BRANDING comes in all shapes and sizes. And, in all sense of the word, Datin Dr Winnie Loo has the branding of A Cut Above Group of Salons down pat.
Already a household name rising on her own merits, the timing of her being the President of the Branding Association of Malaysia (BAM) 2022 couldn’t come at a more appropriate time as Malaysia transitions into the endemic stage.
Looking radiant at BAM’s 22th anniversary gala dinner night, the Malaysian Hairdressing Association honorary president and advisor identified three objectives which she aims to achieve during her term with her team.
First, creativity in terms of achieving the right branding will be a priority.
“The association will be pushing its creativity to design more activities and events to bring connectivity and business opportunity to the next level,” she told FocusM.
This will see more networking sessions being held to garner more support and even publicity for the industry.
Secondly, she pledged her commitment to ensure that the branding association will constantly innovate and be a trendsetter in championing the association’s aims by doing things differently via its pool of creative members.
Thirdly, relationship-building will be a priority with quality over quantity relationship nurturing that will be applied for the best connection outcome.
“With these three key areas taken care of, I am certain that Branding Association will experience a revival and become stronger as the ‘New Branding Association’,” she said.
Despite all industries – especially the retail industry – having undergone overwhelming challenges in the last two-and-a-half years, Loo noted that a turnaround can still come about with the right branding and marketing strategies.
“Examples can be seen in certain businesses; once badly affected, these businesses are now thriving, among them Food & Beverage (F&B) outlets, hotels, event spaces and production companies which are now fully booked back-to-back,” she added.
Loo further observed that airlines and tourism destinations, too, have tremendous potential to pivot in the endemic as well. And, with businesses bouncing back, it is now more important than ever to “maintain quality services and the brand” in order to attract more returning customers.
Singling out the brand Empro as a good example, she said it pivoted from offering beauty services and cosmetics to catering to medical needs and is now thriving as a local mask manufacturer with plans to be a global supplier in the pipeline.
“It’s important not to dwell in the past and instead be bold (enough) to change and be innovative. There are cases of members in education who have extended into thriving online teachings,” she added.
On the flip side of the coin, she cautioned that bad branding can also affect businesses especially when not handled properly.
As such, despite spending a great amount of money on branding, plans may not always flow smoothly down the eco-chain of leadership to proper execution.
If this happens, Loo warned, employees might be unable to carry through with the vision, thus resulting in all efforts in the massive branding exercise to be wasted at the end of the day. – Nov 16, 2022
Yvonne Yoong is Focus Malaysia’s contributing Property & Lifestyle Editor, seasoned in covering the property beat and other industries.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
