Ethos Issue 5, Nov 2008

The Global Talent War:
Why Singapore Needs to Get Serious
about Branding Itself
Ng Siew Kiang

Singapore has what it takes to be a global talent magnet: now it needs to make its case clearly, argues Ng Siew Kiang from Contact Singapore.

Singapore has been largely discreet in its efforts to attract talent and investments. The Government tends to work through its agencies to establish contacts to bring industry heavy-hitters to our shores. While this approach has served us well in the past, we can no longer afford to be subtle. As competition from our regional and global competitors escalates, we need to leverage on every avenue available to us to promote ourselves as a location of choice for the world’s best talent.

THE CHALLENGE AT HAND
Talent has been and continues to be a key resource pillar of Singapore’s economic strategy. Without the luxury of land, natural resources or a large indigenous workforce, we rely heavily on the collective brainpower and resources of both our own people and those whom we can attract to work, invest and live here. Now, more than ever, we need to tap the professional skill sets of global talent, including Singaporeans residing overseas, who can help propel emerging sectors in Singapore—such as biomedical sciences, clean technology, interactive digital media and financial services—on to the world map; as well as create new areas of growth for Singapore.

This is a challenge because of the nature of skilled talent—there is a limited pool that is highly sought-after and highly mobile. From London to Moscow, Shanghai to Dubai, headhunters are reporting a global shortage as countries aggressively woo professionals to grow emerging sectors in their own economies.

Singapore and its various government agencies, such as the Economic Development Board (EDB), Ministry of Manpower and Contact Singapore, will need to make a concerted effort not just to create favourable conditions for working, investing and living for global talent and their families, but also to showcase why talent should choose Singapore above any of our regional and global competitors.

Strategic to these imperatives is a campaign to brand Singapore as a talent destination. A unique brand proposition targeted at global talent would single out Singapore as the unequivocal choice among competitor cities. When graduates from leading universities begin job hunting, or when investors and entrepreneurs are looking for a place to invest and set up their businesses, we want Singapore to be top-of-mind. We want talent to think of Singapore not just as the ideal place for them to be but the only place to be.

WHY BRANDING?
We have made the difficult transition from the third world to the first in a matter of decades, but our metamorphosis is far from complete. With the building of a new financial district in Marina Bay, the construction of the Integrated Resorts, the expansion of biomedical facilities and info-comms hub, we need more and more professional talent, with more specialised skill sets to realise the potential of our structural transformation. And in the league of first world cities, this competition for talent is all the more intense.

The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a “name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers”¹ (italics are author’s own). Branding Singapore as a talent destination is useful and necessary to forming our global identity. It gives a recognisable face to the many opportunities we offer. It is part of cultivating the perception of our status as a global first world city—a necessary prerequisite for attracting the talent that we will need.

A strong brand identity differentiates us from the rest of our competitors. Japan is known for its hardworking workforce, China for its abundant, cheap labour and Germany for its science and technology base. Singapore has long cultivated a reputation for an efficient workforce, but that is clearly no longer a sufficiently unique factor. Branding presents an untapped opportunity to distinguish and strengthen our competitive advantages.

Putting in place an overarching brand proposition that encapsulates Singapore’s attributes as a talent destination would help align the messages of Singapore’s various government agencies, create opportunities for synergy with other Singapore branding efforts and importantly, would deliver a consistent message to the intended audience. Collectively, consistency in messaging, experience and perceptions of Singapore as a talent destination is crucial to winning mindshare in the long term.

Branding a country as a talent destination is a challenging and long-term undertaking. Singapore’s history is replete with examples of how the foresight of our economic planners has borne fruit over time, for example, the land reclamation of the Jurong Island, the decentralisation of the city centre and the building of satellite towns throughout Singapore. Likewise, growing the promise of a brand that will attract global talent needs time, but the results are long-lasting and far-reaching. Singapore does not have the luxury of allowing market forces to dictate the shape of our economy. Successful branding as a talent destination is one of the ways we can be proactive in shaping how the rest of the world perceives our economic status and viability.

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