some of the landmark projects that are being developed. But I definitely don’t think Qatar is looking at Dubai and saying ‘we have to imitate that’.
CJ: On your website it says that you were the Fitch London Client Director for the Doha Asian Games Brand Image and Look programme, what did this job entail?
AR: Developing the brand for the Doha Asian Games, and how that manifested in terms of not just the logo itself, but all the sub brands; the volunteer programme, the torch relay, the youth camp and Asian village - all the sub brands that are part of the Asian Games. Then developing the Look and Feel - how do these identities manifest in print, on the website and in all 2D and 3D communications- signage, vehicle livery, uniforms, TV branding, stadium branding etc. It was a very holistic and large-scale programme to develop an identity and Look and Feel to reflect the passion, the ambitions of Qatar, linking the heritage, tradition and aspirations of the country to the values of sport. We also developed a new typeface for them - the “Spirit of Doha” font and all graphic elements which culminated in the development of a comprehensive set of brand guidelines for all 2D and 3D communications.
CJ: Ok, excellent, and what do you think the Asian Games did for Qatar in terms of creating international awareness?
AR: I think it actually did more than create international awareness. The Doha Games had a potential TV footprint of 1.5 billion people - so that can only be good for Qatar, secondly, you’re talking 45 countries and 39 sports, 10,000 athletes and NOC officials and the Olympic Council of Asia, so you had a lot of people coming into Doha and Qatar who were able to see Qatar more than just a name, so that can only be good for the country, because then they go back and say; “oh it’s a really nice place, it’s very hospitable” etc. So not only do you have broadcasting, you also suddenly have 10 – 20,000 visitors coming into the country.
I think the legacy is what’s important. Yes the perception of Qatar is hugely important, but for me it was what it did for the people, putting sport onto the national agenda, developing the youth of tomorrow, the potential sport stars of tomorrow, getting them interested, and galvanized, committed and focused; developing the infrastructure in terms of stadiums and roads and transport networks, signage etc. - you know it’s huge.
And then, most importantly is the transfer of skills, putting on the second largest sporting event in the world required an enormous influx of knowledge and this is what’s going to last for the long term, whether it’s security, transportation, events, logistics. So there was this quantum leap in information and knowledge sharing, and this is what I think is going to build the framework of Qatar for the future. It also provided tremendous confidence –‘if we did that, then we can do more’. But I think more than just international awareness it was about national pride and confidence.
CJ: So bearing all that in mind then, how important do you think that sport and in particular the Asian Games is to Qatar in terms of the branding process?
AR: Well, I think it’s lifted the bar for real creativity, strategic thinking and quality service and most importantly, the power and importance of branding. People looked at the Doha Asian Games and said, ‘Wow!’; this has set a benchmark for what a brand can actually deliver. Building an International brand in 3 years with enormous reach and potential has shown the business community what can be achieved with a powerful brand.
It has set a benchmark for strategic thinking and creativity; people appreciate much more that a brand is more than just a logo, and they want more of it; so from that perspective it certainly made waves, in terms of positioning Qatar on the world map. It’s another step in the right direction, a very useful exercise.
Money wasn’t the object, I don’t think that when they went for the Asian Games they were looking at it as a profit and loss exercise. I think they wanted to find a project worthy of their ambitions and they took something which, potentially, could have been too big to handle, but they took it on. Yes mistakes were made; the CEO of Qatar Airways recently stated that the marketing was poor - I tend to agree with him, more could have been done sooner, especially with Orry the Mascot and promoting him internationally - but you know, when all is said and done – they made it happen, it was successful, they’ve got the infrastructure to do more, it made the people very happy, they’re very proud and this has had a good knock-on effect. From my perspective as a brand specialist, I can see that people are opening their eyes to what is possible.
CJ: Finally then, looking at the branding process in a holistic light, what do you think is the best way or the best strategy to create an international brand awareness of Qatar, or instant recognition of the Qatar brand, I mean if there are any?
AR: I don’t think there’s a quick fix solution. There is a tried and tested branding process. I think it needs to be adapted to Qatar’s particular characteristics and sensibilities - bringing stakeholders together, having a dialogue and establishing what the present reality is in terms of perceptions internally and externally. it is about establishing what the future holds or what your ambitions are, how you want to be perceived and positioned, and then of course it is present reality versus future aspirations and then researching the gap analysis and creating the systems and processes to move the present reality to the future reality.
But the first stage is dialogue, to reach clarity as to where we’re going, how we’re going to get there, what we stand for and what makes us special and unique. And once all the stakeholders have enrolled into the vision, the design process can begin. So the strategic thinking process at the beginning evolves into a design process much later down the line. Once you’ve got the enrolment, and this is the important word, it’s not about buying in or selling in, it’s getting your key stakeholders to enrol in the vision. I quote Oliver Cromwell, ‘My army won because they knew what they were fighting for and the loved what they knew’. So it has to come from them to be owned by them and lived by them. It’s an evolution, in terms of personal identity, but on a national level, it’s larger! And there’s an organic process to it, there’s a strategic process to it and there’s a creative process to it. All the elements have to be right and led by a holistic agency that understands most importantly the sensibility of the country, how they think, how they work, how they feel, and then the strategic and creative processes should be able to bring it to its natural conclusion.
Anthony Ryman is Managing Director of grow, a successful and refreshingly creative Doha-based advertising and design agency focused on brands. Successful clients include Alaqaria, Carnegie Mellon, Commercialbank, Doha Bank,
Harley Davidson Qatar, Four Seasons Hotel Doha, International Bank of Qatar, Qatari Diar, Qatar National Hotels,
Ritz Carlton Doha, Ramada Hotel Doha, Sharq Village and Spa, Weill Cornell.
For more information please go to http://www.growqatar.com or email at anthony@growqatar.com
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