The Straits Times / The Business Times News on Best World

Stand-out branding help local firms to be winners

By Gabriel Chen
Dec 7, 2006
The Straits Times

Top awards for four diverse businesses which stress service and quality products

GETTING a brand name to stand out in a crowded market is tough going for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with a limited budget.

But four local brands which have pulled off that crucial step to greater business success have now emerged as the cream of the cream of local brands.

They were winners at a local awards ceremony with a unique entry requirement: having already won at an earlier awards ceremony.

These four stand-out brands are from dramatically diverse businesses. They are:

• Food courts operator Koufu, which has more than 20 outlets across Singapore.
• Thomson Medical Centre, with a hospital, clinics and plans to expand in the region.
• Frasers Hospitality, a branded service residence management company, with brands such as Fraser Suites, Fraser Place and Fraser Corporate Residence under its umbrella.
• Home furnishings firm Goodrich Global, which sells its products in Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, China and Indonesia, as well as Singapore.

The four were picked from an already elite group of 30 Singapore Promising Brand Award (SPBA) winners. They underwent another round of evaluation by judges looking for a select few to get the illustrious SPBA Distinctive Brand Award.

And two, Frasers and Goodrich, took it one step further - bagging the SPBA Gold Award as they have each won the Distinctive Brand Award twice before.

The Association of Small and Medium Enterprises and Lianhe Zaobao SPBA Awards dished out yesterday at the Swissotel The Stamford are the only ones here that recognise the branding efforts of SMEs. Another 16 received the SPBA Heritage Brand Award which recognises the efforts of long-standing brands.

The winner of the SPBA Most Popular Brand Award, selected through a nationwide SMS poll was Mr Bean, a leading chain soya bean retailer.

One common bugbear among SMEs is that branding seems to be the exclusive domain of multinationals with bottomless advertising budgets. But today, many SMEs realise that branding does not necessarily have to cost them the earth.

An elated Mr Choe Peng Sum, Frasers Hospitality's chief operating officer, said: 'We compete head-on with big brands like Hilton and Four Seasons. Winning the award is really important to us as we can utilise the brand recognition to help us grow globally.'

Ms Dora Hoan, chairman and founder of SPBA, said a common thread among the four winners, for example, was an emphasis on customer service, as well as a recognition by top management that branding is crucial to business.

The Minister of State for Manpower and Education, Mr Gan Kim Yong, said the winners show clearly that despite a small domestic market, it is possible for strong, quality brands to emerge.

'Nearly all of them have gone through the difficult economic conditions in recent years. They have not only survived, but have also thrived,' he said.