Value Branding Seminar Hosted in Dubai
Don’t rush to cut prices during a recession

Dubai
March 21, 2009

In association with the One Centre, O2 Marketing Communications has announced the success of its first value branding seminar held at the Shangri-La Hotel.

The one-off seminar which discussed ‘HOT TOPICS in branding 2009’ was presented by Professor Judy Metacksutis from the One Center, Australia.  The three hour event brought together professionals from the marketing, public relations, advertising and branding sector to discuss value branding and the way forward.Attracting managers from Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain the seminar covered crucial topics that are often pushed aside during periods of economic downturn.

“The presentation by Professor Metacksutis shed light on key branding issues that should be at the forefront of everyone’s mind, rather than at the back.  Using success stories from brands such as The Body Shop and SubWay and highlighting what we should do rather than what we shouldn’t do, the seminar created a sense of optimism amongst the audience,” said O2 Marketing Communications Manager Mr. Mohammed Johmani, who was also a key speaker at the event.

With many companies throughout the world reducing prices and implementing cost cutting strategies, pricing was also discussed at length.  Professor Metacksutis also highlighted that most successful brands use ‘Price + Principles’, meaning, that they do not only focus on their competitive prices, but on a central value, emphasizing a strong belief or principle.  With Price and Principle successfully combined, the brand earns the potential to become unstoppable, giving rise to a powerful brand culture.   

“Price is linear (quantitative), value is not (qualitative). You cannot necessarily assign a price to quality as decreasing the price may erode the brand’s image making it look cheap and undesirable,” said Professor Metacksutis.

She added:

“A drop in prices can essentially weaken a company’s image. It may seem like an obvious choice in today’s turbulent world but it can easily backfire. Instead, management should consider even raising prices along with the added value of their product or service. If a customer is interested in your product but turns you down because of the higher price, one should be pleased. Why? Because it inherently means that the customer is satisfied with what you are offering. The fine line between the customer interest and the final sale rests entirely upon the ability of management to effectively communicate the added value that the product or service will create so that it outweighs the cost. At the end of the day the price is what we pay whereas the value is what we received.”

The seminar also addressed the value of branding in today’s changing world, successful brands and how they’ve grown to take on a life of their own as well as discussing branding and ethics, the growth of brand popularity and brand identity. The seminar also touched upon Arabic trademarks and discussed reasons why Arabic Brands do not effectively penetrate the global market.

“With the exception of the UAE, most Arab countries have not been able to generate the kind of international brand awareness that Dubai created back in the 1990s.  The success of Dubai as a brand is no miracle. It was a deliberate and well thought out strategy by the UAE and Government of Dubai that was supported and backed by the population and its advertising and marketing agencies. By branding the city, products and services that originate from Dubai now have a real chance at gaining international exposure,” said Mr. Johmani.

“Brand position however can only be maintained when the brand is built correctly and is fresh as well as unique. Understanding the real value of your brand is key,” he added.

According to a study of from several specialized international consulting firms, the total value of the top 100 brands in the world is estimated at 1.94 trillion dollars, making brands a worthwhile investment.