SPEECHES:

Speech by
YAB Dato' Sri Mohd Najib Bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak
at the Award Ceremony for Malaysia's Most Valuable Brands
Friday November 16, 2007

YB DATO’ SERI ONG KA TING
Minister of Housing and Local Government,

DATUK VINCENT LEE
President, Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia,

MR JEZ FRAMPTON
International Global CEO of Interbrand,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

First and foremost, I would like to thank the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia or 4As for inviting me to be their guest of honour at this evening’s presentation ceremony.

I would like to commend 4As for their advocacy of branding excellence among Malaysian companies. Congratulations is in order to 4As and its President Datuk Vincent Lee who had commissioned the globally renowned company Interbrand to conduct the study on branding in Malaysia ultimately leading to this evening’s award presentation.

Branding can mean the difference between success and failure. Indeed you can have the best of products and provide the most excellent of services but if you neglect branding in today’s media centric world than you are in danger of missing the tipping point that separates the great from the good, the excellent from the mediocre, the runaway successes from the flops.

What is a brand and what differentiate an ordinary brand from a truly exceptional one. One definition that manages to capture the essence of what constitute a Brand is this “A brand is a collection of perceptions in the minds’ of consumers.” Separating the mundane from the truly excellent is “the degree which the brand leaves its’ mark and cultivate loyalty.”

In this point of time the importance of brands has never been greater. They provide the bedrock upon which consumer loyalty and added value is accrued. The government realized that companies face certain constraints in their brand-building efforts. Among the most pressing that needs immediate attention is the attitude of the financial services community in the treatment of brand investments from the accounting point of view.

In this context, Malaysian companies are at a similar stage as their western counterparts were in the last quarter of the 20th century, when tangible assets (such as land and buildings, and financial assets such as receivables and investments) were considered the main source of business value. The market was certainly aware of the intangibles, but their specific value was unclear and unaccounted for.

This is a pity, for it has been brought to my attention by Interbrand that a study conducted by them in association with JP Morgan concluded that on average brands account for more than one third of shareholder value. This is value that should be reflected in the economic output.

Previously, this problem was compounded by the absence of a universally-recognised brand valuation processes, and the lack of understanding and tracking of brand performance and its financial prospects.

The initiative by 4As to collaborate with Interbrand a company who pioneered the valuation methodology used globally and are the indisputable world leader in this arena is a step in the right direction.

I am proud of the companies represented in this room today, they are a beacon of hope for others to emulate. I hope that this initiative by 4As will be a catalyst for Malaysian manufacturers and marketers to view brand building as an investment that can add financial value to shareholders, and not merely as a mere dispensable or unnecessary cost.

For Malaysia to create the next fifty years of prosperity we need the private sector to reclaim their role as the prime mover of the nation’s economy. In managing the challenges of globalization Malaysian companies need to adopt their own blue ocean strategies by continuously spurring the process of value innovations within their respective organizations, they must be bold enough to challenge conventional wisdom, they need to achieve beyond their ordinary and they need to treat their world as their oyster. These goals require a new renaissance and rejuvenation of our nation’s entrepreneurial spirit.

In an increasingly cutthroat global economy Malaysian companies need to exploit every comparative and competitive advantage available at their disposal. It is not enough merely to survive they need to lead the way, become a trailblazer, dominate and strive to make their competitors irrelevant.

Indeed the need for branding is not restricted to only the business community in their eternal endeavour to market their products and services. In the realm of nation building, branding is also an integral part of a successful nation building process.

For the past fifty years Malaysia has been successful in creating a positive image for itself. We have managed to turn a cardinal conventional wisdom on its head. A conventional wisdom that automatically consigns a nation with Malaysia’s make up of multi ethnicity, multi culturalism and multi religiousity automatically into the ranks of probable failed states unraveled by the burden of diversity.

Malaysians have not only managed to defy this conventional wisdom indeed we have successfully turned what should have been our Achilles heel into our very own Samson’s hair a source of strength rather than weakness. This is prove positive that if we put our mind, heart and soul into it, we can turn even a mere possibility into a certain probability.

In conclusion, allow me to take this opportunity to congratulate the companies whose brand will be awarded the title of Malaysia’s Most Valuable Brand. You can rightly take pride in your achievement.

Thank You.