Making branding work for sustainable development

On 10 April 2019, TII in cooperation with the European Brand Institute (EBI), successfully organized the 15th IconVienna – Brand Global Summit, which was dedicated to exploring the potential of branding as a tool for sustainable development. The event brought together 300 participants including top decision-makers from politics, business, science, international organizations and diplomacy, as well as representatives of regions from more than 30 countries, to share knowledge and experiences for accelerating development through the branding of products and services.

Speakers representing diverse brands such as Alibaba Cloud, Coca-Cola Austria, Deloitte Austria, Novomatic AG, ÖBB Infra AG, Siemens and Uber discussed the importance of branding for supporting businesses resilience to external shocks; adding value to products and services; improving competitiveness of cities and regions; and increasing exports and market access.

The event provided an opportunity for UNIDO to present TII’s new innovative technical service, “Branding for Competitiveness and Sustainable Growth”. The approach has already supported a number of successful brands that were presented at the event, including the carpets and home textiles brand from Tajikistan, “LA’AL Textiles”, which contributed to competitiveness of carpet weaving and home textile industries and women’s  empowerment; the Armenian brand “5900BC”, which provided access to new external markets for high-fashion garments and shoes; and the “Delicious Montenegro” umbrella brand which enhanced small local food producers’ access to the tourism industry.

Click here to read the related press release and here to watch a video from the event.

For more information: Mr. Farrukh Alimdjanov (F.Alimdjanov [at] unido.org (F[dot]Alimdjanov[at]unido[dot]org))