19 Jan, 2016
ASEAN branding confusion at ASEAN’s premier travel trade show
Manila — The marketing of ASEAN as a single tourism destination has been under way for 24 years, with the original designation of 1992 as Visit ASEAN Year, to mark the 25th anniversary of the founding of the regional grouping.
In spite of that long-standing effort, the ASEAN tourism sector still cannot find common ground on some of the most crucial fundamentals of a marketing campaign – the ASEAN logo and the ASEAN brand-name, and how and where they should be displayed.
In November 2015, just one month before the start of ASEAN integration, the ASEAN heads of state met for their annual summit in Kuala Lumpur and issued a Declaration called “ASEAN 2025: Forging Ahead Together.” Under that broad declaration comes one of its three pillars, the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Blueprint.
Clause E.1.10. of that ASEAN Socio-Cultural Blueprint mandates the member states to “Project ASEAN’s visibility through comprehensive, multi-stakeholder branding efforts, which are represented by common ASEAN identifiers, such as ASEAN Day, ASEAN Flag, ASEAN Anthem and ASEAN Emblem.”
Note the very important reference to “common ASEAN identifiers” and the naming of the ASEAN emblem as one such identifier. It’s not just an ordinary branding logo, but an emblem, because it has a deeper significance: The pursuit of a ASEAN as a united grouping of One Vision, One Identity, One Community.
The travel & tourism industry is obviously having great difficulty understanding that. The 2016 ATF in the Philippines is a clear example of this continuing confusion, which is proven in the pictures below.
 This is the cover of the Declaration issued after the Nov 2015 ASEAN summit in KL. Note the very distinctive ASEAN emblem prominently positioned at the bottom. |
 This blueprint provides more details of the achievements so far. Again, note the ASEAN emblem. |
 The full ASEAN Socio-Cultural Blueprint. Note the emblem. |
 The full ASEAN Economic Blueprint. Note the ASEAN emblem. |
 The ASEAN Tourism Forum 2016 website. No sign of the ASEAN emblem. |
 The complete roster of organisers and sponsors, along with the main ATF 2016 poster (left) which can be seen all over Manila’s main roads. These three posters were positioned in the main lobby of the Sofitel Philippines, where all the ASEAN NTO meetings are being held. No ASEAN emblem in sight. |
 The ATF 2016 welcome desk at Manila airport, No ASEAN emblem here, either. |
 The buyers and sellers directories had no ASEAN emblem. |
 No ASEAN emblem on the name badges. |
 The official documentation of the NTO meetings has the ASEAN emblem (top left). However, the NTOs, having failed to practise and enforce the prominent visibility of the ASEAN emblem, are further confusing the public by using the tagline “Southeast Asia.” |
 A new cruise promotion strategy is suggesting the use of “Southeast Asia”, not ASEAN. No ASEAN emblem in sight in the Powerpoint presentation to the ASEAN NTOs. |
 This is the back-cover of a publication called the ASEAN Festival Primer. It uses both the ASEAN emblem and the Southeast Asia tagline. |
 Singapore has started the promotional pitch for the ATF 2017 with this publication that uses both the ASEAN emblem and the “Southeast Asia” tagline. A clearer vew of that is in the picture below. |
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Conclusion
If the ASEAN heads of state want to “Project ASEAN’s visibility through comprehensive, multi-stakeholder branding efforts, which are represented by common ASEAN identifiers, such as ASEAN Day, ASEAN Flag, ASEAN Anthem and ASEAN Emblem,” that is clearly not happening in the tourism case.
In fact, the tourism sector is contributing to the confusion with the totally unnecessary “Southeast Asia — Feel the Warmth” campaign, itself the product of discredited American-Australian consultants under an aborted project funded by US Agency for International Development.
The result is plain to see.
Solving the problem is easy: All powerful marketing messages have one logo, one name, one tagline. All that needs to be done is to make usage of the lone ASEAN emblem ubiquitous, and add the full name of ASEAN under it (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). That way, the world will know there is such a grouping in the first place, geographically located in Southeast Asia. It also harmonises usage of the “common ASEAN identifiers” right across the ASEAN tourism sector, including the private sector, which can follow suit, without any confusion.
Promoting ASEAN as a single destination as part of a broader vision to create “One Vision, One Identity, One Community” requires only one common identifier. ASEAN and the ASEAN emblem fit the bill perfectly.
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