Branding the Waste or Waste Branding

The intangible sum of a product's attribute: its name, packing, and price, its history, its reputation, and the way it's advertised. - David Ogilvy's definition of Branding.

Last weekend I visited Marina Mall in Abu Dhabi as soon as I crossed the last signal I saw 5 Volkswagen Beetles painted green with Center of Waste Management (Center) logo and a few messages pasted on them. Presently being associated with Center and my previous experience in Ad and PR impact evaluation sector, I was obviously attracted to it. I parked my car beside the beetles and got down looking for someone who could explain to me the message of the campaign. Unfortunately I could not find anyone.

I took a few photographs of the parked cars that bore the Toll Free Contact Number of the Center, it's logo and the ubiquitous 3Rs – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Upon entering the Mall I found the two pillars at the entrance with multimedia screens flashing the 3Rs and the toll free number. Towards the right I found a canopy painted in the Center’s colours with same messages. The canopy was well designed and three glass bins showing the different types of recyclable waste. Though, the most attractive feature of the canopy was the beautiful lady at counter.


When I asked her about the program I was presented with a small glossy screen printed brochure explaining the evergreen 3Rs. She also said it's about the Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Beside this she didn’t have any inkling about the program. I moved further and found all the screens in the Mall were flashing the Center’s green colors.

The Center’s presence can be felt across the emirate on road side billboards, shopping malls, radio station, internet sites, newspapers and other media. Almost every time the same message, Toll Free Number, Center logo and 3Rs. The Center is trying to reach out to the public and promote itself as a brand. It is indeed a grand attempt but the question is, is it worth the effort?

Using brand guru Ogilvy's definition as litmus for the above effort, I fail to understand the motive of campaign and the idea of branding the Center. Brand building is a phenomenon where a product undergoes vairous steps of brand strategy. These strategic steps gradually build a brand over a long period of time. The question that arises here is 'Does the Center need branding?, if yes, then how?' Ideally speaking, a government entity does not require branding or promotion in its own country. But if it wishes to brand itself, then, the following five steps would help develop the brand strategy.

1. Product:

Promotion is essentially done for a product. The promotional campaigns are either initiated pre launch or during the launch or after the launching of a product. Though, in Center's case we are not selling a product, but an intangible idea which is to create awareness about Antilittering, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle etc. This can also be considered as our base products.

Thus, the campaign should be designed to create awareness about the product. Awareness can be created by communicating with people, through ads, promos etc but the best way is to interact with people. Public interaction is the most illustrative way to educate people of their responsibilities towards the environment. A creatively designed awareness program, will build a stronger bond with people rather than simply pasted posters. The Center will only emerge as a brand, if it is successful in selling its ideas by creating awareness over a period of time.

Identifying the products (Antilittering, Reuse, Reduce and Recycle) helps to define the time line of product launch (awareness campaign). To increase the level of awareness and stay connected with the public for a longer period of time the promotion shall move at a slow but steady pace. For example; by promoting the Toll Free number without any antilittering message shows we are branding ourselves as an on-call maid service, where, if ‘A’ litters then ‘B’ can be called to clear the litter. Thus the message should be clear and creative enough to carve its place in the spectators mind.

Another example of an incongruent launch is the promotion of recycling where the Center is promoting recycling but it does not have the infrastructure to support the program i.e. promotion without a product. In the three neighborhoods where the recycling program is being currently carried out, the Contractor does not have specialized equipment to collect the recyclables and the collection are performed manually.

Unless the Center builds sufficient infrastructure, it can not promote recycling. The Center's toll free number currently receives a lot of calls regarding recycling; this implies that the public is interested in the program and is asking about the initiative. This excitement and enthusiasm expressed by the public cannot be utilized because there is no program in place, This is conveing a wrong message, that can erode the brand that the Center is trying so hard to build. Beside this the infrastructure to utilize the collected recyclables is almost non existent, which is also a clear case of “promotion without a product” or Reverse Branding.

2. Quality of Service:

The Center was established with a specific goal in mind; to place the emirate of Abu Dhabi among the five cleanest cities in the world. This objective of the Center not only includes Cleanliness in its literal terms but also recycling through waste utilization, waste diversion and reducing carbon emission to list a few. One of the aims of the Center was to bring a host of best practices in waste management sector and create a sustainable waste management system for the emirate. Thus the promotional program should also follow the same high standards that were used at time of the formation of the Center.

