Mr Lee Yi Shyan at the official launch of "Get Singapore"

SPEECH BY MR LEE YI SHYAN MINISTER OF STATE FOR TRADE & INDUSTRY AT THE OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF “GET SINGAPORE” ON FRIDAY, 27 MARCH 2009, 4:45 PM AT VIVOCITY 

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good afternoon.

I am delighted to be here today for the launch of GET SINGAPORE. This is a milestone initiative that will showcase well-designed, high quality Singapore brands both here and abroad.

Singapore as a National Brand

As a nation, Singapore has earned many accolades. Rating agencies and international organizations commend favorably on our livable city, highly-skilled workforce, great logistics and connectivity, world-class healthcare and life science research. Even our night life and tourism infrastructure were given high marks in some recent international surveys.

For sure, we are already investing in new tourism infrastructure, by hosting global events such as F1 and Youth Olympic Games (YOG). With the impending opening of two integrated resorts, and Marina Bay development, we will add new buzz and vibrancy to the city life and landscape. Beyond a great place for business and trade, Singapore will also appeal to talents in science, arts and culture. Singapore’s brand attributes will take on exciting and colorful qualities. Singapore as a brand will become more attractive.

Collective Brand as a Springboard to the World

With such a strong national brand, built principally on key attributes such as integrity, reliability, quality, and trustworthiness, Singapore companies should fully leverage on them to create greater premium for their products and services. Already, the “Made in Singapore” or “Designed in Singapore” label carries certain premium, and quality assurance. Our challenge is to get more companies to build on this label to enhance their product and service offerings in a mutually reinforcing way.

Quality merchants take branding seriously. Behind every brand communication embeds a solemn promise. And yet the Singapore promise of quality, innovation and reliability must be consistent across all touch points to sustain a high standard of user experience.

Many Singapore companies understand this brand promise and undertaking. Eu Yan Sang for instance, employs stringent process controls to ensure consistency and quality of its TCM products. Courts Singapore has a no-question-asked exchange policy because they believe “you are not a happy customers unless totally satisfied”.

Roles of the Industry in Branding

In brand communications, SMEs often complain about the high cost of marketing campaign. However, I believe if they can pool their resources, they can do more in raising their group profile. In the furniture sector, for instance, “Singapore Mosaic” was the name of their joint campaign. In the textile & apparel sector, the association adopted “Apparel Singapore” as the collective brand in their outreach programme.

GET SINGAPORE is a step in the right direction. By adopting a common brand-building platform, our local retailers are looking to create greater mind-share of their common brand attributes in the local and overseas markets. I would like to commend the founding group of passionate retailers for coming together to establish the “GET SINGAPORE Brands Ltd”, to initiate this new collective brand.

With 25 of the 37 pioneer GET SINGAPORE brands already growing their presence internationally, this collective effort will serve as an excellent springboard to support their overseas expansion.

Conclusion

Strong brands and companies are more resilient and relevant against market forces and weakening global demand as they communicate a meaningful relationship with consumers, thereby reinforcing brand loyalty. In these challenging economic times, when brand recognition becomes one of the key differentiators, effective branding will help companies to retain business.

On this note, I applaud the participating retailers of GET SINGAPORE for successfully banding together for a common cause and taking the industry to new heights. I also urge more retailers to join in this voluntary initiative to make GET SINGAPORE an even stronger proposition.

Thank you and have an enjoyable evening.