Business is Marketing

If you thought embracing capitalism was ‘the’ sure-shot way to any nation’s success, allow us to whisper sweetly that you couldn’t have been far from being magnanimously... wrong! More than three decades ago, the Vietnam War ended and US troops went home. Yet, ‘Nam still haunts the psyche of many Americans. After all, the US had done then to Vietnam, exactly what it did to Iraq a few years ago. Even today, the grey images of the Vietnam War are fresh in people’s minds. Images of a girl running in terror, her body scorched by napalm; images of people fighting to board a helicopter, as it took off from the roof of the US embassy; images of a nation destroyed and devastated by the US of A. Yet, a few months ago, when George Bush arrived in Hanoi for a trade summit, he saw a country that was booming. Most interestingly, today, America has become Vietnam’s biggest trading partner. Vietnam, which is known as ‘the Paris of the East’, with its beautiful lakes and lush green parks, is today gli...

We’ve poured you a beer, we’ve had the camels shampooed, we’ve saved you a spot on the beach, we’ve even got the sharks out of the pool! So mate... “A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step,” said Lao Tzu many years back. If I may be allowed to re-word it, I’d say a journey of a thousand miles sometimes begins with a single advertisement! An exciting photograph, a catchy by-line, or maybe exciting folklore sometimes, is enough to make you want to visit a particular place. We all dream of far-off places which we want to visit, and if we come across a photograph or a write-up that matches our dream, the chances of going there are increased. Tourism today is a big industry and countries need to seriously look into the way their nations are promoted and how they are viewed by the outside world. A clever marketing strategy can reap in rich dividends for an economy, and many countries have realised this. Hong Kong has shown how a small island can become a popular tourist d...