National logo brings no smile to CA's office

The government has asked for changes to a newly designed national tourist logo for Bangladesh claiming the slogan, 'Smiling Bangladesh', fails to capture the majesty of the tiger pictured in the logo.
Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (BPC), the country's tourism promotional body, drafted a national logo for promoting Bangladesh abroad. The logo features a cartoon image of a grinning tiger with the words Smiling Bangladesh underneath.
"After preparing the draft, we sent it to the Chief Adviser's Office, however the authorities concerned said the slogan did not match with the picture of a Royal Bengal Tiger, selected as the logo image," said an official of Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (BPC).
"They said the slogan does not match with the majesty and awesome nature of a tiger," he added.
Instead the CA Office sent the logo back for changes, however BPC officials claim there is no money allocated to improve the current design.
Authorities hope that country branding will help Bangladesh increase tourism, foreign investment and build a positive image of Bangladesh in the world.
BPC started developing the logo in 2004. At that time it ran an advertisement in newspapers, asking people to send possible slogans for the country.
Following the advertisement, BPC selected a shortlist of three: 'Indomitable Bangladesh', 'Enchanting Bangladesh' and 'Smiling Bangladesh'.
"We preferred 'Smiling Bangladesh' as many tourists told us that the people of the country are smiling. Another reason is that we have nothing common across the country. We have the longest beach of the world and the largest mangrove forest but neither represent the whole country," the BPC official said.
In the logo the image of the tiger is accompanied by a wave of water, representing the world heritage site, the Sundarbans, and the riverine nature of Bangladesh.
"We are now thinking about involving front line artists, but the BPC has no allocation for this," said a BPC official.
"Previously we engaged a private advertisement firm that agreed to do a prestigious job like national branding without any cost. Now, it may require huge amounts of money if we want to engage any other firms, " he added.
Earlier BPC planned to launch the country brand by the end of 2007 but is now looking at March this year if it can find a way to finance the changes.
"A logo of Bangladesh will increase the image of the country, attracting more tourists and businessmen," said Hasan Mansur, president of Tour Operators Association of Bangladesh.
Aftab Mahmud Khurshid, a brand strategist, said, "It is very much needed for Bangladesh to build a country image. It is very required to involve specialists in the process to make a logo more attractive,"
Many countries, local states and cities have their own branding to represent them positively and to attract tourists and investment.
The slogan for China is 'factory of the world, India's 'Incredible India,' Hong Kong's ' Asia's World City,' Indonesia ' The Ultimate in Diversity,' Sri Lanka ' Pearl of Indian Ocean,' Dubai 'The Jewel of the Desert,' Maldives 'Sunny Side of Life,' Kerala of India ' God's own country,' while Denmark's capital describes itself as 'Wonderful Copenhagen'.