The Singapore Brand Conference 2010, “Building Borderless Brands – Rethinking Innovation” was held on 25 March 2010 at the Pan Pacific Singapore Hotel.  Despite the cloudy grey skies and torrential rain, the venue was fully packed with delegates who were keen to learn more about B2B branding, especially in the context of branding innovation.

In his keynote address to the audience, Guest-of-Honour, MP Inderjit Singh, Deputy Chairman of the Action Community for Entrepreneurship stated that “The purpose of branding is to define your organisation’s unique idea and values in the minds of your customers so clearly, that even when you innovate to stay relevant to changing times, your brand nonetheless stays true to its identity and the promise you have given to your customer”.

This was in essence the focus of the full-day conference.  Delegates were treated to a distinguished line-up of speakers in four sessions.  Session one, “Building Borderless Brands: Rethinking Innovation” set the tone for the conference with the release of findings from StrategiCom’s national research study on branding innovation among SMEs in 2010 by Dr Wilson Chew, Group Principal Consultant & CEO of StrategiCom.

As the government moves towards the strengthening of innovation and productivity in the Singapore economy, the results of the study serve as timely snapshot of the current situation among SMEs with regard to innovation and the branding of innovation. The research study was the result of interviews with 100 SME leaders who were asked on their views and perspectives on these issues.     

Besides the business community, the media showed great interest in the study findings and the conference itself with attendance by Straits Times, Business Times, Lianhe ZaoBao, several trade magazines and news portals.

The delegates also benefited from topics under the following sessions, “Defending Your Brand While Expanding Into New Markets”, “Using Media To Create Borderless Brands” and “Stepping Across The Dotted Line – Brand Consistency Through Service Delivery In A Culturally Diverse World”. 

The distinguished line-up of speakers included Mr Jacky Tai, Principal Consultant of StrategiCom who spoke about “Attacking Your Enemy’s Strength”, Dr Stanley Lai, Head of Intellectual Property & Technology in Allen & Gledhill, who spoke on “Defending Your Brand From Global Competition” by ensuring your intellectual property rights and Dr Tim Andrews, Director of International MBA from the University of Strathclyde, who spoke on consistency in service delivery. Real life case studies were also featured with Mr Steven Tham from Leeden and Mr David Thomas from Thermal Limitec speaking on the growth of their companies through branding.

The delegates also heard from familiar voices in the media on media engagement in brand building such as Mr Azhar Khalid, Senior Editor of MediaCorp NewsHub and Mr Stanley Leong, Senior Producer and Presenter of SBC2010’s supporting radio station, 938 LIVE.

The Singapore Brand Conference 2010 saw an unprecedented number of official partners this year with International Enterprise Singapore, SPRING Singapore, Singapore Business Federation, Action Community for Entrepreneurship, Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, Marketing Institute of Singapore, Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Fellowship of Inventors and Singapore Manufacturers’ Federation.

From its inaugural launch in 2007 to its present standing in 2010, the Singapore Brand Conference has grown from strength to strength to become what is today, the definitive conference on branding in Singapore and ASEAN.  Through the years, StrategiCom has been proud to return as the event’s strategic partner and looks forward to continuing its ongoing partnership with this success story.