ME chairman, Economy Minister disagree on ‘unifying branding message’ for Malta

Alastair Campbell’s insistence that Malta needed a brand to get itself out there uncovered different points of view held by Minister for the Economy Chris Cardona and Malta Enterprise chairman Mario Vella.

Vella, the first of the panel to address an EY conference on Malta’s attractiveness, voiced caution on embarking the road to “a unifying message” to brand Malta and attract foreign direct investors.

“One sector looks for one thing, another looks for something different. The investors who have been here for 40 years could be our message, but you can’t talk to one sector like you talk to another. How can you attract an international company whose main competitor is situated here as well? I think we need to be careful when we talk about unified messages,” Vella said.

He argued that being pioneers somewhere meant that “that somewhere is not well know”.

“Those who come to Malta are investors satisfied with Malta being a stable performing place and that important names have been around here for long. Can you get more of that sort?”

Vella said an important point to mention was that most of the products produced in Malta are exported to non-EU countries.

Begging to differ, the Minister for the Economy however held a different viewpoint. Arguing that Malta needed to be branded to raise its visibility, he argued that Malta’s visibility was practically non-existent.

“Our visibility is next to nothing. And if we have to brand our country, we need to rebrand it with one ideal: raising visibility where it needs,” Cardona said.

Echoing comments made by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s on Malta’s potential to become a safe vantage point for companies wanting to tap into the European and North African countries, Cardona said the island’s stability could be the gateway to North Africa.

“North Africa, with all the ongoing turmoil, see us as trusted partners; Italy, which doesn’t boast of high political stability, places us in a very competitive position. And we have to maximize this. Our brand, our image, our message should be that Malta is a centre of excellence,” he said.

Campbell, a branding and imagery consultant, also “profoundly” disagreed with Vella’s argument.

“A brand can be about different elements but explained simply. It is possible to bring together a message that can encompass different sectors, be it iGaming, manufacturing, tourism and so forth. The process of branding is making a message simple,” he said.

Campbell was the only speaker on a panel of eight to point out that not even one of the speakers was a woman: “Not to have a single woman on this panel is also bad for your image.”

Opposition spokesman for economy Mario de Marco, former tourism minister, pointed out that departing point in branding Malta was understanding that foreigners had a different understanding of the country, than Maltese do.

“For tourists, for example, Valletta’s co-cathedral is more iconic than the temples,” he said.

De Marco insisted that Malta’s brand could be the “success story”, an underlying theme among all sectors.