SINGAPORE: The entire organization needs to step up when a brand is undergoing change, according to an executive at Singapore Tourism Board, who described her own brand’s journey as “very intense and very emotional”.
Lynette Pang, Assistant Chief Executive of Marketing at Singapore’s national tourism promotion agency, told the recent All That Matters Conference that an excellent consultation and feedback process had been key to evolving the country’s tourism marketing.
“We had a lot of feedback but there was also a lot of co-creation and interaction,” she said. (For more details read WARC’s report: 10 Tips For Brand Evolution From AirAsia and Singapore Tourism Board.)
“The change definitely was not easy, but having that constant dialogue – that open dialogue – really helped the change, within the organization, between us and our partners, as well as Singaporeans," Pang reported.
And she stated her belief that in order to truly change the direction of a brand, it can’t just be the marketing team doing the heavy lifting – the whole company needs to buy in.
“One of the most helpful things for us when we were developing this (brand) was the question we asked ourselves: ‘How do we entrench the new thinking into the culture of the organization, and how do we grow the capabilities?’” she explained.
A company’s willingness to embrace change can be difficult to achieve, Pang acknowledged, but she argued that the success of a brand’s evolution can rest on it doing so.
“It's a truism that people don't usually embrace change. They resist it. You probably get more resistance from your own backyard, or your own family,” she said, adding that this truism holds true for STB as well.
“One key learning point for us was really that brand changing is not just a marketing job,” she declared. “It’s also working alongside with HR, with finance, with the product developers, with the industry.
“It needs to be extensive beyond the marketing team, and with that, being able to spread the message more.”
Lynette Pang, Assistant Chief Executive of Marketing at Singapore’s national tourism promotion agency, told the recent All That Matters Conference that an excellent consultation and feedback process had been key to evolving the country’s tourism marketing.
“We had a lot of feedback but there was also a lot of co-creation and interaction,” she said. (For more details read WARC’s report: 10 Tips For Brand Evolution From AirAsia and Singapore Tourism Board.)
“The change definitely was not easy, but having that constant dialogue – that open dialogue – really helped the change, within the organization, between us and our partners, as well as Singaporeans," Pang reported.
And she stated her belief that in order to truly change the direction of a brand, it can’t just be the marketing team doing the heavy lifting – the whole company needs to buy in.
“One of the most helpful things for us when we were developing this (brand) was the question we asked ourselves: ‘How do we entrench the new thinking into the culture of the organization, and how do we grow the capabilities?’” she explained.
A company’s willingness to embrace change can be difficult to achieve, Pang acknowledged, but she argued that the success of a brand’s evolution can rest on it doing so.
“It's a truism that people don't usually embrace change. They resist it. You probably get more resistance from your own backyard, or your own family,” she said, adding that this truism holds true for STB as well.
“One key learning point for us was really that brand changing is not just a marketing job,” she declared. “It’s also working alongside with HR, with finance, with the product developers, with the industry.
“It needs to be extensive beyond the marketing team, and with that, being able to spread the message more.”
Sourced from WARC
