Stories

Power of branding to boost exports of developing countries

7 May 2013
ITC News
ITC participates in WIPO conference aimed at boosting market competitiveness and exports through better branding

The International Trade Centre (ITC) participated in a global meeting on 24 April about the power of branding and intellectual property (IP) protection for export products from developing countries, which can play a significant role in increasing their market competitiveness. This was part of a three-day conference organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and Korean partner agencies in Seoul, the Republic of Korea.

More than 200 people attended the ‘Intellectual Property and Product Branding for Business and Local Community Development’ conference on 24-26 April to learn about the contribution of branding and IP to the development agenda. ITC was represented at the event by Jacky Charbonneau, Chief of the Enterprise Competitiveness section, who presented ITC’s joint work with WIPO on the branding of Zanzibar cloves. The presentation outlined the importance of branding as a way of creating more value at source in developing countries.

A central theme of the conference was helping developing countries move out of poverty by transitioning from unprocessed commodity exports to value-added, processed and branded products and services. The goal of branding and IP is not only to add value to the products, but to ensure the export value chain results in quality products and services that can be offered at competitive prices in international markets.

As part of the effort, trade promotion organizations need to work with IP offices to develop IP strategies, implement branding proposals and protect the brand assets of developing countries.

Read more about ITC’s work to brand Zanzibar cloves.