The awareness program should also be in sync with internal programs. For instance, all the brochures of the campaign are screen printed in color on glossy paper. The stationary that Center uses is printed on recycled paper but has vulgar use to green color on the back side. The mascot standing in the central hall of the Center building in made of plastic are a few examples of non alignment of the operational and awareness programs. Unless I quit smoking I can't convince my son to avoid smoking. Unless we set an example ourselves we cannot ask others to follow us.

3. Mission:

'Working towards a sustainable environment' is the mission statement of the Center. Mission statements play an important role in defining and branding an organization. Every product and staff of the organization, need to live the mission statement. A very visible irony of the mission can be seen in the smoking area on the right side of the main entrance of the Center's building. Where, numerous cigarette buts are found scattered all over the floor although an ashtray bin with Center logo is placed there. When the staff does not live the mission how can they convince the public for anti-littering? This expresses the lack of motivating force within the organization. It is very important for the leaders of the organization to connect with staff and encourage them to live the mission. After all, charity begins at home.

4. Market:

Market segmentation and classification is more often used in the corporate market place. In the Center's case our market includes the truck driver waiting to pass the Saudi Border for days, laborers living in the camps in deserts, poor people hanging out in the parks on the road side on Friday evening and of course the people of the middle class. But most of the promotional programs are launched in shopping malls and other elite urban neighborhoods. The amount of litter generated on the borders by the long lines of the truck is far greater than what is produced in the malls.

Understanding the sources and causes will help us to classify our target market segments and audience better. The awareness programs needs be tailored for each market segment, if one segment needs flashy billboard other might need enforcement. Thus an all inclusive program that reaches each segment of the population needs to be launched. Broader the spectra, better the results. Thus investing alone in outdoor media will not create impact on the cleanliness of the emirate.

To reach broader market we need smartly designed and cost effective promotional program. For example the sites selected in Marina Mall are multimedia screens owned by Synaxis media. These sites are very expensive because of the technology and not because of the location. The location of most of the sites has failed to create high viewer ship. This is the reason why most of the time these sites promote Synaxis itself on these locations rather than other brands.

Thus interactive promotional programs in public places like schools, bus stands, malls, labor camps etc will be far better and cost effective option. This interaction will help public to connect and interact with the cause and live it. Outdoor and other media like radio, newspaper, television surely need to be used but, not at the cost of interactive programs. Placement of creatively designed outdoor signs in parks, shopping malls, parking lots etc are cheaper and better options.

5. Build a Character

All of the above traits when delivered to the best of our abilities, create awareness about the product. The awareness will definitely enable us to build a reputation for the organization. This reputation will remind the public about the messages the organization conveys. Having a positive reputation over a period of time will create a history of the organization. This historical legacy of the organization is called BRANDING.

PART- 2 (June 10)

Thanks to Blogspot for making it easier for us to express ourselves. Atleast, a few of my friends can read me and we can discuss it amongst each others. Otherwise, living in a close Arabic society it is indeed not easy to be cynical to the system. While I was writing the above article (Branding the Waste or Waste Branding), Center was planning another big awareness campaign about the Recycling. The event was planned on 5th June 2010 at Marina Mall. I was looking forward to watch the show.


When I visited the venue, I found a nicely planned and spent event. It was an interactive event for school children. Programs such has tambola, painting, crafting etc were organized. Everything thing was neatly done, events were interesting enough to hold the kids and parents for hours. Live telecast was going on the Radio; Electronic and Print Media also covered the event. The promotion part was very well planned, the organizers tried the draw the maximum impact and I feel that they succeeded also in spreading the message.

Next day when I came to office, a lady visited our office inquiring about the contact person for recycling. This was the impact of last night's event; upon talking to her I came to know that her kid was present at the event. She said their residential society also wants to contribute to the Center's call for recycling. She asked about the requirement that their society needs to fulfill and a few other question. I did not know the answers and I knew that nobody else in the building either, as there is no Program (product) ready yet. Only thing that I discovered by visiting the event was yet another example of REVERSE BRANDING.