Civil Service Live
Britain a springboard for growth, says UKTI marketing chief
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The UK must promote itself as a “springboard to global growth“ to companies both at home and abroad, according to Danny Lopez, managing director of marketing at UK Trade and Investment.
Speaking at Civil Service Live, Lopez told delegates that UKTI, which brings together staff from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, had to present a compelling and consistent message to potential investors and had become “a marketing-led organisation“.
A new five-year strategy was launched in 2006 with a mandate to enable the UK to capitalise on the opportunities presented by globalisation.
UKTI decided to prioritise “new markets (and) new cross-border opportunities“.
Five key sectors were isolated for promotion by UKTI; financial services, the creative industries, information and communication technology, energy and life sciences.
Noting the importance of striking a balance between marketing the UK in mature and growing economies, Lopez said: “there's a balance between the United States, Japan, France and Germany, the BRIC economies (Brazil, India and China) but also economies such as Thailand, Vietnam and Turkey“.
On the importance of developing a strong and unique UK brand in an increasingly competitive global marketplace, he said: “At the core of what we're doing is a realisation that if you don't stand out from the crowd, you will fail.“
“The first thing that we did was to understand the perceptions that the UK economy generated abroad,“ he added.
“At the very core of our strategy is our aim to be far more commercial as an organisation, far more entrepreneurial and make sure that we focus on value far more effectively“
Danny Lopez
Lopez noted that despite the higher level of UK investment, consumers in the China had a more developed perception of the German economy based largely on the number of German brands they used on a daily basis.
The solution was to create a distinct and consistent narrative about the British economy centred on the UK as “a springboard to global growth“.
“It's a springboard for global growth for two reasons; if you think of UK companies it is the UK environment that will propel them to international growth.“
“And if you think of inward investors, they choose the UK not just because of what it offers, not just because of the bottom line to their profits but actually they choose the UK because it will globalise them, it will propel them to a new level of international growth.“
Contrasting his current role with previous experience in the banking sector, Lopez wryly noted the complexity of marketing a country with a history as vast as that of the UK.
“A very old product may be two or three hundred years old and there are perceptions there and some baggage there that marketing directors have to deal with but if you think of countries, there are perceptions there that are thousands and thousands of years old.“