Robinson’s one of Singapore’s most iconic retail brands has
just announced that it will be shutting its doors for good, after 162-years.
The local fashion icon was a victim of growing competition and Covid-19 was
perhaps the final nail in the proverbial coffin.
With the death of Robinson’s, Singapore is left with one
less home-grown brand and as my former boss, Mr. PN Balji says, “The reality is
that Singapore has only produced two notable brands – Lee Kuan Yew and SIA.” True
enough, if you mention Singapore to anyone outside of Singapore, the two things
that would come to mind would be LKY and SIA. I remember growing up in the UK
and whenever I mentioned that I was from Singapore, the inevitable remark was “Is
Mr. Lee still in charge.”
How is it such that our nation of some five million, reasonably
smart people, only ever produced two brands that the rest of the world
recognised? I guess the answer is simply the fact that they got lucky.
SIA was lucky in the sense that it is in an industry where
Singapore’s limited air space means that being protected by the Singapore
Government is pointless. With no domestic market to speak of, SIA had to
compete on commercial grounds against the world’s big players. Unlike, say,
Singapore Telecom, SIA actually had to fight for its customers. Because it was
necessary to fight for customers, SIA had to build a brand and deliver on its
promises. To give credit where credit its due, SIA is recognised in the
international arena as a world class airline.
Lee Kuan Yew was also lucky in as much as he was the first
of his kind and his timing was immaculate. He was lucky to be active when the
British were trying to get rid of colonies as expensive liabilities after World
War II. He was lucky to be born in Singapore which was the commercial centre (something
which Singapore’s history books tend to forget) and he was lucky enough to
attract very talented and dedicated people like Dr. Goh Keng Swee to his side. So,
when we were booted out of the Malaysian Federation some 55-years ago, Lee Kuan
Yew had available elements to help him to turn Singapore into the thriving metropolis
that it is today.
Singapore’s story is the best example of not what you have
but how you use what you have. Lee Kuan Yew was a rare post-colonial leader who
welcomed the former colonial powers. He was strict about things like integrity
in the civil service and Mr. Lee was quick to use things like technology and
learn from the best in the world to make up for Singapore’s geographical limitations
– just look at our urban planning and the ability to get a constant flow of
drinking water as prime examples.
Both SIA and Lee Kuan Yew deserve their brand recognition.
However, like all good brands, there are limitations, which was the target
audience.
In the case of SIA, the audience has never been the average
Singaporean. Although it is “Singapore” Airlines, the real target of the SIA
brand is the International or Western business traveler, who will be traveling
on a long-haul flight on nothing less than business class. Everything that SIA does
is to ensure that for the eight to 12 hours, the business traveler gets to
indulge in his (they’re usually guys) gets to indulge in a fantasy of what being
in Asia is about.
That isn’t a problem in as much as SIA is a commercial
business and expected to deliver a profit to shareholders. It makes sense that it
caters to a certain niche of the market. As a Singaporean student living in the
UK, I could never afford to fly SIA back home ands that didn’t matter to anyone
because, me and people like me were not simply not the target market delivering
a vital section of revenue.
It is a similar story with the Lee Kuan Yew brand. Ever
since his official retirement (and taking on the consultancy role as senior minister),
Mr. Lee Kuan Yew devoted an increasing portion of this time in building his
brand and “Governing philosophy” to the world outside Singapore. He wrote books
and had a regular column in Forbes Magazine. Whenever the government was
supposed to “open” new markets, they sent him.
He was, as they say, the brand face for the nation. To the
Western World, Lee Kuan Yew, was their expert on all things Asian. American
Presidents and British Prime Ministers saw him as the man whom they could trust
when it came to the ASEAN region and even China. To the Chinese, Lee Kuan Yew
was their expert on getting the economics right without having to give away political
control (Lee Kuan Yew often told the story of how Deng Xiao Peng told him “if only
I had just Shanghai to deal with” after seeing Singapore).
As an international trading centre, Singapore does rely on
the goodwill of the international community, so it is important that Singapore
maintains a good relationship with the outside world and the outside world has
an emotional interest in Singapore. However, unlike SIA, we’re not talking about
a commercial enterprise here. We’re talking about a government designed to
serve the average Singaporean and the brand values have to be directed at this
audience. Sure, the international investor is important but that’s not the “customer”
in this case.
Sure, Mr. Lee’s successors have tried to turn him into an “Elvis”
like figure. Singapore’s book shelves are inevitably filled with books by Mr.
Lee and dare I say he’s even become a cartoon for teaching children about their
history.
Mr. Lee was in many ways; an exceedingly wise man and I don’t
have an issue with him writing books. It’s admirable that the “wise” pass on
their wisdom through books for future generations. What I do have an issue with
is the fact that “Brand Lee Kuan Yew’s” values have become increasingly
directed at the international business crowd at the expense of the average
Singaporean.
Take the debate on foreigners. The message is very clear to
the expatriate community. It is come and stay in Singapore for a nice, safe,
clean life and the chance to work a good and well-paying job. There is also an
underlying message to the expat crowd that the natives are well behaved and don’t
get involved in things like strikes or demand “high” pay or worse, set up a
competing shop.
The messaging to the locals is simple – behave or else the
foreigners will run away and all the good things that you have will vanish.
Hence, whenever Singapore’s online crowd says anything about lose immigration
policies, the government gets defensive.
Brands are like personalities with values. They attract a
certain type of customer who can identify with the values that a particular
brand stands for.
In many ways, Singapore has a good “LKY” brand of “no-nonsense,
we get things done without screwing you over,” type of values. It’s an
attractive brand proposition and somehow the foreigners get sold on it.
However, is this not the wrong audience, particularly in a
democratic system where governments are chosen by the voters. In this scenario,
aren’t the customers supposed to be the voters, who happen to be local. The
increasing focus on communicating brand values to the international crowd comes
at the expense of the local or the buying crowd.
As I’ve often argued, Lee Kuan Yew did many things right and
Singapore on the whole has benefited from his wisdom. However, we need to acknowledge
that he was human, had faults and made mistakes. As a rather well to do former customer at the Bistrot
said, “I respected him until….” His so called “Brand Custodians” need to
remember that the man is no longer around and so, its easier to enforce brand
values in as much as you can filter the good from the bad.
However, does not seem to be task his current brand
custodians are keen on doing. It seems easier to deify the man and speaking to
an audience that the man was engaging with in his golden years rather than who
he had to deal with in the initial years. The results of the brand
mismanagement was seen in the 2020 election.
To restore Lee Kuan Yew’s brand, his brand custodians need
to recognize that they made mistakes. While speaking to the investing community
is important, they have to understand that the core audience is the local voter.
Brand messaging and the promise and delivery needs to be focused on the primary
audience. Failure to do so will be seen in continuing elections.
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