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What is ASEAN consciousness?
What is ASEAN Consciousness? Is it Brand Marketing, a foreign policy or beyond that, a vision of community integration? Academic questions such as these surfaced in a recent gathering of women entrepreneurs aiming at region wide business expansion
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What is ASEAN Consciousness? Is it Brand Marketing, a foreign policy or beyond that, a vision of community integration?
Academic questions such as these surfaced in a recent gathering of women entrepreneurs aiming at region wide business expansion. Contrary to the expected norm of discussion to focus on business regulations and trade practices, the entrepreneurs wanted and reveled in a lively discussion on societal integration.
Though the current ASEAN vision 2015 is lesser known to some than the others, almost all wanted to go big on the one common thing: one ASEAN Community, a community of diverse cultures and languages, religions and customs, but united by a common will to integrate, harmonize and co-exist.
Of course in business sense, a larger single market is worthier than a fragmented one. However, the topic of the day was not on business, but on what underpins the success of any enterprise, commercial or charitable: i.e. societal needs and demands.
A thorough understanding of the multitude of societal needs and rights across the various ASEAN countries is more of a long term sociological research project. Yet, there is also much homogeneity in culture based habitual needs for rice, soya, woven textiles; and a common demand for all services that cater to the survival and dignity of life in general, such as health services, clean water services, educational facilities and standards, food supplies and essential financial services.
Business is back to the basics of human rights — be it local, regional or international! People consciousness is now more overt than ever, and an interconnected Southeast Asia or East Asia for that matter is no longer a distant dream, already manifesting beyond the political arena, through cross cultural fashion shows, inter-university exchange programs, organized tourism and holiday travels, and indeed through region wide marketing of various business brands and music icons.
The more focused on customer needs, the more sustainable a brand is. The more adaptable a brand of service is to changing times and needs of customers, the better life time the brand enjoys among our society. Invention and Re-invention of Brand Identities is as ancient as the human race and empires, and as time tested as the human struggle to belong and participate in a sense of communal togetherness.
What then is the current ASEAN Brand of Service? Aug. 8, 2010 marks the 43rd anniversary of the ASEAN Day — a grand day of interest and purpose to start understanding the ASEAN Brand, in all its dynamics and progress. The brand ASEAN carries within it all the intangible sentiments and histories of its people, the goals of a much larger community of dialogue partners and business councils, dreams, hopes, aspirations and the livelihoods of communities of people in the arts, science & innovative technology, governments and business.
One has to just read The ASEAN Charter that expounds on the modus operandi of the ASEAN mechanism and systems to get an insight into the level of sophistication. Now then, as complex and sophisticated as it is, can ASEAN branding be well defined in the first place? Who do we call for help to understand our own collective conscious identity and branding — the politicians, sociologists, academic research experts with ASEAN Studies Institutes or all?
Nation branding is a regular practice in international relations as well as in strategic marketing of goods and services of state owned corporations. nation building and branding is also instrumental in developing both productive and constructive civil order and corporate citizenry. And yet nationalism gets diffused in an inclusive brand strategy of a regional grouping, to thrive in a collective stamp of
identity and solidarity.
Again, a recurrent question: what is ASEAN consciousness that encompasses the peoples of the region to propel us as one community, to identify ourselves as “We the peoples of ASEAN”? Is this live branding in a collective market sense? Or is it years of systemic foreign policy, winning now the hearts and imagination of our people?
However perceived, the making of the ASEAN Brand is an ongoing one, neither static nor formulaic, hopefully participative and people centered. Management gurus of brand studies and architects of regional Policy would perceive alike with business leaders and statesmen that it is worthwhile to build ASEAN citizenry by developing the ASEAN image among peoples.
But will there be an ASEAN renaissance? Will ASEAN ever become a household name? Or as a label of reference, will ASEAN ever be discussed within households, wide spread across the region, for food choices, fashion and art trends, educational standards and business brands? Yes, if the women and children are actively engaged in building One ASEAN: one home! The ASEAN consciousness!
The writer is currently chairperson of ASEAN Secretariat Women’s Wing.
