Elephant & Coral - Established Brands Winner

JUST one year after Elephant & Coral, a local boutique selling fine branded pens and stationery, was established in 1996, the Asian financial crisis struck.

Yet, its founder and managing director Herman Chan (above) says the company's "right branding strategy" helped it to tide over the crisis.

"Branding provides the best litmus test in difficult times, when consumers continue to choose to believe in patronising you much more when times are challenging than any other time," he says.

A key challenge is to convince someone to buy a pen from Elephant & Coral boutiques as opposed to buying it from any other place.

This is where the company's strong pitch at providing quality products and services catering to the luxury market helps to create a certain aura of luxury around these pens.

"Basically, to be sold a pen by Elephant & Coral, it is like going to a drama - part of it is seduction, and part of it is surrealism," says Mr Chan. "Not only did Elephant & Coral survive the economic crisis, it achieved sterling performance then."

Mr Chan says that one of the key aspects in the company's branding exercise is supporting projects with corporate social responsibility in mind.

A keen supporter of local literature himself, Mr Chan readily dishes out vouchers and luxury pens like Namiki and Graf von Faber-Castell to budding local writers through competitions and other writing initiatives.

However, a strong brand is not something that is born overnight but a long-drawn process that is resource-draining, Mr Chan adds.

"Depending on the type of industries and products, bottom line can only improve over a certain period of sinking in enormous amounts of investment of resources, timing and efforts," he says. He reckons that the "fruits of branding" came after nine years, with a 30 per cent increase in the company's turnover.

Mr Chan says that winning the SPBA (Established Brands) award is a testimony of the hard work of the people behind Elephant & Coral and it provides the platform for new, potential customers to know the company.

He hopes the local banks would recognise the importance of financing small and medium-sized businesses in their branding exercises, which are long-drawn and resource-draining, he says.

"But banks want to see quick results and instant gratification on branding before they grant financing," says Mr Chan.

"This award is for the small and medium-sized businesses which are probably starting to make a name for themselves."

Is this article useful to you?