Tsunami of brands to hit Phl shores

CEBU, Philippines - As the ASEAN integration makes its official debut next year, the Philippines is expected to see a tsunami of brands to land in the country's shores.

Local brands therefore are told to tighten its belt some more, and guard its own turf, as this development may kill the local brands as the market will be largely dominated by competitive foreign brands across industries, said Philippine Franchise Association chairman emeritus Samie Lim.

In Cebu, Lim mentioned some local brands that have already made efforts to prepare for a tougher competition next year, these are among others, Bo's Coffee Club, Golden Cowrie group of restaurants, Tablea, and some locally developed names in the fashion services, wellness, and education sectors.

Already, Lim said even before the ASEAN integration became the "buzz-word," some Cebuano brands had been able to get ahead of the preparation for regional and global competition, these are Penshoppe, Island Souvenirs Inc.  and a few more homegrown names.

Lim reiterated his warning to be more than prepared on next year's influx of brands in the Philippine market by staging strategic marketing campaigns, strengthening brand equity specifically among Filipino consumers, in order to stay in business and sustain or increase their foothold in the brand-conscious Filipino market.

Along with local brand build-up, Lim also encouraged Filipino brands to simultaneously make their presence overseas. And the best way to hasten this move is to open the business for franchise.

According to Lim, international brands made it successful in the international market because of franchising. Thus, Filipinos should take a higher leap this time in conquering the borderless marketplace via opening their doors to franchise platform.

Earlier, Singapore-based branding expert has warned Filipino entrepreneurs to take extra efforts in strengthen its branding move, as weak branding equity will threaten a firm's life-span.

"Branding is not a luxury for global corporations, it has become a necessity," Martin Roll told Filipino businessmen in his recent visit to the Philippines.

Roll said the world market is now facing a new paradigm, and that those who do not make branding as one of their important cores in the business are unlikely to survive.

There is a need for Asian companies to trailblaze with the branding battle among countries and global brands, Roll added. (FREEMAN)